Beginner coil builder: what ambitious doing wrong

[vapemate93]

Hi I've had my first rda (berserka Mini) for a couple weeks now and it's my first time building my own coil for it. The tank is amazing and is perfect for me truly made me realise how good vaping can be when one figures the right setup for their needs.

Issue is I find it takes me on average 3 coil builds to get one okay one and I keep throwing the bad ones out thinking I've screwed it .when I make them I don't know what I am doing wrong but I'm making them so tight that when you vape it is extremely hard to get any vapor from a hit, but the odd 1 coil will be fine , in some cases I can't even produce any vapor out of a 20 what MTL hit. What am I doing wrong? Is this a wicking error or a badly made coil?

I build my coils between. 0. 8 to 1. 0 using 6-7 wraps of 27 gauge SS wire.

Thanks

 

[untar]

Got a few pics of builds that don't work well? Hard to tell without seeing.

 

[Sugar_and_Spice]

If you are sure the coil has not shorted out and the mod is actually reading the ohm, try turning up the watts. You may want to make them not so tight.. spaced coils make for better flavor.

 

[Baditude]

It's not unusual to have to make a lot of coils when you first start out. Coil building and wicking is as much a learned skill as it is an art form.

Without pics, its impossible to know what you are doing wrong. We need pics from the side as well as from above.

What type of coils are you making? My advice. KISS. (Keep it simple, Stupid)

 

[dom qp]

My advice. KISS. (Keep it simple, Stupid)

The wise words of my grade 9 shop class teacher.

Meanwhile, after he received his CNC machine he had no problems sending us off to autocad some plans so we could play with his new toy.

No one is safe from the shinies.

 

[ScottP]

...but I'm making them so tight that when you vape it is extremely hard to get any vapor from a hit

Make sure neither the coil nor the wick is blocking the airflow on the inside and that the airflow control ring is open on the outside.

 

[Coastal Cowboy]

I'm curious to know what you mean by making them so tight.

I'd also like to see some pics. As many different view angles as you can get to show the whole thing, please.

 

[JCinFLA]

My guess is that the OP has the AFC ring slot incorrectly positioned, so it's between holes, so he's getting none! That's extremely easy to do if he's bottom-filling the Berserker. While screwing the base back together with the tank, that ring will move and completely close off any/all air. He'll need to reset it then, to the hole size he wants.

 

[stols001]

That is indeed possible, @JCinFLA , as far as airflow. To the OP the ring can be tight to move, but you should try it at all the airflow settings, to see what suits you best. The berserker is a very tight draw, so you may be closing it off completely without realizing it and it really won't vape at all, if the AF is closed.

With that said, until we see your coils, hard to know what is going on with them. I will say that I myself threw away a TON of coils, in the beginning. Oddly, I do better with spaced coils, just doing it on one of the coil rods and using tension and evenness. A screw can help as a guide, but oddly I find it easier to wrap a spaced coil (by hand, no guides) that is almost perfectly even. I'll use the other side of the coil jig to "tamp" it down into a contact coil if that is what I want. Often, it isn't. I think I developed this skill from knitting, which my GM taught me to do when I was about 3. Honestly, tension is very important to knitting, so I know how to keep an even tension on one, whether it's wire, or wool. LOL.

At this point, I'd say it could be your wire, your wick and airflow, possibly issues with all three.

Anna

 

[HauntedMyst]

Other than the AFC, it's possible to build the coil against the air hole. When you've mounted it, pull up on the coil (the screwdriver or coil pin you are using) to make sure it's not resting against the draft hole. Having too much cotton won't ruin the air flow (unless you've jammed a pillows worth in there), it will just result in not enough juice flow.

 

[vapemate93]

Okay I'll take a photo and upload them later, you may laugh at my build tho

Btw is their a way to change the title, got a love spell check.

 

[stols001]

I think you can edit the title (as long as the thread hasn't been around too long, I think you open the thread, and you can click on the title to change it. Something of that sort. I guess you could check the site feedback thread, I'm sure someone has asked this in the past. If you can't do it, you can ask a mod to do it. Although, I don't think there's too much wrong with just leaving it, either it's plenty clear what you are asking about even if a word is misspelled. I misspell stuff all the time...

