I wanted to see the difference of a silica build instead of the cotton I've been using on the Aspire head rebuilds. TBH, it was much easier with silica. I built the micro coil, actually did 2, the first was a 10 wrap 28ga kanthal around a 2mm shaft with a 3mm piece of silica and the second was a 9 wrap 28ga kanthal around a 1.5mm shaft with a 2mm piece of silica. Both vape really good with great flavor and vapor production the same as the original (I have 3 tanks now and have 1 with a new 1.6mm Aspire head to compare).
I built the micro coils as usual by wrapping the coil then torching and squeezing to get the coils nice and tight, then threaded the silica through the coil. I thought it was going to hard, if not impossible, to thread the silica through the coil but it was easier than getting cotton through. I angle cut the end of the silica, got it very wet, and twisted it counterclockwise through the coil to keep it tight and it went through very easily. The 1.5mm coil with 2mm silica was a little tighter in the coil like the original head and the 2mm coil with the 3mm silica was a bit looser and could be moved side to side easily when I was done (much looser than the original head). The 2mm wrap came to 1.95ohm (needs 1 or 2 less wraps next time perhaps) and the 1.5mm wrap came out to 1.3ohm (maybe 1 or 2 more wraps next time). I had to turn My Provari down to 3.2v for the 1.5mm build and up to 3.9v for the 2mm build. That is compared to the 3.5 I was running on the stock 1.6ohm coil. I guess that's to be expected considering the ohm difference.
I want to see if I can dry burn the builds after a bit of coil build up, which I couldn't do with the cotton wicks. To early to say yet, I need to get some build up first, then I'll give it a go. I did get a little silica flavor for the first 5 or 6 toots, but that went away completely and the flavor is excellent now. Don't know which coil build I prefer yet, time will tell. But I'm already thinking about a 1.8mm build to get the 3mm silica a little tighter in the coil.
Why am I doing this? Cheap coils and I love to fiddle with my hobby... more the fiddling I think. Anyway, if you want to give rebuilding these coils a try silica looks very promising so far and I like the fact that the wick is very even thickness throughout the coil which I don't think I ever got with cotton.
I built the micro coils as usual by wrapping the coil then torching and squeezing to get the coils nice and tight, then threaded the silica through the coil. I thought it was going to hard, if not impossible, to thread the silica through the coil but it was easier than getting cotton through. I angle cut the end of the silica, got it very wet, and twisted it counterclockwise through the coil to keep it tight and it went through very easily. The 1.5mm coil with 2mm silica was a little tighter in the coil like the original head and the 2mm coil with the 3mm silica was a bit looser and could be moved side to side easily when I was done (much looser than the original head). The 2mm wrap came to 1.95ohm (needs 1 or 2 less wraps next time perhaps) and the 1.5mm wrap came out to 1.3ohm (maybe 1 or 2 more wraps next time). I had to turn My Provari down to 3.2v for the 1.5mm build and up to 3.9v for the 2mm build. That is compared to the 3.5 I was running on the stock 1.6ohm coil. I guess that's to be expected considering the ohm difference.
I want to see if I can dry burn the builds after a bit of coil build up, which I couldn't do with the cotton wicks. To early to say yet, I need to get some build up first, then I'll give it a go. I did get a little silica flavor for the first 5 or 6 toots, but that went away completely and the flavor is excellent now. Don't know which coil build I prefer yet, time will tell. But I'm already thinking about a 1.8mm build to get the 3mm silica a little tighter in the coil.
Why am I doing this? Cheap coils and I love to fiddle with my hobby... more the fiddling I think. Anyway, if you want to give rebuilding these coils a try silica looks very promising so far and I like the fact that the wick is very even thickness throughout the coil which I don't think I ever got with cotton.
