I'll sum it up, Tony, too much power and no heat sink equals "poof" with anything.
Titanium wire, vaping and safety
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I'm just wrapped my first Ti coil last night. Using 28g branded 'K. Bee Vapor' that I got from ebay. Anyone familiar with it? I have a 5/6 wrap, 2.5mm spaced coil in my STM. Ohms are higher than expected -.48; it's been a really long time since I wrapped a spaced coil - but TC is functioning so not too high, I guess. The only issue I've had is that, for the first quarter of a tank or so, the Ti had sort of a whang to it - not really metallic like it was shorting, just an off, sort of harsh taste. I don't know whether it went away or I just got used to it, but it's fine now. I haven't heard anybody mention a break in period for Ti - is that a thing? I did clean the wire before wrapping the coil, in a half-hearted sort of way, but nothing seemed to be coming off on the paper towel, so I thought it was clean. I'll apply myself a little harder to that task on the next coil and see if that makes a difference. I'm a little paranoid that the off taste means that something bad is going on - i.e., the Ti oxide Whang of Death - but probably I just didn't clean the wire well enough. On a positive note, the gunk build up is almost nil. I'm on my second tank of a NET juice without cleaning the coil and that NEVER happens with my usual Kanthal micro coils.
If there's Ti oxide your coil would be a dull grey, and I'm pretty sure you'd be burning wick/coughing/gagging due to the temp it would have to get to. I agree it was probably just some oil or something still on the wire.
.48Ω is a little high for 5/6 x 2.5mm wraps of 28G - Steam Engine says that 0.48Ω would be 7.8 wraps. But Titanium is springy so it's likely that the ID is more like 2.75mm which brings us to 7.2 wraps. The rest of the difference can probably be explained by the STM, which doesn't give the best connection.
Lack of gunk is likely because it's spaced. Although Titanium makes contact coils possible, I rarely use them any more for just that reason. Way more gunk on contact than spaced.
When I get that harsh taste I take a look at my wick - sometimes I find that I have a wrap of coil that's a bit wider than the others (usually the first or last wrap) and therefore the wick is not fully filling it. Remaining exposed with no wick touching it means it runs hotter than the rest of the coil. If I find that I jiggle the wick around, pulling bits of it back from the legs with tweezers until it's pressing against all parts of the coil.
I don't know if that's the issue you had given you said it went away on its own. Though it's possible the wick or coil moved/settled slightly over time or something. Anyway it's something to check for if you notice it again.
Lack of gunk is likely because it's spaced. Although Titanium makes contact coils possible, I rarely use them any more for just that reason. Way more gunk on contact than spaced.
When I get that harsh taste I take a look at my wick - sometimes I find that I have a wrap of coil that's a bit wider than the others (usually the first or last wrap) and therefore the wick is not fully filling it. Remaining exposed with no wick touching it means it runs hotter than the rest of the coil. If I find that I jiggle the wick around, pulling bits of it back from the legs with tweezers until it's pressing against all parts of the coil.
I don't know if that's the issue you had given you said it went away on its own. Though it's possible the wick or coil moved/settled slightly over time or something. Anyway it's something to check for if you notice it again.
Where is the best place to order ti wire from?
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In the US, Unkamen wire seems pretty good. No idea on price, shipping, service or any of that, but quite a few people use their wire so I assume they're all OK.
Sounds good. Can you tell me which one to order, it seems they have a few different kinds. First time playing with TC, i have a dna device coming in soon.
Thank you
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Looks like only one category is suitable for vaping, the "specific for jewellery, surgical grade 1": Pure Titanium Wire - 100% Guarantee - Specific for Jewelry Surgical Gr – Unkamen Supplies
In terms of gauge, pick what you think you like best and works in your atomizers. 26G is my personal choice at the moment, though I could imagine using 28 for twisting purposes 2x28 if I get around to doing that with Titanium. I've done some 24G coils as well, when I had room in an RTA. I use RTAs exclusively these days, not RDAs, so space is always a factor.
If you want to pick only a single gauge I'd recommend 26, that should fit in most RTAs at 8 wraps of 3mm, which is a good base build. Get other gauges if you think you'll use them too in your devices.
