The First Coil Build - Not Good

[Caterpiller]

Made my first coil today.

Ordered 30g Kanthal, followed guide using Steam Engine.

30g, 7 x 2.4mm wraps. I made 8 by mistake. Should have been 1.8 ohms. Came out 1.4.

I tested a 63mm length uncoiled. Sure enough 1.4 ohms. Think my supplier has sent me 28g.

I made some pretty ugly wraps, but it worked and glowed from the middle out, although it did seem to take 1.5 seconds to heat up, quite a bit of lag.

Got it wicked with some 'medical grade cotton' from my local pharmacy.

Poor vapour production and badly burnt at 8w.

I put it down to a noob coil, poor and poor wicking.

It can only get better.

Hope so, spent a fortune on a kayfun v4, and am back to vaping my nautilus Mini which is tasting much better. Ha ha.

 

[a wandering soul]

practice practice practice... some of us get lucky w/ coils.. but w/ practice anyone can do it! for me my first few builds came out great.. then i started having issues w/ hot legs.. ended up just practicing over and over and its pretty easy now..

keep on.. vape strong!

 

[roxynoodle]

That's definitely 28g. That coil should have good flavor in the k 4. Your burnt flaor is due to the wick.

 

[sonicbomb]

I learned to wrap coils by hand, then I got a coil jig. It makes life a lot easier and perfect coils every time. I got one from FT for £6.
Wicking is an art, and it takes time to perfect. Lots of practice, and don't be too hard on your self.

 

[a wandering soul]

Also.. occasionally I'll wick up.. taste/feel it's not wicking properly.. add a bit more juice and pull w no power to prime it and tada... priming is needed even on rdas sometimes.

 

[sonicbomb]

It's also a good idea to test a new build out with a regulated device. Start low and raise the power till you find the sweet point.

 

[Jugband]

I have been wrapping coils by hand for about a year now. A few days ago I ordered a Master Coil coil jig. That thing is amazing! As said, perfect coils every time. Very inexpensive and makes building so much quicker and easier.

 

[Caterpiller]

Thanks all for the kind words and advice.

I'll keep at it and hope it gets better.

 

[VaPreis]

That coil looks like it would vape to me. Practice will make perfect. And always remember, the only person that knows what your coil looks like is you. That is, until you post a photo of it on the internet.

I think the issue is wicking or lack there of. Looks like there may not be enough cotton, especially on the right side of the photo.

 

[roxynoodle]

I wish you had posted yesterday before I rewicked . I'll try to get you some pics tomorrow. If I forget, PM me.

 

[Caterpiller]

That's definitely 28g. That coil should have good flavor in the k 4. Your burnt flaor is due to the wick.

Spoke to my vendor. They are sending out 3 meters of 30g and apologised for the mistake. So all good.

I'll work on my wicking. The trick is finding the time between work, a four month old son, and a wife. Ha ha. I'll have another go as soon as I get a chance.

 

[chav]

Hate to beat the dead horse but definitely not enough wick. When I got my K4 I wicked my organic cotton just like it showed in the book for what looked like silica wick, worked ok, but eventually just started wicking like I would with any of my other RTAs and it works great. Get a good amount of cotton, twist it and feed it through the coil, then untwist and fluff it up good. Cut it so it is long enough to touch the juice holes but not overlapping itself or the threads. Put a few drops on it, then assemble, few priming drags and hopefully good to go! I would take pics of my build but its about a week old and probli looking less than picture perfect. Roxy will definitely take care of you tho!

 

[Nibiru2012]

I have been wrapping coils by hand for about a year now. A few days ago I ordered a Master Coil coil jig. That thing is amazing! As said, perfect coils every time. Very inexpensive and makes building so much quicker and easier.

My Universal Coiler is a essential piece of vape hardware. Makes it SO much easier to make great looking coils.

He might try pulling his coil up off the build deck too, to improve air flow. It appears as if it's sitting a bit too close.

