KangerTech SUBTANK Mini

[cigatron]

I've ”twisters” on the menu next week, when I'll buy me some new Kanthal; now I have just under half a meter left. (that's about one foot, for you precious Imperial lovers )

What kept me from twisting was mainly my eyesight, but also what I think of as an utter waste of material (double the Kanthal for half the resistance).

If I can play all I want with pretty much any twisted coil design in my Russian, the ST Mini has an awful lot less room to juggle. I'm not a fan of sub-ohm vaping and I may find impossible to cram in the rba a twisted coil of over 1 ohm that has enough inner space to pass a wick through it.

But I'll give it a try.

I hear ya on the eyesight...I have to use a jeweler's visor to see anything small. On the res you should be able to build up to about 2 ohms with twisted 32ga.

 

[medic181075]

Has anybody found drip tips to fit the Subtank Mini? I really like my Smoktech pyrex mega drip tip, but it doesn't fit right. It sits up off the tank a bit, moves around, and somehow the residual e-liquid leaks out around it instead of sitting in the drip tip opening.

 

[Flapstick]

I hear ya on the eyesight...I have to use a jeweler's visor to see anything small. On the res you should be able to build up to about 2 ohms with twisted 32ga.

That would be 0.2 mm, right?

I tried calculating it wit this simple formula

Not keen on buying a whole spool, but I think 2 meters will be enough for several attempts.
How should I do it: twist the whole wire, then cut from it according to needs, or twist a piece for each coil?

 

[DP2Raja]

That would be 0.2 mm, right?

I tried calculating it wit this simple formula

Not keen on buying a whole spool, but I think 2 meters will be enough for several attempts.
How should I do it: twist the whole wire, then cut from it according to needs, or twist a piece for each coil?

I take a 6ft section of 28 ga. fold it in half by hooking it over a large straightened paperclip I have put in my drill (leave the last"hook" on the paper clip to hook the kanthal on) stretch it out straight with the two open ends clasped tightly in a good pair of pliers. Pull to get some tension and wire snuggly straight and slowly begin the twist with the drill. Speed up as the wire gets twisted snug. There are quite a few vids showing this on YouTube.

Then I cut from the strand as needed.

 

[Flapstick]

Then I cut from the strand as needed.

Thank you very much, DP2!
That was the bit I needed.
Yes, I saw plenty of videos, but in all of them it looked like they were doing the twist just for one build.

 

[cigatron]

What gauge would you suggest for the Mini RBA deck if i want to get about .6-1ohm twisted? My IPV mini reads coils almost .1 ohm low so some .5ish ohm builds wont fire.

30awg twisted (27twists per inch) 5/4wraps 7/32id will fit the STm perfect and give you .5-.6ohms. You could go to 1/8"id or one more wrap to bump it up to .7-.9 ohms. You also have the option to use 32awg twisted 5/64id to achieve simiar res but it may not allow quite enough wicking for the STm.

 

[DP2Raja]

30awg twisted (27twists per inch) 5/4wraps 7/32id will fit the STm perfect and give you .5-.6ohms. You could go to 1/8"id or one more wrap to bump it up to .7-.9 ohms. You also have the option to use 32awg twisted 5/64id to achieve simiar res but it may not allow quite enough wicking for the STm.

I should probably measure the number of twists per inch...I will be honest, I just eyeball it...and can sort of read it by the amount of pull/tension as the wire begins to draw up toward the drill end. I think Cig will slap my hand for not counting each twist! LOL

 

[cigatron]

I should probably measure the number of twists per inch...I will be honest, I just eyeball it...and can sort of read it by the amount of pull/tension as the wire begins to draw up toward the drill end. I think Cig will slap my hand for not counting each twist! LOL

Rofl.....but hey, it's your build. I just count them for consistancy...that way I can use steamengine.org to calculate my builds based on target res. Even though steamengine doesn't calculate for twisted their is an inequivalent single strand res. Find it and you're golden....but your twists have to be consistent.

Coil wrapping | Steam Engine | free vaping calculators


Do a build with your new twisted wire...any build.....and measure the res after firing. Then enter into the steamengine calculator the id and res of your coil. Then change the wire size in the calculator until it shows the same number of wraps as your coil. Done. Now you know the equivalent single strand res and can use the calculator for subsequent target res calculations. Cheating?....yes it is and I love it. Just a few twists per inch variance can move your single strand equivalence up or down a gauge.....sooooo

 

[DP2Raja]

Thanks Cig...will give it a shot.

 

[Flapstick]

I was also considering another kind of twist - one that I personally barely saw around. Twisted Kanthal ribbon (band, if you like).

