Hobo users, any advice on my build? Tried parallel verticals and it's not working out.

[johndoe1027]

Hello all. Thought I'd try the Hobo clone from CLT. I like the RDA itself for the most part. I saw a lot of people saying that the vert coils were the way to go on the hobo so I gave it a try. It's my first stab at vertical coils, and my first build on the Hobo, and it's not good so far. I did 6 parallel wraps of 28ga around 1/8" and it ended up around 0.35 ohms. The next coils will be a smaller diameter because these barely fit. I also pushed the wick down after juicing it up as this setup blocked airflow completely. Now I'm not getting a lot of vapor and a ton of juice condensation under the drip tip and a little spitting as well. I don't think it's the RDA's fault, it's most likely my build but I'm not sure where I messed up. Both coils light up nicely when I dry fire them and they aren't touching the ring that threads over them.

What did I do wrong aside from too much wick sticking out? I can take more pics, just not sure which angles will help the most.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[State O' Flux]

I have an authentic Hobo as well as an Infinite clone at my disposal, and both work quite nicely with horizontal or vertical coils. So I do have a few thoughts... YMMV.

You already know that 1/8" ID (3.2mm) is pretty large considering the space available. I find that 1.5-2.0mm (1/16"-5/64") would be better choices.

Based on the photos, you might want to move the coils closer to the center of the juice well semicircles... which would improve air flow around the coils. The center terminal 'wall' tends to restrict side to side air cross-flow somewhat.

At lower resistances, horizontal coils, with both wick tales in the juice, will improve capillary motion to the 'in-coil' portions of the wick... sometimes a problem with the rapid juice consumption associated with deep sub-ohm and/or chain vaping.

Last thing... per Steam Engine, your build data doesn't add up. Dual parallel, 28 gauge 6 wrap coils on a 1/8" mandrel would produce a net resistance of around 0.6Ω+. You'd need a smaller mandrel and/or fewer wraps to obtain 0.35Ω. 26 or 27 gauge wire would be preferable, IMO.

That's about it. the Hobo is a really neat design... and although it's not yet taken the place of the Origen and Veritas as my favorites, the more I use them, the closer they get. Have fun with it. ;-)

 

[johndoe1027]

Thank you so much for your advice SOF. I think I'll try a horizontal setup next since I have more experience with them. I'll find a 5/64" bit and shoot for a little lower resistance this time. Maybe 0.3 or lower. I'm used to 0.18 but that's in a RDA with much more airflow.

That steam engine calculator is pretty confusing to me at the moment. I don't see where it has an option for parallel coils so I was calculating for a dual coil @ 0.7 and 0.125". That came out to 6 wraps.

To be clear, I have 2 coils, each of those are 2 pieces of Kanthal in parallel. 4 pieces of Kanthal total. If it says a dual coil @ 0.7 is 6 wraps then 2 of those in parallel would be 0.35 right? Aha, a quad coil is the same as 2 dual parallels. Now it's making sense (to me at least).

In my defense I hadn't used that calculator until 5 minutes ago. By using the Quad coil math, I can do 5 parallel wraps of 30ga around a 5/64" to get 0.3 ohm. I bet if I try that horizontal it'll work better in the Hobo. That'll be a WAY smaller coil.

I'm glad I spent a little time getting to know that calculator. Thank you. Was just messing around with quad vs hex to see the difference between 2 dual parallel and 2 triple parallel coils. Neat stuff.

Thanks again for your help. Hope you have a great weekend!

 

[johndoe1027]

Got it! :highfive:

5 dual parallel wraps of 28ga around a 0.8" screwdriver. Horizontal coils @ 0.23 ohm. Vaping great so far! Just filled 'er up and chain vaped about a dozen big ol hits without a refill. Good flavor, big heavy clouds and no hint of a dry hit. It's wicking really well.

Thanks for your help State O Flux.

 

[State O' Flux]

I think you mean 0.080" (5/64")... but if you're getting the net resistance you want, then all is well is vape land. ;-)

Cheers...

 

[johndoe1027]

I think you mean 0.080" (5/64")... but if you're getting the net resistance you want, then all is well is vape land. ;-)

Cheers...

You are correct sir. 0.08" which is just a tad larger than 5/64". Not 0.8" which would be REALLY hard to fit into any normal atty. What's worse is I even put 0.8" into the Steam Engine calc at least once. Took me a minute to figure out how 0.75 wraps was going to work....

 

[CloudKick]

Thank you so much for your advice SOF. I think I'll try a horizontal setup next since I have more experience with them. I'll find a 5/64" bit and shoot for a little lower resistance this time. Maybe 0.3 or lower. I'm used to 0.18 but that's in a RDA with much more airflow.

That steam engine calculator is pretty confusing to me at the moment. I don't see where it has an option for parallel coils so I was calculating for a dual coil @ 0.7 and 0.125". That came out to 6 wraps.

To be clear, I have 2 coils, each of those are 2 pieces of Kanthal in parallel. 4 pieces of Kanthal total. If it says a dual coil @ 0.7 is 6 wraps then 2 of those in parallel would be 0.35 right? Aha, a quad coil is the same as 2 dual parallels. Now it's making sense (to me at least).

In my defense I hadn't used that calculator until 5 minutes ago. By using the Quad coil math, I can do 5 parallel wraps of 30ga around a 5/64" to get 0.3 ohm. I bet if I try that horizontal it'll work better in the Hobo. That'll be a WAY smaller coil.

I'm glad I spent a little time getting to know that calculator. Thank you. Was just messing around with quad vs hex to see the difference between 2 dual parallel and 2 triple parallel coils. Neat stuff.

