I need your help in purchasing my first RBA please

[New2vaps]

Hi everyone, I have been vaping now for over a year and basically started off with the clearomizers and then went to carto tanks, then went back to the clearomizers. The latest clearomizers such as the kanger mega tank are great. However I believe it is time for me to move on to rebuildables to enjoy more flavor.

I will be using a regulated mod, the Provari. I do not want to use a mechanical and do not want to do sub ohms. I would like to build my coil at around 1.4 ohms. I have a few questions and would like your help in buying my first rebuildable. All responses are welcome and I am learning from all of you. So thank you in advance.

1- I am leaning towards the Kayfun Lite Plus V2 Clone by EHPro from 101vape. I also so the original which is going for around $100.00. What are your thoughts, should I buy the clone for my first rebuildable? Is the original better? Do you recommend a better one to start with?

2- Cotton, I found Biowick organic cotton online. I really don't want to bother boiling cotton but yet I am afraid of any side effects from vaping cotton. Would you guys recommend this type of cotton or something else?

3- Kanthal wire. I would like to build a 1.4 since I will be using this on my Provari. What kanthal gauge should I buy, 28 guage? How many wraps should do to get about 1.4?

4- Seems as though 101vapes is out of Kanthal wire, you recommend another vendor to buy it from?

5- Ohms meter, do I need one? Since I have a Provari, will that do to check Ohms?

6- Torch, is there a small one I can pick up? Would using a lighter work instead?

Sorry guys, I have a lot of questions and this is my first one and would like to arm my self with as much information as possible. I would really appreciate any help I can get.

Thanks again

 

[State O' Flux]

Hi everyone, I have been vaping now for over a year and basically started off with the clearomizers and then went to carto tanks, then went back to the clearomizers. The latest clearomizers such as the kanger mega tank are great. However I believe it is time for me to move on to rebuildables to enjoy more flavor.

I will be using a regulated mod, the Provari. I do not want to use a mechanical and do not want to do sub ohms. I would like to build my coil at around 1.4 ohms. I have a few questions and would like your help in buying my first rebuildable. All responses are welcome and I am learning from all of you. So thank you in advance.

1- I am leaning towards the Kayfun Lite Plus V2 Clone by EHPro from 101vape. I also so the original which is going for around $100.00. What are your thoughts, should I buy the clone for my first rebuildable? Is the original better? Do you recommend a better one to start with?
I suppose, as you have your heart set on a KFK+V2... that you get one. The EhPro one is fine. Others to look at... Kebo R91%, SvoeMesto KFL+V2, Smokeshop Taifun GT, Gus Estia, Inverno Erlkönigin, Yiloong Fogger V4, Stattqualm sQuape R - and surprisingly enough considering the low price, the inexpensive and not fully quite in the US yet, the Smok X-Pure looks very interesting.

2- Cotton, I found Biowick organic cotton online. I really don't want to bother boiling cotton but yet I am afraid of any side effects from vaping cotton. Would you guys recommend this type of cotton or something else?
Sure... and ramie, hemp, rayon and even high quality braided silica are all worth consideration.

3- Kanthal wire. I would like to build a 1.4 since I will be using this on my Provari. What kanthal gauge should I buy, 28 guage? How many wraps should do to get about 1.4?
28 gauge is fine. Click on my first sig line hyperlink and you can figure it out for yourself with the SE coil modeling program.

4- Seems as though 101vapes is out of Kanthal wire, you recommend another vendor to buy it from? Direct from Temco, via eBay.

5- Ohms meter, do I need one? Since I have a Provari, will that do to check Ohms?
What you need is a DMM, but as you're not using a mech at this time, a ohm build box will be fine.

6- Torch, is there a small one I can pick up? Would using a lighter work instead?
You don't really need a torch... you can finish compressing a coil by firing it and giving a little squeeze with tweezers. With ceramic tweezers... even when you're firing it.

Sorry guys, I have a lot of questions and this is my first one and would like to arm my self with as much information as possible. I would really appreciate any help I can get.

Thanks again

Never hurts to ask. Click my second sig line hyperlink, while your in a clicking and reading mood. Have fun. ;-)

 

[jaxgator]

1- I ventured into RBAs with Kayfun 3.1 ES's. All of my initial ones were clones. They were pretty decent for clones. After learning all the manual aspects of RBAs (coiling, wicking, etc) I bought an authentic Russian 91%. Do I like it better than the Kayfun clones? Absolutely! Better machining and better finish. Did it produce a better vape? Nope, not really. That will all depend on your build.

2- I just use organic cotton balls from my local CVS straight out of the bag and haven't had any issues whatsoever.

3 & 4 - I use 28g Kanthal that I got from Amazon. Something like 8 bux for 100 ft. In my Kayfun style tanks I like to run between 1.2 - 1.5Ω. If I remember correctly, I get that with a 10/11 wrap around 1.5mm mandrel.

