DIY Twisted Kanthal Coil - Is It Safe?

[Deleted]

Hi all.

I just made my first twisted wire coil using 28AWG Kanthal. I literally just took a length of Kanthal, looped it through a mug handle, held the ends and spun the mug until the wire snapped (I saw this method on a You Tube vid a while back). I then used this twisted wire for 5 wraps @ 3mm to make what came out at a decent looking coil showing 0.9ohm.

I'm a MTL vaper and usually vape at 1.8ohm in a Subtank (quite happily), but I am always tinkering and looking to improve the MTL vape and I tried this new twisted coil earlier at a mere 13 watts and my oh my the flavour. I stopped myself testing it any further though as I wanted to check if this is actually safe to do this? As safe as just using my own home made non twisted coils I mean. Or is there an added danger element to twisting your own wires like this?

Sorry for the noob question, but I read about the German guy yesterday and I appreciate he was using a Mech Mod etc (I'm not, I'm using an Innokin Disrupter and CoolFire IV+), but I can't get that darn image out of my head at the moment, so thought I'd better check before I test any further.

Thanks all as always.

[Greigster]

No problem at all, many on here use twisted Kanthal.

[Get Off My Cloud]

Yeah no problem at all to use twisted wire just use it exactly the same way you would use a single strand wire.

[Deleted]

Cheers guys and so quick to reply as well (you all just knew that I was sat here staring at that tank desperate to vape on it again ;-).

It's fair to say that I am not a youngster anymore and I have been active online since the very first Dos/Ascii bulletin boards (anyone else remember them lol) and in all that time I have never ever come across a community as knowledgeable, patient, friendly and helpful as this one. You guys are the best. Thank you all again!

[phtumshk]

I agree totally safe as long as its in safe specs for your equipment so enjoy.
Hate to be a rubber necker but what german guy was dat?

[Deleted]

Thanks phtumshk. I made another coil coming in at 1.1ohm (the highest ohm I can go with this wire I think as the coil now barely fits in the RBA @ 6 twisted wraps) and so far it has been the most flavoursome vape I have experienced. Very excited to delve more into these twisted coils and see what more I can do to further improve MTL on the subtank :-)

"The German guy" reportedly lost several teeth last weekend - he was using a bad/damaged Mech Mod apparently. I read it on another of the UK forums but I can't find the link now sorry.

[chykensa]

I hope that @hondo won't mind me hijacking his thread, but what difference is there in resistance between say a single and double twisted coil? Do I just consider it the same as far as Steam Engine is concerned, or do I need to change the resistance? If so, by how much?
TIA

[Deleted]

You are one of the most helpful people on the forums chykensa and as such very welcome to hijack any of my threads at any time

I'll let one of the pro's answer you properly, but while we wait, once twisted you essentially halve the normal resistance, which initially seems odd as you feel you are adding double the wire, but it makes sense when you think about it. The Steam Coil Engine has a hand toggle for twisted wire to make it easy - top left under "material and profile" just change it from round to twisted.

[chykensa]

Thanks @hondo - I feel a twisted weekend coming on!!

[xs2man]

As @hondo said, you are basically halving the resistance with a twisted wire. Pretty much the same effect as dual coiling. Because doubling the wire means the electrons can flow twice as easy, hence half the resistance. That's assuming a simple double wire twist.

I don't think I have ever used bought twisted wire personally. Only ever twisted my own wire. And do like a twisted build I must say. I find it helps a LOT when going for the lower resistances.

[Deleted]

Thanks for confirming xs2man. I can see the benefits when going for lower resistances but for me (as a higher ohms vaper) after 48hours of testing it is the flavour increase that is the most beneficial. Looking at the RBA with the cap off, the juice seems to seep into the little gaps between the twists of the coil and the result is a very tasty vape indeed. The downside for me, vaping at low watts as I do, is that I have never seen a coil and wick gunk up so badly and so quickly. I was dryburning and re-wicking daily anyway, so it's not really an issue, but I'd love to be able to catch that flavour with a longer lasting wick for sure. The tinkering continues

[chykensa]

@hondo - I think you've hit the problem on the head with your last post.
As the temperature on the coil never gets really high as it would sub-ohming, the coil tends to pick up the gunk and caramelised juice much more quickly. At a higher temperature, the heat burns off the gunk more readily and it takes longer for the sweeter juices to clog up your coil.
It's a trade-off between what you like as far as taste is concerned, and what clogs the coils.
Of course you are right, a twisted or Clapton coil (where one thinner wire is twisted around a bigger diameter central core wire) will enable more juice to get to the coil and results in a more flavoursome vape.

[Deleted]

The truth is though chykensa that as a high ohm low watts subtank vaper, I was already changing the wick and dry burning every day anyway. The coil wasn't gunking up anywhere near as badly before for sure, but bad enough to produce a degraded flavour and warrant a wick change and dryburn. So I am losing nothing using a twisted coil but gaining a considerably improved flavour. Oddly, after a few days testing it seems I'm using less juice for that flavour increase too, which I attribute to the much lower ohm twisted coil and low watts not heating the juice up as quickly as you mention. The twisted coil is more efficient at extracting flavour for less juice burned.

So in summary, increased flavour and using less juice - it's a win for me, but I do realise I am trying to achieve something unusual by MTL at low watts in a subtank.

The next tinkering I will try will be the clapton, using different sized wires as you mention. At the moment both wires in my twisted coil are 28AWG. I will look for a combination that may reduce the gunk factor a little. All good fun

[chykensa]

Good fun indeed, @hondo! I have only got one rig with Claptons, and that's my newest acquisition, a Griffin RTA. The Claptons were premade, by Youde, and it takes two x 1.0ohm coils, giving a .5ohm vape. At 45w with some of my homemade Custard in the tank it is fantastic, simply divine.
The only problem I can forsee with your low watts is that the Claptons need a lot of power to get them hot enough to vapourise the juice, and you may find that this uses more time and battery life. Even at 45w, my X Cube takes a couple of seconds before you sense the vapour being created, and a long inhale (DTL) is required to get a good lungful.
However, having said all that, you may find them as good as I do. With the extra surface area, the juices get drunk quite quickly but for me the increase in depth of flavour more than makes up for that, and I mix 400ml at a time, so I'm never short!
Let me know how you get on

[igual]

Feb 3, 2016 17:19:12 GMT @hondo said:

Thanks phtumshk. I made another coil coming in at 1.1ohm (the highest ohm I can go with this wire I think as the coil now barely fits in the RBA @ 6 twisted wraps) and so far it has been the most flavoursome vape I have experienced. Very excited to delve more into these twisted coils and see what more I can do to further improve MTL on the subtank :-)

"The German guy" reportedly lost several teeth last weekend - he was using a bad/damaged Mech Mod apparently. I read it on another of the UK forums but I can't find the link now sorry.

I can seriously recommend trying UD Clapton wire in the subtank even for mtl works well but ohms will be around the 0.6 mark. If your kit is safe for that it's a good one to try.
Another wire I've been haveing good success with is 316stainless
Produces a very nice flavour some Vape.