MICRO COILS - Selecting the right gauge wire to hit your target resistance

[etherealink]

Apparently if you have a Droid smart phone, already went through this and isn't available for iPhone as far as I could find. Drats, lol.

There were a few others but I'll look around for you. Basically all it does is the math of resistance per inch and adopts that to the circumference of the mandrel to give you the wrap count.

Quick fix get the ohms per inch for your wire and just wrap till you have about 1/4" dir each leg. Even when changing mandrel sizes your resistance should be constant for the most part.

*****
Here's my quick list:

24 ga: .185 ohms/in
26 ga: .295 ohms/in
28 ga: .512 ohms/in
30 ga: .725 ohms/in
32 ga: .1.15 ohms/in
*****

I will play with mandrel sizes and report back with only changing that element but you also may want to check with super_x in the other micro coil thread and see if he has the info.

And a link to super_x in the other thread: http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?p=12395285

 

[jball49]

There were a few others but I'll look around for you. Basically all it does is the math of resistance per inch and adopts that to the circumference of the mandrel to give you the wrap count.

Quick fix get the ohms per inch for your wire and just wrap till you have about 1/4" dir each leg. Even when changing mandrel sizes your resistance should be constant for the most part.

*****
Here's my quick list:

24 ga: .185 ohms/in
26 ga: .295 ohms/in
28 ga: .512 ohms/in
30 ga: .725 ohms/in
32 ga: .1.15 ohms/in
*****

I will play with mandrel sizes and report back with only changing that element but you also may want to check with super_x in the other micro coil thread and see if he has the info.

And a link to super_x in the other thread: Micro Coils to increase Vapor, flavor & TH t1 - Page 1032

I did bookmark one tool on the web that may come in handy. So far I only ordered 28 gauge, from the reading I did prior to ordering it seemed as if that was a size of preference by many, many people. I also liked that one guy said any smaller gauge and they break too easy for him. Well I have some unique challenges so I have to keep that in mind and it sounded like a plan to me. Just starting out it will take me some time to have a clue what I am doing I would think but you can't get anywhere if you don't try. Thanks!

 

[super_X_drifter]

If it's larger than 1/16" Inside Diameter, it's not a micro coil anymore. Micro coils are coils with inside diameter that falls within a specific range (see fact sheet up by OP) with wraps as close as possible or touching.

30 gauge is your best choice for reaching 2+ ohms. You can either add wraps (I think around 13 wraps at 1/16" ID should get you close ) or build a non- micro coil (bigger than 1/16" ID coil) to get there.

28 gauge would require to many wraps (too much wire) to get there and not heat efficiently.

Gauges above 30 are just too flimsy.

I have no experience twisting, doubling or anything beyond a simple single coil but I see many posts where people try those methods to work with really thin wire above 30 gauge

 

[jball49]

If it's larger than 1/16" Inside Diameter, it's not a micro coil anymore. Micro coils are coils with inside diameter that falls within a specific range (see fact sheet up by OP) with wraps as close as possible or touching.

30 gauge is your best choice for reaching 2+ ohms. You can either add wraps (I think around 13 wraps at 1/16" ID should get you close ) or build a non- micro coil (bigger than 1/16" ID coil) to get there.

28 gauge would require to many wraps (too much wire) to get there and not heat efficiently.

Gauges above 30 are just too flimsy.

I have no experience twisting, doubling or anything beyond a simple single coil but I see many posts where people try those methods to work with really thin wire above 30 gauge

1/16th was what I was going to try to start out with. Is this wise? I am shooting in the dark having only read and watched stuff on Youtube so until I do it for myself it is going to be trial and error I am sure. Does everyone use a torch on the micro coils and what exactly is the purpose of that? I don't have one of those and will have to pick one up if it is important. I can't imagine they are too much, when they first came out they were pricey but they should be reasonable now days. Thanks for all advice those of you with tons of experience give us newbies! It is greatly appreciated.

 

[super_X_drifter]

1/16th was what I was going to try to start out with. Is this wise? I am shooting in the dark having only read and watched stuff on Youtube so until I do it for myself it is going to be trial and error I am sure. Does everyone use a torch on the micro coils and what exactly is the purpose of that? I don't have one of those and will have to pick one up if it is important. I can't imagine they are too much, when they first came out they were pricey but they should be reasonable now days. Thanks for all advice those of you with tons of experience give us newbies! It is greatly appreciated.

If you tension wrap it, you won't need to heat / squeeze it. I do heat it first so the coil doesn't move overnight with ambient temp fluctuations.

I use a torch and do it with the wire still on the spool.

Many of the video celebs evangelize torching and squeezing to make it a micro coil but they don't even know what a true micro coil is

I torch only to anneal the wire so it holds it's shape better and remove and oils on the wire. You can also use a bic lighter

Tip: Cut a piece of pencil eraser just wider than your spool and push it down between the flanges to hold the wire in place.

