Do all of these people really make their own coils?

[Kropotkin]

If you are like some of us, you will end up with some amazingly crazy setups that you will brag about 50 years from now.

I'm not quite that snazzy just yet, but yeah - if you'd told me a year ago that I'd one day love studying pictures of twisted ribbon quad coils I would have fallen down laughing.

I thought people like that were obsessive compulsive lunatics with no life and way too much time on their hands. So there you go.

 

[JQside]

Everything is unnecessarily expensive in the e-cig business, from thin wires to tiny plastics. People are selling items at a price about twenty times the cost of producing them. Well, it doesn't look expensive to the customer, but it is in the long run. And that mostly drives people into DIY'ing their hardware and liquids.

For example, you actually have the option of not rebuilding your own coils because replacement coils are available. But these tiny replacements still cost an average of $2, which are mass produced at 2c per piece). Again, cheap compared to real cigarettes or replacing the whole tank.

 

[dice57]

Don't know about everyone, but I certainly build my own coils and wick them. The learning process can be tedious and intense, then there is the fine tuning of each rba, to optimize it for its best vape potential. But once you have it down, building produces the best trouble free vaping experience. A good coil will last for months, and re-wicking takes no longer than changing out a coil head. I usually get 1-3 weeks off the same wick without needing to change and dry burn.

A builder tends to change things out before it is needed, trying to find a better combination. Hardest part about building is knowing when to leave it alone and just enjoy the vape. lmao.

 

[BulletStopper]

I rebuild. Not for saving money (there is no way to make such a claim while buying $110 Kayfuns, Russians, etc.). I do so because I find it to be the absolute best flavor I have had. It takes a bit of time invested, some basic tools, and some patience. I have been richly rewarded for my investment in rebuilding.

Agreed and I do the same, on the same devices. I'm still new to rebuilding, but it still doesn't take me much longer than priming a new carto.

 

[SpettroJoe]

out of 7 people at work that i know of that vape i am the only one who builds coils, so i would say that the vapers that build coils is a small majority that just like to have fun and tinker.

 

[rodsky77]

Building your own coils and and wicks not only allows you to control the quality of your vape via the resistance of the coil, but allows you to use different materials for wicks as well as saving a ton of money. But it's easier to build coils for rebuildable atomizers like the Kayfun.

A Kayfun clone on FastTech is $20, a bag of organic cotton balls is $2-$5 and a roll of 100 feet of kanthal A1 wire is $5-$6 - and all you need is a PV that measures the resistance of a coil (ProVari, Vamo, SVD, etc) - making a coil takes 5-10 minutes and you can reuse it for 2 months or so and the cotton wick needs to be changed every 15-20 ml of juice. In summary, you spend $30 for a tank and supplies that will last you a year, maybe more - depending on how much you vape.

A ProTank 2 is $20 and a pack of coils is like $5-$8 - this setup will last you a lot less than a year.

 

[NicoHolic]

To see how easy it is, strip the thin wire out of one of those bag ties in the produce department or on a loaf of bread. Get a 1/16" drill bit and practice wrapping a micro coil on it. Get a wisp of cotton from a ball or roll, or even off the end of a Q-tip and thread it through the coil. You'll be amazed at how easy it is to do.

Just so you don't understand... you can't use the wire above for vaping... you need to spend $5 or so for 100 foot roll of resistance wire from Temco. Gauge dependent on what ohm coil you want.

 

[Vapoor eyes er]

I switched to rebuilding my coils for 4 reasons:
- wanted a supposedly safer wick (cotton)
- savings (a fraction of the cost of a new head)
- LOVE tinkering (also do all my own work on my cars, home renos/ maintenance)
- enjoy being self sufficient

 

[wallacecarey]

I just rebuilt my first coil today. Had a kanger coil that was bad and a boge carto tank that was also bad and lots of time on my hands so decided to tear into them and see what was inside. Turns out there was enough wire in the Boge to use in rebuilding the Kanger coil. No idea what the guage or type of wire was in the Boge tank, appeared to be Kanthanal. Grabbed the smallest drill from the toolbox, 1/8" and the only cotton I could find in the house, the end of a Q-tip and dove in. Did a 5 wrap coil on the drill bit, installed in the Kanger and got 2.2 ohms and a really good vape off it. Don't be afraid of doing this, its quite easy just small parts your working with. I was suprised to find the amount of charred crap that had attached itself to the old burnt Kanger coil.

