(Scroll to the bottom for TL;DR) Just wanted to share, I picked up a small spool of 24g 317L stainless steel welding wire (supposedly the same stuff as gplat, I've never used gplat to compare it to tho, this stuff is a fraction of the price) and I have to say, I'm impressed. Typically I build with 20-24g, either Kanthal or Nichrome 80, almost always in the .08-.2Ω range, so this stuff is perfect. It's a dream to work with, so soft. It is rather springy tho, and hard to heat & squeeze (Well, harder than Kanthal at least), so wrapping a good coil rather than relying on pinching later is important. It's a lot easier to wrap a good coil since the wire is so soft, tho. As far as I can tell, it has no taste. Resistance of this wire is ~ half of Kanthal A1 (.00396Ω/mm v.s. .00708Ω/mm @ 24g, or 24g 317L is ~ 21g Kanthal resistance wise). So when purchasing this wire, try to buy the highest gauge you'd normally wrap with. For me, I normally wrap with 20-24 gauge, so I went looking for 24 gauge. If you build with 24-28 gauge, go for the 28 and expect the low end of your norm unless you're wanting to drop your resistance.
**** Especially because of the lower resistance, you should ALWAYS use an ohm meter to assure your batteries can handle your build. This wire has LESS resistance than NiChrome 80 ****
** PULLED FROM ONLINE, I BELIEVE ORIGINAL SOURCE WAS A USER FROM REDDIT WHO HAD GPLAT ANALIZED BY A METALLURGIST **
** KEEP IN MIND FOR THIS SECTION, MY TYPICAL PREFERRED RESISTANCE IS .08-.2Ω, I'D ASSUME HIGHER GAUGES PERFORM SIMILARLY ACCORDING TO WHAT YOU'RE USED TO BUILDING**
So far I've tried 4 builds... All 3mm ID. First was a standard 5 wrap macrocoil coming in at .12Ω. Extremely similar to 22g N80 in flavor/vapor, but it heated and cooled better. Second was a 6 wrap parallel dual coil. Making parallel coils was really easy, mounting them was easier, and both glowed perfect (no ridges etc.) with minimal effort. The soft material really shines here, as you can pull the leads & adjust your coil and get it perfect. Compared to Kanthal or Nichrome, it's by far the easiest to make parallel coils with that are easy to mount. Easily the prettiest parallel coils I've made, hands down. This build came in at .08Ω, tho didn't last long as I'm not a big fan of parallel coils... And as such can't really give a fully accurate performance review of it. Firing time was insane tho, as soon as the button went in vapor just shot everywhere. The third build was a twisted build (More info about twisted later), 5 wrap macrocoil. Heatup time was outstanding for a twisted coil, great vapor and flavor, but extremely warm. Not burning juice, or anything glowing... But similar in heat to the parallel build. The fourth build is probably my favorite, but definitely the hardest to make. Twisted, "quad" coil (in both parallel and series), 3 (or 6, if you look at it as 2 dual coils) spaced wraps each, coming in at .1Ω. Basically just two 6 wrap dual coils bent in half so both the leads are at the bottom & pointing the same way. The springy-ness of this wire made this an EXTREMELY challenging build because of the bend... It never really wanted to bend right, but I got two coils that are ugly as hell but work just fine. It's a great vape, medium ramp up so you're eased into the hit without feeling an airy draw, lots of vapor, crisp flavor, and (for the ohm range) extremely cool.