Thanks again for your help. Hope you have a great weekend!

On Steam Calculator where you choose your wire, click (Round) to choose Twisted / Parallel (same thing, well almost same)

 

[johndoe1027]

On Steam Calculator where you choose your wire, click (Round) to choose Twisted / Parallel (same thing, well almost same)

Would you look at that. :lightbulb: I never tried that drop down since I was using round Kanthal, not flat. Just tested to ensure that parallel duals = quads. It gave me 0.01 more wraps on the quad. That's what I classify as "close enough".

Thank you sir. Good looking out.

ETA - HolyF'nS**t. How did I miss your handle? Love me some Cloudkicker. I have Beacons on vinyl.

Also, a cautionary word to any Hobo users that happen upon this thread, my coils were too close to my insulator and I'm fairly sure I inhaled insulator fumes twice today. NFG. Don't build larger than 0.08" and keep them out toward the edge. Trust me, it's not a good flavor and headache will quickly ensue.

 

[player one]

Couple of videos posted by Hobo on FB and another one I saw on YT.
hobo v2.1 review + build! - YouTube
Review of the HoBo RDA by HoBo Customs - YouTube
Hobo v2.1 RDA by Hobo Customs Review *Showing My Fav Build/Wicking Method* - YouTube

 

[johndoe1027]

Couple of videos posted by Hobo on FB and another one I saw on YT.
hobo v2.1 review + build! - YouTube
Review of the HoBo RDA by HoBo Customs - YouTube
Hobo v2.1 RDA by Hobo Customs Review *Showing My Fav Build/Wicking Method* - YouTube

Thank you for posting those. Hopefully I will get a chance to watch the last two videos soon. Trevor has some long videos.

 

[dirzted]

dudeee was fully going back on forth on why my verticals weren't working out to good and i swear... DIAGONAL PSHHHHH MIND BLOWN ahahahahaha
... Nah but actually the verticals allow the vapor to run even faster out of the atty so that's why most people prefer them because it makes the vape denser and somewhat more flavorful, however, it is somewhat troubling to fit into the deck space and the cutting off of airflow by the wicks is also a big problem, so making it DIAGONAL makes it so the vape still shoots the .... outta the thing giving you great density and flavor, yet its way easier to fit into the deck and wick,

Honestly no matter which way you go in this thing its pretty damn hard to go wrong because its such a great atty, and the difference between horizontals and verticals and diagonals and whatever is pretty negligible, but still its fun to get the PERFECT vape for yourself.

Nano dragons are friggin great in this thing too btw, just a lil hard to wick.

 

[johndoe1027]

Thanks for the tips. I've been wanting to try a twisted coil and I've seen some diagonals so next I'll do a diagonal twisted.

Nano dragon is on the short list as well. Pretty soon I'll have 3 rda rigs and I'll be able to experiment with even more coils.

 

[JoppaRoadCruiser]

I'm glad I found this thread. Been rebuilding for a while and wanting to give parallel coils a try. Was researching the math involved but had no idea how to put that into Steam. Was doing the same math OP was initially doing.

 

[carlph]

Man really want that hobo

 

[dirzted]

I'm glad I found this thread. Been rebuilding for a while and wanting to give parallel coils a try. Was researching the math involved but had no idea how to put that into Steam. Was doing the same math OP was initially doing.

lol parallel resistance would be the same as a dual coil

 

[johndoe1027]

lol parallel resistance would be the same as a dual coil

Yes and dual coils that are each dual parallel is basically the same as a quad coil.

Man really want that hobo

I like my Mutation X better in almost every way. The Hobo has 4 posts, holds more juice and doesn't weep as much but everything else is better about the MX. The MXv2 has 4 posts.

 

[JoppaRoadCruiser]

lol parallel resistance would be the same as a dual coil

Dual parallel. Did you not read any of the thread? I see johndoe cleared that up.

 

[johndoe1027]

Dual parallel. Did you not read any of the thread? I see johndoe cleared that up.

Haha, eventually I did.

What is the proper phraseology for 2 dual parallel coils? I guess I just nailed it. It's confusing to type out. Dual triple parallels ≠ Triple dual parallels. Well, the math works out the same but the build is quite different. Now I've confused all of us, myself included.

I have dual dual parallel coils.

 

[AquaLung22]

I'm trying to get my Hobo clone (CLT) to work better. I took out the top o-ring off the wall so I could take the top cap off easier. I think I might've messed up the other o-ring or need to put the 2nd one back, because now it's not airtight - if I plug all the airholes and try to suck, a little air gets through either the cap or the 3rd airhole on the side. Maybe I'll try replacing all the o-rings

I had to trash my 1st 26g horizantal build because it was burning the insulator (damn that thing is high).
This time, I moved them closer to the airholes, and tried 10 wraps of 26g on a 5/64in bit; dual microcoils @ 0.5 ohms - I wanted to try a higher resistance, to try to run it on a higher wattage on my new IPV3.
..... ^ it's working OK, but it's real airy no matter what, and I feel the vapor should be thicker. I think it's the o-rings/air-leak, but I want to try a different build too.

Any suggestions?

 

[AquaLung22]

edit: I tried slanting the coils on this build at a 45degree angle this time, instead of horizantal like last time. Bottom of the coils meet the bottom of the airflow..

I also forgot to mention - I installed the coils on the wrong side, so I have to slightly unscrew the wall so that the airflow slots are in the right place (in front of the coils). This could be causing the slight leak, and the airy vape
?