Been Gone For A Long While

[WillieB69]

Good news: Still analog free for 9 years.

Bad news: It’s getting harder to find stuff to keep my old RBA going. I can’t find anyplace that just makes regular old kanthal coils. Everything uses disposable coils these days. Guess I’ll have to order some wire somewhere and try my hand at making my own coils again.

My favorite online juice store suddenly went “POOF!” The local shops sell almost NOTHING I like. I like simple, single flavor, fruit vapes. Especially watermelon and green apple. I haven’t found a decent green apple for ages! Everything the local shops sell are just mutated strange flavor mixes.

I guess I’m getting old and cranky. I don’t like all these new changes. I want all you darn kids to get off my lawn too!

 

[Territoo]

Have you considered DIY juice? Simple fruits would be easy to mix. Not only would you not have to worry about not getting your favorite flavor, you would save money.

 

[UncLeJunkLe]

Is there a medical reason you can't wind a simple coil? Winding a coil is 10x simpler than mounting & wicking it.

If you tell me the specifications about the coil you prefer -

• gauge of kanthal
• inner diameter of coil
• resistance of coil -

I may be able to help you find prewound coils that are similar.

As far as juice: well going forward in the USA it seems your absolute best bet is to make your own because it is quite obvious that the FDA has no interest in approving bottled juice for legal sale inside or to the USA. You can still get juice today, but no doubt someday it will all go POOF.

 

[WillieB69]

Have you considered DIY juice? Simple fruits would be easy to mix. Not only would you not have to worry about not getting your favorite flavor, you would save money.

As far as juice: well going forward in the USA it seems your absolute best bet is to make your own because it is quite obvious that the FDA has no interest in approving bottled juice for legal sale inside or to the USA. You can still get juice today, but no doubt someday it will all go POOF.

I tried making DIY liquid a few times. It became quickly apparent I have no talent for mixing. I would likely have to go unflavored and deal.

Is there a medical reason you can't wind a simple coil? Winding a coil is 10x simpler than mounting & wicking it.

If you tell me the specifications about the coil you prefer -

• gauge of kanthal
• inner diameter of coil
• resistance of coil -

I may be able to help you find prewound coils that are similar.

No medical reason. Just the time involved and sourcing the wire. I had a bunch of stuff stocked up at one point and it’s all pretty much dwindled down to nothing. I need to source more wire and just get back into it.

Not too concerned with gauge or diameter. I use an old OBS Engine tank and I’m using the last of my stash of old Kanger coils. Those are 2.5 diameter and 0.6 ohms. I have a dual coil tank so it comes out to a 0.3 ohm setup.

 

[UncLeJunkLe]

No medical reason. Just the time involved and sourcing the wire.

Well that's easy. Temco Industrial is really the only source you need for Kanthal A1 and many other vaping wires. Any vape brands of wire that are (or used to be ) on the market are most likely just rebranding Temco wire or buying Chinese wire spools. There aren't really many primary sources for resistance wire in the USA. Temco is the only primary wire source I personally know of and never was able to find another USA source even when I asked here on ECF a while ago. You don't need vape brands like Vapowire, LightningVapes, Billy Bob's Vape Wire or any of that lol. It's wire.

Not too concerned with gauge or diameter.

Well you need to know what gauge and coil inner diameter you need to get the resistance you want!

2.5 diameter and 0.6 ohms

Find a drill but that is as close to 2.5mm as possible and use that to wrap your coils around.

With Kanthal A1, to get ~0.6 ohms on one 2.5mm inner diameter coil...

28 gauge Kanthal A1 = 3 wraps (~0.62 ohms)

26 gauge Kanthal A1 = 5 wraps (~0.64 ohms)

24 gauge Kanthal A1 = 7 wraps (~0.58 ohms)

I tried making DIY liquid a few times. It became quickly apparent I have no talent for mixing. I would likely have to go unflavored and deal.

Well if think you can resign to vaping unflavored even though you don't really want to, then that tells me you can deal with vaping single flavor juices like I do. Single flavor juices are easy, all you have to do is figure out what percentage of the recipe that flavor tastes good to you at the wattage you vape at.

So for instance, my all day vape is peppermint. I just use one flavor to get that, which is (as you may have guessed) peppermint. So for me, I figured out that at 10 to 25 watts, 6% of any peppermint flavoring brand I have tried is good for me. 6% meaning the flavoring is 6% of all the ingredients combined (100mg/ml nicotine concentrate, whatever flavoring, VG and PG). In the link to nicotine concentrate I gave, Delosi Labs' site NicBase.com sells all of the ingredients, but they only sell their own brand of flavoring so if you want other brands you'll have to buy those elsewhere like at Bull City Flavors, Flavor Jungle, etc. NicBase.com seems to be the most solid one-stop source with the reasonable prices these days (shipping will be high but you have to consider the total cost).

