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Yes Dan, the mini aero 2 base is a direct replacement for the factory mpt2 base. It does make more noise than the factory base with drilled out holes though. A lot more.
Better to get a pin vise and drill out one hole at a time until you achieve the draw you like if noise is a concern for you.. Two of my three holes are drilled out to .040" from the stock .030".
I purchased a $10.00 jeweler's visor from amazon to aid in viewing those tiny coil legs during the coil set. I find myself using them for all kinds of things now.
cig
Got a nifty tip for the cotton wickers.. Picked up a big thing of cotton yarn the other night at JoAnn's for like $2. The brand is Lily's Sugar and Cream. It is the PERFECT size and slips right into a 1/16" or 5/64" coil!! Got tired of cotton balls being hit or miss and the yarn is rocking!! Almost no waste when wicking either, just made my Protanks and Kayfun one step closer to perfection!!
I have Peaches am5d Cream from Wally World. Pretty much the same stuff. I use it for flavor wicks and used 2 strands per coil to rewick the Iclears. Works great!
Is the cotton yarn safe to vape, do u have to boil it...
Live long and Vape.
hahaha...I just use whatever juice I find at my coil station either in a dropper or syringe...empty bottle..save for a drop or two
C, have you tried P&C in a PT build? Can you push it to power and flavor levels of kgd? Curious. Never tried it.
Thanks,
cigNo I have only used it for flacor wicks. But now with the pg/juice (thanks chanel!) Idea I may give it a go. It is 4 strand 100% cotton yarn so maybe 3 strands would work if 4 do not.C, have you tried P&C in a PT build? Can you push it to power and flavor levels of kgd? Curious. Never tried it.
Thanks,
I do boil mine before use. But 1 roll is a lifetime supply. For about $3.
Cig, if I buy the pin vise it will be to drill the air holes not wind on, your jig is superior in my mind because 1,2,3,1 (don't see well close) and I think the grip will be easier for me to apply tension on, the pin vise is a little small for my hands I think.
I have read so much I cannot believe I missed racking, in the vid I watched SuperX runs a needle through his coil but I wasn't sure you could do that on a mini, thanks so much I now understand why he was doing that, rake top of the coil, I would never have thought of that.
You are the man!
Dan, you cannot achieve a more direct, precise and consistent adhesion in a wind than on a pin vise. It affords the greatest degree of control and sensory feedback that you can have with a light wire. And its diversity in handling various types of stock for winding including screws, used drill bits, etc. can't be beat. We all have these lying around. It's totally portable and versatile.
To me most things touted as alternatives that would familiarize folks as to what adhesion is and what it takes to get it are like recommending blue water fishing gear where ultra-light would do in our liitle pond.
I have no objections to them in the long run. They all have their place. But you don't start plinkin' targets with a field gun. And some are downright unsuitable and won't do the job.
It is because a pin vise is small and light that it is helpful to us in detecting the slight irregularities in wire and to subtly accommodate for them.
Most failures in learning how to arrive at adhesion are due to the urge to wind with two high a tension. So one never observes the transition from loose contact to that rigid state systematically.
If that were not the case I would have invented and started with a machine to introduce tension winding on this thread and ECF instead of starting with forceps tensioning and a screwdriver. Merely winding everything as tight as we could get it would have been the answer and tensioned hand winding not necessary at all. Fortunately for all of us the simple solution turned out to be the most beneficial and effective. A conclusion that industry arrived at generations ago and why the methodology was routinely utilized in telecommunications.
Also it's not necessary to have perfect vision to wind precision tensioned coils. It's simple to mark any pin vise with a register mark and count rotations. And a simple plastic loupe is more than adequate to count turns and detect gross imperfections.
Further, no device we use to make tensioned coils including the gizmo starts the first turn in perfect adhesion. So jigs are no advantage in perfecting the first turn. It may appear perfect but human handling in the end will see to it that it's not. Handling or disconnection from either a collet or screw/nut is going to impact the end turn/s. I've always recommended that at least a few end turns will have to be de-wound as the first two-or-three may not match the rest in tension. Consequently, they may go hot requiring you to compress the coil to completion.
The further that you get from the starting turn towards the last the more uniform the tension. If you de-wind you will revert to a point closer to the last turn wound where your technique by then was optimal and consistent. And by so doing you will create a perfect and balanced starting turn lead every time.
