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Coil Building 101 - Q&A

Qlippoth

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Tip

If you are building for a velocity style deck and using a flat profile wire....like flat wire, rolled wire, any kind of fused claptons get your pliers in tight to the mandrel and bend the lead wire before you mount the coil. It will end up much tidier than if you just screw it down in the deck and try to straighten it there.

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Thank you for this! I hate it when my wires bend too much after screwing them down in my tsunami!

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robot zombie

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Follow up question: why is it more preferred to use battery operated drills? The ones that have a cord also has the option to spin slowly and quickly right? I use a magnetic jig for my swivels and I think they can handle fast rpms. I just don't want to jump the gun and get a corded drill only to find out that even the slowest spin is too fast.
It's mostly for ease of positioning. There aren't too many corded ones that have their cord on the side, meaning you have to lay the drill on its side, which can be a bit awkward, depending on your technique. Most people who use swivels don't seem to have any trouble. I freehand a lot and it does make it hard to get the grip right.

The tradeoff for going to wired is that you don't have the battery dying on you during long coiling sessions. Running the drill at max power has a way of dipping into the battery pretty quickly. The speed drop-off of battery powered drills can be annoying. Constant speed makes a lot of things easier. Charge times can end a sesh pretty easily.

High RPM's are good to have, 1500-2000 max is good to shoot for, but corded or not doesn't really matter there. I have both wired and wireless drills in that range with variable speed, gearboxes and brakes that stop the motor dead when I let off of the trigger (which is awesome, btw, but entry-level drills tend not to have it, nor is it absolutely needed.)

Generally speed is not fully adjustable. Only torque is. Speed is controllable in real time, not set and forget. What you should be looking for are drills with variable triggers (goes faster the further you press it down, from 0 to max RPM's) and a gearbox. If only one or the other, get the variable trigger. The gearbox is optional. It just gives you the choice between a lower, finer range of RPM's and a higher, more abrupt range of RPM's.
 

raymo2u

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Some Good Info on Here!

I will pitch in something Ive posted elsewhere and I hope this helps someone...some of the links may be old but Ill do my best to update them if they are Out of Order..

EVERYTHING possibly useful or needed for making coils, these are the exact tools I use...Ive gone through alot of tools and most either broke or weren't decent quality and these did the job and still do. If you can find the same thing for cheaper then grab it, you can always upgrade later on.

Ebay Links:
Nylon Pliers LINK
Flush Cutters: LINK
Better then using Swivels, the SpinLT: LINK
Ceramic Tweezers LINK
My Favorite Coil Jig! LINK
Swiveling Magnifying Glass (Optional) LINK
Wire Bundle, Kanthal 22g-40g LINK
Wire Bundle, N80 24-40g LINK
Wire Bundle, 316L 22g-40g : LINK
38g Kanthal D 1000ft for $8 LINK
40g Kanthal D 1000ft for $9 LINK
Spool Tamers LINK

Home Depot links:
Toothless Needle Nose Pliers: LINK
Vise LINK

Most expensive piece of the set, the Drill..
Cordless Drill with decent RPM speeds LINK

These arent for coils but its the best thing you can use for wick cutting...
Thread Nippers LINK
 
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robot zombie

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These arent for coils but its the best thing you can use for wick cutting...
Thread Nippers LINK
DUDE, I have been on a quest for those for forever. Nippers snippers, eh? Really?

See, I kept looking for shears, like a normal person would. Silly me. I needed snippers for nippers.
 

raymo2u

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DUDE, I have been on a quest for those for forever. Nippers snippers, eh? Really?

See, I kept looking for shears, like a normal person would. Silly me. I needed snippers for nippers.
I bought cheapies at first and then moved to buy a nice pair of Wiss blades, with the bearings/carbon steel and so on....sad thing is the cheaper nippers work better and cut cleaner for a 1/3 of the money....
 

Mattp169

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well most cordless drills can stand up on tehir own on the bench so you only have to push the trigger and not hold the drill at the same time
 

SuperMidget

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well most cordless drills can stand up on tehir own on the bench so you only have to push the trigger and not hold the drill at the same time

I started using my battery drill but my corded drill runs so much higher rpm i just lay it on its side on my desk so i still only have to hold the trigger. Wrapping with 40g there is a night and day difference between which drill i can cover so much more ground with the corded one.
 

