Rebuilt my first coils!

[granolaboy]

So last night I decided I'd learn how to rebuild my protank coils. Got myself a carto resistance checker, and some 32g kanthal. My first 2-3 builds I tried using a toothpick (2mm) and ended up with either really high resistance (like 2.8Ω, 3.2Ω, ...) or they'd just short out and fail. Then I switched to the 1/16" (1.58mm) and finally got a somewhat reasonable 2.4Ω on 6 wraps. Tried to cram as much cotton wick in there, and it worked, although the flavour was somewhat muted. I figured my wicking was too much.

Built another at 1.9Ω, then another at 1.85Ω, then another at 2Ω (still at 6 wraps). Tried using much less wicking, but it was too little and the coils flooded. Did another, but cut the cotton too short, and again was in gurgle city. Finally I nailed it...just enough cotton to bunch up a little, but still not crammed in there.

First impression: WOW. HOLY $%$#! AMAZING!!!

Easily 3 times as much flavour as my stock coils. Seriously, it's like I'm tasting my ejuice for the first time all over again. Cotton wicking rules!!

I can hit the coils with more power too before it starts to taste burnt. I used to take long hauls, and now I draw maybe 1/4 as much time and get more vapour and more flavour.

If you are running stock coils on your protanks, I highly recommend you rebuild them with cotton wicks. You might waste a couple meters of kanthal like I did before you get it right, but when you do....WOW!

 

[Neunerball]

It's also a good practice for when you think of upgrading to RDAs/RBAs.

 

[Ace90]

Congrats !! I just started building my coils for my new Trident rebuild last week and I agree WOW HOLY $%$#! AMAZING!!! You might want to look into mods soon....

 

[granolaboy]

It's also a good practice for when you think of upgrading to RDAs/RBAs.

You might want to look into mods soon....

Oh yah, TOTALLY. I'm starting to imagine how awesome a Kayfun RBA would be. If these tiny coils are this awesome, I'm sure a big fatty coil with big fatty cotton wicking would be insane.

I see a mech mod and a KLP RBA in my very near future FOR SURE!

 

[gorillas]

congrats!!

 

[PolarGoat]

haha once you go sub-ohm and dripping youll really be amazed!!! def get a mech mod and a RDA/RBA. i have a smoktech magneto with a trident RDA running at .3 ohms and ooooohweeeeee is it yummy!

 

[organikness]

Nice one man. I remember that feeling with my first rebuild! Great work

 

[granolaboy]

hehehe

I know hey? "They grow up so fast..."

I'm still blown away. A bunch of my fruity juices that I had written off as being too mild in flavour have a whole new life to them. And the ones I thought packed a punch before...like this strawberry sundae or orange creamsicle...it's like getting punched in the face!

Man, come payday, mech mods and rba's - here I come!

 

[granolaboy]

haha once you go sub-ohm and dripping youll really be amazed!!! def get a mech mod and a RDA/RBA. i have a smoktech magneto with a trident RDA running at .3 ohms and ooooohweeeeee is it yummy!

So when you say 0.3Ω, is that a single coil? What gauge kanthal? Coil diameter? # of wraps?

Sorry to be a nuisance, but I'm just curious of what a setup like that looks like

 

[the_vape_nerd]

well well

1. congratulations on making a vapeable coil, it is quite the accomplishment
2. you should check out super x's informative thread here and his videos on you tube about making microcoils, it is time well spent and you probably will like the micro coil in comparison to the simpler standard coils you just built

 

[granolaboy]

Well, been a couple of weeks now. Been building coils like a maniac.

I'm doing 9 wraps of 30g kanthal now on 1/16" diameter for the protank2 mini builds. Comes out around 1.9Ω. The vape is amazing!

My friend also gave me a Sentinel m16 clone with a Helios RDA clone. I do the same with that, but dual 9-wrap coils. Gives me a 0.9Ω coil, and holy moly!!! This is freaking amazing!! Any more flavour and I might as well be dripping the juice into my mouth haha!!

I think I'm going to try twisting up the 30g kanthal now and see how that goes with the RDA...

Using organic cotton wicks, and I've been re-wicking daily. New coils at least once a week.

 

[ElConquistador]

You are now on the slippery slope!

 

[epicdoom]

You are now on the slippery slope!

yes indeed lol

OP that's good stuff and just a bit true in my case, I built tiny Atomic RDA and have been dripping no nic juice in it. I pull on it so hard I literally draw juice into my mouth lol lucky its no nic and doesn't taste bad.

 

[Fenway75]

This is a fun thread to follow, as I'm on a very similar slippery slope to you. Started with my Kanger heads, had the same issues you did, got it right a few times in a row and gave an RDA a try, then a Kayfun clone. I still rebuild my Kanger heads; even with the occasional screwup I'm saving something like $1.90 per head given that they average $2.00 new.

I also found that starting with Kanger heads really prepared me for the RDAs....they're (the Kanger heads) such a pain in the rear to rebuild with my oversized mitts that once I'd more or less mastered them, RDAs were smooth sailing.