My First Attempt at a Coil on KFL+ & Frustrations

[rponticelli]

First of let me say I love the vaping community and I love to vape!!! I'm really anxious to build my first coil. I have 2 kayfun lite plus and a ti steam turbine. For mech mods I have a chi you, brass just gg and a mixed matte nemesis. I also have a provari mini which was my first mod. Here are my issues everything was going fine with the provari until I start researching mech mods, and instantly became hooked. A local B&M down the street opened and they had a guy that came in on Saturday nights that would build coils for a $15. So I pulled the trigger and WOW. I was instantly hooked, and new I could never go back to my protank/provari combo. At first the builds where great, but I had a couple issues where I'd get home and the build would start to taste like metal. Not being one to be ungrateful I'd just wait till next week and have him build again, repaying everytime. More often then not the builds would be great, but lately he hasn't been coming in at all, and between the two things I feel like I really need to be able to do this on my own. There aren't many places in my areas where I could get coils done either so I mean it's either get it down myself or all my cool new beauties collect dust while I'm less then content on the provari. He was doing micro coil cotton builds usually around 1,5 ohms w 28g kanthal. So that's where I decided to begin, I watched a few YouTube videos Joozelts build video was the most helpful but I just can't kick the metal taste. My biggest issue would be setting the coil, followed by wrapping I feel like the wrap is decent it's usually just the first wrap that's a little funky. I read a couple places the the taste of metal was from the cotton not wicking right, but when I dry burn before I even add the wick it's the same smell/taste so I feel like this is not the issue. Please help me I really need to get my KFL+ blowing clouds...I hate depending on someone else to build plus all the builds are starting to $$$ add up. Is a micro coil a bad idea to start for a noob, what's with the metal taste smell, best Kayfun you tubes, tips, tricks, people to reach out to for help. Anything would be extremely appreciated.

Thanks

Ryan

 

[George-Sky Aronis]

Ryan don't worry about a thing. First of all kfl is an exceptional Rba and very easy to use. You are the one who has to master him by building your own coils. Even though I consider my shelf a noob in building coils I had my kfl run like a champ right from my first coil.
Some tips from my experience.
First of all try not to use a small diameter drill bit to roll your coil. I am using a 2mm one and I found easy to slide the wick in.
The metallic harsh taste that you are taking is because you probably have too much cotton under the coil and it doesn't wick properly. It's all about patience and practice.
I use 2mn drilbit / 28 kanthal / and 1mm hallo ekowool which I slide 3 times under my coil. It's an easy set up and I will try to post some pics later for you.
Once you figure it out, you'll be in heaven

 

[rponticelli]

But is normal to smell the metal harshness before I even put the cotton in when I dry burn...also any tips on seating the coil I feel like when I try to wrap around the screw it is messing the coil up kind of pulling the end inward which I feel is what's might be contributing to the smell before the cotton

 

[classwife]

Moved to Rebuildable Atomizer Systems from The Modding Forum - Atomizer Mods

 

[crxess]

No, Smell is likely normal and only burning of contaminants. Continue pulsing and it should subside.
Wick should thread comfortably through the coil and be enough to make contact with coil.
Clip wick at the outer sides of the Base for length
Wet with e-liquid and pin to Channel Base on each side and against the Coil block. This will keep the channels clear to allow e-liquid in.

 

[vapdivrr]

But is normal to smell the metal harshness before I even put the cotton in when I dry burn...also any tips on seating the coil I feel like when I try to wrap around the screw it is messing the coil up kind of pulling the end inward which I feel is what's might be contributing to the smell before the cotton

don't know if this is something you have already seen or heard, so hopefully its not repetitive. get yourself something to wrap on, it can be a 2mm dril bit or something equivalent. take a large piece of the 28g wire, maybe 8inches or so until you get better. before wrapping heat this wire up, either by a lighter or stove. don't melt the wire just heat it evenly up and down the length a couple of times, the only thing here is not to keep the flame on it too long and droop the wire. just keep the wire kind of moving along and get it to glow, this should only take a couple of seconds. once annealed start your wrap on the bit. don't worry too much on the first few wraps because these are a little harder to get close and tight. keep doing your wraps and after the first few you should now be getting them nice and tight and straight. keep them as close as possible without wrapping over any previous wraps. I usually do this with some magnification glasses because I am old and blind. anyways make a lot of these wraps, do like 15 to 20. now while keeping the coil still on the bit, take a tweezers and start pulling on the first wire end (the end where you started) by pulling on this lead you are basically unwinding the coil and getting rid of the loose wraps. you can do this on the other side if some of those coils are loose as well. usually the middle wraps are the best so by pulling and unwinding the ends you should be left with some pretty tight center wraps. you do however want to leave yourself about 12 to 14 good coils. in the end your coil leads should be opposing. once this is done cut off the extra straightened wire leads that were pulled but leave about a half inch or so on both sides. now you should take the tweezers and pinch the coils together without adding to much pressure that it deforms them, but just enough so the coils are compressed, as you hold this you can take a torch and heat the coil as the tension is held. do this for about 5 seconds and stop the flame while still holding pressure with the tweezers for another 5 seconds. you now should have a perfect coil. one thing, as your torching the coil while tweezering, don't torch the wire leads, just torch the center of the coil itself. attach coil to kayfun with coil still on bit so it doesn't deform the coil. hope this helps a little, good luck