If you can mix unflavored then you can mix a single flavor juice. You can mix using syringes or with a scale (I use a scale as I hate using syringes personally).

If you prefer complex flavor profiles (meaning ejuices that have more than one flavor in the recipe) but you don;t like the idea of trying to get complex flavors right, then you can use what they call one-shops. A one shot is a flavor profile that has multiple flavorings all combined for you into one bottle. So for instance, if you want a strawberry shortcake juice you would need to add more than just one flavor to your juice and figure out what percentage of each you would have to use (a lot like cooking/baking). But with a one-shot the flavorings are already mixed into a bottle for you. Then all yo have to do is figure out what percentage of that one-shot suits you, just like mixing a single flavor juice.

The downside to one-shots is that you are at the mercy of whatever one-shots are available. There aren't that many so if you don't like any of the one-shots available for sale, then you are SOL and will have to mix your own recipe.

 

[WillieB69]

Well that's easy. Temco Industrial is really the only source you need for Kanthal A1 and many other vaping wires. Any vape brands of wire that are (or used to be ) on the market are most likely just rebranding Temco wire or buying Chinese wire spools. There aren't really many primary sources for resistance wire in the USA. Temco is the only primary wire source I personally know of and never was able to find another USA source even when I asked here on ECF a while ago.



Well you need to know what gauge and coil inner diameter you need to get the resistance you want!



Find a drill but that is as close to 2.5mm as possible and use that to wrap your coils around.

With Kanthal A1, to get ~0.6 ohms on one 2.5mm inner diameter coil...

28 gauge Kanthal A1 = 3 wraps (~0.62 ohms)

26 gauge Kanthal A1 = 5 wraps (~0.64 ohms)

24 gauge Kanthal A1 = 7 wraps (~0.58 ohms)

I will check into Temco. 5 wraps of the 26 gauge sounds about right compared to these old Kanger coils. (They are never exactly 0.6.) I won’t need the drill bit as I have an old Coil Master kit with the assorted rod sizes. I haven’t used them in several years because I had a good stash of the Kanger coils but those aren’t available anywhere now. I use the other tools in the kit when I change cotton out and the tweezers really help getting those tiny coil ends into the tiny holes when I change coils.

Well if think you can resign to vaping unflavored even though you don't really want to, then that tells me you can deal with vaping single flavor juices like I do. Single flavor juices are easy, all you have to do is figure out what percentage of the recipe that flavor tastes good to you at the wattage you vape at.

So for instance, my all day vape is peppermint. I just use one flavor to get that, which is (as you may have guessed) peppermint. So for me, I figured out that at 10 to 25 watts, 6% of any peppermint flavoring brand I have tried is good for me. 6% meaning the flavoring is 6% of all the ingredients combined (100mg/ml nicotine concentrate, whatever flavoring, VG and PG). In the link to nicotine concentrate I gave, Delosi Labs' site NicBase.com sells all of the ingredients, but they only sell their own brand of flavoring so if you want other brands you'll have to buy those elsewhere like at Bull City Flavors, Flavor Jungle, etc. NicBase.com seems to be the most solid one-stop source with the reasonable prices these days (shipping will be high but you have to consider the total cost).

If you can mix unflavored then you can mix a single flavor juice. You can mix using syringes or with a scale (I use a scale as I hate using syringes personally).

If you prefer complex flavor profiles (meaning ejuices that have more than one flavor in the recipe) but you don;t like the idea of trying to get complex flavors right, then you can use what they call one-shops. A one shot is a flavor profile that has multiple flavorings all combined for you into one bottle. So for instance, if you want a strawberry shortcake juice you would need to add more than just one flavor to your juice and figure out what percentage of each you would have to use (a lot like cooking/baking). But with a one-shot the flavorings are already mixed into a bottle for you. Then all yo have to do is figure out what percentage of that one-shot suits you, just like mixing a single flavor juice.

The downside to one-shots is that you are at the mercy of whatever one-shots are available. There aren't that many so if you don't like any of the one-shots available for sale, then you are SOL and will have to mix your own recipe.

I stick to single flavors. The only multi flavored eliquid I ever liked was Hedon’s Bite and that was just a limited run. (But oh, do I miss it!)

I could probably deal with vaping unflavored liquid. Heck, I dealt with some of the nastiest flavors out there back when e-cigarettes first became a thing. It’s not like I vape for the flavors anyway. They’re just a bonus.

Either way, I may give DIY a try again someday.

 

[UncLeJunkLe]

Kanger coils. (They are never exactly 0.6.) I won’t need the drill bit as I have an old Coil Master kit with the assorted rod sizes. I haven’t used them in several years because I had a good stash of the Kanger coils but those aren’t available anywhere now.

