Coil Questions

[Aheadatime]

Hey guys. I got some 28g Kanthal after hearing so much about microcoils/cotton (don't worry, I've done my battery/ohm's law research), and have been building my own for a few weeks now. Before that, I was using 32g and rebuilding anyway, so I have an idea of what I'm doing. I have two questions.

1. What color is your kanthal wire for the 28g users? Mine is sort of bronze-ish and that worries me. All of the youtube videos show people building with silver colored wire, the same color as my old 32g kanthal.

2. What do you guys use to torch your wire? I've been using a Bic but I've been having issues. The wire will turn black and crusty, as if it's burning off a layer of lube or machine oil or something. My assumption is that since the 28g is thicker, I need more heat to properly torch it, and the Bic is just no longer working. Thus, the low amount of heat is just sort of toasting the wire instead of properly heating it to the core. No clue what I'm talking about tbh, just intuition.

Lately the coils have been tasting funny, and I have a feeling its due to the way I torch them. I dunno, it could also be the amount of cotton I stuff into the wick. I'm still not sure if I should leave visible space of if the cotton should be touching the entire inside of the coil, as if its almost difficult to pull it through the other end. Help?

 

[Rmcgloth]

Ok. What strikes me from your post is the carbon from the lighter torching. Butane builds up more carbon, especially Chinese lighters. Just wipe it off, it it bugs you. As for the cotton, it should have a little resistance when pulled through, but no bunched shoulders at the outsides of the coil. If it can't slide back and forth it is too tight IMHO. When you get it right you will know, I it s a great vape

 

[JD1]

.........1. What color is your kanthal wire for the 28g users? Mine is sort of bronze-ish and that worries me. All of the youtube videos show people building with silver colored wire, the same color as my old 32g kanthal. .....

Mine is silver colored just like the videos and I don't think I've ever seen any that looked any different. I use a1 because I thought we weren't supposed to use d, but I see where some folks do. But even if it's d, it should still be silver.

Is it something that will rub off with a paper towel or is it the metal? Either way I think I'd look at replacing it. I use lightningvapes on ebay...$5.00 for 50 foot.

Edit: I forgot to add that I also use a bic. It'll get the wire plenty hot for annealing and removing any surface oil. I keep the wire down in the flame and rarely get any soot, but if I do, I just wipe it off with a paper towel. If your wire is actually turning black it might be because of whatever is making it appear bronze looking.

 

[Aheadatime]

Thanks for the help guys, good info. The wire that I'm using is A1, and looking at it more closely it is indeed silver colored, but not as reflective as my 30 or 32g. I suppose that's simply because its thicker. And that cotton tip was much appreciated Rmc, I built another coil today and that helped me give it the right amount of cotton.

As for the carbon, it gets wiped off after my first torch (to straighten the wire), but the issue is after I wrap a coil and torch it again to get it to stay 'coiled'/tighten up the spacing with needle nose pliers. Since carbon is inside the coil, on the outside of the coil, and on the 'legs' of the coil, its a pain to wipe all of that down without ruining the shape/tightness of the coil. When I see videos on youtube, people who have an actual torch don't seem to have any buildup at all. The coil just glows bright red and then returns to reflective silver right after.

JD, do you torch your coil after it's wrapped, and if so, how do you deal with the carbon buildup at that point?

 

[JD1]

.................JD, do you torch your coil after it's wrapped, and if so, how do you deal with the carbon buildup at that point?

I just flame it a little, mostly to make it a little less springy, then wrap very tightly on an 1.5 mm allen key. Then I mount the coil and pulse it, then squeeze it together with a pair of long nose pliers. I repeat the pulse/squeeze two or three time if needed.