RBA wire questions...

[Jolly Boots Of Doom]

alright so I want to get into rebuilding. I know I need kanthal wire, but what guage? what does A1 mean? what is better ribbon or round? what gauge is too big/small? I will need to make at least one very high resistance coil around 5 ohms maybe, but I want to use a smaller gauge wire (I don't even know what counts as "smaller") to achieve this so that It wont take as long to heat up. I also want to make normal range and possibly sub ohm at some point. but other than that I have no Idea what it is that I will actually need. also if it makes a difference I plan on using cotton wicks. HELP ME MASTERS OF THE VAPEVERSE!!

 

[Bunnykiller]

do some more research on building coils, learn about ohms law first and foremost. 30ga. Kanthal is a good wire to start with. and get an ohm meter, learn how to use it.... there is more to building coils than just wrapping wire around a drill bit...

 

[Ryedan]

alright so I want to get into rebuilding. I know I need kanthal wire, but what guage? what does A1 mean? what is better ribbon or round? what gauge is too big/small? I will need to make at least one very high resistance coil around 5 ohms maybe, but I want to use a smaller gauge wire (I don't even know what counts as "smaller") to achieve this so that It wont take as long to heat up. I also want to make normal range and possibly sub ohm at some point. but other than that I have no Idea what it is that I will actually need. also if it makes a difference I plan on using cotton wicks. HELP ME MASTERS OF THE VAPEVERSE!!

You need to do some reading to learn some basics about this stuff. The rebuildable atomizer forum is a great place to start.

 

[jd1978]

We all started somewhere. The first wire I used was 32 gauge kanthal a1. I also use 32 gauge nichrome, which is now my preference since it tastes better to me, but not everyone. I also have 28 gauge kanthal. I use both 32's primarily. The kanthal I have is about 1.14 ohm per inch and the nichroms is like .8 ohm per inch. It boils down to what you prefer. We can give some pointers, but in the end, what suits you is all that matters.

 

[Jolly Boots Of Doom]

do some more research on building coils, learn about ohms law first and foremost. 30ga. Kanthal is a good wire to start with. and get an ohm meter, learn how to use it.... there is more to building coils than just wrapping wire around a drill bit...

I have an ohm meter (I use it for work) I know ohms law pretty well (I use it for work), I even found a really good calculator for coil building, I am in the process of building a mech mod that is going to put out around 7.5v hence the need to make a 5 ohm coil (11.5w). I digress, I didn't mean to imply coil building is not a skill, I only wanted to know how long a normal range coil might be. So if I need to build a 5 ohm coil at 8 ohms per foot means aprox 7 in of wire needs to be wrapped, is that even possible? (ps I know all my numbers aren't exact but for brevity's sake I rounded) is there a difference in performance of ribbon wire vs round? I didn't intend to offend and I really am just looking for the expertise of people much more experienced than me, like yourself. however I am going to check out the forum that Ryedan suggested (Thanks!)

 

[dice57]

5 ohm coil? Really? What power monging device you going to fire that on?

I'd suggest getting a small selection some 28, 30, and 32 awg Kanthal A1 round wire to start off with. That way you can find what best suits your coil style and target ohms. I use mainly 28 awg for builds of 0.3-1.5 ohms. Anything higher usually takes to long to heat up.

I've recently started trying some ribbon and twisted wire builds, but they generally are for more advanced builds and one should first become competent in their building skills before trying that. Round wire is easier to work with and would be better to start with.

Once you find what works best for you, then you can purchase 50' or 100' of your preferred wire. That way one doesn't end up with a bunch of wire they won't use.

 

[Ryedan]

I have an ohm meter (I use it for work) I know ohms law pretty well (I use it for work), I even found a really good calculator for coil building, I am in the process of building a mech mod that is going to put out around 7.5v hence the need to make a 5 ohm coil (11.5w). I digress, I didn't mean to imply coil building is not a skill, I only wanted to know how long a normal range coil might be. So if I need to build a 5 ohm coil at 8 ohms per foot means aprox 7 in of wire needs to be wrapped, is that even possible? (ps I know all my numbers aren't exact but for brevity's sake I rounded) is there a difference in performance of ribbon wire vs round? I didn't intend to offend and I really am just looking for the expertise of people much more experienced than me, like yourself. however I am going to check out the forum that Ryedan suggested (Thanks!)

Nothing in your posts is offensive in any way . You are asking questions about an unusual setup that are hard to answer without more information. For example, what gauge wire you need so that the coil heats up reasonably quickly depends on the design of the coil, the power applied and the resistance. For a 1.5 ohm micro coil at 10 watts I would suggest you try 30 or 32 gauge Kanthal. I have no experience with 5 ohm coils and that is probably par for the course around here.

IMO, as a beginner starting out with rebuilding it would be easier and perhaps safer for you to start with more 'standard' coils on standard equipment and develop from that. OTOH, as long as you don't draw too much power from your batteries, you are reasonably safe experimenting with this stuff, but without some actual experience to draw on you could be doing a lot of experimenting until things click for you. That's why I suggested you do some research on general rebuilding topics. At the top of the page I linked to there is a 'sticky' thread on sub ohm safety. That has a a lot of basic coil design information and safety info in it.

As for the round vs ribbon wire, I wouldn't worry about it. Stick with the round, get something going that you can work with and then you can experiment with this.

Whatever you do, make sure it's safe . It seems to me you're taking on a lot at once, specially with the limited experience.

 

[Jolly Boots Of Doom]

5 ohm coil? Really? What power monging device you going to fire that on?

I'd suggest getting a small selection some 28, 30, and 32 awg Kanthal A1 round wire to start off with. That way you can find what best suits your coil style and target ohms. I use mainly 28 awg for builds of 0.3-1.5 ohms. Anything higher usually takes to long to heat up.

I've recently started trying some ribbon and twisted wire builds, but they generally are for more advanced builds and one should first become competent in their building skills before trying that. Round wire is easier to work with and would be better to start with.

Once you find what works best for you, then you can purchase 50' or 100' of your preferred wire. That way one doesn't end up with a bunch of wire they won't use.

The device is going to be a battery mech mod (semi mech mod?) that I am working on building myself, I started a thread about that here, http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/battery-mods/530655-making-my-own-mod-theory.html I know its ridiculus and Unneccesary but come on, its kinda cool. I want to build batteries mostly but this mod requires I build my own coils as well.

 

[ad68]

for a 5Ohm coil you'll need thin wire, at least 34 gauge kanthal, it's resistance is 1.84ohms/inch according to Wire Gauge – What is What | Vaping Cobra Blog
but that'll be a pretty huge coil. 36 or 38 gauge may be better, 2.92 resp. 4.61ohms/inch.
very thin wire might pop easily though, don't know, haven't tried.