Intro + ?: 2mo. lurker, new vaper, 1st coil rebuild :)

[lovekillsfear]

Hello All,

Jon G here. 2mo lurker on forums. What great info i have gleened in this time. I haven't smoked in yrs but had considered taking up a pipe for many yrs and just couldn't do it thank goodness! I am a Dad, husband and Hospice Chaplain. Had seen a long time hospice pt take up vaping and my Mom do the same thing after smoking 42 yrs. Unfortunately she took it up too late: stage 4 lung ca. My wife on the other hand is healthy and has been cig free for 2mos. for the 1st time in over 20 yrs.

Instead of a pipe i decided to try vaping and have found it quite enjoyable. As a computer/guitar/stereo geek i immediately took to the diy side of vaping. Got an mvp 2, started trying to rebuild coils and will start some diy juice endeavors soon.

On that note, have rebuilt my first coils recently and think i am using too heavy gauge kanthal. Got some 28ga and am rebuilding coils for a mini protank 3. The rebuild part has come easy and the the resistance is 1.8ohm single coil (10 wraps on 2mm precision screwdriver + cvs sterile cotton as wicking material). Seems to be heating evenly but is taking too long to heat up even at 11 watts (as high as the mvp2 goes). So i think the original coils are 32ga but not sure. should i try 30ga or jump to 32ga and go for a higher 2.1 to 2.5 resistance. thought/comments?

Thanks alot everyone!

Grace and Peace,
Jon and Amanda

 

[lovekillsfear]

Hello, Posted late at night not sure many caught this. Would sure love thoughts about the 28ga/30/32. Thanks, wish you all well

Grace and Peace,
Jon and Amanda

 

[Susan~S]

Hello and welcome to the forum. Glad to have you here!

I use 30 gauge to rebuild my protank coils.

 

[CreepyLady]

Hi and Welcome to ECF Congrats to your wife for quitting and how awesome that you are supportive! 30 or 32ga will get you where you want to be rebuilding those PTs

 

[daleron]

Welcome to the forum Jon

 

[MedicatedDeveloper]

I run very similar coils at 11/12 wrap of 28g Kanthal A1. You really do need that little bit extra voltage bump to be able to have them heat up instantly. I usually run them ~4-4.5V @ 1.4-1.5Ω which is a bit higher than your MVP can go (~14.5W), but 4V at 1.5Ω is 11W almost on the nose so I can't really say without looking at the coil. This is what mine look like before I bend it upwards as described near the end of my post.

Are the wraps evenly spaced and well squished together?
Did you torch the Kanthal and then squeeze it a few times (do not try to dry fire and then squeeze your coil in a KT head as the little rubber thing on the bottom will get burnt and make the head permanently taste like burnt rubber!)?

Another thing you can try is wrapping around a 1.4mm driver. That's what I use as I found 2mm to be too large to do comfortably in the older kanger heads, but the new PT3 coils have much more chimney clearance. Wrapping around a 1.4mm driver will also end up giving you slightly less resistance. Anywhere from 1.3Ω for 10 wraps to 1.5Ω for 12.

Finally, since 11/12 wrap is so tight in the coil I will initially insert it quite low, wick it, and then I take a screwdriver and pull up on the coil so it makes a nice arch giving a little bit more room on the sides as they are easy to short when flat because the fit is so tight. This gives more room between the wraps and produces a warmer vape with more vapor because of it.

 

[Kaezziel]

Agree with the switch to 30g Kanthal. I used 28g with it on my Tesla, but I can get 15W from it. (And I was too lazy to order a roll of 30g)

 

[EBates]

I use both 30 & 32 gauge. 32 seems to heat up faster IMO. All I do is micro coils and sterile cotton wick. Also I try for 2.5 ohms. I think it vapes cooler and extends battery life.
OBTW, You can get 100 foot rolls of 32 and 30 for about $10 with free shipping from Temco.

 

[lovekillsfear]

Hey Everyone, thanks for replies! And hellur to you all. Thanks also for the info about the coils. I think i will go with the 30ga and see. MD, i did torch the coils and squeeze. The coil itself looked really nice and fired evenly. Great pic of a nice coil too! I will take your advice and try the smaller coil dia. as you suggested since i have little more 32ga. Great forum and great folks, hope to see y'all around.

Grace and Peace...
Jon and Amanda