At times I've used a wire...20/22...maybe 24 ga(?) and wound it around double wick on a stiff, large paper clip. I wind the wire close, touching successive rounds, and then wound the Kanthal in the groves of the larger wire, which was copper. After that I remove the copper wired and have nice, evenly spaced Kanthal around the double wicks. Remove the paper clip and viola...and uniformly spaced coil.