Rebuild Question

[BAH77]

Hi

Due to the lack of consistency in my Kanger coils I bought some Kanthal a1 32ga and standard sillica to start making my own.
Found loads of good tutorials online.

When getting down to it I struggled with the sillica finding it difficult to manage so switched to organic cotton instead.

The build now seems to go great where as the use of the head doesn't. If I leave the top off and fire it on a battery after adding some drops of juice the coil won't glow red / orange no matter how much power I give it.

Obviously standard bought coils do, where might I be going wrong?

The ones I build seem to half work if that makes sense?

 

[Btsmokincat]

Juiced coils do not glow red, which you especially do not want them to glow red as that will burn the cotton. It is completely normal to have a coil wicked with cotton and juiced, not glow red.

It sounds to me like you have done it right! Are you getting good vapor?

 

[BAH77]

Juiced coils do not glow red, which you especially do not want them to glow red as that will burn the cotton. It is completely normal to have a coil wicked with cotton and juiced, not glow red.

It sounds to me like you have done it right! Are you getting good vapor?

Ah right, I'm barking up the wrong tree lol
I was thinking from when I had cleaned and dry burned stock coils

Getting reasonable vapour, seems to have a slight lack of throat hit. Overall they seem to lack a little compared to stock which is why I thought I might be going wrong somewhere.

Do they need a decent break in maybe?

 

[BAH77]

Actually I'm thinking maybe I had too much cotton, will try with less

 

[Btsmokincat]

Ah right, I'm barking up the wrong tree lol
I was thinking from when I had cleaned and dry burned stock coils

Getting reasonable vapour, seems to have a slight lack of throat hit. Overall they seem to lack a little compared to stock which is why I thought I might be going wrong somewhere.

Do they need a decent break in maybe?

The only break in they need should be the first 10 to 20 puffs to get past the cotton taste. The better it is wicked the less the cotton taste will last.

For PT coils, I take a whisp of cotton and roll it very tight between my fingers, insert into the coil until it is just snug, trim and fluff each side a toothpick. This usually works great for me, no gurgles, dry hits or leaks.

 

[Btsmokincat]

Another thing, handmade coils should be blowing stock coils out of the water. What Ohms are you coming up with on your rebuilds? Are you making microcoils like this?

 

[coalyard]

Another thing, handmade coils should be blowing stock coils out of the water. What Ohms are you coming up with on your rebuilds? Are you making microcoils like this?

View attachment 318619

+1 on blowing stock coils out of the water, BTW.

Amazon.com: Kanthal 30 Gauge AWG A1 Wire 100ft Roll .254mm , 8.36 Ohms/ft Resistance: Everything Else

That is a link to buy some 30ga kanthal A-1 wire, it's $7.35 for 100' including shipping. Round up a 5/64" drill bit or a 16ga needle too. 8 wraps on the drill bit, touching, if you can manage it. Take it off the drill bit and compress it with tweezers, torch it so it glows for 10 seconds. Put it back on the drill bit and install it in the PT head. Terminate the ends. Now follow Btsmokincat's advice to wick the coil. Wet it with juice, install the chimney, and vape away. That coil will give you 1.9-2.0 ohms every time once you get it down. I vape that at 3.5 volts in a PT2.

Do it. You won't regret it, I promise.

 

[Choc_Addic]

under 5 bucks shipped on ebay...
Kanthal A1 AWG Gauge 26 28 30 32 34 Sizes 25' 50'100' 250' 500' 100' Best Price | eBay

 

[BigCatDaddy]

Another thing, handmade coils should be blowing stock coils out of the water.

I agree!! OP doesn't say what size he's wrapping on or how many wraps. I've been enjoying making split micro coils with 5 wraps/30ga. on each side. Whoaaa nelly!! Almost vapes like a dual coil.

 

[Btsmokincat]

under 5 bucks shipped on ebay...
Kanthal A1 AWG Gauge 26 28 30 32 34 Sizes 25' 50'100' 250' 500' 100' Best Price | eBay

I just ordered 100 feet of 30 gauge and 50 feet of 28 gauge for $10 with free shipping from this guy (lightningvapes). I ordered it on friday and it's already in the mail and on it's way north!

 

[BAH77]

Fantastic advice, many thanks for the replies people.

Not managed to get my coils quite as close touching like the picture yet but close

I'm sure practice will make perfect

 

[MorpheusPA]

I have a slightly different method to rebuild my Kanger T3 heads.

1) Take about an inch of 2.5 mm silica.
2) Drive a standard sewing pin lengthwise through the silica to hold it straight and widen it a hair.
3) Freehand wrap a 5/4 turn of 32 gauge Kanthal around it, as tightly as possible.
4) Remove pin, replace coil in head, and use 2 mm silica as the flavor wick.
5) Put the rest back together.

My coils completely kill the factory ones in terms of slurpiness, flavor, and vapor production--but a 5/4 wrap will end up being around 1.8 ohms, or lower than I bought them. I've done 6/5 wraps for around 2.1 ohms, but I like the lower ohm rating better.

The coil wrappings aren't that neat, but I've found they really don't have to be. I can't detect any difference between coils I know were a mess and ones I know were showroom-perfect. Still, I try for nice coils, but by the time you're rebuilding your twelfth head, it's tough. A Helping Hands with a very large and powerful magnifying glass helps assure that coils are as good as I can make them.

I don't care for cotton as I can taste it even into the second tank--I seem to be cotton-intolerant. And yep, I boiled it. I boiled it done good, I did.

 

[BigCatDaddy]

I have a slightly different method to rebuild my Kanger T3 heads.

