I made vapor!

[bwh79]

I've been DIY'ing my own liquid for a little while now (mostly just unflavored, sometimes with a little menthol), and today I wrapped my first coils! Go me! I just got a Magma (clone) rda from fasttech the other day, and I installed one of the little pre-wired wicks (about 3 ohms) that came with it. But today, I decided to try my hand at actually doing it myself, not just "installing" a pre-wrapped coil and calling it my own. Dual 28g, 6 spaced wraps each around a Q-tip rod (comes out to .56 ohms on my rDNA40) and wicked with rayon (wick and wire generously donated by @JC Okie). I wasn't shooting for any particular target resistance, I just wrapped something that looked good and hoped for the best; I figured the regulated mod would keep me safe in case I did anything horribly wrong, but it appears that all is good. I tried vaping it at 40 watts just for the hell of it; was a little harsh that way, but took it back down to 25W and it's hitting real nice, doing lung hits on the middle airflow setting. The 6mg liquid that I'm using might be a bit much, still, so I think perhaps I'll mix up some 3mg later and see if that isn't a little nicer on my throat. What's that, you say, this thread is useless without pictures? Well, then, here you go:

 

[ddirtyvapes]

Congratulations. First working coil always feels nice. Actually, first time making a working build that's different from your "usual" feels nice, so the feeling won't go away for a while...

You are basically correct that a regulated device should protect you from any major mishaps, but do make sure that the resistance of your coil isn't jumping around too much. If it is, try tightening the screws. If that doesn't solve it, it's probably not a great build. As long as it's staying within a reasonable range (say +/- .05 ish either way, maybe a little more) you're probably OK.

 

[bwh79]

You are basically correct that a regulated device should protect you from any major mishaps, but do make sure that the resistance of your coil isn't jumping around too much. If it is, try tightening the screws.

Yeah, I made sure the screws were good and tight, doing the old "push and tug" before I snipped off the legs (they were a little loose at first, since I didn't want to wrench down on them too hard -- I was afraid of "cutting" the wires with the post screws -- but I cinched it down a bit tighter then, and no more movement). The resistance is reading pretty rock-solid at .56, sometimes showing .55 or .57, but that's the extent of it. I did give it a few test fires first, held at arm's length, before I put it anywhere near my face

I am finding that I might prefer the mouth-to-lung style, over these direct lung hits, but tightening up the airflow, with this setup and this juice, is making me cough a little bit. I suppose I'll either get used to the lung hits, or else try, try again. Or, I suppose I could just snip off one of the coils (without loosening the screws, so the other one stays seated) and make it a 1.1-ohm single?

I am loving how the dripper allows me to switch flavors easily (I still have a bunch of retail juice lying around, in addition to my unflavored DIY) without having to go through a whole tankful of the first one. Now, I'm just worried that I'll forget to drip and end up scorching my wick; the one I had in there before had a silica wick and I did end up with a dry hit once, yesterday, because I let it go too far without dripping.

 

[ddirtyvapes]

If you feel like you want to take out one of those coils, I'd personally recommend totally shutting off your device so there's no accidental misfire (or putting it on something without a battery), inserting something-- I guess in this case, a q-tip or even a toothpick-- into the coil you are NOT removing, and carefully taking out the second one. On the one hand I can't really think of what the harm is in snipping it off like you said, but it's messy and probably just not the best idea to have unnecessary tiny pieces of wire left in your post holes, you know? If you miss one of them later and it gets in the wrong place, it could cause a short.

Lots of people like both lung hits and mouth-to-lung depending on the situation. If and when you get a second RDA, you could always set each one a little differently, one for lung and one for MtL. However, I have definitely heard that the Magma is good for mouth to lung hits as a result of the relatively restricted airflow (compared to a cloud chasing atty anyway). That said, I'd hazard a guess it's the 6mg juice that's making you cough but of course I don't know for sure. It really wasn't that long ago that I was using 18mg juice... not in a subohm set up of course... and now I can barely use 3mg in my dripper without it feeling a bit crazy on the throat hit.