Also, I find that making larger ID coils work better with the wicking issues. The more juice to the coil, the less chance of a burnt hit.
The minimum I go is an ID of 3.0mm. Most of mine are at 3.5mm but that's cause I use mostly 100% VG-based juices.
Also I've found that using the Ko Gen Do Japanese cotton works best.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There's a reviewer on YouTube that shows to wick a Kayfun V4 with the Japanese cotton.
His method is spot on as I tried it last night and with the all VG juice it is hitting like a champ. I am running a dual-boot Windows system right now testing Windows 10 Tech Preview and that I'm on at this time. The review I watched on my Windows 8.1 and for the life of me I can't remember his moniker. Once I get back on 8.1 I'll post the link for you.



Okay... found it:



IF you can can get your hands on some Ko Gen Do cotton and try this method I think you'll be a happy camper.

 

[Stopfakn]

Premade coils are an option. A lazy one but a good option nonetheless. I've used them. I bought the clapton and tiger premade coils.

 

[Caterpiller]

I made one more coil using the 28g, this time a 10 wrap, 1.9ohm if I remember correctly. I paid more attention to the wicking this time, and it vaped a little better.
Still not a lot off vapour though and tasted of what I imagine warm cotton to taste of.

In fact I think this coil was running to cold as my iStick 20w could only put 17w through it, and steam engine indicted this to be too cool.

While waiting for my 30g to arrive I dismantled the KF v4 and washed all parts except the deck and below, in warm water and let them dry out thoroughly before reassemble.

The 30g arrived, so this evening, having watched more videos of wicking techiques, I made the following:

30g, 6 wraps of 2.4.mm, 1.7 ohms (the legs were a little long but it looked ok, and heated up fairly evenly from the centre, with the legs looking like they stayed cool).

After a few test pulls at low power I cranked it up to 8.5w, which should be giving me a 175 heat flux.

It produces good amounts of vaper, and I don't think I'm getting dry hits. But the taste is poor. The more I tried it, the more it tasted noxious with an over bearing taste of again what I imagine is warm (but not burnt cotton). Possibly with a chemically taste of some sort.

Bottom line, very good vapour, nice and warm without being to hot, dense and smooth,but NOT clean. Horrible to vape!

Any suggestions most welcome!

 

[roxynoodle]

Did you thoroughly clean all the machine oil from the atty? One of mine was so filthy, I had to take it completely apart and boil it for 30 minutes.

 

[Caterpiller]

Did you thoroughly clean all the machine oil from the atty? One of mine was so filthy, I had to take it completely apart and boil it for 30 minutes.

On visual inspection my KF v4 seemed in pristine clean condition on arrival and certainly no visual or feel of grease or oil on it.

I did wash everything above the deck, but didn't clean the deck or below. I'll try that next, but can't help but feel the horrid flavour I'm getting is cotton based.

I know I'm not using Japanese Organic cotton (I've ordered some from FastTech), but this is not a hint of cotton, it's the only flavour I'm getting and it almost tastes toxic!

Confused

 

[Caterpiller]

Here are some pictures of the offending build taken 20 minutes after use.

While not a pretty build I can't see anything that would be causing the disgusting vape I'm getting.

The wicking looks wet and no scorch marks.

That said this is only my 3rd build and all have been unusable, so feel free to tell me where I'm going wrong.

 

[Caterpiller]

The forum's been a little quite on this, so I'm assuming you're as puzzled as I am to why my KF v4 is producing such a fowl vape.

Either that or you could care less

Roxynoodle suggestion to give it a good clean is all I have to go on so far. So I tool it apart, washed it several times, let it air dry and have it back together.

I still think there is something very wrong with the cotton I'm using. On closer inspection I noticed that both packets, while different, we're produced by the same company.

So perhaps it's simply the chemicals they have applied.

I'm dreading building another set up just to get the same awful results, but as the Japanese organic cotton I've ordered from FastTech is not likely to arrive for at least another week, I have limited options.

 

[bsidb]

I would fire the base without the tank with the wick wet and see if one of your coils glow red, you may have a hot leg