 

[YuckMan]

I used to get a metallic taste to my coils when I used a Bic to heat them. Like mentioned above, I could get it out by pulsing the coil a bunch before adding the wick. Now that I have an actual torch I don't get that taste at all. +1 vote for wire impurities.

 

[nostinkies]

15bucks? ... for what???? To wrap a coil for you? That guy makes as much as an attorney. Buy yourself some rolls off (28g, 30g and a roll of 32g) ebay from temco and a 2mm,2.5mm and a 3mm drill bit. Try different amount of wraps on different sizes. You'll find one you like along the way. I suggest writing down what you built so you can repeat it later. Also visit youtube and search micro coils, Lots of how to help on there. And DONT pay anyone 15bucks for a coil, thats just ripping you off pal.

 

[crxess]

15bucks? ... for what???? To wrap a coil for you? That guy makes as much as an attorney. Buy yourself some rolls off (28g, 30g and a roll of 32g) ebay from temco and a 2mm,2.5mm and a 3mm drill bit. Try different amount of wraps on different sizes. You'll find one you like along the way. I suggest writing down what you built so you can repeat it later. Also visit youtube and search micro coils, Lots of how to help on there. And DONT pay anyone 15bucks for a coil, thats just ripping you off pal.

Dis-agree
Not the low cost of wire, but the time involved to make it properly and set everything up. It is called Labor Rate and those willing or in need pay.

Ask yourself - are you worth what you are paid?

 

[SoaFung]

Did you disassemble and wash the atty before using it? Machine oils might be the culprit for the metal taste. Just a thought.

Sent from my Nokia Lumia 920 using Tapatalk

 

[reeftivo]

First of let me say I love the vaping community and I love to vape!!! I'm really anxious to build my first coil. I have 2 kayfun lite plus and a ti steam turbine. For mech mods I have a chi you, brass just gg and a mixed matte nemesis. I also have a provari mini which was my first mod. Here are my issues everything was going fine with the provari until I start researching mech mods, and instantly became hooked. A local B&M down the street opened and they had a guy that came in on Saturday nights that would build coils for a $15. So I pulled the trigger and WOW. I was instantly hooked, and new I could never go back to my protank/provari combo. At first the builds where great, but I had a couple issues where I'd get home and the build would start to taste like metal. Not being one to be ungrateful I'd just wait till next week and have him build again, repaying everytime. More often then not the builds would be great, but lately he hasn't been coming in at all, and between the two things I feel like I really need to be able to do this on my own. There aren't many places in my areas where I could get coils done either so I mean it's either get it down myself or all my cool new beauties collect dust while I'm less then content on the provari. He was doing micro coil cotton builds usually around 1,5 ohms w 28g kanthal. So that's where I decided to begin, I watched a few YouTube videos Joozelts build video was the most helpful but I just can't kick the metal taste. My biggest issue would be setting the coil, followed by wrapping I feel like the wrap is decent it's usually just the first wrap that's a little funky. I read a couple places the the taste of metal was from the cotton not wicking right, but when I dry burn before I even add the wick it's the same smell/taste so I feel like this is not the issue. Please help me I really need to get my KFL+ blowing clouds...I hate depending on someone else to build plus all the builds are starting to $$$ add up. Is a micro coil a bad idea to start for a noob, what's with the metal taste smell, best Kayfun you tubes, tips, tricks, people to reach out to for help. Anything would be extremely appreciated.

Thanks

Ryan

with a properly oxidized coil over cotton or silica, you should not get any metallic taste as long as the device has been soaked and rinsed initially with either alcohol or mild detergent.

