Wires? Wicks?

[MelnZay2]

Ok so I've been vaping over 3 yrs and I'm wanting to learn to build coils. What wire do I choose? What wicks for best flavor?

 

[Mordacai]

Depends on Wattage or Temperature Controlled vaping.

Wattage, you can use all the interesting weird and wonderful wire. But it can become gunked up quickly and start looking quite funky, also it can be more expensive and harder to find. But Kanthal can only be used in Wattage mode (mods measure resistance changes in wire when it's heated in Temperature Controlled vaping, and Kanthals resistance chang is so small that mods cannot read it), but it's good to use in some respects as it has a high resistance.

Temperature Controlled, uses simple single wire (Stainless Steel, Titanium, Nickel or NiFe30). Most folks such as myself stick with Stainless Steel as it's easy to get hold of, can be used in either Wattage or Temperature Controlled mode and isn't kind of dangerous to use like Nickel or Titanium (as you cannot dry burn them or use in anything other than Temperature Controlled mode, as you can poison yourself with them).

 

[Don29palms]

I'm thinking of buying a car. What car should I buy? What gasoline should I use to get the best mileage?

 

[bombastinator]

Ok so I've been vaping over 3 yrs and I'm wanting to learn to build coils. What wire do I choose? What wicks for best flavor?

This depends a lot on how you vape. There are a couple rules of thumb that are hotly debated.

Wick:
There are more or less four kinds of wick: rayon, cotton, silica fiber, and stainless steel screen. Rayon and cotton are both fairly similar. Many people think rayon is superior to cotton, but acquiring it is sometimes difficult. Cotton is ridiculously easy to get. Drug store cotton balls work fine. There are numerous brands of vaping specific cotton, but the difference between them and cotton balls is a matter of some debate. They do tend to be a bit more convenient though. Rayon behaves somewhat differently than cotton in several ways. There tends to be less initial vape flavor change and it seems to last a bit longer because it resists burning slightly better.

Stainless steel mesh is a different animal. It requires generally that an atty be designed for its use. It doesn’t wick as well as cotton or rayon, but it also doesn’t burn. The style of atomizer that uses them is called “genesis”. SS wick has fallen mostly out of favor everywhere but in countries of the old soviet bloc and some Asian countries.
It’s known for not doing DL well, having an exceptionally clean flavor and lasting a very long time. It’s also known for being susceptible to leaking if tipped.

Silica fiber was the first wick. It has many of the advantages and disadvantages of stainless steel and is used in some pod devices. Silica wicks are generally very very small. Silica fell out of favor some years ago due to silicosis and overheating fears and was replaced by cotton which both wicks better and acts as sort of an overheating fuse because it burns if it gets too hot.

In the US and most of Europe cotton/rayon designs comprise the overwhelming majority of new equipment.

This is already so long I’ll let someone else do wire.

 

[mimöschen]

Get some 26ga Kanthal wire for dual coil direct lung, 24ga Kanthal for singlecoil direct lung or 28ga Kanthal for mouth to lung and a pack of Cotton pads as a starting point.
Aside from a coil jig, clean scissors, some screwdrivers and a wire cutter would be beneficial too.

$1.61 Authentic UD Kanthal A1 Heating Wire for Rebuildable Atomizers - 26 AWG / 0.4mm*10m / 11.3ohm at FastTech - Worldwide Free Shipping

$1.75 Authentic UD Kanthal A1 Heating Wire for Rebuildable Atomizers - 24 AWG / 0.5mm*10m / 6.95ohm at FastTech - Worldwide Free Shipping

$1.35 Authentic UD Kanthal A1 Heating Wire for Rebuildable Atomizers - 28 AWG / 0.32mm*10m / 13.55ohm at FastTech - Worldwide Free Shipping

$8.15 *SALE* Authentic Puff Rectangle Organic Cotton Wick for RDA RTA RBA Atomizers (200-Piece) 200-pack - 60*50mm at FastTech - Worldwide Free Shipping

$1.56 Vaping Coil Winding Jig Tool for Rebuildable Atomizers - stainless steel / 1.5mm + 2.0mm + 2.5mm + 3.0mm + 3.5mm sections at FastTech - Worldwide Free Shipping

 

[Zaryk]

Wire size and type can be kind of personal preference. A great place to start is with a multi pack. It comes with multiple sizes for you to try and see what you like best. Here is a link to the Kanthal pack, but this same seller has stainless steel and nichrome as well. But Kanthal is always a good place to start.

Kanthal A-1 Wire Sample Pack 25' each 22,24,26,28,30,32,34,36 Gauge 605930535402 | eBay