This brings me to an important detail: Twisted 317L is SPRINGY. Even with pre-torching the wire and keeping enough tension to bend a screwdriver (after the wires been twisted, of course), it took 7 attempts to get 2 good coils for my typically go-to "quad" build, and the 5 wrap macro-coil "backup go-to" wasn't the prettiest either. Going through all the effort to make a coil like the quad was worth it for me, because this style coil gives the exact type of vape I like (I came from a hookah background, and this is the closest I've come to replicating that), but for most people... Keep your builds with twisted 317L simple. This wire twisted is NOT fun to work with. However, the quick heating 317L makes the twisted coils heat a lot faster than twisted Kanthal or Nichrome, so you get the heat & flavor with a quicker ramp-up time, probably giving it the best performance. Also, be careful when twisting your 317L. If you fire your drill at full speed, your wire WILL heat up from the friction, and it CAN heat up enough to burn you if you twist it til it snaps. I've had wires get warm when twisting before, but not like this. I actually had to wait a sec for it to cool down. Be careful
Overall, I'd say it's something to keep an eye out for. I definitely prefer it to Nichrome or Kanthal, and the price isn't terrible. It's really hard to find at the moment in small quantities, as most retailers are selling it by the pound for other purposes (and don't ask me how many feet are in a pound) and in lower gauges than we use (I couldn't imagine a 5 wrap dual coil 12g 317L coming in at an ice cool 0.013Ω, or trying to fit a .12Ω dual coil in even with my "quad" trick at a mere 43 wraps each). But if you can, I'd say give it a shot. I can provide where I found mine at if requested, however I'll leave that info out at the moment since I don't want to advertise. If anyone finds a US retailer, let me know The only real downside (Other than finding it) is this seems to be almost exclusively a sub-ohm wire. The highest I've seen is 30g, which around a 1/16th drill bit (~1.5mm ID) would take a 9 wrap single coil to reach 1Ω. Obviously still possible, but with how springy & soft the 24g is I can't imagine trying to wrap a large contact coil with 30g 317L. Too much tension it'd snap, not enough and/or unevenly and your wraps wouldn't compress right... For that reason, I'd recommend 27g or lower, making it pretty much exclusively sub ohm. (On the same site I found the 30g on, I've found 21 24 27 & 30 all together, split between 2 foreign sites, and nothing else )
Anyway, just wanted to throw this out there for anyone else thinking of picking up some of this cheap "gplat" ^_^ Stay safe & vape on
TL;DR
• I believe the more experienced builders out there would prefer this wire to Kanthal or Nichrome in both performance & ease of use, assuming they prefer sub ohm builds.
• Believed to be more commonly known as "Gplat", but without the brand name markup.
• Soft wire, easy to wrap with & mount (Assuming you pre-bend your leads, if you don't then the springy-ness of the wire may become an issue).
• Quicker heatup than Kanthal or Nichrome, and the cool down to match.
• Lower resistance (than Kanthal or Nichrome).
• Springy, does not heat & pinch as well as Kanthal or Nichrome so no major "Oh, I'll squeeze that kink out" type deals
• Not for newbies, sub ohm only unless you want to build with a 30g wire that's *probably* springier and softer than a piece of 34g twisted untorched kanthal and with the resistance of 26-28g kanthal.
• Hard to find
**** Especially because of the lower resistance, you should ALWAYS use an ohm meter to assure your batteries can handle your build. This wire has LESS resistance than NiChrome 80 ****
** PULLED FROM ONLINE, I BELIEVE ORIGINAL SOURCE WAS A USER FROM REDDIT WHO HAD GPLAT ANALIZED BY A METALLURGIST **
** KEEP IN MIND FOR THIS SECTION, MY TYPICAL PREFERRED RESISTANCE IS .08-.2Ω, I'D ASSUME HIGHER GAUGES PERFORM SIMILARLY ACCORDING TO WHAT YOU'RE USED TO BUILDING**
So far I've tried 4 builds... All 3mm ID. First was a standard 5 wrap macrocoil coming in at .12Ω. Extremely similar to 22g N80 in flavor/vapor, but it heated and cooled better. Second was a 6 wrap parallel dual coil. Making parallel coils was really easy, mounting them was easier, and both glowed perfect (no ridges etc.) with minimal effort. The soft material really shines here, as you can pull the leads & adjust your coil and get it perfect. Compared to Kanthal or Nichrome, it's by far the easiest to make parallel coils with that are easy to mount. Easily the prettiest parallel coils I've made, hands down. This build came in at .08Ω, tho didn't last long as I'm not a big fan of parallel coils... And as such can't really give a fully accurate performance review of it. Firing time was insane tho, as soon as the button went in vapor just shot everywhere. The third build was a twisted build (More info about twisted later), 5 wrap macrocoil. Heatup time was outstanding for a twisted coil, great vapor and flavor, but extremely warm. Not burning juice, or anything glowing... But similar in heat to the parallel build. The fourth build is probably my favorite, but definitely the hardest to make. Twisted, "quad" coil (in both parallel and series), 3 (or 6, if you look at it as 2 dual coils) spaced wraps each, coming in at .1Ω. Basically just two 6 wrap dual coils bent in half so both the leads are at the bottom & pointing the same way. The springy-ness of this wire made this an EXTREMELY challenging build because of the bend... It never really wanted to bend right, but I got two coils that are ugly as hell but work just fine. It's a great vape, medium ramp up so you're eased into the hit without feeling an airy draw, lots of vapor, crisp flavor, and (for the ohm range) extremely cool.
