Wick and coil alternative method

[domesticextremist]

Well, I have spent the last couple of days trying to reiwick and coil
my frankentanks (stardust innards).
The problem I was having was making a half decent coil. I've had ones
that were too tight, ones that were too loose and ones on which only one
or two of the turns glowed due to poor winding.

After digging around in my PC bit box, I found this:



It looks like a motherboard standoff, but is actually the receptor post for an
old style VGA/Serial/Parallel port connector - the kind that fixes on with the
thumbscrews. Actually these posts usually unscrew themselves from the back
of the pc when you try and unscrew whatever it was.
I don't know the proper name :0

It's about 2.5mm diameter, and has a fine pitched thread and is great for winding coils.

[domesticextremist]

Simply wind the wire around the screw threads:



tidy up the ends (the screw gives you a nice rigid substrate
for manipulating the coil until it is nice and even with straight
tails) and remove the screw:



I got a bit carried away with thisone and did six turns.
Previously four turns gave me around 2.4 ohms, five about 2.7 so
this might be a bit higher resistance than I would like.

[domesticextremist]

I know what you're thinking - there are going to be wicking issues with this.

Ahh, well, this is the smart bit.

I used a reclaimed wick from a Ritchy Era carto - it is a
tad thinner than CE2 wick, but I'm doubling up.

Take any old bit of wire (no res or old coil straightened out) and twist it
around the wick halfway along:



Now dampen the wick.
Thread the coil over the wire twist, then holding the coil gently but firmly
between thumb and forefinger, pull the wire and the wick through.
It doesn't look like it will go, but it does, thgouh it is not as tight as the
China made ones:



It is a lot more even than the others I wound though.



Liberate the wire twist by snicking through the loop and of the wick.
Trim the tails and assemble into your stardust as usual.

[domesticextremist]

Test:



Not bad, five o the six turns are glowing

I metered this at around 2.9-3.0 ohms with my rubbish multimeter.
it just about works on my unregulated Rivas though, so I won't re
do it for a bit.

Benefits are it makes a nice even coil, though not as tightly wound as
via the usual method. Downside is it is a one shot method for a particular
wick - once the lop is cut, it can't be used to make a coil this way again.

So if anyone has any further brainwaves to make this work shout up

[Perpetua]

That looks genius Dom . . . so lovely and neat! My coil winding leaves a lot to be desired. I don't seem to get on very well with using a large needle either.

What gauge wire are you using and does the screw/wire part company easily enough?

[domesticextremist]

It's 0.16 nichrome from Dee, the coil and screw separate
simply by holding the coil between thumb and forefinger
and unscrewing the screw.

[Perpetua]

Thanks Dom . . . I'll have to have a look in my very limited tool box, to see if I've anything similar that would work as it looks a brilliant idea to me.

[Queenie Bee]

What type of wire do you need for this ?

[domesticextremist]

0.16mm nichrome resistance wire.
I got mine from Dee (designer on this board) - drop
her a PM she has loads at very reasonable prices.

[kingofswords]

absolutely ingenious idea....well done dom and thank you

so simple yet so affective....the best ideas always are i guess

i often wondered if a tight coil might somehow impend wicking and maybe even kill flavour a bit. at the end of the day al the coil's doing is vapourizing the juice, not sure if it actually has to have the juice touching the coil....maybe touching the junk would aid in gunking up the coil?

[kingofswords]

maybe the life of the coil is extended as it isnt bend but evenly wrapped

i dont understand why the wick can only be used once though?

[blakey]

May 29, 2012 10:47:19 GMT kingofswords said:

not sure if it actually has to have the juice touching the coil....maybe touching the junk would aid in gunking up the coil?

If the coil is too loose then then the wick will have less contact with the juice and therefor less juice to vaporise plus it'll create hotspots that will burn the juice , if it's too tight then it will strangle the wick and cause it to burn through lack of juice- You need the happy medium for it all to work as it should.

[maccafan]

I usually wrap it around a jewellers screwdriver which is 2.00 mm dia and make a coil spring and wet the wick and feed it through a 14 gauge dispensing syringe and use that to place the wick inside the coil..

It's usually a perfect fit..

[kingofswords]

is it nice and tight macca?

ive heard of the syringe gauge feeding method before but never managed to do it.....guess my syringe gauges are too narrow

blakey surely the wick fluffs up and fills the coil though...or alternativly you could un twist it a little?

[maccafan]

Yes.. 2mm wick in a 2mm id coil..

Nice and tight but not constricting

Like you said, it fluffs up when I withdraw the dispensing tip..Look for cream coloured plastic dispensing tips..They are usually 14 gauge..