PrinceWizdom

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In light of recent events, I've decided that there are enough people new to coil building that this thread may just come in handy.

What I'd like to see this thread evolve into is a place where new coil builders can ask questions - noob questions - and not feel as though they're asking stupid questions or being ridiculed for their lack of knowledge. In this thread, there are no stupid questions. We ALL had to start somewhere.

Please feel free to discuss anything and everything related to beginning coil building, a.k.a. "Coil Building 101".

There are some very knowledgeable people on this forum who are very helpful and are more than willing to share their expertise, experiences, pitfalls, etc.

One thing that this thread is NOT about is attitude. If you have a superiority complex, leave it at the door. This thread is intended for beginners with beginner's questions.

So, with that being said, here's a pic of my very first build from about a year ago. It shows that if I can learn to build, then anyone can. Please don't laugh at my first build. I'm sensitive and just might cry. :D


Ordered a few spools of wire and going to start building in earnest. I see this thread is going to be handy.

On a side note @CrazyChef i think i found your ebay store :D ( Not sure though. don't worry, if it really is yours your secret's safe with me ;) )
 

Iliketurtles

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Easy but really effective build
Here I am going to show step by step a newbie build which is very easy but gives a top performance result. It does not chuck the massivest clowdz in the world but it is good for Flavor, Clouds, Ease of Build and Low Spitback. This is the only build most people would ever need unless they really wanna chuck those clowdz and can be done with a minimum of outlay on tools, wick and wire. Any atomizer with a two post or a velocity style deck can use this build but it is not really suitable for three post decks as the main airflow is going to be up through the center of the deck - that's where that pesky third post would be :(

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Needed
1. Some wire - I am going with 24AWG rolled kanthal A1 - anything similar will work out.
2. A coil jig with a 4mm diameter mandrel, 3.5mm if thats your biggest.
3. Wire cutters.
4. Cotton.
5. Scissors.
6. A two post RDA - I am going with a Double Vision, because they are great.

Optional - Long nose pliers, ohm meter and ceramic tweezers.

1. The coils are the easy bit - just wrap two six wrap 4mm ID coils and you are done. If you are not using a velocity type deck bend one lead so that both leads come away from the mandrel at the same level.
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2. Put them into your RDA and get them into position so that they are centred and the bottom of the coils will be roughly level with the top of the airflow holes. With the Double Vision this will be when the top of the coil is about level with the top of the posts. As you can see I have a slightly out of true lead leg on one post, I know that the cotton will fill that so I am not bothered by it.
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3. Work out hotspots with tapping, strumming, squeezing the coils or whichever other method you like to employ.
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At this point you might get a bit of pretty colors in the coils aaaawwwww
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You will get different range and intensity of colors with different metals, Nichrome 80 is a good one for colors.
4. Wicking...I remove the outer layer of the pad then cut it in half along the grain. You need clean hands at this point or clean gloves, anything you have on your hands when you roll the cotton is going to end up a little bit in the cotton. If thats grime the cotton will taste grimy, if it's soap the cotton will taste soapy - clean hands is what you want so that you aren't making the cotton bad before you start.
Roll the cotton under your hand in one direction only until you have a nice cotton stick, this will usually be three or four rollings for me. It will end up tight but not quite Scottish Roll tight. If you want to do Scottish Roll you will need more cotton than half a pad to roll.
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5. Wick it, Wick it real good. Insert your cotton sticks in the coils, once the coil is in the middle of the cotton stck use your fingers on the ends of the sticks to roll the cotton the opposite way to how you rolled it to tighten it, it will fill out the coils. Cut it off so it is still long enough to reach the deck plus a couple of mm.
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Tuck the cotton in the deck but leave it over the edge of the deck just a little - this is to seal the airflow.
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Put the cap on and check your coils have not been moved and you can see the bottom of the coils through the airflow holes and that the cotton is sealing the deck airflow. You might have to do some fiddling here to make sure no cotton is catching at the barrel.
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This means that the airflow can only travel either under the coils and up through the center or under the coils and up around the sides, either way it is both cooling your coils and carrying your vapor with it. Most top caps will have some kind of lip on them which will further concentrate the airflow.
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6. Drip it, drip it good. It will suck up a lot of juice when it is dry so don't be putting ten drips in there and thinking it is ready because it will still be dry as a desert. I usually start with about thirty drips and see if it needs more after that.
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Give it a little test fire once you think it is ready....
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That's it, you are ready to rock'n'roll. If you had clean hands and clean cotton when you did your wicks you should not have any 'break in' time on your vape it will taste right first hit. The large ID but short length coils mean that you won't get dry hits or burnt cotton in the center of the coil because the wicking is easily going to keep up as long as there is juice in the cotton. Rolled tight wicking also means you will have more burn resistant cotton anyway and tighter rolls actually wick better than loose cotton. I don't use actual Scottish Roll wicking because I find it mutes flavor a bit when it is that bit tighter rolled but it is the same principle as Scottish Rolls.
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Vape it!
 
