Kanthal A1 and Kanthal A

[thebishman]

Hi peeps

Long story...when i coiled up the narda for my pico squeeze for the first time...it came out at 0.5ohms ish, 5 wraps with 3mm coil. Im sure i used 26 gauge kanthal.

Well ive just recieved a ft delivery i order a couple of weeks ago of 2 packs of 27 gauge kanthal a1...and 2 packs of 26 gauge kanthal a1. So thought id recoil the narda as i felt it was time for a new one.

Well i bloody wish i left it alone now. Every build i have tried with my new kanthal doesnt pack the punch that my original build gave. Too cool...i like a warm more intense vape.

Now after using vapers tool box app... im starting to wonder if my old kanthal was kanthal A...not A1. Its seems theres a big resistence difference between the two.

Old build was approx 5 wraps of 26gauge 3mm. 0.5ohms

With this A1...id need 2 wraps to make the same ohmage!

Am i right to assume this!?

Please help as the poxy thing is in the back of the cupboard and im missing it like anything!

(Mind you it forced me to get my ammit rta out and been loving that in the mean time)

[charliehorse]

Are you sure your original stuff was 26 gauge thebishman ?

According to steam engine at an inner diameter of 3 mm and using 26 gauge (depending on the leg length of the coil) you get
3 wraps to give you 0.44 ohms using 'A'
3 wraps to give you 0.46 ohms using 'A1'

Whereas using 24 gauge you get
5 wraps to give you 0.46 ohms using 'A'
5 wraps to give you 0.48 ohms using 'A1'

which seems a lot closer to your original figures, though the other thing to note is there is not that much difference in real terms to the resistance of the two materials.

Edited to add - the above figures were for full wraps and will be slightly higher if you add an extra half wrap depending on how the coil fits in the atty

. ..................- Also - the resistance per meter is listed in steam engine as 'A' - 27.22 ohms per meter and 'A1' - 28.39 ohms per meter

[thebishman]

Feb 1, 2017 7:07:54 GMT charliehorse said:

Are you sure your original stuff was 26 gauge thebishman ?

According to steam engine at an inner diameter of 3 mm and using 26 gauge (depending on the leg length of the coil) you get
3 wraps to give you 0.44 ohms using 'A'
3 wraps to give you 0.46 ohms using 'A1'

Whereas using 24 gauge you get
5 wraps to give you 0.46 ohms using 'A'
5 wraps to give you 0.48 ohms using 'A1'

which seems a lot closer to your original figures, though the other thing to note is there is not that much difference in real terms to the resistance of the two materials.

Edited to add - the above figures were for full wraps and will be slightly higher if you add an extra half wrap depending on how the coil fits in the atty

. ..................- Also - the resistance per meter is listed in steam engine as 'A' - 27.22 ohms per meter and 'A1' - 28.39 ohms per meter

Blimey thats very different to vapers tool box app.

Ill recheck and come back to you. Thanks for taking the time to help me

Bish

[SteveF]

not quite the same material but I bought a good few spools of nichrome 80 Clapton wire on FT last year for resale and quite frankly the resistance was all wrong, it was also magnetic and really stiff. And it vaped like crap.
I measured the core and couldn't find a nichrome wire type with a matching resistance.
After a session on steamengine I reckoned it was akin to kanthal D with a nichrome 30 wrap. I raised a ticket with FT who told me.... 'we have contacted the manufacturer who sell thousands of these without any issues ...' Obviously joy from their customer service department.

Anyways no compensation for your frustration but I find it no surprise that a wire from them isn't what it is supposed to be.
I take it that it was cheap enough to bin?

[thebishman]

Feb 1, 2017 8:55:50 GMT SteveF said:

not quite the same material but I bought a good few spools of nichrome 80 Clapton wire on FT last year for resale and quite frankly the resistance was all wrong, it was also magnetic and really stiff. And it vaped like crap.
I measured the core and couldn't find a nichrome wire type with a matching resistance.
After a session on steamengine I reckoned it was akin to kanthal D with a nichrome 30 wrap. I raised a ticket with FT who told me.... 'we have contacted the manufacturer who sell thousands of these without any issues ...' Obviously joy from their customer service department.

Anyways no compensation for your frustration but I find it no surprise that a wire from them isn't what it is supposed to be.
I take it that it was cheap enough to hbin?

Yeah the whole lot cost me a about 3 pounds as i had gift cert. Its their UD branded kanthal

[SteveF]

Not the brand I bought last year, I suppose its not unknown to have a mix up but umm if they put the wrong master spool on at UD or had an iffy batch you won't be the only one to be scratching your head.

[thebishman]

Feb 1, 2017 11:15:04 GMT SteveF said:

Not the brand I bought last year, I suppose its not unknown to have a mix up but umm if they put the wrong master spool on at UD or had an iffy batch you won't be the only one to be scratching your head.

Well ill double check tonight and see the resistences. Im sure somethings not right

[GunJack]

thebishman is it worth extra dry-burning before wicking n case there's a stubborn residue or simlar on the wire?

[thebishman]

Feb 1, 2017 12:54:05 GMT GunJack said:

thebishman is it worth extra dry-burning before wicking n case there's a stubborn residue or simlar on the wire?

Its brand new wire mate