Here's my routine and it works perfectly on my RTA devices;

26g kanthal wire, 9/10 wraps over a 3/64 bit (.8ohms)

or

28g kanthal wire, 7/8 wraps over a 5/64 bit (1.0 ohm)

organic cotton balls

10" stainless tweezers


1) I cut a 4 to 5 inch piece of the wire and run it over my stove top until a majority of the wire glows.
2) I then let it cool (a few seconds) and start a tight wrap over the bit until I get the count I want.
3) I then slide it off the bit and use my big tweezers the pinch the coil together (firm but not super tight) and use my torch to glow the coil again while its between the tweezers. After it glows well I immediately take it and run it under cold water from the sink while its still in the tweezers. This holds the tight form of the coil very well and allows the coil to hold tighter together (kind of tempering the metal) while you attach it to the posts.
4) when I'm ready to fasten the coil to the posts, I slide the bit back through the coil as a guide and lay it over the center air hole and tighten the posts. Once the posts are tightened I can use the bit inside the coil to maneuver the coil a little up, down, side to side etc until it's in perfect position over the air intake.
5) once the coil is to my liking I check the ohms which usually are always spot on.
6) after the coil is set up I pulse it to see if I get a good center/out glow with no hot spots (BTW -have yet to get any hot spots doing it this way).
7) I then gently unroll a piece of cotton and peel a strip (maybe a little less than 1/4 inch x 3") and roll it.
I dont roll it tight but just enough to get the fuzzy fluff to straighten out.
8) I pinch the end and run it through the coil and pull it through.

after I slide the base part of the chimney over I use a paperclip to raise the wicks and trim them a 1/4 higher off the top of the chimney base. Then I use the paperclip to lightly tuck the wicks back down over the air channels. Lastly, wet the coil and wick with juice!!!!

Works like a charm every time!

Sounds like a lot of work but it takes me on average about ten minutes or less before I'm filling the tank with juice.

practice makes perfect!

Tivo

 

[reeftivo]

Oh BTW! Saw you had a Chi you brass!!

Absolutely love mine (Clone) !!! Good choice!!

 

[rponticelli]

don't know if this is something you have already seen or heard, so hopefully its not repetitive. get yourself something to wrap on, it can be a 2mm dril bit or something equivalent. take a large piece of the 28g wire, maybe 8inches or so until you get better. before wrapping heat this wire up, either by a lighter or stove. don't melt the wire just heat it evenly up and down the length a couple of times, the only thing here is not to keep the flame on it too long and droop the wire. just keep the wire kind of moving along and get it to glow, this should only take a couple of seconds. once annealed start your wrap on the bit. don't worry too much on the first few wraps because these are a little harder to get close and tight. keep doing your wraps and after the first few you should now be getting them nice and tight and straight. keep them as close as possible without wrapping over any previous wraps. I usually do this with some magnification glasses because I am old and blind. anyways make a lot of these wraps, do like 15 to 20. now while keeping the coil still on the bit, take a tweezers and start pulling on the first wire end (the end where you started) by pulling on this lead you are basically unwinding the coil and getting rid of the loose wraps. you can do this on the other side if some of those coils are loose as well. usually the middle wraps are the best so by pulling and unwinding the ends you should be left with some pretty tight center wraps. you do however want to leave yourself about 12 to 14 good coils. in the end your coil leads should be opposing. once this is done cut off the extra straightened wire leads that were pulled but leave about a half inch or so on both sides. now you should take the tweezers and pinch the coils together without adding to much pressure that it deforms them, but just enough so the coils are compressed, as you hold this you can take a torch and heat the coil as the tension is held. do this for about 5 seconds and stop the flame while still holding pressure with the tweezers for another 5 seconds. you now should have a perfect coil. one thing, as your torching the coil while tweezering, don't torch the wire leads, just torch the center of the coil itself. attach coil to kayfun with coil still on bit so it doesn't deform the coil. hope this helps a little, good luck

I like the idea of the 15-20 wraps I'll give a go tomorrow. I built one last night that hits pretty well it does still have the metal taste on a few hits but not as much flavor as the other kids. What I did different was I didn't compress the coil at all it wasn't the best spaced and I'm guessing that's why the flavor is not optimal but like I said the metal taste went away on most huts. Do you have to compress the coils for cotton? A lot of the silica builds I see the coils look horrible, and they seem to work so I'm a little confused on that part if it? I do torch the kanthal with a torch not a bic and it definitely helps with the wraps. Just think that either when I'm compressing or connecting to the screws it's my downfall. I'll definitely pick up a magnifying glass to get a better look. Also as far as what the other dude charged me I'm ok with it...it forces me to learn myself...the part I don't like is being dependent on someone else's limited availability to get the vape I'm looking for. You all have been great with your advise it's the type of thing that keeps me optimistic and motivated to do it on my own. The kid uses a table clamp to hold the bit while he wraps I'm gonna have to look into that as well, since I feel like that will be a big help.

