The Russian

[Hittman2780]

Ok I picked up my Russian today and want to start my build.
I'm using the wire and wick/ rope/ ....

Every time I wrap the wire it cuts into the rope. I've read you should keep it tight. And close in the spacing. So I tried again by torching the rope. And end the same way.
And help would be great...

 

[ceejay]

try wrapping the wire first around a drill bit/small screwdriver, then thread the wick?

 

[StarsAndBars]

what gauge wire are u using?

 

[Hittman2780]

I'm guessing it's 28gauge

 

[StarsAndBars]

Hmm, I've had that happen with 32 gauge. Matter of fact it happened with the coil I'm using right now but I figured "mehh." The only other reason is that the coils are too tight. I find the wick to work better if I don't make my coils super tight anyway. I've only made a handful of them so far, so I'm far from an expert.

 

[natedawgdaboss]

try wrapping with your wick on a small hex key or safety pin first, then you can get some tension with less force and won't cut the wick... when your done slide the hex key out and you should be good

 

[Thrasher]

try wrapping with your wick on a small hex key or safety pin first, then you can get some tension with less force and won't cut the wick... when your done slide the hex key out and you should be good

agree,
I wrap mine with a paperclip when I pull the clip out the tension is just about right.

 

[Jazzi Mike]

You are doing fine, wrap them a little bit looser, but just a tiny bit. Even with my working coils, the wire slightly starts to rub on my silica. I find it easier to just wrap my coils free hand, but you could also do what the above posters tell you to.

 

[Hittman2780]

Woohoo. The hex key worked great thanks.
First working build on the Russian fires at 1.1 ohms and she glows so nicely. Thanks again for the help...
I knew it had to be because it was to tight. But everything said make it tight...

Oh and my wrap is UGLY as all hell but works....

 

[stauglocal]

Try out a micro coil. Easy to build and even easier to change wicks/flavors in the future.

 

[Hittman2780]

Try out a micro coil. Easy to build and even easier to change wicks/flavors in the future.

Do you have a good link to building one?

 

[State O' Flux]

Just for fun... I've been playing around with, I guess you'd call them... "macro" coils. Not sure who did this first or what they called it... perhaps "vapdivrr" (who is constantly experimenting - good on ya'), I don't know, I'm sure someone will come along and tell me I'm wrong.
I'm not one of those guys that says "build it this way or you're an ......", or "this is the best ever and everything else is crap"... to each their own - try it, don't try it. ;-)

This was done on a pair of Rocket - Russian clon'ish RBAs. My actual R91s are still several weeks out.

It looks like your typical set-up... just a bigger coil and wick diameter. My logic is this... in a chimney design like this, you can only go so tight, you can only go so long... but you've got quite a bit of room to go "big".
Anyway... 28 ga, 7 tight wrap done on a 2.85mm (.113" or, a snooge over 7/64") miniature screwdriver shaft, set laterally along the screw post centerline and 1.5mm above the air vent. Resistance is 1.7Ω.
Wick is organic ball cotton that's a snug, but not tight fit. Will be super easy to swap out wicks. Nothing fancy on the wick length or position... simply cut to just touch the decks.

As "part two" of a two part experiment, I built the two Rockets - one with boiled cotton, the other with out-of-the-bag cotton and the same 50/50 - 12mg/ml choco-mint juice. Fires quick and even with a VW at 8.5 - 9.5w, 4.0 - 4.5v... or on a mech down to around 3.8v.
Good, not great vapor... noticeably better taste from the boiled cotton right off the bat, while the un-boiled took 7-8 hits before it started to have a good taste, but still, after about 15 hits, the un-boiled is more muted than the boiled.

Best ever for me, so far? Hard to say... better than silica for sure, never used Ekowool or ceramic so no comments there. I can say that it might be the best cotton wick & coil arrangement I've tried (so far) and will be duplicating these on my dual coil RDAs... to see what I can see.
The large diameter coil surface area seems to be advantageous, and boiled cotton as well is a noted flavor upgrade... but you probably knew that already.

Sorry... no digital camera, which is why I described the build in detail. ;-)