1) Take about an inch of 2.5 mm silica.
2) Drive a standard sewing pin lengthwise through the silica to hold it straight and widen it a hair.
3) Freehand wrap a 5/4 turn of 32 gauge Kanthal around it, as tightly as possible.
4) Remove pin, replace coil in head, and use 2 mm silica as the flavor wick.
5) Put the rest back together.

My coils completely kill the factory ones in terms of slurpiness, flavor, and vapor production--but a 5/4 wrap will end up being around 1.8 ohms, or lower than I bought them. I've done 6/5 wraps for around 2.1 ohms, but I like the lower ohm rating better.

The coil wrappings aren't that neat, but I've found they really don't have to be. I can't detect any difference between coils I know were a mess and ones I know were showroom-perfect. Still, I try for nice coils, but by the time you're rebuilding your twelfth head, it's tough. A Helping Hands with a very large and powerful magnifying glass helps assure that coils are as good as I can make them.

I don't care for cotton as I can taste it even into the second tank--I seem to be cotton-intolerant. And yep, I boiled it. I boiled it done good, I did.

Too bad you don't like cotton, you can make some killer coils with the Artistic Wire Coil Gizmo. I was playing around this morning and built a split 4/4 oval micro coil.


It was OK, but didn't vape as well as I would have liked, came in at 1.9 ohms on 30ga. Chunked it and built this micro using 30ga kanthal.



Vapes like a screaming banshee!! I love my little Gizmo for wrapping coils. Neatest, tightest coils you can make!!

 

[Mark Anthony]

Too bad you don't like cotton, you can make some killer coils with the Artistic Wire Coil Gizmo. I was playing around this morning and built a split 4/4 oval micro coil.
View attachment 318856

It was OK, but didn't vape as well as I would have liked, came in at 1.9 ohms on 30ga. Chunked it and built this micro using 30ga kanthal.

View attachment 318857

Vapes like a screaming banshee!! I love my little Gizmo for wrapping coils. Neatest, tightest coils you can make!!

I just bought one of those Artistic Wire Coiling Gizmo's...... They make wrapping coils a breeze. Best $7.00 I ever spent at the craft store... lol

 

[Weizenheimer]

I have found that simply removing the flavor wicks from the stock coils and replacing with a snip of 2mm silica or comparable amount of cotton resolves any gurgling problems etc. I imagine it won't quite compare with a properly done full rebuild, but it gets the job done quickly and easily.

 

[BigCatDaddy]

I just bought one of those Artistic Wire Coiling Gizmo's...... They make wrapping coils a breeze. Best $7.00 I ever spent at the craft store... lol

They're great, aren't they?? I love mine and have rebuilt about 30 coils now. I'm out of used ones and am thinking of rebuilding the unused ones I have. Just so much better vape on the rebuilds.

 

[BigCatDaddy]

I have found that simply removing the flavor wicks from the stock coils and replacing with a snip of 2mm silica or comparable amount of cotton resolves any gurgling problems etc. I imagine it won't quite compare with a properly done full rebuild, but it gets the job done quickly and easily.

IMHO, the best thing you can do while you are in there is carefully romove the entire silica wick and replace it with some boiled cotton. You will be AMAZED at the improvement.

 

[olefolks]

+1 on blowing stock coils out of the water, BTW.

Amazon.com: Kanthal 30 Gauge AWG A1 Wire 100ft Roll .254mm , 8.36 Ohms/ft Resistance: Everything Else

That is a link to buy some 30ga kanthal A-1 wire, it's $7.35 for 100' including shipping. Round up a 5/64" drill bit or a 16ga needle too. 8 wraps on the drill bit, touching, if you can manage it. Take it off the drill bit and compress it with tweezers, torch it so it glows for 10 seconds. Put it back on the drill bit and install it in the PT head. Terminate the ends. Now follow Btsmokincat's advice to wick the coil. Wet it with juice, install the chimney, and vape away. That coil will give you 1.9-2.0 ohms every time once you get it down. I vape that at 3.5 volts in a PT2.

Do it. You won't regret it, I promise.

How do you get the PT coil down into the head using a 5/64 bit? This bit won't fit into the head of the coil. Just asking!!

 

[Nightcall]

That is a link to buy some 30ga kanthal A-1 wire, it's $7.35 for 100' including shipping. Round up a 5/64" drill bit or a 16ga needle too. 8 wraps on the drill bit, touching, if you can manage it. Take it off the drill bit and compress it with tweezers, torch it so it glows for 10 seconds.

This is the coil setup I use on my Protanks as well. I recently tried 32 ga instead of 30 because I had it laying around in my mini protank and it stinks. Conclusion 30 ga > 32 ga.

I compress the coils but not too much because I'm skeptical about micro coils. My gut feeling is they choke and clog the wick from lack of air flow. Could be wrong, but my Protank build has been working beautifully, using no flavor wick with coils with tiny spaces. No sputtering, flooding, leaking etc.

 

[BigCatDaddy]

This is the coil setup I use on my Protanks as well. I recently tried 32 ga instead of 30 because I had it laying around in my mini protank and it stinks. Conclusion 30 ga > 32 ga.

I compress the coils but not too much because I'm skeptical about micro coils. My gut feeling is they choke and clog the wick from lack of air flow. Could be wrong, but my Protank build has been working beautifully, using no flavor wick with coils with tiny spaces. No sputtering, flooding, leaking etc.

Built this micro this morning with 30ga. Getting ready to install it in a few and try out some Butterscotch juice I mixed up early this morning. I would prefer to wait a few days, but I'm freakin' impatient!! Click on pic to enlarge.