Thanks again everyone

 

[K-Omo]

The metallic taste is the coil setting on the deck. Try raising it with tweezers just 1-2 mm. If that doesn't take care of it then get yourself 28 awg Kanthal, and a 18 awg syringe needle with the pink end still on it. Hold the wire at the pink end and start wrapping slowly. Wrap about 13 wraps...wil get you about 1.4 ohms. Keeping the coil on the needle put it in the air flow hole on your KFL...this will keep your coil upright while making the terminations for a vertical nano coil. If the coil is touching deck, take a small flat head screwdriver and slide under coil to lift. Check ohms on ProVari...if you get low or error message coil is still touching deck and needs to be raised. Put ProVari about 3.6 v and fire coil quickly several times until you get a nice glow. Put needle back into coil. Take you cotton strip and begin wrapping it with cotton. Then put chimney ring on and place a tiny amount of cotton on each side gently tamping down...you want only a tiny amount to pick up juice and touch cotton around wrapped around coil. Then put a couple of drop of juice on wick and test fire that coil is wicking. You should be able to assemble the rest and start Vaping. Or you could turn the coil horizontal and thread cotton wick thru coil. I can do this and I can barely see. And I don't use anything but my readers.

You can also start with 30 awg Kanthal and build coil like explained except use the tiny blue screwdriver and do 9 wraps around screwdriver wire touching. Turn it vertical or horizontal. Leave screwdriver in place while making connection to the positive and negative screws.

Tip. You shouldn't have to rebuild a coil once it's good unless wire breaks. All you need to do is remove wicking material, burn off gunk and rewick. Coils can last months. I never recoil my KFL unless I want to try a different build.

 

[vapdivrr]

I like the idea of the 15-20 wraps I'll give a go tomorrow. I built one last night that hits pretty well it does still have the metal taste on a few hits but not as much flavor as the other kids. What I did different was I didn't compress the coil at all it wasn't the best spaced and I'm guessing that's why the flavor is not optimal but like I said the metal taste went away on most huts. Do you have to compress the coils for cotton? A lot of the silica builds I see the coils look horrible, and they seem to work so I'm a little confused on that part if it? I do torch the kanthal with a torch not a bic and it definitely helps with the wraps. Just think that either when I'm compressing or connecting to the screws it's my downfall. I'll definitely pick up a magnifying glass to get a better look. Also as far as what the other dude charged me I'm ok with it...it forces me to learn myself...the part I don't like is being dependent on someone else's limited availability to get the vape I'm looking for. You all have been great with your advise it's the type of thing that keeps me optimistic and motivated to do it on my own. The kid uses a table clamp to hold the bit while he wraps I'm gonna have to look into that as well, since I feel like that will be a big help.

Thanks again everyone

if your using cotton or silica most likely its not the actual coil that's creating the metal taste. im sure before you have added the cotton you dry fired the coils just to see them light up, right? if they all lite up from the center out and non were brighter then others its not the actual wraps of the coil. process of elimination works so no matter if you wrap them tight or have spaces, mount the coil in device and dry fire it, like i said if the coil lights up evenly (spaced coil) or from center out (all wraps touching) and you see no ONE coil burning brighter then the coil is ok. the problem may be in that coil touching part of the deck. also as the leads are connected to the screws make sure you snip them off tight so no extra wire is possibly touching the chimney after it screws on. another possibility is the positive block. this positive block can move and touch the neg side, so check this as well. make sure the coil is raised about 2 to 3 mm of deck of device and that the ends of coil are not touching the screws. other then that it could be just the taste of an improper wick (as in to much cotton or to little) which is usually described as a dry hit or burnt but not metallic. either way about the coil, usually a micro coil and cotton wick is better suited if all wraps are touching but it really shouldn't matter to much if the wraps are spaced a bit, you just want them either all touching or all slightly spaced, you just want to stay away from all slightly spaced but one wrap is touching.

 

[Xcighippy]

Dis-agree
Not the low cost of wire, but the time involved to make it properly and set everything up. It is called Labor Rate and those willing or in need pay.

Ask yourself - are you worth what you are paid?

No. He's getting ripped off. A shop near me charges 5 bucks to do a coil. Another I know of does it free, It's called good customer service.