If you ever want to try Clapton Coils you'd most likely want 24 + 32, though I think 26+32 works too. I haven't yet tried those so can't comment from personal experience.
DNA 200?
In terms of gauge, pick what you think you like best and works in your atomizers. 26G is my personal choice at the moment, though I could imagine using 28 for twisting purposes 2x28 if I get around to doing that with Titanium. I've done some 24G coils as well, when I had room in an RTA. I use RTAs exclusively these days, not RDAs, so space is always a factor.
If you want to pick only a single gauge I'd recommend 26, that should fit in most RTAs at 8 wraps of 3mm, which is a good base build. Get other gauges if you think you'll use them too in your devices.
If you ever want to try Clapton Coils you'd most likely want 24 + 32, though I think 26+32 works too. I haven't yet tried those so can't comment from personal experience.
DNA 200?
Yes DNA 200.
I will order 26 awg since i just do regular dual micro coils in a RDA and single coil in a kayfun. I am more into flavor than blowing clouds.
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Hi, folks. Thanks for the tips and advice regarding my funky flavor issue. I wanted to update so that somebody reading this thread who might be concerned about using Ti won't be put off by my post. Turns out, the problem had nothing to do with the wire. I've been using an acrylic bell cap on my STM. It has a built in acrylic chimney that fits down into the opening on the RBA cap. While I was cleaning it, I noticed some scorching and around the edge of the chimney on one side. Apparently, the chimney was touching the coil when I first assembled the tank, and that's what was causing the weird taste. So good news! No Whang of Death at all, just ... you know ... acrylic fumes. I feel so much better...
I'm doing dual 6/5 wraps of 30 ga. in a Petri tonite. 0.3 ohms, 30J@425F and hitting like a freight train. I've always used 30 and 32ga. for Kanthal too. Heat up and cool down is almost instant, a few wiggles of the tails and they break off nicely. Not sure why everyone uses the heavier gauges, but I guess I'll have to try it some time to find out. One does need to be gentle with the rewicking though to not distort the coil.
Thicker wire = more surface area, for one thing. More vapor, potentially more flavor, tradeoff being slower cool down (heating it fast is a non issue these days). Then yeah, there's the durability factor, and of course, the fact that thicker wire is lower resistance and mandatory if you want high current out of a mechanical mod.
A quick check of Steam Engine shows 28 wraps at 3mm diameter, 5mm legs, for 30 gauge. 18 wraps with the same parameters for 32 gauge. I don't think it's feasible given the lack of space for the coil.
Given that titanium is, basically, used for temperature control, the resistance isn't all that important. It doesn't seem practical for resistances over about .75 ohms on a VW device.
Given that titanium is, basically, used for temperature control, the resistance isn't all that important. It doesn't seem practical for resistances over about .75 ohms on a VW device.
Can you explain more your requirements, @Eric Auer ?
Why do you want a 1.0 - 1.8Ω range specifically? Are you wanting to use Titanium on a mech?
1.0Ω is achievable with Titanium, albeit with fairly thin wire (30 or 32G) and/or lots of wraps. 1.8Ω not so much.
If you want it for TC, then a TC mod is VW and you can adjust the wattage to suit the coil. 15W @ 1.0Ω is, broadly speaking, the same vape as 30W @ 0.5Ω - with perhaps differences in coil mass/cool down/etc depending on the gauge used, but still.
So unless it's for a mech, I'm curious as to why you have a specific ohm target?
Why do you want a 1.0 - 1.8Ω range specifically? Are you wanting to use Titanium on a mech?
1.0Ω is achievable with Titanium, albeit with fairly thin wire (30 or 32G) and/or lots of wraps. 1.8Ω not so much.
If you want it for TC, then a TC mod is VW and you can adjust the wattage to suit the coil. 15W @ 1.0Ω is, broadly speaking, the same vape as 30W @ 0.5Ω - with perhaps differences in coil mass/cool down/etc depending on the gauge used, but still.
So unless it's for a mech, I'm curious as to why you have a specific ohm target?
