Rba/Rda tools. What do you use? Custom?

[savagemann]

I've made a few handy tools for fiddling with coils/attys/mods.
What do you use?
What have you made?
Let's hear about it!

One of my gripes with most standard tweezers and needle nose pliers are how they squeeze together a coil when making a micro coil.
Because they close together around a coil in kind of a V shape, sometimes the coil bows and doesn't hold straight and true.
I decided I was going to make a simple set of needle nose pliers for squishing coils.

I'll start.
Picked up a set of $2 long needle nose pliers from harbor freight.
Took a torch to them about 1" from the ends.
Used another set of pliers to bend the tips in a few degrees.
Ground the working surfaces so that when they were about the width of my standard coil, the ends would be square to each other.
Polished out the torch marks and done.

From this


And this


To this


And this

Works great.

 

[CloudZ]

Mini philips screwdriver
Mini flat screwdriver (mostly for poking and adjusting things)
Drill bits (for different size coils)
Super sharp mini scissor (cutting cotton wicks)
Toenail clipper (cutting silica wicks and wire)
Wide flat tweezer (for grabbing wire, adjusting, compressing coils)
Multi tool (used rarely, but great to have options when I need them)
Mini butane torch

EDIT: Oh yeah, and most importantly, digital multimeter (not pictured). I also have a thin tweezer for adjusting coils inside BCC heads.

 

[rbrown1]

I'm going to have to make a set of pliers like that. I've been using a set of forceps from my electronics toolset and run into the same problems as you did. The forceps do come in handy though, for those small thumbscrews on some RBA's (ie..AGA T3) and grabbing the pointy end of cotton wicking when I make it too short to grab with my fingers.

 

[ConradM]

Rip Trippers showed that you're supposed to grab the inside of the coil so it's straight. Works for me... If after that the outside of the coil is a little loose I squeeze it once it's on the posts.

 

[ImThatGuy]

You should also have those "pinching tools" that every builder has...

 

[savagemann]

You should also have those "pinching tools" that every builder has...

I've got a few of the pinchers.
:sly:

 

[savagemann]

Here are the tools I have dedicated to my vaping box.
Creme brule chefs torch.




Sharpened bicycle spokes. I use these to not only poke/prod coils, I also use them to wrap my coils on.
They are
1.7mm
1.8mm
2.0mm
2.1mm

 

[Vaslovik]

This is what I was using a while back, more stuff has been added since:

 

[Nu2Dis]

Oh yeah those pincher thingy's come in handy.
I think we learned where to get these earlier.

 

[Lavaca5]

I've made a few handy tools for fiddling with coils/attys/mods.
What do you use?
What have you made?
Let's hear about it!

One of my gripes with most standard tweezers and needle nose pliers are how they squeeze together a coil when making a micro coil.
Because they close together around a coil in kind of a V shape, sometimes the coil bows and doesn't hold straight and true.
I decided I was going to make a simple set of needle nose pliers for squishing coils.

I'll start.
Picked up a set of $2 long needle nose pliers from harbor freight.
Took a torch to them about 1" from the ends.
Used another set of pliers to bend the tips in a few degrees.
Ground the working surfaces so that when they were about the width of my standard coil, the ends would be square to each other.
Polished out the torch marks and done.

From this


And this


To this


And this

Works great.

That's perfect. I have the same problem, and it's my number one source of frustration. May have to give this a try.

FYI, these would be great:



They're called parallel action pliers. This particular pair is $40 though, so you're method wins unless I can find these a lot cheaper.

*your*

 

[savagemann]

That's perfect. I have the same problem, and it's my number one source of frustration. May have to give this a try.

FYI, these would be great:

View attachment 291745

They're called parallel action pliers. This particular pair is $40 though, so you're method wins unless I can find these a lot cheaper.

*your*

Those look awesome!
We just need a mini version.

 

[Lavaca5]

Those look awesome!
We just need a mini version.

I keep looking. My sister makes jewelry and owns a bead shop. There are all kinds of nifty jewelry tools that could be adapted for vaping. She gave me a wire winder thingy that I'm sure somebody could adapt to make coils. I'll have to post a pic of it later and see if anybody has some ideas.

 

[muzichead]

First of all, if the coil is bending when you are pinching it, you are pinching it too tightly... You only need to pinch it enough for the coils to be touching. Putting more force on them will not make them stay together any better!!!

 

[savagemann]

First of all, if the coil is bending when you are pinching it, you are pinching it too tightly... You only need to pinch it enough for the coils to be touching. Putting more force on them will not make them stay together any better!!!

The problem I was having is the coil would bow, so the coils were not touching properly.
It wasn't from too much force. It was just the angle of which the tool was hitting the coil.
Since I made my special pliers, not a single issue. In fact, I pretty much get everything touching perfect with a single light squeeze.
It works great.
Now if you're smashing coils, that's a whole nother issue.