I've never tried it before - twisted or plain. What do you guys think?

 

[cigatron]

I was also considering another kind of twist - one that I personally barely saw around. Twisted Kanthal ribbon (band, if you like).

I've never tried it before - twisted or plain. What do you guys think?

I've seen a number of posts with pics from peeps on the flat wire winds. One of them actually looked fairly even, the rest didn't look so good. Interesting though is that later on I never heard them talk about the merits of the wire or build. Several of them began using other wire and winds and never mentioned the flat wire again. I took that to mean it wasn't the greatest thing since sliced bread so I never invested in any.

Attaining symmetry is fairly easy with single strand, a little harder with twisted, can't imagine how hard it would be with flat wire; hard enough though that a few peeps solder round wire legs onto flat wire to attain it.

Symmetry is the key to flavor and vapor production imo whether you wind with tension or not. Winding with tension just makes it easier to get there and stay there; no magic there, just physics. Symmetrical winds make for symmetrical wick compression which allows for even heating of the juice across the entire length of the coil. That's where the rubber meets the road and I love the traction.

 

[MacTechVpr]

Rofl.....but hey, it's your build. I just count them for consistancy...that way I can use steamengine.org to calculate my builds based on target res. Even though steamengine doesn't calculate for twisted their is an inequivalent single strand res. Find it and you're golden....but your twists have to be consistent.

Coil wrapping | Steam Engine | free vaping calculators

Target res all the way bro!

Cig, SE does calc twists in Advanced mode tho. I haven't proof'd the calc's but seems good. Math is not my forté. Maybe flap'll volunteer. I've got parallax error. The greek alphabet makes me dyslexic.

Main reason we do twisted is to max the power/coverage area, ratio not so? Within a given geometry or space, that is, So that's where I begin at, the suitable geometry for the device. You could say go straight wire with a very large wind in place as Kanger's done but it locks you in to a particular large Ø wick solution. Going multi-wire allows you the flexibility to vary the wind geometry substantially with wire gauge alternatives. Including derivatives such twisted or parallel or…twisted lead parallels such as this one…

30AWG TLP 6/5, 2.5mm i.d., 9mm L/L, t.m.c. = .5Ω

With some very fine power attributes at 30W (still running by the way, first build).

Dampmaskin's efforts with SE are def gratitude worthy. Suppressed my table building inclinations. The pity is SE won't yet calc the res for the two distinct tensioned parallel types of dual or center post twisted leads. The res will be somewhat higher but typically within a couple'a 10ths.

I love twisted as add coverage does yield more flavor. But parallel t/l's combine the benefits of fast firing (more direct contact for the mass) of thin wire and the overall power handling of thick wire.

Advantage: Lotta fast-firing wire, small space, without having to resort to really thin straight wire or loopy winds.

Tension keeps it cool.

Good luck.

 

[Randal]

Well I decided to do my first build on the RBA. I have never built a coil before, but have been using the RBA with the supplied coil for about a week now. I was aiming for a 1.2 ohm with 26 gauge Kanthal on a 2.4mm screwdriver and, it came out to .93 and reads as 1 ohm on my iStick 30W. So far I have been vaping it at 17.5-18.5 watts trying to find the sweet spot for my 50/50 6mg juice. I must say at much over 20 watts it knocked me on my ...., but thus far I am enjoying it.

 

[cigatron]

Target res all the way bro!

Cig, SE does calc twists in Advanced mode tho. I haven't proof'd the calc's but seems good. Math is not my forté. Maybe flap'll volunteer. I've got parallax error. The greek alphabet makes me dyslexic.

Main reason we do twisted is to max the power/coverage area, ratio not so? Within a given geometry or space, that is, So that's where I begin at, the suitable geometry for the device. You could say go straight wire with a very large wind in place as Kanger's done but it locks you in to a particular large Ø wick solution. Going multi-wire allows you the flexibility to vary the wind geometry substantially with wire gauge alternatives. Including derivatives such twisted or parallel or…twisted lead parallels such as this one…

30AWG TLP 6/5, 2.5mm i.d., 9mm L/L, t.m.c. = .5Ω

With some very fine power attributes at 30W (still running by the way, first build).

Dampmaskin's efforts with SE are def gratitude worthy. Suppressed my table building inclinations. The pity is SE won't yet calc the res for the two distinct tensioned parallel types of dual or center post twisted leads. The res will be somewhat higher but typically within a couple'a 10ths.