If you're winding on something other than a pin vise, not closely examining your coil and assuming you have end-to-end adhesion the odds are you do not.
Any coil formed with compression rather than tension, or any element made by compression (corrected) in whole or part, is not a true microcoil. Not by functional definition. It will not exhibit the same operational temperatures or efficiency.
You have wasted your time. And no doubt this explains in part the subset of vapers who have tried microcoils and failed who now claim they don't work. Well they would be right. Their coils didn't work.
Tension and compression are not one and the same.
In a wind where tension of the coil itself and its leads is consistent and not unduly over-tensioned, raking is rarely necessary. When I introduced tension winding earlier this year two things were happening that were producing over tensioned coils. One was the sudden proliferation of various methods of jig winding. Apart from breaks in adhesion many of these can introduce into a wind, it is far easier to over-tension with one than a pin vise. It requires some practice and experience to understand and appreciate when and how/why adhesion occurs for a given wire gauge. It's easier for some gauges than others. The important thing is to understand what adhesion really is. And I encounter quite a few who don't and so aren't getting it but will swear all the living day that they are. All too frequently because they were not exposed to it in the manner I describe above. Secondly, we were all of us having to wind with higher tension as clearo makers introduced extremely soft silicone grommets that were not adequately pinning the leads. This created a slew of problems and misconceptions which I am trying to correct here.
And I demonstrate this last fact routinely and confidently on builds for advanced devices. Assuming a solid lead connection (which will cause hot legs otherwise) you commonly see first fire microcoils on evenly tensioned microcoil winds.
These are wound on a pin vise. Once you build one successfully this way and associate what the efficiency contributes to the experience you will always know a t.m.c. when you see one. Until then, in my opinion and experience, you'll be guessin'.
Good luck Dan.
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I'm not dead yet.. Ive been using a $1.88 bag of "100% pure" cotton balls from that Walplace since I started vaping, never boiled one yet, haven't boiled the yarn either. Obviously you don't wanna buy colored/dyed yarn, just stick with the white.
Im ocd though and wash my hands at every step of recoiling/rewicking. I'm a grimey dude, I don't want my wick soaking it up!!
hmm...I have used both and prefer the cig. Don't tell me I am wrong or haven't learned enough yet.,,,I have tried both and this is what I prefer. My mother in law used to tell me I was wrong to add the garlic to the olive oil before I added the tomato's. Not wrong. This is my way. Might not be yours. I find the cig more comfortable in the hand and less fiddley.
I just want to make a decent coil and use it to 'not smoke'
I just want to make a decent coil and use it to 'not smoke'
Dan, you cannot achieve a more direct, precise and consistent adhesion in a wind than on a pin vise. It affords the greatest degree of control and sensory feedback that you can have with a light wire. And its diversity in handling various types of stock for winding including screws, used drill bits, etc. can't be beat. We all have these lying around. It's totally portable and versatile.
To me most things touted as alternatives that would familiarize folks as to what adhesion is and what it takes to get it are like recommending blue water fishing gear where ultra-light would do in our liitle pond.
I have no objections to them in the long run. They all have their place. But you don't start plinkin' targets with a field gun. And some are downright unsuitable and won't do the job.
It is because a pin vise is small and light that it is helpful to us in detecting the slight irregularities in wire and to subtly accommodate for them.
Most failures in learning how to arrive at adhesion are due to the urge to wind with two high a tension. So one never observes the transition from loose contact to that rigid state systematically.
If that were not the case I would have invented and started with a machine to introduce tension winding on this thread and ECF instead of starting with forceps tensioning and a screwdriver. Merely winding everything as tight as we could get it would have been the answer and tensioned hand winding not necessary at all. Fortunately for all of us the simple solution turned out to be the most beneficial and effective. A conclusion that industry arrived at generations ago and why the methodology was routinely utilized in telecommunications.
Also it's not necessary to have perfect vision to wind precision tensioned coils. It's simple to mark any pin vise with a register mark and count rotations. And a simple plastic loupe is more than adequate to count turns and detect gross imperfections.
Further, no device we use to make tensioned coils including the gizmo starts the first turn in perfect adhesion. So jigs are no advantage in perfecting the first turn. It may appear perfect but human handling in the end will see to it that it's not. Handling of disconnection from either at the collet or a a screw/nut is going to impact the end turn/s. I have always recommended that at least a few end turns will have to be de-wound as the first two-or-three may not match the rest in tension. Consequently, they may go hot requiring you to compress the coil to completion.
The further that you get from the starting turn towards the last the more uniform the tension. If you de-wind you will revert to a point closer to the last turn wound where your technique by then was optimal and consistent. And by so doing you will create a perfect and balanced starting turn lead every time.
If you're winding on something other than a pin vise, not closely examining your coil and assuming you have end-to-end adhesion the odds are you do not.
Any coil formed with compression rather than tension, or any element made by compression (corrected) in whole or part, is not a true microcoil. Not by functional definition. It will not exhibit the same operational temperatures or efficiency.
You have wasted your time. And no doubt this explains in part the subset of vapers who have tried microcoils and failed who now claim they don't work. Well they would be right. Their coils didn't work.
Tension and compression are not one and the same.
In a wind where tension of the coil itself and its leads is consistent and not unduly over-tensioned, raking is rarely necessary. When I introduced tension winding earlier this year two things were happening that were producing over tensioned coils. One was the sudden proliferation of various methods of jig winding. Apart from breaks in adhesion many of these can introduce into a wind, it is far easier to over-tension with one than a pin vise. It requires some practice and experience to understand and appreciate when and how/why adhesion occurs for a given wire gauge. It's easier for some gauges than others. The important thing is to understand what adhesion really is. And I encounter quite a few who don't and so aren't getting it but will swear all the living day that they are. All too frequently because they were not exposed to it in the manner I describe above. Secondly, we were all of us having to wind with higher tension as clearo makers introduced extremely soft silicone grommets that were not adequately pinning the leads. This created a slew of problems and misconceptions which I am trying to correct here.
And I demonstrate this last fact routinely and confidently on builds for advanced devices. Assuming a solid lead connection (which will cause hot legs otherwise) you commonly see first fire microcoils on evenly tensioned microcoil winds.
These are wound on a pin vise. Once you build one successfully this way and associate what the efficiency contributes to the experience you will always know a t.m.c. when you see one. Until then, in my opinion and experience, you'll be guessin'.
Good luck Dan.
Chanel, I'm happy for anyone getting a consistent t.m.c., quitting expeditiously for it and upping their vape enjoyment. Period.
Where have I asked anyone not to use this device or that one? I've endorsed the use of a pin vise as the means to learn what adhesion is and how to achieve it. I'm teaching a science, not a device or method. And in the course of this these past 18 months I've confirmed what industry did over many decades that the vast majority of users can easily usea pin vise to achieve a high precision consistently. It wasn't my first choice.
So what would you have me do chanel? Stop? Be less than candid or forthright about my findings? Endorse something else?
I pass on here what I see daily as the most consistent avenue for the vast majority. If you agree with the proposition help out.
I welcome your success.
Good luck chanel.
Mac,
Your information is timely and so valuable. Along with all the other contributors to this thread. We all take what we can use to the best of our abilities. Does not mean other methods don't work or that the information is useless. It is all good. The goal is to have the best vape we can. Plus for what works today, something else might work better tomorrow!
Your information is timely and so valuable. Along with all the other contributors to this thread. We all take what we can use to the best of our abilities. Does not mean other methods don't work or that the information is useless. It is all good. The goal is to have the best vape we can. Plus for what works today, something else might work better tomorrow!
Never ask you to stop Mac. I read you writings daily and can feel that you pour your heart and soul into them.
I am just stating my preferences and why
That is what makes the world go round eh?
I am just stating my preferences and why
That is what makes the world go round eh?
Chanel, I'm happy for anyone getting a consistent t.m.c., quitting expeditiously for it and upping their vape enjoyment. Period.
Where have I asked anyone not to use this device or that one? I've endorsed the use of a pin vise as the means to learn what adhesion is and how to achieve it. I'm teaching a science, not a device or method. And in the course of this these past 18 months I've confirmed what industry did over many decades that the vast majority of users can easily usea pin vise to achieve a high precision consistently. It wasn't my first choice.
So what would you have me do chanel? Stop? Be less than candid or forthright about my findings? Endorse something else?
I pass on here what I see daily as the most consistent avenue for the vast majority. If you agree with the proposition help out.
I welcome your success.
Good luck chanel.