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thank you Iliketurtles! I have a tsunami by geek vapes(not a clone), my airholes are at the bottom so how should i position my coils for it?
 

r055co

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thank you Iliketurtles! I have a tsunami by geek vapes(not a clone), my airholes are at the bottom so how should i position my coils for it?
Over the top of them

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Iliketurtles

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how far above the air tubes is what i meant to ask, the way its built the coils can only go directly over the air tubes.
I don't have a Tsunami but if I did I would just make sure that the cotton is clear of (not touching) the tubes otherwise it will leak down them. Air will be restricted if the coils are too close to them so I would keep them at least 3mm above the top of the tubes.
 

r055co

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I don't have a Tsunami but if I did I would just make sure that the cotton is clear of (not touching) the tubes otherwise it will leak down them. Air will be restricted if the coils are too close to them so I would keep them at least 3mm above the top of the tubes.


how far above the air tubes is what i meant to ask, the way its built the coils can only go directly over the air tubes.
What he posted

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CrazyChef

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but if I did I would just make sure that the cotton is clear of (not touching) the tubes otherwise it will leak down them.

On mine, I tend to leave the coils about 2mm above the airholes.
 
okay super new to the rda scene been vaping a few months and bought a doge v3 a tsunami 24 a limiless plus which is in the mail coming

nowi have experience with rdtas like the smok tfv4 rba which was my first instance of using a coil and packing cotton to vape and it was relatively easy because the coil was made and it came with cotton .. but now I have the likes of a ijoy tornado and bought the t6 deck and I bought the ud set of box wire a set of 100 foot flattened kanthal and 20-34 guage kanthal I have the tools for it as well and in starting ive used boughten prebuilt coils but I want a more customized for me vaping experience I see all these coil diy coil videos and want the same thing I have a drill even .. but for mself I do enjoy flavor but more over I'm a cloud chaser .. and I know basics like more surface area means more heat and more surface area in contact with juice yields more vapor.. okay but what I'm new to or curious about it this .. I want to make fluffy angelic cloud coil builds.. so with that id like to get a cooler vape with lots of clouds I had a friend who made his own coils and at 55 watts he was fucking rollllling in clouds it was crazy I want that.. so like is more wraps going to make it cooler to vape or is it less wraps .. also the guage of the wire I have allllll kinds now and its like where to start if I want a nice cool cloud chasing vape I have all these rda tanks to choose from and use .. its like okay now lets move on from prebuilt bought coils to diy coils since I bought all this shit you know? so can you guys help a newbie like me .. kinda ashamed I have all these mods and tanks and stuff for coil building and some people who have one mod and rda and are expert cloud chasing coil builders.. but that's not me I want to be though one day maybe with this forums help I can get there.. so can someone help explain to me how the number of wraps affects it ? and the guage of wire as well.. and would I have a better vape experience using something exotic like alien claptons or reg claptons.. or like something idk about please inform me I'm dying to know andstart on this journey .. oh as well vaporesso gemini on its was from vegas read about it and bought it from research it looks to be over the griffen and eagle tanks with the top airflow coming stock with it and bigger wicking ports..
 

