I have the the first lemo tank not the new lemo2. I have wrapped my own coil many times with some success and some not so much. I don't know the type of kanthal they give in stock but my mod is reading my wrap at 1.2 ohms and my build is wrapped 9 times. I'm not sure the wrapping size of my mandrel. It is just a nail that I've been using in place of a screwdriver. I've used of all the wire and cotton that came in the box and I'm looking to buy more. I just want to find the best build for my lemo so I need to know what kanthal to buy. Is rayon the brand or type of cotton and can you buy in stores?
OK, that's a step in the right direction. The wire that came with my Lemo2s measured out to about .36mm diameter, which is roughly 27 AWG. Putting this in the
Steam Engine Coil Calculator, I found that would make a 9 full wrap or a 10/9 half wrap coil on a 2mm mandrel for a 1.2Ω coil. Unfortunately, 27ga wire is not easy to come by. I suggest you try 28ga wire, which is freely available, and is an all-around handy gauge of wire to have around. I build in a dozen or more tanks and several times more drippers and use more 28 than all other sizes combined. Assuming your nail is 2mm in diameter, a 7 full wrap or an 8/7 half wrap will put you in the right ohm range. 28ga Kanthal A1 is the kind of wire you are looking for, and it is available in a wide variety of quantities all over eBay and in most online vape shops. The cheapest place to buy in bulk is
from the manufacturer, and they sell down to, if memory serves, spools of 100 feet. I usually buy mine 250 or 500 feet at a time, but I use a lot more than you, probably. I coiled Lemo2s with 28ga Kanthal for over a year and never had any problem, although I usually coiled mine in the .5Ω range.
Regarding cotton, probably the most popular type is KoGenDo Japanese Organic Cotton pads, and they are the same, or similar, to the pads I got with my Lemo2s. They, too, are available online on eBay or from online vape shops. They can also be bought in bulk, but I don't know where to tell you as I don't use it. Rayon (rayon is a brand name, the generic term is cellucotton) is a man-made, chemically identical version of cotton that is extruded in a factory rather than grown in a field. I like it a lot better than natural cotton, as I believe it tastes cleaner, wicks better, lasts longer and is more resistant to temperature than natural cotton. YMMV, that's an opinion and not everyone agrees. It, too, is available in small quantities on eBay-- just search for "rayon vape wick" or "Japanese Organic Cotton vape wick"-- and is also cheaper than organic cotton wick material, too. I buy-- bought, I'll never need any more-- my rayon from Sally's Beauty Supply and got the 3-pund box, which is about 25 lifetime's supply. A 5' test batch on eBay will be 4-6 bucks and last a year, probably. Other wick materials are also available; I started with a $2 bag of drug store brand organic cotton balls, myself.
Regarding safety, I really do recommend the purchase of a stand alone ohmmeter. I just think is adds a bit of safety to the project, and the meter itself is a lot easier to use as a build stand than building on the mod itself. They run $10-15 on eBay for a cheap but functional one, and top quality from
USAOhmmeters at $27 plus shipping. There are also
coil tool kits available containing an ohmmeter as well. Winding on a nail works, and you may not want to get deeper into it. But I find it a lot easier. If you use Steam Engine as I linked above to help design your coils, you will also find having different sized mandrels available is really useful to change the ohms and still keep wraps the same. The coil tool I like best is this one:
You can see it's just a simple piece of step-turned stainless; 3 bucks at
MyFreedomSmokes, plus ship.
All that is just my
. What you need is 28ga Kanthal A1, and some KoGenDo pads. That's the answer to your questions.
