Best Rba for beginner?

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Juicy jay

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Jul 20, 2013
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Rochester, N.Y.
Hi friends , im new to rba's. What rba would be best for me? I have a vamo, ego c twist and innokin itaste svd that it has to go on. I also want to wind my own coils/wicks. If possible could you provide info on what supplies ill need and where i can get prewound coils so I can still use the rba while learning. Thank you and sorry for long post but I could really use a friend who will help.
 

Iusedtoanalog

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Hi Jay. Welcome to the ECF. So..... in terms of easi(er) build the RSST would be the one I personally would choose. I have that and a AGA t+ and a clone of the DID... The building(for me) in ease of assembly goes in that order too.... The RSSt has an isolated wick hole, and the tank cups around the bottom, so there is nearly no way to allow the wick to short to negative.

Hotspots will be you bane of existence when building your first genesis atomizer.... Read, watch as many videos as you can stomach heres one that goes into detail about the build process A PBusardo Review - The AGA-T(s) - Part 2 - Assembly & Building Tutorial - YouTube , and then give it a try until you get frustrated. when you do get frustrated put the atty down and have a good vape on a different ready-to-go device. Once you do finally get it running it will feel like you have conquered a huge obstacle.....

You will want to have a supply of stainless mesh , in various sizes.... I began at 325(which didn't wick well for me), then got some 400 and 500. I normally prefer 400.
You will want to obtain a few different gauges of kanthal a1. I believe most popular sizes are 28, 30,32ga.... I prefer 32 at higher voltages.......

I am not sure where to point you for pre assembled coils but I do know there are some places to get pre-oxidized mesh wicks. Speaking of which you will also want to have a small kitchen butane torch available in order to oxidize your mesh.

Good Luck with your quest......
 
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the Smoktech RSST was my first RBA, and I love it. easy to build, insulated wick so its harder to short out. you're going to need SS Mesh and wire, and some time to watch youtube vids on how to set it up. What wire you get depends on what ohm coils you want to build.

I find the RSST is amazing compared to my carto's and bcc's.
 

Amish Ed

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I bought an Igo-L for my first and love it. Building coils isn't hard if you watch some videos first. I wouldn't bother looking for pre-made coils, it really is pretty easy.

Here's my what my first order consisted of...
IGO-L Rebuildable Atomizer (Dripper) IGOL_RBA 1 $14.99
A1 Kanthal Wire - 3.25ft Spooled
Kanthal Wire Gauge Options
34 AWG
A1KW34AWG-016 1 $1.65
A1 Kanthal Wire - 3.25ft Spooled
Kanthal Wire Gauge Options
32 AWG
A1KW32AWG-020 1 $1.65
Silica Wick - 3.25ft
Silica Wick Size Options
2.0mm Wick
SilicaWick2mm 1 $2.69
Silica Wick - 3.25ft
Silica Wick Size Options
3.5mm Wick
SilicaWick35mm 1 $2.79
 

MiamiMom63

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Feb 17, 2012
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I also started with the Igo-l's and they are super easy. I have an RSST that I still haven't mastered. But it depends on what type of coils you are interested in learning, the genesis type with a tank and stainless steel mesh, or the type that uses cotton or silica or ekowool, etc. so far I think genesis types are harder for me, but that's just me.
 

IMFire3605

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May 3, 2013
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Like stated, I'd start with an RDA (rebuildable dripper) first, either an Igo-L or even a SmokTech RDA at first. I believe either Madvapes or Gotvapes will have pre-made silica/kanthal coils for these at reasonable price. To get started rebuilding, you'll need kanthal a-1, most likely 30 or 32 agw wire, silica wick most likely 2mm in diameter to start practicing, having 1mm and 3mm on hand wouldn't hurt either, pair of tweezers or fine needle nose pliers, and pair of diagonal cutters (both cutters and pliers you can get pretty fine size at you local craft store in the beading section), a refillable torch style lighter, pen, or baker's torch (the pen or baker's torch can be found at Home Depot or Lowe's in the soldering torch area) and spare butane for them. A fine drill bit say 1/16th up to 3/32nds or such, fine screw driver like a jewelers screw driver, something that can take heat abuse and sturdy enough to use to wrap your coils on, even a paper clip works but can't handle being torched. If you are going to use 28 agw remember to heat and anneal it before wrapping, takes some of its springiness out to be easier to use. After that, an ohm meter or multi-meter that can check ohms, Madvapes offers an ohm meter when available and in stock that makes for a good platform to work on your RBA/RDAs with. Once these supplies are obtained, just practice, remember that 32 and 34 agw wire will heat up faster than thicker wire, so I'd suggest 30 or 32 to start with, and work with making coils 1.5ohms to 3.0 ohms to start once you have a better grasp of "Ohm's Law" as well as battery limitations before even thinking about going less than a single ohm, believe your devices you listed 1.2-1.4ohms will be the lowest they will fire anything at all.

Once you get rebuilding a dripper down and are comfortable with them, then I'd suggest an RSST, which with Genesis style atty's opens up a whole host of other headaches of what materials to use and such, most use Stainless mesh, 325 for thicker liquids up to 500 for thinner liquids. I use 400 SS mesh, with a 1mm silica inner core and 1mm silica sheath wrapped where I wrap my coil on my RSSTs, the sheathing to prevent shorts as well as a juice storage for the wick incase it under performs.
 