I have watched many youtube videos on rebuilding coils. some wraps touching some not. I intended for mine to touch and wrapped them touching on the drill bit. Yet after installing the cotton wick and getting the coil back into the head I noticed they had seperated about the distance of one wrap except I think the last 2 wraps are touching....so all I know is that ohms and vape is at least as good as a new coil. Touching coils or not touching, why and whats best either or combo appear to work fine in the end?


Wallace

 

[Thunderball]

Im a coil builder due to the explosion of the Kayfun type toppers. To me they are the pinnacle of vaping right now and pocket friendly.

So..I had to learn. Like many have said, its second nature now, easy to do after you understand what your doing and why........ and a coil just lasts a long time. As previously said, the cotton can be replaced quickly and the savings can be very great.

Rebuildable Dripping attys are also a good reason to build your own coils. Great for testing many juices at one time.

All of my coils (family of 4 vapers) are over two months old. Were probalbly talking at least 20 different toppers.


Many dont do it and thats ok too.......I didnt for a long time.

 

[mare ze dotes]

You need to love tinkering to do it. I don't. I took one apart as I saw the youtube. Nope, not for me. I hate futzy little work. I say go to all who do but, I will stay with just replacing heads. Screw on screw off.

 

[ions]

building your own coils is a love/hate relationship

when it goes wrong it will ruin your day but when it goes right and you get that great vape, its like heaven

 

[edyle]

I had someone at the shop replace my coil & wick in front of me so I could see how it was done. I bought extra wick and coil from them and after a few weeks it was time to change the wick out. Did it on my own in about ten minutes! Good to know how to do it, save a little money here and there. Of course this is a drip tip (atomizer) setup so anything outside of that and I'm lost.

What kind of system is it? a rebuildable dripping atomiser? (rda)

 

[edyle]

Thanks for that reply, patkin. I got extra wicks with my clearomizers and was a little apprehensive about the idea of changing them out. So it sounds pretty easy. That's cool.

What kind is it? Most likely those are flavor wicks.

 

[edyle]

I'm a jeweler, also trained in watchmaking.
Building coils is nothing.
Cheaper, better and eventually less messing around than even if money was no object and you bought new attys instead of cleaning them.

Perfect; local vapers can drop their old coils for you to rebuild!

 

[K_Tech]

To see how easy it is, strip the thin wire out of one of those bag ties in the produce department or on a loaf of bread. Get a 1/16" drill bit and practice wrapping a micro coil on it. Get a wisp of cotton from a ball or roll, or even off the end of a Q-tip and thread it through the coil. You'll be amazed at how easy it is to do.

Just so you don't understand... you can't use the wire above for vaping... you need to spend $5 or so for 100 foot roll of resistance wire from Temco. Gauge dependent on what ohm coil you want.

Hmmm... I'm gonna go home after work and check the resistance of my bag tie wire...

Look for the "Bag-Tie Pico-Coil" video on YouTube soon, lol...

 

[Imperialbeachboy]

I do. I have made at least 100. It's pretty easy.

 

[Bunnykiller]

I would say its a 50/50 thing, people new to vaping will avoid coil making for a while, but the vaping bug will bite and the itch begins... upgrading to better tanks usually goes hand in hand with coil making, allows one to find the best coil/wick configuration to bring out the best in the juice...

 

[ycromo]

i rebuild because after trying a kayfun or a Reo, a protank or similar just doesn't cut it in consistency, flavor and vapor.

 

[Myk]

Perfect; local vapers can drop their old coils for you to rebuild!

I'm afraid even minimal labor charges would price that out of reach.

By "nothing" I meant "no big tedious deal" not "free". When I tried knitting with sewing thread and 2 straight pins that was a big tedious deal.