First attempt at building a microcoil

[sonicflowjoe]

After picking up some kanthal in a recent trade I attempted to make a microcoil this evening. I followed loosely the guide by Super-Shiny. I didn't have anything at hand to accurately measure the inside diameter of the coil wich meant my first try came out at 3ohms using 11 wraps. Ditched this one and tried again wrapping around something thinner and got 2.2 ohms from the same number of wraps. Got it looking nice and neat and threaded through a moderate amount of CW. (After firing it a few times to try and burn off any impurities). Was very pleased with the results cosmetically but I found I was getting quite a strong chemical backtaste when I took a vaape on it. Was also gurgling a bit in the T3S I put it in (probably just needs a tadge more cotton).

Any ideas why I might be getting the nasty taste? A couple of thoughts I had was that it could be the rubber bung getting burnt by the legs... Or perhaps getting a bit of a taste from where I flamed the kanthal. Had to use a lighter as I haven't picked up a blowtorch yet.

Any ideas or suggestions?

[lairey]

What cotton are you using? It's not fragranced is it?

[Greg]

Did you juice the CW well before you fired it for the first time, is it possible you burnt the cotton

[sonicflowjoe]

The cotton isn't fragranced. I've been using the same stuff for rebuilding kanger heads with the precoiled nr-r-nr ones from FT with no funny taste (always fire the coil a few times before threading the cotton)

Don't think I burnt the cotton but I guess it's possible. I primed the wick first. But did attempt to vape on it PDQ after screwing it on to the tank.

Will try again tomorrow with a fresh wick and give it all a good rinse and dry burn first.

[Greg]

Give your wick an eyeball when you take it out, it'll be obvious if it's burnt

[chykensa]

• Bear in mind that as the wicking is better using CW and a microcoil works more efficiently, the fragrance could be from the juice itself.

• As Greg states, it will be evident if you have burnt the wick!

• Make sure the wick is well soaked before reassembling, and give it 10 minutes to soak before using (I know, it's difficult - have something else to hand to vape on while you are waiting!).

• Might be worth trying some different CW just in case - it will always come in useful anyway

[sonicflowjoe]

Ok. I couldn't resist going back downstairs and having another tinker. I removed the wick (which wasn't burnt) gave the coil a good dry burn, rinse, and another dry burn. Rewicked with a tadge more CW. Primed with a different liquid and put it in my mini davide instead this time. And... Although the first puff or two tasted slightly chemically it seems to be peforming much better now. Set the voltage at around 4 and it's hitting pretty hard. Guess the taste should improve once the cotton has bedded in a bit. All in all pretty pleased with my new found coiling skills

Reckon I'll pick up a blowtorch tomorrow. Saw them at a local discount shop for a few quid. And maybe a little multimeter.

This vaping lark's great! Always a new adventure on the horizon

Ps I used .25 kanthal for my build... Ment to mention before

[enjay]

Don't forget too if using the likes of a protank type coil you have to be careful not to burn the rubber insulator or it'll taste bad.

[hijack]

Well done sonicflowjoe. Youll pick up bits a bobs to use for coiling as you go. One of my best buys was these.

They were £2 from Wilco's all the diameters you need for wrapping, and you can get a nicer grip on them than using the more common 'drill bit' and handy if you ever get a rebuildable atty.

Also here is a link to a coiling calculator. steam engine you just fill in the kanthal diameter, coil diameter, the target resistance, and put in 7mm for your leg length, and it will work out how many wraps you need to do to get the resistance you asked for. Its works out a load of other things to do with vaping that you may not need now, but you never know, in the future they may come in handy. 

If you need any more kanthal try this place vape-atomizer-mesh they are the goto place for all your wire needs very cheap. You get 10m here for the same price many sites sell 1-2m for.

[Deleted]

You can get by with many things you already have around the house but my best coiling buys were these two.

A nice compact and pocketable set of screwdrivers from Maplin and the coil buddy. The buddy is a great asset for getting really tight and neat coils.
With one end attached to the buddy, twist a loop in the other end and insert a suitable 'T' bar (Bit or screwdriver) and wrap under tension.
Remove the coil heat and gently squish a few times then back on the buddy and apply more tension, it'll be coiled like a cobra ready to strike

[ruffdog]

sonicflowjoe

I've noticed on any coil I've dry burned, even a brand new one, there is a bit of harshness, funny taste until the coil "actually gets gunked up just a little" I don't know if anyone else will agree but it seems the kanthal does have a taste when fresh (or dry burned and even rinsed after) until the wire goes dark then the flavor comes through.

Then again, I spent an hour trying to rebuild a ce4 for the first time last night and failed in the end !!!!

[sonicflowjoe]

Jun 30, 2014 23:36:21 GMT enjay said:

Don't forget too if using the likes of a protank type coil you have to be careful not to burn the rubber insulator or it'll taste bad.

Is there any particular way to ensure the insulator doesn't get burnt when using kanthal?

Think I read somewhere that the older ones are rubber and new ones are sillicone which won't burn as easy. Is that correct?

Not sure if I have a rubber or sillicone one in there. I just grabbed the first one spare I could find.

Although it's tasting a bit better now think I may be getting a touch of this problem still. Possible the juice I have on the go now is masking the taste slightly...