Never ask you to stop Mac. I read you writings daily and can feel that you pour your heart and soul into them.
I am just stating my preferences and why
That is what makes the world go round eh?
Thanks both for your kind remarks. I know where you're coming from. Please understand that I am not talking about preference but function. Do alternatives replicate function and/or functionality. There is an important difference and this is at the heart of this discussion. Many would see tension winding perceived as just another style. This dismisses what it actually contributes to our vape. And I will be darn clear that there is a difference. And those that achieve it in my experience do so as well.
Please understand that I introduced the art so that all of those alternatives preferences could be explored, differentiated and perfected in an informed way. That is exactly why I do this in the first place. In a very short time frame using a gizmo or similar may be my preference and necessity. It does not change my position or what I'll recommend here and elsewhere.
I would be grateful for one thing if you want to PIF for what you've achieved with tension, teach others effective pin vise tension winding as a baseline or refer them here or to my blog. My concern is for the newcomers who come here who will not experience the success with Joe Blow's new puck next week which may or may not work and won't know why unless there's someone around willing to dissect the differences and relate why. No matter your talent or potential you will never be a virtuoso without first learning the scales.
Case in point a beautiful little multi-color device recently introduced allows you to just stick some wire in and turn. In doing so a pin wraps the wire elegantly around a bit. And to those never exposed to the scientific method I've introduced hey, microcoil, what everybody else is using. When I see assumptions that might deter people from getting the best vape possible I will speak up to report to the degree that I see it may not. That doesn't mean I'm rejecting what value it may have for some or all of us, if it's there. Please folks, don't get me wrong on that.
More than anything each one of you may have seen is that I encourage everyone to evaluate any and every option that their curiosity provokes them to investigate. But too much of the emphasis in ECF and why so many struggle needlessly is the cacophony of voices urging them to to fly before they can run. Yep, I insist on teaching folks to walk first. Less trippin'. If there's a focal point in the objections here and there it's that. But it misses the point too that when you can't fly walking actually gets them there faster. And they don't miss the important scenery along the way. That I'd like them to see.
What I found even before I quit smoking reading these pages is that the proverbial what works for you frequently wasn't for most. That is what prompted my contribution.
If there's one thing I've realized in this process it's that when we clearly distinguish what adhesion makes as a means to refine the m.c. we also recognize the importance of the underlying framework for conveying it. We gain the ability to recognize it anywhere, everywhere and by any means. It is that foundation that is fundamental to the process. I have. And that is why I emphasize it. I don't own stock in Amazon.
What I encourage each and every one of you to promote is that a pin vise is likely to get them there rapidly. Those that have, do. I regret I can't be there for all of you to show you this inside of a 10-minute hands-on session. Most of the folks I've instructed are not ECF members. But they are only one or two degrees of separation from your influence. And what happens here, even subtle detractions or acknowledgements, have profound repercussions in the vapesphere, right or wrong. You are the important part of this equation and whether tension as a consumer art becomes a passing fancy or survives.
In a universe of competing strategies, technologies and potentially dysfunctional alternatives this art could be lost.
I urge you all to prove all things.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it until I see evidence to the contrary.
So going forward I have a simple request from those getting results here from tension, pass on the approach that I'm teaching. If not practicable, refer here.
I'm an icon. I don't have a dog in this fight but your success.
Good luck.
C, have you tried P&C in a PT build? Can you push it to power and flavor levels of kgd? Curious. Never tried it.
Thanks,
Peaches & Cream is not a new wicking material, I do know quite a few people who strongly believe in it.
Wicking media like a lot of other things is a personal preference and is also sometimes determined by device. My opinion is to give it a try and then you can determine what works best for you.
I have tried P&C and it does wick well, I've never pushed it past 15watts though and it held up well. As well as any cotton other than KGD (IMHO) only.
Until I complete my testing Nextel, in my opinion KGD produces the best flavor and wicking. I find I have to re-wick less and rebuild coils far less than with anything else I've tried.
As I said, it is personal preference and I will never say don't try something because of personal opinion! I don't work that way.
Vape On My Friends!
Mac, I get your point of view learning to walk before we can run. There are so many jigs out there these days that you cannot build a t.m.c. on. The pin vise is a devise you know will work and have endorsed it for the notice wanting to build a tensioned coil, I get that. Cig's jig is another I think will work, like the micro screwdriver with tape on the handle holding down one end of the wire, you built tensioned coils one before you found the pin vise. I intent on getting a pin vise and making a jig like Cig's and trying both out and later a novices review.
You were the first person I reached out to before I even joined this forum and I respect your opinion, in fact if it wasn't for you personally I know I would have tried to make a m.c. done a half assed job of it, gotten frustrated and maybe just given up and gone back to stock coils. You have educated me and countless others on a way to make a coil that doesn't require torching or tweezers and is more efficient than the standard m.c.. Not to mention all the research you have conducted on different gauges of kanthal,# of wraps etc? again if you had not done this I would be using 32g instead of 29g.
Your advise has given me the confidence that I can and will make a t.m.c. that works like one of yours, perhaps not the first time but maybe the second. You have always been there when I needed a question answered and I and many others appreciate all that you do.
You were the first person I reached out to before I even joined this forum and I respect your opinion, in fact if it wasn't for you personally I know I would have tried to make a m.c. done a half assed job of it, gotten frustrated and maybe just given up and gone back to stock coils. You have educated me and countless others on a way to make a coil that doesn't require torching or tweezers and is more efficient than the standard m.c.. Not to mention all the research you have conducted on different gauges of kanthal,# of wraps etc? again if you had not done this I would be using 32g instead of 29g.
Your advise has given me the confidence that I can and will make a t.m.c. that works like one of yours, perhaps not the first time but maybe the second. You have always been there when I needed a question answered and I and many others appreciate all that you do.
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Thanks for that Dan. And I'm not tryin' to rip anybody here. As far as I'm concerned all of you guys are here for me to serve. And I'm grateful for the opportunity to do so.
At times I get irked by those equating tension with just another winding style. And particularly the effect it may have on all of you. That's my bad. I'm usually good at ignoring such distractions. I'm sorry if that's all some got out of it but they never read the headline…it is about the underlying science. In the hard copy but an integral part I advocate a hand wind for beginners and more complex solutions as one gains the confidence of recognition, as you said. Each of these including a pin vise have their advantages and limitations and I have no specific preference for anything but what's appropriate to the circumstances. If I have a predilection at all, in fact, it's that we not lock ourselves into one solution as there are many.
So I guess I'm sayin' I wish the lesson plan and my purposes were better understood. It's not just a way but a way to easily disseminate the technology rapidly once personally applied. Only you, who are successful here are going to be able to convey that. And those you teach will likewise be empowered. I am only one person and the number of folks needing and interested in this essential solution is growing daily.
I'm counting on your success to make all our efforts as meaningful as possible.
That would be appreciation returned, to the rest of us.
Good luck all and Happy Holidays.
I think the lesson plan and your purpose is understood by many. It is understood by me too. I just had to mention that I am impatient and not a fiddly person so I am grateful to get a coil that is great (for me) and did not take much (brain power, finger dexterity, angst..etc) to make it. I am not saying that works for everyone and for the ones that it does not work for PLEASE DO NOT FOLLOW MY LEAD....listen to your lessons and get it right!
Thanks for your help always Mac and I certainly did not mean to minimize your hard work here......
Thanks for your help always Mac and I certainly did not mean to minimize your hard work here......
Thanks for that Dan. And I'm not tryin' to rip anybody here. As far as I'm concerned all of you guys are here for me to serve. And I'm grateful for the opportunity to do so.
At times I get irked by those equating tension with just another winding style. And particularly the effect it may have on all of you. That's my bad. I'm usually good at ignoring such distractions. I'm sorry if that's all some got out of it but they never read the headline…it is about the underlying science. In the hard copy but an integral part I advocate a hand wind for beginners and more complex solutions as one gains the confidence of recognition, as you said. Each of these including a pin vise have their advantages and limitations and I have no specific preference for anything but what's appropriate to the circumstances. If I have a predilection at all, in fact, it's that we not lock ourselves into one solution as there are many.
So I guess I'm sayin' I wish the lesson plan and my purposes were better understood. It's not just a way but a way to easily disseminate the technology rapidly once personally applied. Only you, who are successful here are going to be able to convey that. And those you teach will likewise be empowered. I am only one person and the number of folks needing and interested in this essential solution is growing daily.
I'm counting on your success to make all our efforts as meaningful as possible.
That would be appreciation returned, to the rest of us.
Good luck all and Happy Holidays.
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