Twisted coils - any advice?

[chykensa]

Hi all
With a little bit of extra time on my hands this week, I fancied trying out some twisted coils in my Velocity, but first I would like some confirmation that I'm heading in the right direction.

Am I right in thinking that by twisting the wire (I'll probably use .32mm as I have a load of it!) I am effectively halving the resistance? E.G. if I make up a standard 6 wrap coil on a 3mm diameter former, do these figures will look about right? - Steam Engine

I am also going to try the Scottish Roll wicking method - can this be done using Cotton Bacon V2?

If the superb advice that I will receive gives me the green light, then I will report back in the next 24 hours once my head has stopped spinning!

[SteveF]

yes, 2 wires twisted halves the resistance (like a parallel) and drops the resi a bit more depending on tbe pitch of the twist, so dual parallel coils halves it again.

twisting can turn kanthal a bit springy so probably best to torch the wire before coiling.

If you can open out the CB enough to make an evenly layered roll, why not

[phatfil]

re the wire and resistance yes but the twist will add a little length so dont fret if readings come in a tad shy of 1/2 the resistance of a single wire coil with the same geometary..



scottish roll out of cotton bacon, I dunno not tried either (yet hehe) have a go and see, as its in a dripper the wicking is only there to supply the juice to vapourise and not dam off a tank flow too, so i tend to wick my drippers very rough n ready compared to tank wicks which i will sculpt and shape with more diligence..

[chykensa]

SteveF and phatfil - thanks, I'll have a go tomorrow then, and see what happens. I'm still very wary of low-resistance builds, but reckon that .3ohm should be OK.
I know what you mean about dripper wicking, some of my attempts are abominations, but as you say they don't need to be works of art. I'll try the SR method and let you know!

[enjay]

Feb 16, 2016 0:11:11 GMT chykensa said:

I am also going to try the Scottish Roll wicking method - can this be done using Cotton Bacon V2?

No need with the cotton bacon, the works already been done for you, that's more for the pads. I use it in my vcmt with a 0.2 around a 100 watts with no issues so it certainly works well

[tim]

chykensa you need to play wit SE some more. The answers here are not what I find happens with twisting wire.

Check out the differences here:

www.steam-engine.org/coil.asp?r=1&dia=0.4&id=2.5&ll=10 single wire.

www.steam-engine.org/coil.asp?p=roundmulti&tp=0.5&r=1&str=2&dia=0.4&id=2.5&ll=10 twisted wire.

The only difference is about 0.1 ohm if tightly twisted. So you need to know the pitch of the twist.

It is true that parallel will halve the resistance, but twisting is not the same as parallel.

HTH

Edit: Also, the single wire in the example needs about 20watts, while the twisted needs about 70watts for the same heat.

[chykensa]

Thanks tim - I'll be having a play tomorrow as the weather is foul, and I'll have time on my hands! I'll report back once I've coiled a dripper and tested it