Anna

 

[vapemate93]

I think you can edit the title (as long as the thread hasn't been around too long, I think you open the thread, and you can click on the title to change it. Something of that sort. I guess you could check the site feedback thread, I'm sure someone has asked this in the past. If you can't do it, you can ask a mod to do it. Although, I don't think there's too much wrong with just leaving it, either it's plenty clear what you are asking about even if a word is misspelled. I misspell stuff all the time...

Anna

Lol I type to fast and don't look until after I post :l ADHD and spell check is like a tyre without tread . Thanks I'll keep that in mind.

 

[vapemate93]

So this is a bad made one I have done, I know it's bad but even my good ones are similar looking but this one won't vape at all.

 

[stols001]

It doesn't look that bad for early coilbuilding to me. When you say it won't vape what do you mean? Is it showing resistance that is stable? It's possible you didn't tightly screw down enough one leg of the coil? Or is it just vaping badly for your tastes. Because the first thing would be a real problem, the second is probably just you haven't hit on the right build for your tastes. What resistance is it and what were you going for? Wicking material? What have you liked/disliked about former builds. More information could probably help us help you get to where you want to be, perhaps a little bit quicker.

Anna

 

[vapemate93]

It doesn't look that bad for early coilbuilding to me. When you say it won't vape what do you mean? Is it showing resistance that is stable? It's possible you didn't tightly screw down enough one leg of the coil? Or is it just vaping badly for your tastes. Because the first thing would be a real problem, the second is probably just you haven't hit on the right build for your tastes. What resistance is it and what were you going for? Wicking material? What have you liked/disliked about former builds. More information could probably help us help you get to where you want to be, perhaps a little bit quicker.

Anna

I was aiming for a around 1. 0hm and I usually get between. 8 and. 9 without issues. I am wanting the coil for MTL 15 to 20what. I'm not sure if it's the wicking tho because the pre built coils that come with the berska I wicked myself and they were fine. I am using cotton bacon for the cotton. The resistance on this build is 0. 7 I would not vape on it that low but the coil shows a example of how my builds are. The issue I have with them is you basically can't vape them, have you ever smoked a cigarette that's snapped or has a hole init and you can't get a drag because it's so tight? That's what my bad coils are like and it's annoying because I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. But you literally can't vape it, do I need to aim for a different resistance for up to 20 wat MTL hits? That's the highest I vape at?

 

[vapemate93]

Oh some have mentioned the air hole on the tank, it's not that I always check it when putting the tank back together, also I know it's not the tank causing the issue because I've used good coils with it and it's fine when it has a working build init.

 

[dom qp]

Keep in mind the last time I MTLed was when it was pretty much the only way we could vape.

But looking at your coil, to me, it looks too close to be a spaced coil and it's too spaced to be a consistent regular coil.

I would either (1) pinch them and make sure they're heating from the inside out. See if that helps. It will definitely help with consistency and keeping your resistance fixed.

Or (2), use a smaller ID and space your coils.

Maybe it's too tight because you have too much cotton. Easy way of fixing that is making a smaller coil that fits less cotton.

Really not an expert on MTL or MTL Tanks, so take that advice with a grain of salt.

 

[untar]

Well regularity isn't the issue here, think it's more about mass. If the leads are screwed down tightly that coil should work. But not at 20W. Turn up the wattage until you see steam jump in your face (just the base on the mod, no bell or tank on).

 

[vapemate93]

Keep in mind the last time I MTLed was when it was pretty much the only way we could vape.

But looking at your coil, to me, it looks too close to be a spaced coil and it's too spaced to be a consistent regular coil.

I would either (1) pinch them and make sure they're heating from the inside out. See if that helps. It will definitely help with consistency and keeping your resistance fixed.

Or (2), use a smaller ID and space your coils.

Maybe it's too tight because you have too much cotton. Easy way of fixing that is making a smaller coil that fits less cotton.

Really not an expert on MTL or MTL Tanks, so take that advice with a grain of salt.

Thanks I'll give it a try, I make my coils using the size 30 wrapping tool that comes with a coil master kit. Do you think I should try and use a different size then? I use the 30 because apparently that's like the standard size on popular builds.