Juicy jay

Full Member
Jul 20, 2013
52
25
Rochester, N.Y.
Thanks great info so far. It really helps having those lists of materials to shop for. Ok two questions,
Question #1 Which one of the rebuildable atomizers won't leak and aren't easy to short out?
Question #2 Are Rda's the route i want to take if im looking to switch vaping between my diy flavors frequently? I like to switch from flavor to flavor a lot and i also love the Throat hit i get from cartomizers on my joy 510 vs the protank on my vamo. It seems tanks just don't hit hard enough and are too smooth for me. Thanks for the warm welcome, its good to talk to people who vape.
 

Shopan

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I picked up a "bulley" (Phoenix) and it is a Nice little RBA. has Real screws and screws in a screwed on Base with a little well that lets you have a few drops soak into the wick...The post are easy to work with. I have had no Problems with building 1.8 coils with .32k (four loops on XC-116). The vape is Grate...I would Recommend it to anyone who likes to try all the Flavors with ease...
 

MiamiMom63

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Feb 17, 2012
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My supplies are cheap and simple. I recommend 32 gauge kanthal to keep you coils at a. Slightly higher ohms at about 4-5 wraps. Definitely try not to go too low in ohms at first. The lower gauge the wire, the more wraps is required to keep the ohms above 1.5 ohm. I use a lighter for lighting candles, the longer ones with a handle that you can get just about anywhere. I twist my excess wire off with my fingers or use nail clippers. I bought a cheap small screwdriver set at the pharmacy with different tiny eyeglass type screwdrivers in it. Cheap and easy supplies. You can google 32 gauge kanthal and most of the first links that pop up are cheap from eBay. Mine was about $8 for a 100 foot spool with free shipping. You can use 100% sterile cotton or silica or ekowool. Alot of vendors sell them. The bully is also a nice starter RDA along with the Igo-l. They also allow you to easily drip and switch flavors.
 

Juicy jay

Full Member
Jul 20, 2013
52
25
Rochester, N.Y.
So 32 gauge kanthal wire for 2.2ohm and up? Can anyone tell me where to buy supplies from? Ive heard a lot complain of terrible quality kanthal wire, cotton and silica. Id also like to know a good drip tip for the igo L. Is there anything on these shopping lists of supplies that would change for me now that we know i decided on the Igo L and want to stick with 2.2+ ohms? TIA for all the misteps you guys are helping me to avoid/minimize.
 

IMFire3605

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May 3, 2013
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Blue Rapids, KS, US
Any 510 drip tip will work with the Igo-L. As far as my kanthal I buy it on Amazon from a company named Temco, and they are very reasonable on a 100 foot spool. My silica and ekowool again off a vendor on Amazon named Lightning Vapes in Florida, and sell in 21 foot sections. As one other stated, tools, a jewelers screwdriver set is pretty invaluable and can be found at Walmart, cotton wick you can use Walmart's "Peaches and Cream" pure 100% cotton yarn, just have to boil it in water and let dry as a pre-treating, just remember you can't dry burn cotton, it will go up like a match without liquid in it, cotton balls, Walgreens carries a 100% organic that you will be able to use, not bleached or anything so works real well. Want to stay cheap for now, a decent torch lighter and a can of butane for it, probably a local smoke shop will carry these, standard bic style lighter good for annealing metal, but when torching silica and ekowool you'll need the higher temps a torch lighter can provide. 32 agw kanthal on 2 and 3mm silica single strand will get to around 2.2 ohms with about 5 to 6 wraps. Just watch a few videos on ytube on how to wrap a coil, eventually you'll find a technique that works for you, and soon after you get it down where you can just about wrap and prep and coil with a blind fold on. Until you get a dedicated ohm meter or multi-meter later on, that ohm checker and safety circuitry in your Vamo and SVD can be your best friend ;)
 

Jonathan Tittle

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Sep 7, 2013
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The SVD will check resistance when you hold the - & + buttons together for a few seconds. It'll read out something like 1.8A which is 1.8Ω. It's very accurate from what I've seen (and I've used a box mod multi-meter to re-test).

I personally recommend the iGO-L for a starter Drip RBA. It's solid, simple and affordable at $13-$19.


In regards to Kanthal, you can grab about 100 feet on eBay for ~$5 and that includes shipping. For wick, I'd use unrolled cotton balls over silica. The flavor is better and there's no "break-in" period or torching required (you'll still want to torch the Kanthal, or use a lighter until it turns cherry red).

100' 32 Gauge Kanthal from Temco - I've ordered from them a dozen times already. They ship same day or next day depending on the time you order. I got mine in about 3 days and that includes the time it took to ship the order out.

Kanthal A1 Wire 32 Gauge 100 ft 0 25oz Resistance Resistor AWG A 1 | eBay


You can grab a bag of cotton balls (most prefer organic) for $3-$5 and have enough cotton to last a long long time. A single cotton ball can easily create 10-20+ wicks. The major thing with cotton versus silica, you can't dry burn cotton as it will catch on fire and give you a horrid burning taste. As long as you drip and keep it wet, you'll be fine. I've had wicks last 1-2 weeks and never burn.
 

JMarca

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Lots of things being compared in this thread have little to do with one another, I see RBAs, RDAs, and RTAs being recommended. If you're new don't go out and buy something too complex like an RTA (Kayfun, Ithaka, Odysseus). You might like genesis style atties such as the RSST or AGA-T2 but they can be a little more tricky to setup for a beginner. I'd personally start with a RDA, they're cheap easy to build and a good stepping stone to get your feet wet. Something like an Igo-L would be perfect in my opinion, then later if you like that move to something a little more advanced.
 
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