CrazyChef

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Wax on, wax off, Danielsan...

Slow down, or you're gonna get REAL frustrated REAL soon.

First off, do you have a coil jig, drill bits, and/or a sized mini screwdriver set? You'll need to get your wrapping down first. Then, get out that handy drill, and learn how to make Clapton coils. Once your fairly adept at Claptons, that's where the real fun begins. :D

You'll want to try fused Claptons. Their not hard to make once you've mastered the basic Clapton, and the flavor and clouds start to get serious at this level. Then, move on to staple coils, framed staples, and alien coil builds. Once you're proficient at those, you'll already know what to do next.
 
I do have all tools actually .. and ive got some alien coils in my doge v3 that I wrapped a 3rd time to fit inside to doge v3 but their rated at .45 ohms and that like extrawrap made it .51 on both since its a dual alien coil now.. but since the doge is made for flavor maybe that's why I haven't been well too wowed by the clouds I have the coils high up above the air holes since the doges center is supposed to be ther to create a wall for the wind .. but idk what wattage I should be running these aliens at the make better cloud that's comfortable like I said I like a cool vape..

also so for wrapping less wraps or more wraps makes cooler vapor at higher watts and the guage as well was what I was most curious about .. if you would indulge me .. I'm sorry I'm the type I want to know it all now .. in my tsunami 24 .. I saw a rip trippers vid on a quadcoil build mine was ugly and at 1.53 ohms is its running .. which doesn't seem sub ohm since its that high . but that much coverage I saw that it was making lots of vapor for like 80 watts .. and wasn't near as hot .. but like I said I was most curious about was the guage and wraps that I needed to make a cool vapor as well as clouds thatd be proficient.. I have made a 26 guage core 32 guage outside clapton1st wasn't perfect but second and third were like wow I made that and was nice.. had ideas about like high guage wire and claptoning a Clapton and having 3 of those and spn around like a braid .. and having a coil like that I'm new to all of this but I wanna knw about the guage and wrap for the cool vapor big cloud production thanks for replying sooooo fast
 
yeah its lke idk how many wraps but can you giveme info about what guage and wrap count for cool vape like is it more wraps less watts for more clouds and flavor or less wraps for less watts and clounds .. and what guage?
 

thejman

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I just built a .3 ohm dual coil with 24g wrapped 7 times I think but I'm wondering how long it should last. Can I just keep changing the cotton for a bit? how long till I need to make new wires/coils?
 

r055co

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I just built a .3 ohm dual coil with 24g wrapped 7 times I think but I'm wondering how long it should last. Can I just keep changing the cotton for a bit? how long till I need to make new wires/coils?
It'll last a while, couple months depending on how you vape.

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Iliketurtles

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Best way to measure coil life is by mls of juice rather than time because everyone vapes differing amounts per day.Then as well there's the kind of juice - the sweeter the juice and the darker the juice the more it will affect the coil life. NETs are coil killers apparently but I don't vape them so can only repeat what other people say. Then there is coil care...and quality of wire you made the coil with. So if you are not using a NET juice or a really dark sweet juice and you only dry burn and re-wick then coils should last at least 200ml+ of juice. Some people vape that much in a few days while for others that is more than a month.....with a light wire brush and pipe cleaners and good coil care you can extend that by many times. But if you use cheap wire and coil killing juices you might decrease it by many times as well so there is no right answer to how long a coil should last, there are just too many individual choices that have an effect on the life of the coil.
 

Gregjl

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I guess this belongs here, I bought some cotton online to be able to freshen up my new dripbox before an actual coil is needed. And the description was Japanese organic cotton. I've been using it for a while and it's great especially since I can't compare it to anything. Today I started searching for what kind of wire might be good for the replacement and found out I MUST boil my cotton, why? I'm still alive after a week of using it. Later I'll ask about wire.

Thanks, Greg
 

CrazyChef

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You do not need to boil your cotton. I've never boiled my cotton.
If you're buying that cheap fully processed cotton from Walmart, CVS, etc. then you might want to boil it. Otherwise, you should be fine the way you're using it now.
 

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