28 or 26 ga round wire, 2.5 mm ID, spaced coil (6 1/2 wraps) Ni80, Kanthal or SS. It must be a spaced coil (no way to check for hot spots with a contact coil) If you want to use clapton wire, keep it small ga design (MTL) Myself, I would use 26 ga round wire (or MTL clapton) I don't like that you can't "dry fire" the coil (which is also how I judge how many watts to use) I guess it's doable... here's a video that might help: