I'll be advanced in no time!

[XXYGuy]

Hello people,

When I first saw rda's for sale I was sure I wanted to give it a go, only the sellers were saying they were for 'advanced users only' and me being a complete novice was a little intimidated out of trying. But curiosity got the better of me and I decided to give it a go, what could possibly go wrong?

 

[Vininim]

According to steam engine coil wrapping predictor you're sub-ohming at 0.3 ohms. Quite bold for a first build. I never crossed the 1.3 limit even on a tridet.
Coil wrapping | Steam Engine | free vaping calculators

Double check your battery specs, it's at the range where it could go wrong.

 

[rsimpson]

I have to agree with Vininim, .3 is a bold start. I've been building coils for a while and I generally stay above .5, at least for my every day use and most times I'm in the neighborhood of .75 to 1 ohm just to cool things down a bit.

One of the first things I bought after I started building coils was an ohmmeter that I could use to double check my math. I still use it every time I build a coil, in conjunction with using the steam engine calculator to determine the number of wraps based on my mandrel size.

 

[inswva]

How hot does that mod get? IIRC, PBusardo's review of the 134 MX-Z showed that heat develops rapidly around the top cap assembly. I believe he was using a Vulcan RDA at ~0.9ohm. Unless his evaluation unit was flaky, I'm guessing yours gets a might bit toasty.

 

[DoubleEwe]

Hey XXYGuy,

I concur with the above posters in thinking that you should build at a higher resistance.

If you are using 32AWG wire then like 8-10 wraps is good (if not touching it should be about 2-2.4ohms per coil).
For 28AWG wire, 6-7 wraps (around 1.5ohms I think).

The builds with more wraps than you currently have will give you more vapour and wont burn your lungs or taste like you are sucking on a smelter.

 

[jaxgator]

Too hot? What kind of air flow does your RDA have? When sub-ohming you want quite a lot of air passing over the coils.

I currently vape at .34Ω (duals - 26g wrapped 4/5 times around approximate 2mm mandrel) wicked with rayon on my Mutation X and is is a very cool vape producing some rather large clouds.

 

[XXYGuy]

According to steam engine coil wrapping predictor you're sub-ohming at 0.3 ohms. Quite bold for a first build. I never crossed the 1.3 limit even on a tridet.
Coil wrapping | Steam Engine | free vaping calculators

Double check your battery specs, it's at the range where it could go wrong.

According to my SMOK Omnitester it's a 1.2 Ohm build, (+/- 0.2), so it could also be between 1.0 - 1.4 Ohm and it does not over heat. I believe I have made a safe build that does not fire on my Vamo 5, which says it is 1.1 Ohm. SMOK & Vamo 5 appear to be pretty close, and you seem to be far far away.

 

[XXYGuy]

Hey XXYGuy,

I concur with the above posters in thinking that you should build at a higher resistance.

If you are using 32AWG wire then like 8-10 wraps is good (if not touching it should be about 2-2.4ohms per coil).
For 28AWG wire, 6-7 wraps (around 1.5ohms I think).

The builds with more wraps than you currently have will give you more vapour and wont burn your lungs or taste like you are sucking on a smelter.

The more wraps the longer they take to heat up, and the more power is drained from the battery. Still I was aiming for 1.2 ohms, which I did achieve, but then the small print on the SMOK Omnitester does say it's inaccurate to +/- 0.2 Ohm.

My Aspire tanks come in at 1.5 & 1.8 ohms respectively, and my Kangers at 1.6 steadily. I prefer the Aspire & Kanger tanks as they don't need constant refilling, or dripping. So there's no worries about me over using the drippers, they're far too inconvenient for that to happen

 

[XXYGuy]

Too hot? What kind of air flow does your RDA have? When sub-ohming you want quite a lot of air passing over the coils.

I currently vape at .34Ω (duals - 26g wrapped 4/5 times around approximate 2mm mandrel) wicked with rayon on my Mutation X and is is a very cool vape producing some rather large clouds.

When a build is complete, with the wick on and all juiced up, I don't like to see the coils glow, that is too hot. I don't even try to vape those builds. I also don't like vast clouds of vapour, the idea just seems silly to me. I vape for cheap nicotine and I'm testing drippers to see what I can do, see if making my own will be any cheaper than buying Aspire & Kanger coils.

 

[XXYGuy]

How hot does that mod get? IIRC, PBusardo's review of the 134 MX-Z showed that heat develops rapidly around the top cap assembly. I believe he was using a Vulcan RDA at ~0.9ohm. Unless his evaluation unit was flaky, I'm guessing yours gets a might bit toasty.

