Issues with first build - Dual Coil - Igo W (pics)

[E Newbie]

So I used 32g Kanthal and the braided wick that was included with the Igo-W. I'm going to go buy some organic cotton later today but didn't have any on hand and really wanted to get started. My intention was to do 12 wraps micro coil but I realized after starting that my needle nose pliers are in the car (which my wife took to work) so I wasn't able to make the coils touch. I also don't have the holes drilled out so the draw is really tight. The coils reading 2.53 ohms now after fiddling with it although it started at 2.2 and my mvp v2 reads it at 2.4.

My issue is limited vapor production and some fairly harsh lung hits. It does seem to have mellowed out a bit in that regard but getting a decent pull vapor wise has been really difficult, even with the mvp 2 maxed at 5 volts.

I'm assuming my issues are 3 fold. 1. The air holes are too small 2. I need to heat and then pinch the coils so they are touching and 3. My wick is too thin, meaning after I threaded it there was a lot of free space within the coil, the wick doesn't fill the "tube" of the coil.

Does this sound about right? I'm also wanting to try around 1.5 ohms, not positive the mvp will fire it but I've heard it can, if not then 1.8 will certainly fire since that is what my Aspire ET-S BDC is at.

Sorry for the long post hopefully I explained things adequately, appreciate any advice yall can offer me. Thanks

For some reason the whichever pic was on top wouldn't work properly so I had to put it on here twice in order to have a clickable version.

 

[epcii]

I think you'd have a better vape at a lower resistance coil closer to the limit of your MVP, which is usually around 1.2. Also, you'd heat up the coil a lot faster if you had one instead of two.

 

[xtwosm0kesx]

Here's my

Assuming you only have 32g to work with, I would rebuild 2 new coils with half the wraps (round 6ish and will get ya down 1.7/.8 ish) around something that has a comparable diameter to your silica wick. Or just switch to cotton balls and make whatever diameter wick you desire. The mvp will actually fire attys all the way down to 1ohm or maybe less, but its not recommended, and will quickly get ya into amp limitation land.

Then assemble the build and take special care to get the airholes as close to centered directly on the coils both vertically and horizontally, as possible. Air-hole alignment has a HUGE impact on vapor production (obv) and throat hit.

 

[Exile]

The coils not touching has nothing to do with it.
2.4 ohms is a lil high. I would shoot for 1.2-1.4 ohms.
Get rid of that 32g kanthal, and get some 30g kanthal.
Swap to cotton wick to fill your size coils to your desire.
Drill out the airflow holes bigger for a smoother vape and bigger clouds.
I would start with a 1/16 bit/hole, and go bigger as desired.

 

[mullet]

3. My wick is too thin, meaning after I threaded it there was a lot of free space within the coil, the wick doesn't fill the "tube" of the coil.

Personally, I think this is your main issue. You don't HAVE to use a microcoil, you don't HAVE to have larger air holes, but you do need solid wick to coil contact.

With cotton, you'll have a bit of expansion when wet but you don't get that with silica. If there's space in the coil you're getting the lovely feel of hot metal instead of juice vaporizing.

 

[E Newbie]

Thanks for the responses.

Pretty sure I know how to get things on track now.

I bought the 32g kanthal before I really knew what I needed so I'm going to be ordering some more in thicker gauges. Def going with cotton wick and until the new kanthal comes I'll rebuild my coils with less wraps. If I'm following correctly thicker kanthal and fewer coils = less resistance.

I noticed when briefly firing the coils before I had wick that they didn't glow red like I've seen in videos, is this due to the high ohm load?

I did try to line the holes up with the coils but man they are really tiny holes. Feel like I'm trying to suck concrete thru a straw. Will be drilling those out, what type of bit works best, not size but material?

Thanks again for the help, much appreciated.

 

[crazyarms]

Airflow will help a lot! I use my standard dewalt bits to drill any atty i need to. not sure what they are made of but they work quite well. Although i have heard that the igo-w is quite a pain to drill through, ive never had issues.
More airflow and a lower resistance and you will definitely notice the difference. Just dont drill the air holes too large!

 

[E Newbie]

So I built another dual coil this time with 6 wraps each coil and organic cotton wick. The ohms jumped up and down quite a bit but now I'm reading 1.7 on the mvp and 1.8 on the actual ohms meter. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to have changed much. Hits are really really intense in my lungs but very little vapor production. If I pull the cap off and fire it there is just a small wisp of vapor coming off the coils. What am I missing here?

 

[E Newbie]

Yet another build, this time single coil, 4 wraps put me at 2 ohms. Dry burn showed the coil turning red as it should and with wick and juice it pops, crackles and puts out a fair amount of vapor. Still really intense in the lungs although the flavor hasn't been amplified at all. Using my aspire bdc at 1.8 ohms I get more vapor and very little lung impact. Could this harshness on the lungs be attributed to the poor airflow? I recall reading that if its not lined up properly hits will be harsher, maybe the hole is simply to small even when lined up?

 

[Exile]

Yet another build, this time single coil, 4 wraps put me at 2 ohms. Dry burn showed the coil turning red as it should and with wick and juice it pops, crackles and puts out a fair amount of vapor. Still really intense in the lungs although the flavor hasn't been amplified at all. Using my aspire bdc at 1.8 ohms I get more vapor and very little lung impact. Could this harshness on the lungs be attributed to the poor airflow? I recall reading that if its not lined up properly hits will be harsher, maybe the hole is simply to small even when lined up?

Once you drill those tiny airflow holes out, all the harshness will go away. Trust me, been there done that...

For more vapor, shoot for lower ohms. 1.2-1.4 ohms will put out more vapor...

To me dual coils are only good if your sub-ohming. For 1+ ohm builds I would stick with a single coil build. (imo)

 

[E Newbie]

So far this is the best working build. Its a bit high at 2 ohms. The key was having the coil above the air hole slightly to account for the fact that air is naturally going to move up along the chamber towards the drip tip not straight across into the coil. I also removed any wick from under the coil since that was preventing air from moving underneath it. Not great vapor production yet but probably on par with the tiny hole and higher resistance. Once I've drilled the holes and my Nemesis arrives I'll build a lower ohm dual coil. Does seem to have a bit of an off taste but I'm attributing that to the fresh cotton.

 

[Exile]

View attachment 294152

View attachment 294152
The key was having the coil above the air hole slightly to account for the fact that air is naturally going to move up along the chamber towards the drip tip not straight across into the coil.

Its actually better to have the coil slightly under the airflow hole so the air coming in flows right over the top of the coil. But whatever is working best for you vape on!

That and you aught to try making your coils a little smaller in diameter which will allow you to get a few more wraps on your coils. I wrap my coils around a 1/16 drill bit. (the same size drill bit you wanna start with to drill your airflow holes out with)

 

[E Newbie]

I may try lowering the coil and see what effect that has. With the holes not drilled yet I just wanted to maximize the air hitting the coil.

I actually just made a smaller diameter coil with 3 wraps that is reading 1.4 ohms on the mvp. I've got it maxed at 5 volts and I'm getting good vapor production. I don't have any drill bits on hand, closest I can get to 1/16 would be using a 1.4 or 2.0mm screwdriver.