This brings me to an important detail: Twisted 317L is SPRINGY. Even with pre-torching the wire and keeping enough tension to bend a screwdriver (after the wires been twisted, of course), it took 7 attempts to get 2 good coils for my typically go-to "quad" build, and the 5 wrap macro-coil "backup go-to" wasn't the prettiest either. Going through all the effort to make a coil like the quad was worth it for me, because this style coil gives the exact type of vape I like (I came from a hookah background, and this is the closest I've come to replicating that), but for most people... Keep your builds with twisted 317L simple. This wire twisted is NOT fun to work with. However, the quick heating 317L makes the twisted coils heat a lot faster than twisted Kanthal or Nichrome, so you get the heat & flavor with a quicker ramp-up time, probably giving it the best performance. Also, be careful when twisting your 317L. If you fire your drill at full speed, your wire WILL heat up from the friction, and it CAN heat up enough to burn you if you twist it til it snaps. I've had wires get warm when twisting before, but not like this. I actually had to wait a sec for it to cool down. Be careful
Overall, I'd say it's something to keep an eye out for. I definitely prefer it to Nichrome or Kanthal, and the price isn't terrible. It's really hard to find at the moment in small quantities, as most retailers are selling it by the pound for other purposes (and don't ask me how many feet are in a pound) and in lower gauges than we use (I couldn't imagine a 5 wrap dual coil 12g 317L coming in at an ice cool 0.013Ω, or trying to fit a .12Ω dual coil in even with my "quad" trick at a mere 43 wraps each). But if you can, I'd say give it a shot. I can provide where I found mine at if requested, however I'll leave that info out at the moment since I don't want to advertise. If anyone finds a US retailer, let me know
The only real downside (Other than finding it) is this seems to be almost exclusively a sub-ohm wire. The highest I've seen is 30g, which around a 1/16th drill bit (~1.5mm ID) would take a 9 wrap single coil to reach 1Ω. Obviously still possible, but with how springy & soft the 24g is I can't imagine trying to wrap a large contact coil with 30g 317L. Too much tension it'd snap, not enough and/or unevenly and your wraps wouldn't compress right... For that reason, I'd recommend 27g or lower, making it pretty much exclusively sub ohm. (On the same site I found the 30g on, I've found 21 24 27 & 30 all together, split between 2 foreign sites, and nothing else ) Anyway, just wanted to throw this out there for anyone else thinking of picking up some of this cheap "gplat" ^_^ Stay safe & vape on
TL;DR
• I believe the more experienced builders out there would prefer this wire to Kanthal or Nichrome in both performance & ease of use, assuming they prefer sub ohm builds.
• Believed to be more commonly known as "Gplat", but without the brand name markup.
• Soft wire, easy to wrap with & mount (Assuming you pre-bend your leads, if you don't then the springy-ness of the wire may become an issue).
• Quicker heatup than Kanthal or Nichrome, and the cool down to match.
• Lower resistance (than Kanthal or Nichrome).
• Springy, does not heat & pinch as well as Kanthal or Nichrome so no major "Oh, I'll squeeze that kink out" type deals
• Not for newbies, sub ohm only unless you want to build with a 30g wire that's *probably* springier and softer than a piece of 34g twisted untorched kanthal and with the resistance of 26-28g kanthal.
• Hard to find
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