I currently have a SMOK Caterpillar running on it, with dual coil, 6 wraps plus on and off a side, and it's 0.8 ohm. Haven't noticed any heat buildup at all. And It's got 10 air holes open, I can barely suck air into it!

 

[XXYGuy]

I have to agree with Vininim, .3 is a bold start. I've been building coils for a while and I generally stay above .5, at least for my every day use and most times I'm in the neighborhood of .75 to 1 ohm just to cool things down a bit.

Mmmm, it's also incorrect, unless my Vamo 5 and Omnitester are way out?

 

[jaxgator]

When a build is complete, with the wick on and all juiced up, I don't like to see the coils glow, that is too hot. I don't even try to vape those builds. I also don't like vast clouds of vapour, the idea just seems silly to me. I vape for cheap nicotine and I'm testing drippers to see what I can do, see if making my own will be any cheaper than buying Aspire & Kanger coils.

Your coils glow red when wicked and wet? Something's definitely wrong with that build then. At .34Ω, my coils do not glow red. They just spew vapor.

I'm not a cloud chaser either but the larger the clouds, the more nicotine delivery.

Building your own coils will be tons cheaper in the long run. I've got a spool of Kanthal ($8) that will last several years and a box of Rayon ($12) that will last me several lifetimes. Manufactured coils are what? $2-2.50 a pop? So, for what I spent on wire and wicking material, I could get all of 10 maybe 15 manufactured coils.

 

[Vininim]

Really? I was fiddling with the steam engine calculator to arrive at 3 wraps at 2.5mm per strand. Glad to see I was wrong, english not my first language.

But anyway, glowing usually means the coil isn't cooling from vaporization of the liquid. So it needs more contact with the wick (more strangling in horizontal builds). If I heard 3 wraps right, your legs might be too big(to arrive at that resistance) and are heating without touching anything.

 

[XXYGuy]

Really? I was fiddling with the steam engine calculator to arrive at 3 wraps at 2.5mm per strand. Glad to see I was wrong, english not my first language.

But anyway, glowing usually means the coil isn't cooling from vaporization of the liquid. So it needs more contact with the wick (more strangling in horizontal builds). If I heard 3 wraps right, your legs might be too big(to arrive at that resistance) and are heating without touching anything.

Yeup I need more contact with the wick, and that can only be achieved with hand wrapping, which is always variable. However my latest incarnation is a dual coil 2.2 Ohms with 3 strands of braided silica wick, wrapped tightly. It runs on everything I have, only it started off as 2.6 Ohms, and I have no idea where those other .4 ohms went! I have it in my UD IGO-W and on my Vamo 5!

 

[sedition]

Good to see another Kiwi around here!

 

[DoubleEwe]

Have you tried using cotton wool balls instead of silica for your wicks?

I find it much better in terms of flavour and wicking ability. With cotton wool the best method to use is to wrap the coil around a screwdriver/drill bit/rod, then put the coil in your device, then take a small amount of cotton wool (twist the end and only the end) and thread it through the coil. It should not be tight enough to distort the coil as you thread it through. Trim to size.

Just remember to not dry burn a cotton wool build.

 

[XXYGuy]

Have you tried using cotton wool balls instead of silica for your wicks?

I find it much better in terms of flavour and wicking ability. With cotton wool the best method to use is to wrap the coil around a screwdriver/drill bit/rod, then put the coil in your device, then take a small amount of cotton wool (twist the end and only the end) and thread it through the coil. It should not be tight enough to distort the coil as you thread it through. Trim to size.

Just remember to not dry burn a cotton wool build.

Oh yes, I have used all sorts of products as a wick. Steel mesh, organic cotton wool, cotton wool, silica. Basically when my builds get below 2 mm I have to use cotton wool as the silica available to me is a minimum of 2 mm.

And that'll be a trial and error matter, determining when the cotton wool will burn?

 

[DoubleEwe]

The cotton should never burn as long as you keep it wet.

You should notice that the vapour produced decreases and starts to taste different when the cotton is getting towards being dry. It wicks quicker than silica, so as long as you have juice available you should be able to almost chain vape until the juice is gone. That is providing that the cotton is not being strangled by the coil.

The benefit of using cotton wool is that if you do accidentally burn it then you can just remove the cotton, replace and still keep the same coil.

I used to make my coils using the 'wrap the wire around the wick' method and I would often either get a strong cotton taste or dry hits, the wrap around the drill bit/screwdriver method is just so much more forgiving.

Most of my coils are in the 2-2.5mm diameter range and I always use cotton wool. I am sure you have seen people saying 'less is more' when it comes to cotton wool wicks and it is true.


How have you been getting on with your recent builds? Any joy?