5- When I first started building RBAs I had a couple of Provaris and just used them since I wasn't sub-ohming. The Provari is pretty damn accurate so it should do you for now. I ended up purchasing a dedicated ohm meter in the end though.

6- I never torch my kanthal prior to use. I wrap my coil, install it, pulse it and lightly squeeze it with needle-nose pliers.

Best of luck to you in your new adventure.

[edit] Oops! I meant a 2mm mandrel. [/edit]

 

[New2vaps]

Thanks for your responses. I really appreciate it.

State O' Flux and jaxgator thank you for your responses- I clicked on your first hyper link but couldn't figure out which one was the 28 Kanthal, they had letters. I guess I am trying to understand resistance of Kanthal. The lower the Gauge of Kanthal the less wraps I would have to do to get to 1.4 ohms?

Also, if I was to use a drill bit, what size to use with for example 28 gauge. Does it make a difference in using different sizes of drill bits?

Sorry for all the noob questions. I just want to make sure I coil safely and truely understand what I am doing before I begin.

Thank you again

 

[asvaldr]

Thanks for your responses. I really appreciate it.

State O' Flux and jaxgator thank you for your responses- I clicked on your first hyper link but couldn't figure out which one was the 28 Kanthal, they had letters. I guess I am trying to understand resistance of Kanthal. The lower the Gauge of Kanthal the less wraps I would have to do to get to 1.4 ohms?

Also, if I was to use a drill bit, what size to use with for example 28 gauge. Does it make a difference in using different sizes of drill bits?

Sorry for all the noob questions. I just want to make sure I coil safely and truely understand what I am doing before I begin.

Thank you again

The lower the gauge of the khantals the wider the wire and lesser the resistance, so smaller gauge khantal need more wrap than higher gauge khantal to make a same resistance coil considering it has same coil diameter.

The resistance is caused by the length of the wire not by the diameter of the coil so you can use any drillbit. You can use some ohm calculator to calculate the wire length and wraps it needed to make the desired resistance coil as long as you know the diameter of the drillbit you're using.

 

[State O' Flux]

State O' Flux - I clicked on your first hyper link but couldn't figure out which one was the 28 Kanthal, they had letters.

In order:

• Kanthal A1/APM
• Wire gauge you want to use. 28... terrific.
• Build type: single coil, duals etc etc. For you, single.
• "Desired" resistance. This is important... 1.4Ω? Great, hit 1.4Ω.
• Inner diameter of coil. More important stuff... this is your mandrel size. 1.5mm, 2mm - or fractional? I'll use 2mm for the example.
• Leg length. Still more important. Estimate the length of leg - this is the distance from coil to screw or post. For a KF style, I use 2mm.

That's it... on a 2mm mandrel, you get a 10/9 wrap. Ta Da! ;-)

asvaldr has the rest covered.

Cheers

 

[New2vaps]

Wow, thank you all for the quick responses. I am sure I will have more questions once I received everything. One last question on the Kayfun. I saw that it did not come with a glass tube. Can you purchase a glass tube for it? If not, is there a better RBA for a beginner like me that has a glass tube.

Thanks again everyone.

 

[State O' Flux]

Wow, thank you all for the quick responses. I am sure I will have more questions once I received everything. One last question on the Kayfun. I saw that it did not come with a glass tube. Can you purchase a glass tube for it? If not, is there a better RBA for a beginner like me that has a glass tube.

Thanks again everyone.

The KF design does not include a glass tank. There are full length and nano (shorter) tank kits available, but the majority of them use the tension of o-rings to hold your atty together... so no rough handling allowed. You can spend anywhere from $5 to $40 for a kit... depending on who makes it.

The Fogger V4, although a dual coil, is easy to build and has a glass tank. They're also inexpensive. The Smok X-Pure I mentioned... I only found out about it from a UK based review, but it's very interesting IMO.
I'll buy one because it's a sort of KF based deck, then several unique to the device features that I feel will be an improvement over the KF design.
Smok products are pretty good qualilty, and for $35 bucks, I'm willing to give it a shot.

Here's that review I mentioned.

 

[Heavyrocker]

Wow, thank you all for the quick responses. I am sure I will have more questions once I received everything. One last question on the Kayfun. I saw that it did not come with a glass tube. Can you purchase a glass tube for it? If not, is there a better RBA for a beginner like me that has a glass tube.

Thanks again everyone.

https://www.fasttech.com/products/1411/10006473/1756802

 

[New2vaps]

Thanks again. By the way, I found this Kanthal wire from vaporbeast. Is this good to start with?

http://www.vaporbeast.com/kanthal-wire.html

 

[State O' Flux]

Thanks again. By the way, I found this Kanthal wire from vaporbeast. Is this good to start with?

No... but this is.

