New member, protank rebuild question

[Jmill157]

Hey guys,

Long time lurker , finally made a username the other day ! Loving this community and all it has shown / taught me so far. By far the best vaping forum I've seen !

Now for my question , and forgive me if I should be finding the answer by searching , I tried and was unsuccessful. I've been using an aerotank and protank 3 for four months now (recently had the iclear 30s but hated the results I got with the top coil) and I'm ready to try my hand at rebuilding the atomizer heads. I've found cheap authentic dual coil heads on eBay , came out to be only 85 cents per! But I am recently running into the issue of burnt taste from time to time and have read the posts and seen the videos of people swearing by rebuilding with cotton (and I've used my brothers RDA so I have experienced the better taste from cotton), and after watching RipTripper's video on YouTube I'm ready to try rebuilding a few of the 20 new atomizer heads I've got coming in the mail. My question (and sorry for taking so long to get to it) is that I've got the dual coils coming , and everything I see is showing you how to rebuild protank 2 single coils, not the dual coil (I'm assuming because of the increased difficulty). Can I rebuild the dual coil heads I've got on the way to be single coil like all the tutorial videos show ? If not I'll have to order some protank 2 coils , but it'd be nice if I could use the ones I ordered since I have so many of them oh their way already.

Thanks for the responses in advance and thank you guys for being such an awesome , informative community !

 

[John812]

I haven't tried rebuilding a dual coil set-up but, have done countless single coil ones for my Pro Tanks. They are pretty easy after you get a couple under your belt and becomes a no brainer soon afterward. Just remember to keep the leads a little longer than you expect the coil will need when fitting it all back together and get some really sharp precision snips for the wire. You will have NO problem at all with just those two tools... good luck with it bud. You'll save money and be happier as you start playing around with getting it just exactly as you like it in no time. (VERY much worth learning and doing...)

 

[Susan~S]

This is a single coil build in a dual coil base (the original dual coils). !!!! Aero Tank !!!! with 2.2 ohm micro coil build with cotton -- picture below.

I usually "thin out the cotton" in the coil. Thicker cotton on both sides of the coil.

 

[rodeo302]

I have rebuilt the dual coils before into single coil I just added an extra flavor wick on top to block off the extra juice that wants to get in.

 

[ROM CGY]

Agree with rodeo, I found that just building a single coil was simpler and was able to get a satisfying vape from using heavier gauge wire than stock coils. I was building single coils with 26 gauge at about 0.8 to 0.9 ohms running off a mech and found them superior to the stock dual coils. You just have to play with how much cotton you're wicking with to suite your vape style (how hard you pull, etc.)

 

[Warpigs]

Welcome to ECF!

 

[Jmill157]

Thank you for the video of what I was looking for Susan ! Definitely going to go buy some kanthal from the B&M tomorrow and try it out , I want to try this ASAP and don't want to wait for another ebay order to get to tinkering! Once I get a rebuild up and running I'll be ordering more wire ! I think looking into all this rebuilding though is going to initially hurt the wallet , as I'm just now seeing this RTA's (I have only seen / used RDA's) and am very intrigued. The thing keeping me from rebuildables was the fact I thought they were all the drip style like my brother had. Oh boy lol, at least my money will be going towards long lasting products other than cigarettes I suppose !

 

[IMFire3605]

I've rebuilt some Protank 3 V1, generation yada yada long stem heads before. Just rebuild them the same why I do my Protank 1/2 heads.

1/16 inch drill bit
5 inches or so 32 awg kanthal
Fold wire side by side
Hold Looped End and wrap both wire ends side by side (parallel build) 10 wraps top/9 wraps bottom around drill bit
Insert Legs down through coil head cup still on drill bit
Fold Long Side by side leg up and trap with thumb
Guide untrapped legs through bottom insulator
bend and trap those legs and insert bottom pin
tug and pull all legs tight, then wiggle and snap them off, remove drill bit
use tweezers to center the coil and keep it from touching the walls
mount into protank base then onto a mod, and slowly pulse the coil hot and compress tight together the wire until coil glows evenly
thread cotton into coil, needs to be loose but not to loose, so tug and twist the cotton to feed through until 1 to 1 1/2 inch protrudes out other side, if the coil shifts, recenter it. Do not want the cotton to loose or to tight, this takes the most practice
fold threading side over top of coil, reseat the stem and top grommet, cut cotton flush with coil cup bottom flange.
fill tank, seat coil in base, and seat the base. Attach to batter/device, dry puff it about 5 times, then in gentle pulses, 2 seconds, then three second, then 4 seconds draws, gradually break the coil and wick in.

Simple parallel coil, technically dual coil, comes out to about 1.4 to 1.6 ohms every time

*edited in missed steps

 

[Susan~S]

Thank you for the video of what I was looking for Susan ! Definitely going to go buy some kanthal from the B&M tomorrow and try it out , I want to try this ASAP and don't want to wait for another ebay order to get to tinkering! Once I get a rebuild up and running I'll be ordering more wire ! I think looking into all this rebuilding though is going to initially hurt the wallet , as I'm just now seeing this RTA's (I have only seen / used RDA's) and am very intrigued. The thing keeping me from rebuildables was the fact I thought they were all the drip style like my brother had. Oh boy lol, at least my money will be going towards long lasting products other than cigarettes I suppose !

One thing I forgot to mention, you will need an ohm reader or DMM (digital multi-meter) to measure your build BEFORE you fire it on your battery. Most vape shops carry them.

If you really get into rebuilding here is a blog by Baditude (our resident battery/safety expert) with items, tools & supplies for rebuilding: Inexpensive Mechanical Mod/RDA Setup

If you want Kanthal by the roll LightningVapes carries everything plus many tools/supplies/meters, etc. for rebuilding as well.

 

[VHRB2014]

I have rebuilt the dual coils before into single coil I just added an extra flavor wick on top to block off the extra juice that wants to get in.

This. You`l be dealing with a juice opening thats twice as large as the single coil opening, so it has to be filled with cotton so you don`t flood the coil and your batt. So you`ll want to put an extra flavor wick on top, maybe two in addition to the single flavor wick that`s normally found in the single coil unit. Once you get the hang of wrapping coils ect, you`ll quickly find out that learning exactly how much cotton to use is the biggest frustrating issue. You`ll more then likely go though a couple with too little cotton and then go with a few that have too much cotton, or vic versa. Don`t give up, once its learned its hard to forget.

And once you get that down, you can still build a dual, its just twice as much work. The ability to re build a coil when you don`t have a good one is priceless!

I think we bought about 50 coils in the beginning and have`nt bought any new ones to replace them in a long time. Once they are spent/burned up we toss them in a jar full of alcohol. When I need to replace one, I just grab a few out of the alcohol and get to doing it. Try to do three or four at time so there are spares for a little while.

Most of our stuff is RBA now, :?)

Good luck