I love twisted as add coverage does yield more flavor. But parallel t/l's combine the benefits of fast firing (more direct contact for the mass) of thin wire and the overall power handling of thick wire.

Advantage: Lotta fast-firing wire, small space, without having to resort to really thin straight wire or loopy winds.

Tension keeps it cool.

Good luck.




View attachment 412941 View attachment 412942 View attachment 412943

Coverage? Sure, the STm doesn't have a lot of coil width capability without get'n a little freaky with coil leg bends but sufficient for what's needed. I just like the taste and super low vape temps I get from twisted winds, especially narrowly spaced twisted. Tried several contact coil configs with the STm including several diff twisted lead parallels but all were too aggresive for my ultra-chain vaping style.

Thanks for the tip on SEs advanced mode for twisted Mac. Don't use the calculator much anymore...I wind intuitively now that I have a few hundred winds under my belt....lots of tanks and winding daily for experimentation; tension winding and symmetry remaining as the sole constants and necessarily so. You gotta start from some somewhere...huh?

One size doesn't fit all. Not with tanks; not with people. You folks keep winding away till you land on something that works for you and enjoy the vape.....

 

[inspects]

Mac.....Looks really Great....!

 

[rowsley]

Trucks must be starting to move. USPS just updated tracking, and my mini must be sitting at the post office.

 

[MacTechVpr]

Coverage? Sure, the STm doesn't have a lot of coil width capability without get'n a little freaky with coil leg bends but sufficient for what's needed. I just like the taste and super low vape temps I get from twisted winds, especially narrowly spaced twisted. Tried several contact coil configs with the STm including several diff twisted lead parallels but all were too aggresive for my ultra-chain vaping style.

Thanks for the tip on SEs advanced mode for twisted Mac. Don't use the calculator much anymore...I wind intuitively now that I have a few hundred winds under my belt....lots of tanks and winding daily for experimentation; tension winding and symmetry remaining as the sole constants and necessarily so. You gotta start from some somewhere...huh?

One size doesn't fit all. Not with tanks; not with people. You folks keep winding away till you land on something that works for you and enjoy the vape.....

You make a good point. The build I did targeted that central zone of 15-20W. I tend to chain at lower W than you and prefer tanks for this. Occasionally, I will chain heavy but I like to do that on mech's. Particularly my Raiju's between .35-.65Ω.

There's a solution to every taste!

As I was just posting on the PTM thread, I really dig parallels for hitting the balance on fire time and flavor density. Just couldn't use 'em they were so unstable. No parallels, like you, my favorite wind has been t/p.

Ironically the very finest high power, quick fire, huge volume (about the best I've gotten), flavor and vapor I run is a Raiju on a 4nine (or I think any hybrid would do)…thin wire 6-turn parallel twisted lead. I can drain the batt chaining it if I dont' forget to drip.

<shrug>

Good luck cig.



p.s. An est. max coil length cig in that OCC? Given what you've said about lead termination.

 

[vjdossey]

Maybe some of you veteran vapers can help a brother out...been using a nautilus mini for a month now on a 20W istick, at 1.7Ohms and 14.5 watts, and have been very happy, with great flavor. Just got the subtank mini with a 30W istick, and no matter what I do, (OCC coils, both the 1.2 and the .5, the RBA) and no matter the wattage, tried everything from 14.5 to 30 and everything in between, I am barely getting any flavor...nothing compared to the nautilus mini. Tried a bunch of different liquids as well....vapor is great, no dry hits, etc, but absolutely no flavor. Watching all the online reviews, the subtank seems to be the flavor king, so something is definitely wrong. Any thoughts?

Good question...I'm having the same issue. Now to read everyones suggestions...

 

[Bw86]

Good question...I'm having the same issue. Now to read everyones suggestions...

I know what you mean. I'm still unsure about this tank as I'm an RDA user who can only vape max VG. This tank has been very inconsistent. When it's great it is effin great! But it doesn't stay great for long. I think I may have finally found a build that gives that nice warm vape but the flavor was still lacking. I had to drop it down to the two holes and it made a world of difference! Little tighter draw than I'm used to but at least I can taste my vape again. Hopefully I finally have this thing figured out...

 

[vincom]

i have the nautilus and i cant vape it anymore ever since i got the subtank mini.
i dont go much above 23 watts on the stmini as its too hot for me, i usually vape anywhere from 14 and up.
on the rba my last wick job i cut the tails shorter than b4 and its much better at getting no dryish hits.
using rayon tails r cut to just barely touching the the rba deck/base making sure juice channels are not blocked in anyway, not a stuff in job as i seen for the kayfun builds.
as in all vape gear ymmv