 

[b.m.]

https://www.fasttech.com/products/1411/10006473/1756802

That nano kit is pretty nice,i got it a few weeks ago,it takes the capacity very low though,i have to refill at least 2 times a day.Fasttech just released the full quartz set though,it's only $4.89 for the stainless color,or a bit over $5 for black.
$5.11 Kayfun Quartz Tank Kit - stainless steel (gold plated) + glass at FastTech - Worldwide Free Shipping

 

[New2vaps]

No... but this is.

Thank you for the link. Now I am curious what the difference in kanthal wire between the one you linked from amazon and the one from vaporbeast?

 

[Sgt.Rock]

You can get your Kanthal factory direct..takes about a week to receive it though...Price can't be beat!

TEMCo Industrial Power Supply

As for an RBA I suggest you look at the SMOKtech RSBT

Under $30 on ebay, Simple to build and maintain and is all Stainless and Pyrex with adjustable airflow from "puff" to full lung hit.

 

[State O' Flux]

Thank you for the link. Now I am curious what the difference in kanthal wire between the one you linked from amazon and the one from vaporbeast?

Vaporbeast and many others buy Kanthal in bulk from Temco (or a Chinese Kanthal licensee), re-wrap it with their branding/logo... and charge a premium.
When you buy from Temco direct, you're buying from the US manufacturer/distributor. I buy only from Temco to insure that I get what I am most familiar with - where I know it's heating properties, reliability and consistency... what you do, is up to you.

 

[New2vaps]

Thanks Sgt.Rock. There seems to be 2 types of kanthal, ribbon and round. Which is used more often or better?

 

[DaveP]

You've been given some really good advice. All I can add is my own experience with the Kayfun. I get 1.5 ohms from an 8/7 wrap of 28ga Kanthal on a 1.83mm coil rod using the Artistic Coil Winder Gismo Deluxe (Hobby Lobby or Amazon). Another wrap or two will get you down to 1.4 ohms.

Amazon.com: Artistic Wire Coiling Gizmo(R) Deluxe Winder for Jewelry Making

I use the full length polycarbonate tank that came with my EHPro Kayfun 3.1. It's threaded and uses o-rings to seal. I carry it around in my jeans pocket all day long with no leaks. I understand there's a glass tank available, but all I've seen is the small tank. The small tank is used with two of the SS rings for the full tank capacity.

A micro torch is what you want. It uses the same butane fuel that is used in cigarette and charcoal lighters. Harbor Freight sells on for $8 on sale and you can find them at most and hobby store or Walmart. Get one that has a trigger ignition. You'll need it when you have the coil in tweezers and only one hand for the torch.

You do need a digital mult-meter (DMM) if you wind coils. I also use a small 510 threaded ohm meter for a base to build my coils and check them. You just remove the Kayfun base that contains the coil deck and screw it into the ohm meter with the meter switched off. That gives you both hands free to work with the coil. When you are through installing the coil, jsut switch it on to check the resistance with an accuracy of two digits to the right of the decimal point.

My Provari drops the right most digit without rounding up or down (it's a two digit display) so a 1.99 ohm coil will read 1.9 ohms on the Provari and 1.99 on the 510 ohm meter. That's significant if you want a 1.4 ohm coil. Using the Provari to read the coil can result in the coil being up to .9 ohms higher than you thought. Right now, my coil reads 1.5 on the Provari and 1.53 on the ohm meter.

Get one of these. You will be glad you did. The hands free work mount it gives you is a plus.

 

[New2vaps]

Guys, I can't thank you enough for all your input and advise. I believe I have figured out exactly what to buy now.

1- Will buy the Kayfun lite plus v2 EHpro. Figure many people are using kayfuns so if I need help down the road I will have support.

2- Digital multi-meter

3- Biowick organic cotton

4- Kanthal A1 28 gauage from Temco

5 - Drill bit

One thing left, I know it was mentioned I don't need a torch but I figure I might as well buy one. If any of you know where I can buy a small cheap one that is quality please let me know.

Thank you very much

 

[DaveP]

Guys, I can't thank you enough for all your input and advise. I believe I have figured out exactly what to buy now.

1- Will buy the Kayfun lite plus v2 EHpro. Figure many people are using kayfuns so if I need help down the road I will have support.

2- Digital multi-meter

3- Biowick organic cotton

4- Kanthal A1 28 gauage from Temco

5 - Drill bit

One thing left, I know it was mentioned I don't need a torch but I figure I might as well buy one. If any of you know where I can buy a small cheap one that is quality please let me know.

Thank you very much

Most micro torches run from $15 to $50. I bought the Harbor Freight torch on sale for around $8. It does an adequate job and it's fairly easy to ignite with one hand free. It has a reputation for failed piezo igniters after a while. Mine still works fine. They are all made offshore, but there are better and worse models. About all you can do is read the reviews. Amazon is a good place for that. Look for the ones with lots of reviews and 4 and 5 star ratings. Higher price might indicate better quality, but I'd read the review ratings to find out.

Amazon.com: micro torch butane