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Spaced wraps or no?

AKmtnvapor

Member For 1 Year
New builder, been practicing with my 24g kanthal wire, wrapping different ID coils and playing around with dual/single on my first RDA, the Dead Rabbit. What is everyone’s opinion on spacing the wraps? I saw a video about it and was wondering what kind of difference it would make in the final product. Does stretching out the coil change the flavor, clouds or resistance somehow? What is the benefit of spacing?
 

AndriaD

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Personally, I've always preferred spaced-wrap coils. Spaced wraps are a tiny bit cooler, without all that heat all mushed up together, and I like a cool vape (I vape at 9.5w). It also allows you to check the gunking better, if you can see between the wraps. And I think with stainless, you really need spaced wraps, to prevent hotspots.

I don't really go to any great extreme though; I don't mush the wraps together, but they end up fairly close together anyway -- I think in 3 yrs of building, I've just gotten better at wrapping coils.

If you really want heat, and/or gobs of thick vapor, you're probably better off mooshing the wraps together. If you like a cooler vape, or you're not yet really expert at *just the right amount* of wicking, and/or you don't give a rip about how much vapor you do or don't produce, spaced wraps are probably better. But I think it's really just a matter of personal preference.

Andria
 

Thetopdog0

Member For 1 Year
Same like my coils squeezed or also known as contact coils lightly strummed with tight screw's with them in front of the airflow holes and not too hight or low in the deck lol sound like my mother...

@AndriaD love to see a picture of your build!
 

HondaDavidson

Gold Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Spaced because they stay cleaner longer.. beyond that I really find no difference. Except that contact coils tend to concentrate heat a little more....I burn more contact coil wicks than spaced coil wicks. Some say spaced coil work better in TC modes... IDK about that TC just doesn't do it for me spaced or contact.
 

lucifah

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Spaced or contact depends on the airflow on offer. Pointy airflow: contact coils. In-line or grid-like airflow: spaced.
Works for me in my boringly simple MTL setups ;)
 
I like spaced coils firstly because they are easier. No strumming or pressing to get rid of hot spots. And with greater contact area i get more flavor. I like a warm vape so i just restrict airflow to my liking. Im after flavor first and care nothing about "cloud chasing"
 

AndriaD

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Same like my coils squeezed or also known as contact coils lightly strummed with tight screw's with them in front of the airflow holes and not too hight or low in the deck lol sound like my mother...

@AndriaD love to see a picture of your build!

Here 'tis, usually always looks just like this: (roughly 2 ohms or just under -- maybe 1.7-1.8 ohms)

mysimplecoil.jpg

Andria
 

snake94115

Diamond Contributor
Member For 4 Years
New builder, been practicing with my 24g kanthal wire, wrapping different ID coils and playing around with dual/single on my first RDA, the Dead Rabbit. What is everyone’s opinion on spacing the wraps? I saw a video about it and was wondering what kind of difference it would make in the final product. Does stretching out the coil change the flavor, clouds or resistance somehow? What is the benefit of spacing?
I'd say a bit of space between the coils for easier cleaning and such as has been mentioned already is best.However with clapton or alien coils we get into a bit of murky waters so to speak.With those types of coils yeah space them for sure.And not just for ease of cleaning and such.Spacing those types of coils will help eliminate hot-spots and arcing big time.
Ultimately it is up to your preferences.
 

bobnat

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I'm confused. I've seen it said a few times that spaced coils have more contact area. If a contact coil is, let's say 2 cm long, from leg to leg, and you space it out the amount of wire is the same. There is now just empty space between the coils and the wick is not in contact with the coil. Am I missing something here?
 

AndriaD

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I'm confused. I've seen it said a few times that spaced coils have more contact area. If a contact coil is, let's say 2 cm long, from leg to leg, and you space it out the amount of wire is the same. There is now just empty space between the coils and the wick is not in contact with the coil. Am I missing something here?

