TBH, I'm still having a difficult time with a single coil. I think I need to work on this more first. With my coil master tool, I can make tight evenly wrapped coils but the problem for me is getting each lead either through the hole (and then tighten screw down onto it) or getting under the "lip" of the screw.
If you haven't seen the Lemo, this might not make sense with the two options for coil leg placement that I'm describing.
I have a Lemo and I've done it both ways. They both work well but going through the holes means you've got much longer wire legs which don't make vapor but still heat up so they steal power from the actual coils. Right now I have 28 gauge wire under the screw heads and I like this setup.
I haven't perfected nor understand how to make the opposite legs on the coil one going under and the other going over to help get these leads screwed down. And I think there's so much "trick" to bending the lead/leg 90 degrees so it can be secured and be in a good position between the posts.
Think I'm going to watch RIP Trippers video a few more times and hope you guys can add some pointers.
Rip shows both builds well in his tutorial.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuW9s-tjQjY
To answer your question, I have 28 and 32 gauges available, and I guess would like to start with something for my VTR since the Smok is probably 1-2 weeks away.
Hopefully I have improved my coil buildings by then.
OK, so you've got 15 watts to work with and you said you need to stay over 1.2 ohms. Rip built his using 26 gauge wire, but he set his at 25 watts. IMO 30 gauge would have been the best for 15 watts but let's see what happens both ways.
Here is the 28 gauge build
modeled in Steam Engine at 1.4 ohms, on a 2.5 mm pin using seven wraps. Look at the Results area on the right, I set the heat flux power setting to 15 watts and that gives you a heal flux number of 190 mW/mm² (miliwatts per square mm of coil surface area). Rip's build came out at 200. Both of these are cool vapes.
Here is
the 32 gauge build using a 3.0 ohm coil also with seven wraps on a 2.5 mm pin. Heat flux at 15 watts is 357. I've vaped as high as 430 and not burned juice, but it does become a warmer vape. Turn the power down and of course the heat flux goes down as well as vapor output.
Personally, I don't like working with 32 gauge Kanthal because it's so flimsy but it can certainly be done. I have no experience with wicking this wire after the coil is built but there is a chance you might find it easier to wrap the coil on the wick. I've never tried this with cotton but I have done it with silica and that works quite well.
I would try the 28 gauge build first and see how that goes. Building it will be easier than with the thinner wire and you might find it to be a good vape. If you want more heat you can always try the thinner wire later. I have not experimented with the effect of lower vs higher heat flux on vapor production at the same power so I'm not sure which will be better for that.
Also, once you have the Smok your power limitation will be gone and the 28 gauge wire will be fine. I found with my Lemo I was good up to around 30 watts with no burnt hits if I had the wicking right but it does become a hot vape then.
