First Time Builder Advice

[wrath186]

Ok, so I've been vaping for over a year now and have decided to try my hand at rebuilding tanks. I've got a Kayfun Lite on the way along with a copper Vanilla mod. My copper Nemesis clone arrived today and I have successfully replaced the switch springs with magnets(kind of proud that I didn't lose, drop or otherwise fudge up that little bottom post in the switch housing!)

I've got all of my tools, including a meter, but I'm having a difficult time deciding on where to start with Kanthal and wick. I'm currently vaping my Innokin SVD with Kanger T2 and T3 with heads in the 2.5 range with AWD 18560 and 18350 button top batteries and I would like to stay in that ohm range until I get more confident with my building skills.

My thoughts are to build using 32 or 34g for the 2-3 ohm range and 1.5 silica for the wick.

Any thoughts?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

[ElConquistador]

I've got 28, 30, and 32 gauge Kanthal on hand, and I've settled on 30 as a great all-around wire...not too thick, not too thin. I would not recommend 34 gauge, even though I have no experience with it, because it seems like it would be very difficult to work with.

 

[Cool-breeze]

I'm one of those that prefer cotton. I find it's easier to work with vs cotton. To each their own as the both have their place. I use 32g myself and I'm consistently in the range you want. If you're wanting to rebuild for the t3s I'd suspect 30 (wrapped micro) would work better for you.

 

[Blackboar]

I would have 28 and 30 gauge on hand. If you order from Temco, 100ft of kanthal is like $7-8 and shipping is free. For me, those 2 gauges work for all my builds. If I want thicker wire for my RDA's, I can just twist the 30 or even the 28 gauge for a really nice low resistance build.

Currently, my Magma is built with a dual coil twisted 28 gauge build, coming out to 0.30 ohms. My Omega clone is a dual coil twisted 30 gauge build, coming out to 0.6 ohms. I build my Kayfun using straight 28 gauge or twisted 30 gauge. I build that to 1.5-1.6 ohms.

When I first started rebuilding, I bought 34 gauge, intending to use it for my Protanks. That was a mistake for me. I get much better performance building a 1.8 ohm coil using 30 gauge.

 

[Btsmokincat]

Ok, so I've been vaping for over a year now and have decided to try my hand at rebuilding tanks. I've got a Kayfun Lite on the way along with a copper Vanilla mod. My copper Nemesis clone arrived today and I have successfully replaced the switch springs with magnets(kind of proud that I didn't lose, drop or otherwise fudge up that little bottom post in the switch housing!)

I've got all of my tools, including a meter, but I'm having a difficult time deciding on where to start with Kanthal and wick. I'm currently vaping my Innokin SVD with Kanger T2 and T3 with heads in the 2.5 range with AWD 18560 and 18350 button top batteries and I would like to stay in that ohm range until I get more confident with my building skills.

My thoughts are to build using 32 or 34g for the 2-3 ohm range and 1.5 silica for the wick.

Any thoughts?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

I would definitely go with 30 gauge. 32 gauge is so darn springy and (IMO) hard to capture under the screws without messing up the coil. Personally I have two Kayfun Lite clones both on MVP2's and my favorite builds are 1.3 to 1.8 Ohms.

Here's a big tip! If you have an Android device, download "Vaper's Toolbox"! It's free on Google play and it will be a huge help in rebuilding. It's an awesome app that lets you input the type of coil, wire, size of coil and desired ohms and it tells you how many wraps to make.

According to my Vaper's Toolbox: 30 gauge + 2mm diameter (5/64 drill bit) + 2.5 desired Ohms = 11/10 wraps!

Oh and Vaper's Toolbox was made by ScottP, a member here and he is always willing to help with any app issues (though I've never had one).

 

[wrath186]

Ok. I'm gonna go with 28g and 30g with 1.5mm wick on hand. I'll see how what goes.

Last question, anyone still vaping Kangers on their mech? I usually see rebuildables as toppers, but was wondering if anyone uses prewrapped tanks along with their mechs.

 

[Dissonance]

Ok. I'm gonna go with 28g and 30g with 1.5mm wick on hand. I'll see how what goes.

Last question, anyone still vaping Kangers on their mech? I usually see rebuildables as toppers, but was wondering if anyone uses prewrapped tanks along with their mechs.

Not really, the ones your build yourself are gonna be so much better than the factory coils 99/100 times. I could see people using self-wrapped coils on their mechs, but you don't really wanna do anything too low resistance so you don't melt that insulator. But because of that... Attys that are designed to be rebuilt generally perform better than attys with replacement coils that you can rebuild... So most people rebuilding end up switching to a... Well... Rebuildable

But yeah... 34g is gonna be a bit too thin, even 32g you'll be hitting pretty high resistances easily. I used 32g for a dual coil and still managed to get it to 2.2Ω (When you wrap dual coils, the overall resistance is equal to half of one coils resistance... So 2.2Ω is 2x 4.4Ω coils). 28/30/32 would be nice, just so you have some different wire to play with, especially once you wanna try out twisted builds. I know when I wrapped my own kanger coils, I used 30g... It'll put you in that 1.5Ω-2.5Ω range depending on your # of wraps with a microcoil.

Also, silica is probably a bit more forgiving than cotton (If your wrap is too tight and you get dry hits at least you can try to slowly finish your tank of juice rather than have to drain it to rebuild since the cotton would burn up), but most people end up switching to cotton for superior wicking and it's just plain cheaper. Ofc to each their own, tho.

 

[wrath186]

Also, silica is probably a bit more forgiving than cotton (If your wrap is too tight and you get dry hits at least you can try to slowly finish your tank of juice rather than have to drain it to rebuild since the cotton would burn up), but most people end up switching to cotton for superior wicking and it's just plain cheaper. Ofc to each their own, tho.

That's what I figured. I've been reading that cotton gives you a better flavor, but I want something more forgiving at first just to get the mechanics down.

 

[jblindy]

Building coils is not difficult at all. There is a plethora of You Tube videos that will walk you through the process step by step. I started out rebuilding coils for my protank 3 using kanthal and silica. I quickly switched to cotton and it's actually much easier to build a good coil using cotton than it is using silica. I then graduated to an RSST, then on to my Kayfun Lite and my Kayfun 3.1.

My suggestion is to watch a .... load of videos.

 

[wrath186]

Building coils is not difficult at all. There is a plethora of You Tube videos that will walk you through the process step by step. I started out rebuilding coils for my protank 3 using kanthal and silica. I quickly switched to cotton and it's actually much easier to build a good coil using cotton than it is using silica. I then graduated to an RSST, then on to my Kayfun Lite and my Kayfun 3.1.

My suggestion is to watch a .... load of videos.

Yeah, I've been watching a few videos and I'm probably overthinking it, but I'd rather err on the side of caution.

 

[mightymen]

Online coil building Calculator Steam Engine | free vaping calculators

 

[olefolks]

Wrath, here is a video made by the man that actually started the micro coil venture. This is all you need plus some Koh Gen Do cotton.
MICRO COILS 101 - PART 1 MAKING THE COIL USING THE COIL GIZMO - YouTube

 

[wrath186]

Wrath, here is a video made by the man that actually started the micro coil venture. This is all you need plus some Koh Gen Do cotton.
MICRO COILS 101 - PART 1 MAKING THE COIL USING THE COIL GIZMO - YouTube

Awesome!!! that jig was amazing and under ten dollars at amazon.


Also, vaper's toolbox app calculates the wraps for desired ohms and what watts you'll be vaping at. Can't wait for my gear to get here!!