I use a lot of through-post atomizers and I find even 26G Titanium breaks a lot. Admittedly quite a lot of those atomizers are clones, and thus not as well designed as authentics (standard screws, not perfectly rounded post holes, etc.) But still, I get a lot more breakage with Titanium than I ever did with Kanthal in the same atomizers, or that I do with Stainless Steel. That's with 26G, so I'd hate to try 30G in most of my post-hole atomizers.
Under-screw-head is different, and 30 is probably even preferable there I guess - with 26 I do sometimes find the the wire is pushed out from under the screw heads (again, more of a problem on clones than authentics.) But it's not like I have a huge problem capturing 26G, maybe it just takes a couple of mins longer, and it's getting a lot better now I'm starting to get more and more authentics with proper screws.
As you said, rewicking can cause more problems - deforming the coil pulling a wick through. I use Rayon and I try to get it really tight, such that even with 26G I have to hold the coil tight while pulling through a big wad. I can see 30 deforming easily, like I used to have with Ni200.
But I think the most important factor is that even with the much greater coil mass of 26G, I don't find I have problems reaching temp in any of my mods. I can pick up a completely cold coil, hit fire and get an immediate strong hit.
Most of the TC mods I use now have more than 40W, in fact the only mod I regularly use with 40W is the DNA 40. I have three 50Ws, four 60s, a 75, an 80, a 160 and a 200. So if I needed more watts for more coil mass, I have it - but I don't actually need it. Many of these mods aren't even set to their max. I just checked and found one set to 35W (0.45Ω Ti coil) - it's vaping fine so I just didn't bother setting it higher.
So for me, 26G is a good level. I can fit it in all my RTAs at an average of 8 wraps, it's got plenty of surface area for good flavour, it doesn't deform easily, it breaks less often than a thinner wire, and I have no problem heating it straight to temp at 40W or even less.
Put another way: I can only see disadvantages to going to a thinner wire, not any potential benefits.
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@TheBloke I'm picking up what you're laying down Brother. It's a habit from Kanthal builds where fusing the coils with a torch gave me a very strong but thin coil, and allowed me to build sufficiently high ohms for my older gen batteries in a narrow coil that didn't too greatly exceed the width of the air source underneath. With Ti, I'm doing more of a spiral than a spaced coil just to GET the width I need between the post holes, and the air is coming from the sides now. I haven't tried TC in my Kayfuns yet, but when I do I am going to TRY to low oxidize then pinch that Ti coil, and the 30 ga may prove a decent build for aforementioned reasons (narrow, strong, & thin). My 30ga is thru the post, but I can sure appreciate your words in that fine act of care in not guillotining the wire with the screw.
As an aside, I wiped my Unkamen wire on the first build with a dry tissue, and got no residue. With my next coils, I wiped using 90% Ethanol, and removed a LOT of black. I do think that the Etoh was critical to a much better cleaning. I'm wondering if there might not be an even better solvent to reach into the porosity of the Ti, as alcohol molecules are considerably larger than water molecules comparatively speaking.
Thanks for all your help in this learning process my friend!
As an aside, I wiped my Unkamen wire on the first build with a dry tissue, and got no residue. With my next coils, I wiped using 90% Ethanol, and removed a LOT of black. I do think that the Etoh was critical to a much better cleaning. I'm wondering if there might not be an even better solvent to reach into the porosity of the Ti, as alcohol molecules are considerably larger than water molecules comparatively speaking.
Thanks for all your help in this learning process my friend!
For me currently it's 24g single coils in my Ubertoots, 26g duals in my Origenny. The 24g makes for one hell of a robust coil, the 26 is almost as tough and helps keep the resistance up.
Anything higher gauge is too damn springy for my liking, and I'm too lazy to torch. lol
Haven't found a TI wire yet that didn't need a good clean with alcohol first either (I've tried Zivipf, StealthVapes and Crazy Wire so far).
Anything higher gauge is too damn springy for my liking, and I'm too lazy to torch. lol
Haven't found a TI wire yet that didn't need a good clean with alcohol first either (I've tried Zivipf, StealthVapes and Crazy Wire so far).
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