What building tools do I need?

[JCinFLA]

NVM

 

[Myrany]

NVM

Every time I see NVM I hear it in Gilda Radners voice from the very old Saturday Night Live Skits. LOL

 

[vaper1960]

Sharp scissors, knippers (wire cutter) ohm meter or coilmaster type atty stand. You'll need something to wrap coils. Kit is good to have. Wire and wick materials.

I agree with most of that but if you have a good mod that can read ohms (resistance of the coil) you don't really need a separate ohm meter (in fact, many people comment they are not very reliable anyway) It is very important to make the coil, read the ohms on your mod, then do a "dry burn" (lower wattage than you need... pulse it at lower watts then slowly work your way up... just need a nice even orange glow... this will also give you a good idea of how many watts to use... you can slowly increase the wattage as you use it) Contact coils will need a dry burn/"raking" routine (this is really worth doing first) then you can wick it (yes, the tricky part... once you get it right you can do it over and over) There is a small advantage to making "spaced coils" (it's not that hard) and you don't need to worry about "hot spots" (post on the coil forum for specifics about that)
Slow down... the rabbit hole is quite deep

 

[Redbird11]

"raking" routine

I am not sure what that is?

Slow down... the rabbit hole is quite deep

Slow down? But I haven't even started yet! I'm just buying stuff that I will need.

 

[Myrany]

I am not sure what that is?


Slow down? But I haven't even started yet! I'm just buying stuff that I will need.

Raking- stroking the coil with your tweezers. It helps to get the coil burning evenly (that even orange glow without dead spots/hot spots)

Watch a few of the multitude of coil building videos out there and you will certainly see someone doing it and what they are looking for

 

[Redbird11]

Raking- stroking the coil with your tweezers. It helps to get the coil burning evenly (that even orange glow without dead spots/hot spots)

Watch a few of the multitude of coil building videos out there and you will certainly see someone doing it and what they are looking for

Oh, is that what the ceramic tweezers are for?

 

[Myrany]

Oh, is that what the ceramic tweezers are for?

That is one use yes.

They are also great for fluffing wicks and tucking them down into juice wells. Tweezers are sort of a multi use tool

 

[Katya]

Oh, is that what the ceramic tweezers are for?

You can do it with regular metal tweezers or any metal implement you have on hand, but you have to remember to TAKE YOUR FINGER OFF the fire button first. The beauty of ceramic tweezers is that you don't have to worry about that--you can gently rake your coil while the power is on.

 

[Katya]

There is a small advantage to making "spaced coils" (it's not that hard) and you don't need to worry about "hot spots" (post on the coil forum for specifics about that)

Well, you always have to check your coil for hot spots and to make sure that it glows evenly from the center out, so every coil needs to be gently test-fired (very low wattage, 10W is usually enough), spaced or contact.

ETA: For spaced coils, you have to ensure that individual loops are not touching one another; in contact coils, the opposite is true--all loops need to be touching closely--no gaps.

 

[vaper1960]

Nail clippers are pretty useful for trimming off this excess wire.

I still use toenail clippers to cut the wire leads (and a home-made coil winder) just get the kit... well worth it.

 

[vaper1960]

All of the above so I wont repeat but a useful tool I needed was a magnifier glass. Helped being able to see those fiddly screws.

Reading glasses from the "dollar store"... get the strongest they have (and have good light) I'm older so need reading glasses anyway but good light is just as important.

 

[vaper1960]

Every time I see NVM I hear it in Gilda Radners voice from the very old Saturday Night Live Skits. LOL

 

[vaper1960]

Like I said, all depends on budget and expectations. For example, you can buy fancy Estwing hammer for 80-100$. Looks great, well balanced in the hand, will drive nails into wood with no problem. But I'll take a basic stanley hammer with fibreglass handle worth 10$ and do exactly the same job with it. If you consider small-scale diy, you don't need anything fancy.
Like I said before, better to invest in good hardware- mods, tanks, wire, wick, batteries etc. If you build and test coils daily on a large scale, if you're crazy about building, cool, get something fancy. But if you rewick once a week and change coils once a month in a few tanks, spending a fortune on tools that basically don't differ much from cheap alternatives is an overkill. That's how I see it

I totally agree.

 

[vaper1960]

Good thread... many things discussed that could help other newbies too
Walk before you can run... dry burn is your friend (I said this before, but do it slowly in pulses as you increase watts) This helps you get a general idea (visually) of how many watts to use the coil at. Then, when you finally build/wick do similar (slowly increase the watts... find that "sweet spot")
P.S. the damned caps lock is right next to the a key... drives me nuts (has happened 10 times tonight and I type fast just to realize... sorry for the rant)

 

[Redbird11]

P.S. the damned caps lock is right next to the a key... drives me nuts (has happened 10 times tonight and I type fast just to realize... sorry for the rant)

I understand. That caps lock can be annoying sometimes.

 

[Myrany]

Reading glasses from the "dollar store"... get the strongest they have (and have good light) I'm older so need reading glasses anyway but good light is just as important.

I already had one of these for my needlework. So I use it
https://www.amazon.com/OttLite-4382...vtargid=pla-320493066385&psc=1&language=en_US

 

[Redbird11]

I already had one of these for my needlework. So I use it
https://www.amazon.com/OttLite-4382...vtargid=pla-320493066385&psc=1&language=en_US

Fancy. I think I'll hold off on that purchase for now.

 

[Myrany]

Fancy. I think I'll hold off on that purchase for now.

As I said I already owned the thing when I started building. SO why not add a use to something I already had

There are much cheaper variations out there. The natural light aspect of the ott lights just works well for sewing and other needlework where seeing minute color variations can be important. Which is why I had the thing.

 

[Redbird11]

As I said I already owned the thing when I started building. SO why not add a use to something I already had

There are much cheaper variations out there. The natural light aspect of the ott lights just works well for sewing and other needlework where seeing minute color variations can be important. Which is why I had the thing.

I understand. You can bet if I already had something that good, I would be using it for a lot of stuff.

 

[Mordacai]

One thing that I have found invaluable is a decent pair of hairdressing scissors, as they're really good for cutting and trimming wicks.

But that's just me, any decent sharp scissors are good.