If the wick isn't in contact with the coil, you'll get the metallic-tasting type of dry hit, which is just as bad as a true dry hit. Spaces between the wraps have nothing to do with the wick being in contact or not -- see mine, above.

Andria
 

Ralph_K

Silver Contributor
Member For 4 Years
I'm confused. I've seen it said a few times that spaced coils have more contact area. If a contact coil is, let's say 2 cm long, from leg to leg, and you space it out the amount of wire is the same. There is now just empty space between the coils and the wick is not in contact with the coil. Am I missing something here?
Yea its same amount of contact if wire is same length no matter how much space is between coils. You can use more wire in a contact coil so it would have more contact if that is what your going for
 

fozzy71

Silver Contributor
Member For 4 Years
I'm confused. I've seen it said a few times that spaced coils have more contact area. If a contact coil is, let's say 2 cm long, from leg to leg, and you space it out the amount of wire is the same. There is now just empty space between the coils and the wick is not in contact with the coil. Am I missing something here?
a spaced coil doesn't give more contact of course but it allows you to vaporize juice from more of the wick with less wire (and lower ohms) than if it was a contact coil. the bits of wick between the spacing are still going to be vaporizing the juice in the wick just like if it was a contact coil covering all of the wick.

all that said, I always space my coils unless doing so would distort my coil due to deck size.
 

Zohmbiebuilds

Silver Contributor
Member For 3 Years
Almost always contact coils. They both get the job done and wouldn't put to much thought into it. I hear so much nonsense about flavor this flavor that. Just try it and use what works best for you. Everyone experiences everything differently. How much different is the question.

Sent from my Z981 using Tapatalk
 

Ryedan

Silver Contributor
Member For 4 Years
They both get the job done and wouldn't put to much thought into it. I hear so much nonsense about flavor this flavor that. Just try it and use what works best for you. Everyone experiences everything differently. How much different is the question.

This ^^^

Take two identical atties ... use identical clean builds in each, one contact, one spaced, and vape them alternately for a few days on two mods set to the same watts. Then swap the atties on the mods for a few more days of vaping.

I did that and found there is very little difference between them in the atties I experimented with (Mutation X V1 and Rose V3).

I used to prefer contact coils. Now I primarily use spaced coils. But it's a very slight preference.
 

PoppaVic

Gold Contributor
Member For 4 Years
I think it's pretty much an issue of "is this sucker gonna' compress for me?" vs "Is this thing gonna' deform/pull apart anyway?"

Hell, I am not even sure folks make that conscious decision. And, I am sure someone out there has done meter-work and drawn conclusions as well - so we are right back to the subjective.
 

David Wolf

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I do think that spaced coils give more contact, since there's more room for the cotton to protrude between the coil wraps with a tight cotton build. Probably not a lot more, but a little more. In theory, spaced coils should be better for TC since there is no influence (no matter how little) between the coil windings as in contact coils (even though you oxidize them, doesn't mean there's zero resistance). I haven't tested this, so its just a theory at this point.
Stock drop in coils are typically spaced. But really I think its a preference thing for coil builders, vape what you like :)
 
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eStorm

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I only space my coil when using stapple fused or anything of that kind with thicker gauge wrap because of the spit back they create, when using higher placed builds in RDA's. even tho I purge, not a huge fan of juice in my mouth. That does prevent it a little. Other then that I don't see a difference, and mostly keep them as contact. But if that day I'm in a hurry and don't do it tidy enough and it turns out spaced well that's what we vaping lol

Maybe its my coils in general always having 6-12 wraps depending on the Atty, and mostly tc for me, spacing them would probably limit my wraps and I hate having very low ohm builds, but the flavor isn't different in my opinion.
 

St.Roostifer

Gold Contributor
Member For 5 Years
It's all about personal preference. I use Kanthal so I prefer spaced coils since most of the time I'm vaping on an rta. IMHO a spaced coil allows the coil heat to dissipate quicker so the heat does not build up as fast in my rtas.
 

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