Diameter of coils

[bcameron]

Since started vaping about a month an a half ago I went from an iTaste V3 and Aspire BDC's to Mechanicals and rebuild-able coils. I have settled on micro coils with cotton wick. I know the type of vape you get depends on many factors such as wire thickness, ohm, voltage, wick, airflow,ect. So many variables but I have a pretty good idea what to expect when changing them. The one variable, if it is even a variable, that I don't see to many people talking about is ID (inner diameter) of a coil. What effect does this have from smaller to larger. Let us say that all other variables are the same:

28g Kanthal
cotton wick
1.4ohm
same tank
same voltage
same airflow

So with a 1mm diameter I might have 8 wraps and with 2mm diameter I might have 6 wraps to get the same ohm reading. Every other variable is the same. Theoretically wick to wire coverage should be the same. So is there any difference between the two? Will one diameter give me a different vape to another. My guess is no or at least very insignificant.

Any thoughts?

 

[super_X_drifter]

Inner diameter is the driving force of micro coils. Wrap count is also key.

A proper micro coil has a diameter between
1.4 - 1.65 mm. Touching or very close wraps also define a proper micro coil.

Hear is a little fact sheet about em:

Here's a chart showing measured resistance using a 1.5 mm mandrel and the most practical wire gauges for micro coils:

 

[bcameron]

Interesting chart but this is first I heard of there being this exact standard to define a micro coil. Some of those things seem like personal preference like the number of wraps and minimum of 2.0ohm. In fact I have ever heard or read that before. Most people who are building 1ohm+ and calling them micro coils as well as diameters smaller or greater then the one on that sheet. This seems more of what one person considers a micro coil. Now I can see how the diameter would be considered as a cross between micro and nano say under 1ohm but not such a small range like stated.

 

[super_X_drifter]

Interesting chart but this is first I heard of there being this exact standard to define a micro coil. Some of those things seem like personal preference like the number of wraps and minimum of 2.0ohm. In fact I have ever heard or read that before. Most people who are building 1ohm+ and calling them micro coils as well as diameters smaller or greater then the one on that sheet. This seems more of what one person considers a micro coil. Now I can see how the diameter would be considered as a cross between micro and nano say under 1ohm but not such a small range like stated.

B, you don't get on ECF much I take it. Let me guess - most of your "micro coil" info came from you tube vid celebs right?

It's ok, they misconstrued the whole deal so it's no wonder you have it kinda wrong.

If you were look either a few threads up or down for a thread called "micro coils to increase vapor flavor and throat hit" - yep that one with like 10,000 posts in it, you would educate yourself on what a micro coil really is. It all originated there. Well no, actually it originated in the link in the first post thread long before the you tubers had a chance to mislead y'all.

Oh and I wouldn't call it personal preference, the perfect diameter and wrap count evolved over the course of the last year by contributions and observations from the many in that thread

And just a quick tidbit - if you look at that sheet a little closer, it suggests a 2+ ohm coil on VV device (cause you can crank up the power to take advantage of more wraps)

 

[bcameron]

Well I in fact have read tons on ECF. When I get into something I dive right in and research as much as possible. I might not have read that thread you reference but I have read a lot about micro coils on ECF and not everybody follows that sheet and this is the first time I saw it referenced. One of the first posts that come up in a quick search for micro coils is http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/reos-mods/446263-micro-coils-ohms-description.html and as you can see they are not all following that sheet. The fact is I can pull up tons of posts on ECF about micro coil builds and they will not fall within that 'standard'.

I know your a respected veteran here and there have been quit a few of your posts that helped me out. So not trying to be a ....., but the fact is whether on youtube or ECF there are a lot of people who are not following this standard. Same as on other forums. I am not dismissing the fact that this is the official standard but it doesn't seem to be the defacto standard.

Anyways to get back to original reason for this post and that the sheet did not answer is what difference does the diameter make to a vape assuming all other variables are the same. Micro coil/non micro coil whatever.

 

[Lessifer]

by all accounts, super_x is the originator of the micro coil, so it is what he says it is. Whether or not the rest of the world follows that is another thing.

To answer your question though, yes ID does make a difference. There's a reason why he pointed you at the very long micro coil thread, there are evolutions of various coil types that eventually became the nano coil, and the mini coil, both of which produce markedly different vapes than a micro coil. 1mm ID would be nano, 2mm ID would be mini. I haven't played too much on either end of the spectrum but I can tell you that larger ID coils don't benefit as much from the micro design because they're not sharing heat across this wick, so they're less efficient and the vapor and flavor are less than a micro coil. You can somewhat accommodate that by upping the power, but not fully. Nano coils to me have a higher throat hit, and a sharper flavor, and you usually have to use another method of wicking them, usually a cotton bed.

 

[Lessifer]

Oh yeah, if you play around with them enough, you'll learn that ANY variable can make a difference.

Wire gauge
ID
Number of wraps
wick thickness
wick length
coil orientation
coil distance from air hole
coil height

to name a few.

 

[bcameron]

Thanks. That was the answer I'm looking for. I have probably built about a hundred coils trying out different builds to see what I like best but couldn't find or search for what difference it would make with slightly smaller or larger ID.

 

[SLIPPY_EEL]

there are a lot of people that don't really know what a micro coil is or presume that what they ave made is a micro and that's why you say what you say about sxd's list being personal

 

[SLIPPY_EEL]

Oh and personally I find bigger diameter like a big fat slug... all wet and juicy with soso flavour... 1/16 is everything all packed into one... even use nanos with cotton wick inside at 0.7 np

 

[Lessifer]

IMO the only reason to go bigger than 1/16th would be if you're using something other than cotton, something that doesn't hold as much juice within the coil, so you need it to vaporize slower. For instance, silica doesn't do well in a micro, but it does pretty good in a mini. YMMV of course.

 

[SLIPPY_EEL]

IMO the only reason to go bigger than 1/16th would be if you're using something other than cotton, something that doesn't hold as much juice within the coil, so you need it to vaporize slower. For instance, silica doesn't do well in a micro, but it does pretty good in a mini. YMMV of course.

yes agreed.... i bought some special voodoo wool which from what i gather is almost 100% silica but doesn't unravel at the ends like normal cheaper stuff.. smallest diameter was 2mm... set a 4 wrap open coil over it and its pretty good... but as soon as you get used to the cotton and micro's it hard to use anything else for 5 mins