You may find this not to be true and I don't have a Magma, but I don't think you'll have too much trouble "forgetting" to drip. I'm relatively new to RDAs myself but so far in my experience, it starts tasting harsh well before it goes bone-dry. I'm sure this varies a little depending on the wicking material and overall set-up, but I've gotten more than a couple of hits that made me say "uh oh I bet that wick just got scorched" and it wasn't even close.

 

[Darth Omerta]

Congrats on your first build! Fair warning, the builders bug is hard to fight. I ended up getting 2 extra RDAs so i can always have at least one functional and 2 more for tinkering lol!

 

[bwh79]

Congrats on your first build! Fair warning, the builders bug is hard to fight. I ended up getting 2 extra RDAs so i can always have at least one functional and 2 more for tinkering lol!

Yeah, I'm already window shopping for my next one . I've been eyeballing the Mutation X so I can "blow big clouds with the cool kids," but I might also like to get a tank system like an ST-mini or a Kayfun, so I can pocket it with less fear of leakage.

I know I had two of the Q-tip rods when I was building earlier (I used them to install both coils at the same time), but one of them seems to have evaporated completely. I've checked around the desk, under my chair, under the bed, under the keyboard, even in my shoes...nowhere to be found. I mean, it's not like it'll be hard to replace or anything -- there's a box of 200 in the bathroom -- but where the hell did it go? At least it's just a paper stick, and not a coil or piece of wire that went missing in my carpet...

Oh, and let's not forget... Choo choo, mother----er! Even though the Magma may not be a "cloud-chasing" RDA, I'm still getting a lot more vapor out of this than I did with the 3-ohm coil, or any of my little tootle-puffer tanks

 

[Darth Omerta]

If you're not big on direct lung hits then clouding will be tough to achieve. Not impossible, but quite difficult.

The mutation x has bottom airflow as well as side airflow. This could be a pain for a newish builder/dripper. Over dripping causes bottom airflow systems to leak a bit and you dont want that on your regulated mod. I have neen getting some pretty awesome clouds out of my Dark Horse and my Mutilator. Both have easy build decks and the Mutilator has airflow control like you wouldnt believe amd a very deep well.

 

[bwh79]

If you're not big on direct lung hits then clouding will be tough to achieve. Not impossible, but quite difficult.

I'm getting used to it

The mutation x has bottom airflow as well as side airflow. This could be a pain for a newish builder/dripper. Over dripping causes bottom airflow systems to leak a bit and you dont want that on your regulated mod.

Actually I was looking at the V2, which I think only has the side airflow?

 

[Darth Omerta]

Right you are! Go for it then! There are TONS of cloud chucking RDAs to choose from. Find one you like the look of and build away....just make sure to do it safe! I recommend bookmarking @Mooch blog and @Baditude blog. Tons of useful info on safe building there!

 

[Darth Omerta]

Almost forgot.... Steam Engine for calculating coil builds!

 

[ddirtyvapes]

It's a little over the Mutation price range but I got a Twisted Messes at My Freedom Smokes for 42.99 with a 15% off first-time coupon. If you're looking at Mutation clones it's way off and I'm pretty broke too so I totally understand if that's too much. Still, it's fairly reasonable for a great authentic RDA and I've been absolutely loving the Twisted Messes. Super beginner friendly too, definitely chucks vapor and good flavor as well. Bear in mind that if you have a halfway decent Magma clone, that's probably still close to the best you'll do in terms of flavor so others may seem a bit muted. But VapinwithTwisted420 said that the build Twisted Messes (the dude) sent him on his namesake RDA was "one of his best vaping experiences, period" and I'm loving the 28g dual twisted I have on there now. Just thought I'd throw it out there... I think there are clones, too!

And yes about the steam-engine calculator.

 

[crxess]

Put it on the largest set of holes and the harshness should subside. You are likely choking it down.
I have, use often and love my (2) Magma rda's, normally coiled to 6.5ohms
Also confirm your coils are at the same height off the deck and a minimum of about 3mm to let the air flow smoothly around the coils.

 

[bwh79]

6.5ohms

...that doesn't seem right...?

Put it on the largest set of holes and the harshness should subside. You are likely choking it down.

Honestly I can't tell much of (read: any) difference between the middle holes and the largest ones. I do have the coils down pretty close to the deck, though, maybe I'll try raising them up a little bit and see what effect that has on anything.

 

[Rixsta]

Congrats !