Ti wire, 1st time budget-user experience

[iwriduan]

this is my 1st post on ECF

i have been vaping for more than 2 years and considering myself as an advanced vaper, starting from a vape pen to quit conventional cigs, moved to mech, and now i am more into a flavor chaser using regulated.
i have several regulated mod such as ipv series, cloupor's, hexohm's, diy OKL box, istick's, and "of course" a subox kit.

for a couple of month i stick with istick tc40w for its built in battery and simplicity, i decided to leave my high powerd mods such as OKL based since i consider them as bulky and over powered for my recent mood.

BUT i've never used TC feature in istick tc40w because i could not get a hold of titanium grade 1 in any vape shop in my country until last couple of weeks (and i have never interested in using nickel based wire for TC, because of the fuss i read on web, end of discussion... lets just move on)

the ONLY available "advertised" grade 1 Ti wire available in the market is vaportech Ti wire, i ordered 24awg one for two reasons:

• easier to handle and tune
• ability to reach lower res with "enough" coil length (build 0,1ohm coil using 28awg Ti IMHO is simply stupid, more to come...)

istick spec on tc40w stated that the optimal resistance for TC mode is between 0.05 - 1 ohm, and this device is hard-coded for Ni wire only. i am ONLY using subtank mini for vaping for its hassle free build deck and ample juice capacity. yes it only support single coil build but that's all that i need.

i have try several Ti coil build with this particular Ti wire, using different coil "tune" technique, and following is my best shot:
preparation & coiling

• wipe the wire with towel paper wet with alcohol to get rid of any oil residues
• 4 wraps of 28awg Ti wire on 3mm jig, slightly spaced
• swith my istick to wattage mode then lower the wattage to 1watt (or turn off my istick completely)
• set up my newly built coil on the deck, tighten both screws (but not over tight)
• lower my coil using 3mm jig, just to make more room in the upper chamber (1-2 mm lower)
• tighten screws even more

tuning

• turn on my istick and (or) decrease the wattage to 3.5watt
• i pulse at 3.5watt until a bit of smoke produce, while covering the coil from light using one hand i can see that the coil slightly glow red, thats when i stop pulsing
• using ceramic tweezer i tune the spaced coil to make it closer but still not touching one another, i pinched one wrap to the next one, two warps at a time
• if necessary i pulse the mod again to make the coil a bit easier to tune
• 24awg @ 3.5 watt took a long time to heat up, be patience, i can decrease the wattage to 4watt tho, but better safe than sorry (or more like better be MORE save than sorry since from what i read Ti wire is considerably safe to work on low temp, lets say under 400C, but hey this is a very simple mod i am using and it is not dedicated for Ti usage)
• when i see that my coil is nicely tuned i check both screws again and re-tighten if necessary
• at this point i would see my Ti coil has a bluish hue color and NO whitish or grayish powdery thing built up
• i separate my subtank from my istick, switch back my istick to TC mode, and make sure the res is NOT locked
• i leave my subtank and istick in the open for a couple of minutes, to let them settle their temp

setting temp

• i make sure that my temp setting in my istick is at 150C
• i put my subtank onto my istick, choose new coil if asked (istick not always ask for new/same coil everytime, i dont know why but since it has res lock feature i think it is fine)
• check the res, i should be seeing 0.15-0.16 ohm, lock the res (i really don't know if this number is the resistance that should come up when i build this way, i have never see any spec sheet from the vape shop where i bought this wire, nor from vaportech website. but the packaging mentioned TA1 Titanium wire so i assumed this is grade 1)
• i put a fresh and dry cotton on my coil, and pulse my istick several seconds until it say "temp protected" then i check my cotton to see if it singed, increase by 10C step and redo the cotton test until i see discoloration on the cotton (in my case at 190C-200C i started to notice the cotton is singed)
• i lower the temp 20C under those point, and this should be my general sweet spot
• NOTE: i do this cotton test to check my sweet spot every time i build a new Ti coil
• scrap the cotton, and prepare a fresh new one

vaping

• my sweet spot is ideal for fruity e-juice (50/50)
• for a creamy one sometime i need to increase by 5C-10C, but i feel no need to go ahead above 190C-200C
• i changed cotton every time i change my e-juice, my Ti coil performs as good as its freshly build
• one time i need to clean my Ti coil thoroughly was when i try a low grade e-juice that gunk my coil heavily

cleaning coil (if necessary)

• remove the coil from build deck, put it in alcohol, soak for a couple of minutes
• old toothbrush will do the job
  
• dry coil using paper towel
• install cleaned coil onto build deck, low watt pulse @3.5watt (wattage mode), check discoloration, check for resistance
• if the coil turned brownies/blackies, try to clean the brown/black particle using toothbrush, low watt pulse, check discoloration again
• bluish hue color is what we are looking for
• if the resistance changed a bit, let tank and mod to cool down a bit and recheck res, i think it is okay if the res changed by 0.01ohm, you can lock the res then re-wick your cleaned coil
  
• if the resistance changed by a big number, let say by 0.1, i can re-do the dry cotton test and re-use the coil with new setting OR scrap it and wrap a new one

conclusions

• vaping is good
• vaping using Ti coil is terrific

YES i am still looking for the best way to build my Ti coil, using different gauge and what not, but above tut IMHO is so far the best (and i hope more save) way to handle and vape with Ti.

best,

 

[dmode11]

Thanks for the information. I've been wanting to try Ti wire, but it has all been sold out. Would you say the taste is comparible to Kanthal?

 

[iwriduan]

Thanks for the information. I've been wanting to try Ti wire, but it has all been sold out. Would you say the taste is comparible to Kanthal?

the taste? wow.... the tase... well buddy, ive been vaping like quite a while, my favorite e-juice has always been 5pawns' queenside, i have enjoyed its complicated flavor for the last couple of years using various mods and toppers, and last couple of months i enjoyed this particular e-juice in my subtank... but using Ti coil? wow...

and the wow factor actually came later on, like you build your new coil this afternoon and enjoy your flavor bomb during evening (well its a new coil, and a fresh cotton) but the next morning you will get exactly the same flavor deliverance as the fresh one.. and the next morning and so on and so on

currently i am enjoying the same flavor from the new coil i built last wednesday, iMHO the exact same flavor.
im a happy camper this excitement i get using Ti comparable to the one i got when i have my first vape using genesis on mech (and ditched my vape pen) couple years ago

oh, i forgot, the first vape on a freshly built Ti coil? it is very very clean, i only use local organic cotton for my wicking, when using kanthal you would slightly get those cottony taste on your 1st vape/pull, i DID NOT get that cottony taste using Ti.

 

[dcfluegel]

nice write up - thanks!

 

[AlaskaVaper]

It is not necessary to have spaced coils with Ti. Contact coils are fine to use. Nickel is where spaced coils are recommended. Pulsing your builds to dull red is also ok. Just don't let it go higher. You can pulse gunked coil to the dull red and burn off juice "gunk" and then quench the hot coil with water 4 or 5 times and that will clear most buildup. Remaining residue, if ant can be removed by brushing the coil using an old toothbrush. You are definitely on the rifht track. Ti has become my favorite wire. Vape on amigo.

 

[munchy_cool]

Link to the Ti wire please.

 

[dwcraig1]

Link to the Ti wire please.

Pure Titanium Wire 100% Guarantee Specific by UnkamenSupplies

 

[Major911]

Here is a link to an excellent tutorial on Ti wire building. I just built my first two RDA's with Ti wire... All I can say is WOW! Always wanted to run dual coils but just couldn't pull it off with nickel.
How to wrap Ti coils for vaping


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