Advice and building non touching single coil...

[flexsr]

Hey all,

What's the best way to build a non touching coil ? I've seen/heard of some liking this better than a regular micro-coil. Regardless of better or worst I would like to try it. However, what is the best way to build/prepare it?
After I wrap it and fire it the heat is very uneven. I can easily squeeze it together after its hot to get the even "heat/glow inside out" but this defeats the purpose and makes it into a touching coil.
Suggestions? Where am I going wrong ? Thx.

Wick: cotton
Ohms: .8-1.2 ohms
Single coil
device : mechanical



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[MoDmAnDaN]

I think this is one reason folks started building micro coils, much easier to eliminate hot spots that are typical with "spaced" coils. That being said, the only reason I see for spaced coils these days is for Nickel wire on temp control mods which actually work better than micros for proper temp control.

I use a 2.5mm machine screw to build spaced coils with and do have to work with them to gets rid of glowing on the legs. It's more work, but can deliver more surface area IMO.

 

[dbrandt01]

I don't build spaced coils with kanthal much, but I have a couple months ago. I never squeeze coils when heating them honestly. I strum the coil with a screwdriver and I'll put the screwdriver in the coil (with the coil closest to your body) and gently ever so slightly pull towards me while rocking the screwdriver back and forth inside the coil. (left and right if the coil is even with your body)

 

[HughDaHand]

I mainly use micro-coils myself but I used to make spaced coils. What I used to do was wrap them so that the coils were spaced farther than I wanted. I would then squeeze them together while still on the screwdriver I wrapped them on. When it sprung back the wraps would be closer and I rarely got hot spots. This was with 32ga kanthal rebuilding evod head but it might still work with other ga.

Another thing people used to do to make spaced coils was to wrap them in the threads of a bolt. This helped keep the wraps the same size.

 

[Boden]

Hey all,

What's the best way to build a non touching coil ? I've seen/heard of some liking this better than a regular micro-coil. Regardless of better or worst I would like to try it. However, what is the best way to build/prepare it?
After I wrap it and fire it the heat is very uneven. I can easily squeeze it together after its hot to get the even "heat/glow inside out" but this defeats the purpose and makes it into a touching coil.
Suggestions? Where am I going wrong ? Thx.

Wick: cotton
Ohms: .8-1.2 ohms
Single coil
Device : mechanical



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

A couple things. A micro coil is a coil with a ID between 1.5 - 1.9 mm. I think you are calling a contact coil a micro coil, you can make a contact microcoil or a spaced microcoil.

Just make a contact coil then space the wraps by pulling it apart. Or get a machine bolt of the right diameter and wrap the wire in the threads. Mount the coil and unscrew the bolt from the coil.

 

[VaPreis]

I stopped using contact coils awhile back. IMO, the flavor is better with spaced coils, and with improvements in regulated mods, the additional ramp up time a spaced coil requires versus a similar resistance contact coil can be easily eliminated.

For me, thinner gauge kanthal like 27 or 28ga is easier to wrap spaced coils then thicker wire such as 24 or 26ga.

I wrap mine by hand, keeping the spaces between wraps a bit larger then I ultimately want. Makes it easier for me to keep the spacing as even as possible while wrapping. I always wrap an extra wrap or two at either end, as usually the first and last one aren't quite as pretty as the middle ones. After pulling the uglier wraps out, I squish the coil against the handle of my screw driver until I get the spacing I want.

As long as the spacing is relatively even, I don't usually dry fire a spaced coil as they tend to distort when they're fresh. Dry burning for cleaning after a tank or two, it doesn't seem to be a problem.

 

[crxess]

For Non-TC wire there are many ways to get it working right.
Strumming, picking, Pulsing to name a few

I normally pass a piece of wire through a lighter flame to aneal it for an easier wrap.
You can use a bit, screwdriver, or wrap on a proper diameter screw.

Pulsing seems to work well for getting coils to properly heat inside/out. Continue pulsing lightly until the whole coil will glow properly.

Tons of Good coil building Videos on YouTube - most are the older ones about the Coil, not the Ego of the builder.

 

[jambi]

Back when I was dabbling with spaced, I used a machine screw with fairly wide threads, wider than the spacing on the finished coils I built, which I no longer have and don't recall the size of, and didn't worry if the spacing wasn't perfect, (and it never was). I'd install, then gently nudge (as opposed to compressing/squeezing) the coil into position while heating. If it bunched up, I'd use a flat screwdriver to tweak the spacing roughly even. The trick is to just nudge, don't compress. The coil tends to even up on its own.

The real challenge lies in wicking/rewicking. Always tends to bunch up and deform the coil, which is why I stopped making spaced. Always got the impression that all the time spent getting spaced coils to glow evenly was just wasted once wicking was finished, but I'll never know since it's kinda impossible to check it after it's wicked. Anyway, just didn't see any performance advantage over touching coils. They say flavor is supposed to be better. I didn't notice an appreciable difference. Wasn't worth the hassle.

So yeah, just nudge. Don't squeeze, don't compress. Whether you wrap freehand or use a screw, wrap wider than you want the finished coil to be. I found that 26 and 28 gauge seem to work best for spaced coils because they hold their shape and tend to even themselves out during initial heating. Smaller gauges tend to be more problematic. I've had painstakingly wrapped, perfectly spaced 30 gauge coils warp themselves into an arc when heated. "Oh look, a rainbow!"

 

[suprtrkr]

I only use spaced for NI wire. I tend to wrap them freehand on a mandrel, wide spaced, then moosh them together and let them spring back. Works fine. But the machine screw idea is also good. I've done it, and it works too. I just can't get them to stay that neat once I wick 'em.

 

[Completely Average]

Doesn't get any easier than wrapping around a machine screw.

 

[flexsr]

. This was exactly what I was looking for. Yeah I just trying them "just because " .

Awesome tips from everyone. !!!.

And yes I sometimes use touching coils and micro coils interchangeably by mistake. Sorry. About that on my original post.

I had no idea nickel coils work better with temp control devices.

Nice coils "completely average".!!!! You can remove screw without damaging shape of the coil ? I'm assuming so ... Very cool !!!

I gotta tell ya all my coil building fun with "joy in the journey" days are coming to end real soon I think. Lol. Seeing bags of 50 coils at exact ohmages for 4-9 bucks at fasttech has my name on it !!!! Gonna order these very soon. They even have some exotic ones I never tried like Clapton (sp)..

Anyways, thank you family.!!!!! Gonna implement the suggestions immediately and build and compare a good spaced coil to a touching. A couple of you seem To like spaced but the majority seem to like he touching ones. Hmmmm...... Much appreciated all...


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[Rabbit Slayer]

You could wrap the coil on a screw and unscrew it...or build a touching parallel and then unwrap one strand