Are you talking about the Kanger Subtank coils? If so, are you talking about the older square ones called OCC or the newer version that are round and called SSOCC?

 

[WillieB69]

Are you talking about the Kanger Subtank coils? If so, are you talking about the older square ones called OCC or the newer version that are round and called SSOCC?

Neither one.

These are what I use.

https://www.vapor4less.com/kanger-subtank-premade-rba-coils-p/rbacoilb-10.htm

Haven’t been able to find any more of them for several years. Although looking for an active link to them did turn up other possibilities.

 

[englishmick]

Neither one.

These are what I use.
https://www.vapor4less.com/kanger-subtank-premade-rba-coils-p/rbacoilb-10.htm
Kanger Subtank Premade RBA Coils | RBA Prebuilt Coils

Haven’t been able to find any more of them for several years. Although looking for an active link to them did turn up other possibilities.

Have you tried Fast Tech? They used to sell coils in all kinds of sizes and shapes. They wouldn't have them labelled specifically for the ST but any coil of the right diameter and resistance and wire size would work. I picked up a couple of packs for my STM RDA deck years ago and they were fine. Now I find it easier just to wind them myself.

 

[UncLeJunkLe]

Neither one.

These are what I use.
https://www.vapor4less.com/kanger-subtank-premade-rba-coils-p/rbacoilb-10.htm
Kanger Subtank Premade RBA Coils | RBA Prebuilt Coils

Haven’t been able to find any more of them for several years. Although looking for an active link to them did turn up other possibilities.

Oh I see, I forgot about those, never used them lol. I just wrap my own for the subtank RBA. So simple to wrap such coils simple. And you have a coil master winding jig. Even better. Wire is too easy to find.

 

[UncLeJunkLe]

B Ut if you insist on buying precoiled wires, like englishmick said, you can get them at fasttech. Fasttech is in china and it will take a while to get your order. Patience is key.

These are rated at 0.4ohm with a 2.5mm diameter. They are opposing leg coils so good for subtank.

If you need the legs facing the same way, you can add a half or full wrap to get closer to 0.6 ohms for your dual coil RTA. But if you're going to do that, you may well just wrap your own, really.

https://www.fasttech.com/p/9623839

There are others at fasttech, but those are the only ones I know of close to what you have at 2.5mm diameter. A lot of them are 3mm diameter and with legs facing the same way. Like these....

https://www.fasttech.com/products/3033/10054139/9658292

https://www.fasttech.com/products/3033/10054139/9658289

 

[WillieB69]

Thanks for the input. It definitely gives me more options to look at. This forum has always been a wealth of information and it’s good to see that hasn’t changed. Vaping has come a long way since the early days of the old Blu e cigs. It needs a place like this to stay on top of things.

 

[WillieB69]

With Kanthal A1, to get ~0.6 ohms on one 2.5mm inner diameter coil...

28 gauge Kanthal A1 = 3 wraps (~0.62 ohms)

26 gauge Kanthal A1 = 5 wraps (~0.64 ohms)
24 gauge Kanthal A1 = 7 wraps (~0.58 ohms)

Update: Just ordered 25 ft of 24 AWG Kanthal from Temco. After playing around with the numbers on Steam Engine a little bit, I think the 24 will work better than the 26. If not, I'm only out $6.38 and I'll order the 26.

 

[Hunky Vape]

An easy way to jump back into simple round wire is picking up an assortment pack of Kathal wire right on Amazon. A while back I bought a box of Kathal, a box of stainless, and a box of nichrome wire for coil building. They also have "heating wire" premade coils in case you don't want to mess with a simple wrap. Just need to read the details in the description to find out what material it's made of. (Yeah, I know it's simple machine-built stuff and probably not as good as "hand wrapped" but I've been lucky enough to get some decent stuff on Amazon that was better than stuff from a vape shop.) JMO

 

[Tommy-Chi]

I have only made very simple coils but have the tools and videos to make complex coils if I could deal with the waste of wire vis-a-vis the trial and error.

I bought 2 gallons of nic, a lot of premade coils and wire a few years back. With the Feds and states clamping down I did not want to risk my favorite hobby, vaping.

If you have the disposable income stock up, it cannot hurt, just verify that everything that you buy will work as planned.

 

[SlowTalker]

I only recently started winding my own coils in earnest since the eBay seller I used to buy from vanished. Starting out I bought the same gauge kanthal he used, counted the number of winds he used and inner diameter he used and duplicated best I could. Took some practice till I nailed it, but one I did made enough coils to last years. Wrote everything down and tucked it away with a stash of wire for when I start running out of coils again.

One thing I learned the hard way is to clean the wire/finished coils before vaping them. Depending on the maker, wire can have traces of machine oil same as a tank.