Unfurl about 5 inches and torch about 4" of it.

Then follow this vid to tension wrap:
http://youtu.be/bp8yqFojsEU

If you want an easier way ( the best way I've seen ) get the wire gizmo from artistic wire either at amazon or in the store michaels. It's like $15 or less and it's the best $15 you can spend on vape tools. Here's a vid:
http://youtu.be/kNT5-s0U5jk

I never build coils bigger than 1/16" or smaller than .055"

 

[jball49]

If you tension wrap it, you won't need to heat / squeeze it. I do heat it first so the coil doesn't move overnight with ambient temp fluctuations.

I use a torch and do it with the wire still on the spool.

Many of the video celebs evangelize torching and squeezing to make it a micro coil but they don't even know what a true micro coil is

I torch only to anneal the wire so it holds it's shape better and remove and oils on the wire. You can also use a bic lighter

Tip: Cut a piece of pencil eraser just wider than your spool and push it down between the flanges to hold the wire in place.

Unfurl about 5 inches and torch about 4" of it.

Then follow this vid to tension wrap:
outdated - Micro Coils 101 - Part One - Making The Tightest Coil You've Ever Made - YouTube

If you want an easier way ( the best way I've seen ) get the wire gizmo from artistic wire either at amazon or in the store michaels. It's like $15 or less and it's the best $15 you can spend on vape tools. Here's a vid:
Micro Coil 101 - Making A Perfect Micro Coil Using The Coil Gizmo By Artistic Wire - YouTube

I never build coils bigger than 1/16" or smaller than .055"

Awesome!! Thanks, that device is brilliant! I might even be able to make good coils with it, lol! Thanks a bunch! I think I have all the other tools among all my various tools, have so many of those that when we downsized domiciles I had my boys come pick out whatever they wanted that I didn't want anymore or had duplicates of (most of my stuff) so it gave them a boost on their own tool collections. Thanks for the info, much appreciated!

 

[CallmeB]

You guys that take photos of your ohm meters need to try different settings on your camera because Almost all of the pics I've seen of these are nearly impossible to see. Try setting your camera to fireworks (I'm assuming none of you are using a dslr) NO FLASH

 

[sixofusernames]

Thanks for the post, I'm JUST starting the venture into rebuildables and I was wondering how to choose the wire gauge!! i like a nice warm hit, and as much vapor as possible,

 

[super_X_drifter]

Thanks for the post, I'm JUST starting the venture into rebuildables and I was wondering how to choose the wire gauge!! i like a nice warm hit, and as much vapor as possible,

I find that I get all the vapor I want (and I like copious quantities) with the wick and coil setup I use regardless of the resistance. I run coils for 1.2 to 1.6 ohms on mech mods.

The lower the resistance, the hotter the vape will be. It's important to select the proper gauge wire to achieve desired resistance or heat up time can increase and / or wrap count may be too high or low for what I find to be optimal.

These days I wrap all my coils with 29 gauge because it puts my resistance exactly where I want it with my micro coil builds

 

[nytecrawlur]

Great thread. Thanks for all the info.

 

[EJuice2Coil]

Thank You very well explained. Knowledge I am glad to learn and understand more.

 

[RIMP]

I just ordered mine on amazon Amazon.com: Artistic Wire Coiling Gizmo(R) Deluxe Winder for Jewelry Making

 

[DoPeWAFFL3]

Thank you for the information. If anyone can find me a resistance chart describing what ga, how many wraps, and over what size drill bit to wrap it on that would be amazing! Thank you.

 

[jgarmoc]

Nice chart thanks! This will definitely come in handy. Ive been searching for a comprehensive chart with different guages of wire, wraps, and diameter. I'm sure collectively the members of this forum already have all of the data. This is a great start. It's funny, I find guage 28 and up deform too easily.

 

[super_X_drifter]

Nice chart thanks! This will definitely come in handy. Ive been searching for a comprehensive chart with different guages of wire, wraps, and diameter. I'm sure collectively the members of this forum already have all of the data. This is a great start. It's funny, I find guage 28 and up deform too easily.

29 is perfect for fast heat up. Less flimsy than 30 but faster heat up than 28. Perfect for 2 1/16" ID (micro coils) netting .50 on a dual coil build

I also notice that the terminal screws don't loosen up unwelcomly like 28 and below has a tendency to.

 

[regal55]

Just by from that master coil builder from ebay

 

[regal55]

I bought one of these coil winders from ebay and actually built a decent coil, not as good as the ebay guy but not bad, but I would'nt bank on it. The key to rebuildables is coil building and I recommend just buying the $1 coils from the experts on ebay.

 

[keepsmiling]

Thank you SupX!

 

[nevuh]

Great info thanks for putting this together it will come in very handy.

 

[radmama]

great info! going to screen shot these!