AGA-T+ advice please

[Spazmelda]

This is my first rebuildable. I've had it for months, but only took it out of the box yesterday. I usually rebuild protank heads, but thought it was time to get this thing out and see if I could learn how to do it.

I watched a few youtube videos. I sort of landed on riptripper (I think was the name) and followed what he said to do as far as preparing the wick and all that.

It took me a few tries to get a coil that worked. I'm getting there, but not super impressed with what I've made so far.

For the wick I'm using 500 mesh stainless steel, coiled up to fit the hole, and torched before rolling, after rolling, and torched again 3x with juice on the wick. Then I twirled a small amount of cotton around the top of the wick.

My first (moderately succesful) attempt at a coil was with 30 gauge kanthal. I did 6 coils. Did all the stuff to make sure the coil was glowing evenly. The resistance came out higher than I was aiming for at 2.5. I went ahead and tested it out. It works somewhat, but it takes a long time to heat up and the taste is not as good as a rebuild protank head. Still, it works, so that's something.

Here is a picture, but you can't really see the coils very well.



Then I decided to make another attempt with 28 gauge kanthal. This time I did 11 wraps touching, and compressed them while torching. That measured out to be 2.2 ohms, which is still higher than I was aiming for. They still take a long time to heat up. Vapor production is better, and taste is better than the previous one I made. So, I feel like I'm going in the right direction, but still not satisfied.

Here is that one:


What are some baby steps I can try next to get a better coil? Maybe fewer wraps with the 28 gauge? Tips for improvement based on what you can see in the pictures? Keeping in mind that I'm just learning how to do this, and I'm not ready to build a dragon octopus quintuple whatever coil at this point in time. Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

 

[Spazmelda]

Have another question, since everyone was so helpful (LOL).

The AGA-T+ has what seems to me to be a tiny air hole in the cap. What is a good size for an air hole? I drilled it out to 1/16 and it makes better vapor. Is that a good size? Would bigger be better? I don't want to make it too big.

Btw, I did another coil w/28 gauge 6/7 wraps and it comes to 1.7 ohms. Much better and faster to heat up than the ones I made earlier.

 

[Mr.Bungle]

You are doing pretty well, as far as I can tell. My question for you is, What device are you firing the Aga with? A mechanical or VV/VW? The answer kinda/sorta determines where you "should" target your coil's ohms. The established wisdom being, pretty much what you are discovering: mech coils fire fastest with coil ohms around 1.2 and under; VV/VW devices generally fire fastest under 1.8 ohms, but you have to keep in mind that some devices won't fire coils under 1.2 ohms because of built in amp limits. One other caveat is the general length of the coil: shorter coils will heat faster, which is why there is another general rule of thumb as to which gauge wire to use on mechs/VV devices. Again, generally, it is suggested mechs use 30g and under, while VV devices use 30g and over.

Those are general guidelines. Each will affect your Aga's performance slightly. Now its up to you to figure out what sort of vape you prefer and tailor your equipment to your tastes. Keep reading the forums and keep experimenting.

 

[Mr.Bungle]

Oh, yeah forgot about the air hole. I left mine at 1/16. I've read where others have opened it up wider, they end up with a super airy draw and lose flavor but gain cloudz! In so far as the Aga with out HEAVY modding will push cloudz, that is.

 

[Spazmelda]

Thanks for your reply! I'm firing it in a Provari, so I think 1.3-1.4 is my limit. I'm not going to get a mech until I know I can build coils that would make it worth it. I guess I need to go to a shop and talk someone into letting me try their coils on a mech to see if it would be worth pursuing further.

I'm still not getting much flavor, so I guess I'd better leave the air hole at 1/16 and not make it bigger.

I'm wondering if what I'm doing is even micro coils. The coils are touching, but they are not small diameter. The way I'm making them now, on the wick sticking the the wick hole limits the diameter to the diameter of the wick hole. On various threads I've seen where people build the coils on cotton wicks that lay on top, but I will have to study that more before I give it a try.

 

[generic mutant]

I actually had more luck on my T2s building the coil on a screwdriver, attaching it, then pushing the wick through.

Reducing the coil pitch (gap between turns of the coil) should make it heat up quicker too - you can remove one of the nuts in the middle, then screw the remaining two to whatever height you want to attach the top at.

I also found reducing coil pitch to 'micro-coil' sizes (i.e. practically or literally touching) reduced the hot top leg problem I was having. You can use washers as another way to fix hot legs, but it's fiddly...

-edit- sorry, I only looked at your first picture before I wrote this. leaving it here in case any of it helps anyway.

-edit 2- whelp, I reread the OP and I don't even have the excuse that I didn't look at the second picture, cos you said you made the coils touch in the text. I am officially too sleepy to be posting...

 

[Mr.Bungle]

I build "micro-like" coils on mesh in my Aga's as well. Tried to get a picture for you but the joose I'm running is too dark and you can't see anything helpful.

My suggestion would be to remove a few turns of your coil to get your coil heating faster. You can remove a loop and capture under the positive screw and get a reading without tossing the whole coil and starting again. Aim for around 1.8 ohms and see if that helps. You can always remove more loops to go lower if you like the changes you are getting in response time. Caveat time: Higher ohm coils get hotter and vaperize your joose more completely (possibly resulting in better flavor and bigger cloudz!) which is part of why you would use different gauge wire for different builds.

Enough prattling. Go build! Play with it. Thats how we learn.

 

[Spazmelda]

Yes, so, the one I made today was 6/7 coils @ 28 gauge, and it does definitely heat up faster than the ones I posted pictures of. No picture of the one today.

I am also wrapping around a screwdriver as generic mutant suggested. The first couple I built I tried wrapping around the screwdriver while it was in the hole, but that was fiddly, so I decided to wrap it on the screwdriver, then insert it and make the connections and slide the wick in. That worked much better.

I don't really know what to do next. I get better vapor now, but the taste is meh. My protank builds are much more flavorful, but I have no clue why. They have a much smaller diameter, but I don't know if that makes a difference. I'll keep playing.

 

[Mr.Bungle]

Let your coil and wick "season" a bit as well. Put a tank or 2 through them before you make any final judgements.

 

[generic mutant]

One other thought - the top of the tank acts as a heat sink, so you might have better luck if you can move your coil upwards a bit.

 

[Mr.Bungle]

OK, one last suggestion for the build portion of your journey...

When you are making your wick, wrap it as tightly as possible around a straightened paperclip. I find it easier to build with the wick inside the device and turning the wire around a stiffer wick makes that a bit easier, as well, you get less gaps between the wick and wire. When you get your coil built, remove the paperclip and proceed as normal.