Small gaps

[Sturm]

I just tried building my first coils and even after heating and compressing it a little it still has small gaps here and there. Its hard to tell from pictures online if they have these gaps too. They are real small. Maybe big enough to slide a piece of paper through but to small for a finger nail to fit in. Is this normal?

 

[Neolithium]

I just tried building my first coils and even after heating and compressing it a little it still has small gaps here and there. Its hard to tell from pictures online if they have these gaps too. They are real small. Maybe big enough to slide a piece of paper through but to small for a finger nail to fit in. Is this normal?

It can be. I've had contact coils not end up perfect more than once, they still worked out well, and as long as they glow from the inside out, and don't have hot spots you should be just fine. My issues with the lack of perfection is I can't wrap completely perpendicular to the bit I'm using, which helps make the coils tighter right off the bat - as long as nothing is really funky for gaps and it seems to fire fine after you check the ohms, I don't see why anyone should worry.

 

[Papa_Lazarou]

Yep - as long as they glow inside out. You might have to pinch them a bit after dry burning them to cinch them up, and make sure you don't get a hot leg. You're also going to find they might gunk up around the gaps quicker than the rest of the coil, but you'll get a vape out of them just fine.

If you're interested, here's a tool to help make coils - it's cheap and works well...

http://www.amazon.com/Artistic-Wire-Coiling-Deluxe-Jewelry/dp/B0068RQ85K

 

[Sturm]

I'll give it a try and see. This is my first time building so I'm nervous about messing it up. Also is it normal for kanthal do completely come of the spool when you unhook one side? Popped of like a spring. Pain in the ....

 

[illitirit]

what you need to get is ceramic tweezers. You are able to pinch and squeeze the coil while firing so that you can manipulate the kanthal freely without shorting your coil. I can literally just meld my coil wraps together no space whatsoever between the wraps.

 

[ignotus]

I wouldn't worry about it.

I only lightly fire and squeeze with ceramic tweezers until I get the inside-out glow. Overdoing it may deform the coil.

 

[SLIPPY_EEL]

if you want a real easy way to get the wraps touching without using heat or if you want to just wrap a sloppy coil and then use this technique after yeah it works really well >>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktOED8LSUEY

i will just mention before the the tension coil pro's come in that this method doesnt give you a tensioned coil as after you do this you will notice your coil a little loose on your coil wrapping jig or mandrel, But the coils will be touching without gaps after a couple of practice runs..

as an example this wire below 20g rene is the big brother of the 27g rene which people have real big trouble taming, sooo...

 

[WharfRat1976]

Your small gaps are okay- they allow your JOOSE to saturate your WICK

They will get better as your wrapping skills improve AND---you get a coil gizmo

 

[CMD-Ky]

There are times when reading about TMC (and my head begins spin like Rosemary's Baby) that I begin to wonder if the time, effort and concern is somewhat over done. The theoretical versus the empirical, I am becoming more empirical and worry less if the coil is theoretically correct, I rate a coil by how it functions. Generally speaking, all of my coils perform well, that is, they taste good and produce acceptable vapor without burning my tongue.
My only theoretically perfect coils come off a gizmo but I find the limited mandrel size of the gizmo limiting. And I am unable tell the difference. I wrap as consistently as I can, make certain there are no hot spots or hot legs, wick it properly and then I vape it. I have even used a machine screw to space coils - no touching coils with a 2.7mm inside diameter no micro coil - it tastes good, has good vapor production and my tongue remains un-scared. As my mother (she has been quoted by many others always without attribution to her) used to tell me, "The proof of the pudding is in the taste". True then; true now.
To end my ECF post of absolute heresy; there are endeavors, in my philosophy, when the theoretical yields to the empirical - coiling is one of those endeavors.

 

[super_X_drifter]

Here's a way to avoid any gaps and apply perfect tension (and end your struggles with Kanthal unspooling )

http://youtu.be/E6kzJInQtWE

 

[Trypno]

I like to use a coil jig myself. I only started rebuilding recently too, I'm only on my third build. A regular coil jig keeps tension on one end of the wire, while you manually keep tension and wrap around a post with the other end. Most coil jigs come with sized posts that are held in the jig with a thumb screw. You can then remove the post from the jig, with your coil wrapped around it, and use it to position the coil in your rda. Simple jigs are smaller and less clunky than the artistic jigs, but artistic jigs can keep perfect tension on a wire.
You should also get yourself a pair of ceramic tipped tweezers. These allow you to pinch the coil while it's hot, making the metal easier to manipulate.