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Note to self: Buy no more regulated mods.

Rhianne

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Avoiding gobbledygook? Yep, that fairly summarizes the long and short of it. Though the chips offer a bit of protection, you need to be aware if you got a mosfet and the mech doesn't fire, you need to check something before going further. All the chip is for is to act as a "no no" sensor, as in:

"no no you can't fire a coil at 0.01 Ω on a 10 amp battery" (High likelihood of explosion imminent)

"no no you can't fire your 0.40 Ω because it's dead shorted" (Gah! Need to rebuild)

"no no you can't fire because the battery is lower than 3.7 volts" (Ugh, need to recharge battery)

"no no, I don't know what gives but I'm not letting you fire, check it out dumb ass" ("Hey, ya wanna be safe right?")

With mechanical mods though you can run a quick short list for trouble shooting, fix the problem with a certain level of ease. Whereas with regulated mods, one transistor out of 200 goes wonky it can make the mod a "brick". And it might not even be that particular transistor causing the problem. The device's "board" just might have gotten a wild hair up its ass.

They even have what was dubbed and sold as "kicks" for tube mechs. They looked something similar to this. That is designed for that particular tube mech costing about $29. They did sell just the chip "boards" that were cut/made to fit into tube mods at one time. Once a company started doing it and a lot of people picked up on it and demand for the "boards" emerged.



1. Get a metal rod 2 or 3 mm in diameter.

2. Check Steam Engine for the type of wire you have, type of coil build you want.

3. Wrap the wire around your rod. (Yes, I know it is a repeat link. That emphasizes just using a metal rod or even wooden dowel, a "mandrel" or "jig" to wrap a bit of wire around in circular fashion. That is roughly all there is to building, that and some basic knowledge.)

4. Insert coil into RDA/RDTA/RBA deck where there are posts (usually) having holes for wire "lead" ends called "legs". (Really good video)

5. Tighten up grub screws to lock wire coil in place.

6. Tweak, fire, tweak until you get coil/s where they fire evenly and glow nicely, blueing your coil. ( Grimm Green, can't knock a Grimm. :) )

7. Wick coil. (Yes, other ways to wick exist. Other wick material exists as well. I've even heard of someone using quartz crystals to wick. Scottish roll using organic cotton is probably about the leading way to wick. If you want other ways.)

8. Check coil ohm reading on ohm meter. You want to look for around 0.30 - 0.50 in my case (that's preferred build zone) and you can go say to 0.25 to 0.55 for tolerances. I don't like going but maybe 0.01 - 0.03 +/- from my "target" build. And yes, when I started out I rebuilt plenty.

Once you get some experience you kind of recall Kanthal 26 gauge at 3 mm Inner diameter takes 5 wraps to get about 0.35 Ω, SS316L (same gauge) if I recall correctly needs 7 wraps, NiCh 80 I don't bother recalling as I don't use it as much as Kanthal or Stainless.

9. Saturate wick, put RDA/RDTA/RBA back on mod, .... fire and vape away.

There's also ...


He's pretty well on the mark with a lot of his stuff. And of course you can always. The most difficulty is Ohm's Law and if you have a good idea where to look you can find online calculators such as Steam Engine to guide you to safely build coil/s. Be aware though sites like Steam Engine are only guides. You ought to practice building with an ohm meter/TAB until you get a feel/experience for building to your desired resistance/s. Even after you got the experience it is still a wise idea to use a meter prior to vaping on a coil to ensure you're building (a) good coil/s build. I do most of the time, other times I trust experience. This is something you need to weigh yourself.

Thank you, bro. I guess I’m irked because if we weren’t being faced with Deeming, I prolly would’ve eased it into building in a year or so from now. As a natural progression type of thing.

I’ve got a few semi mechanical mods. Are those going to die as quickly as the chippy ones?

Oh, to be in England. Where they like people to vape!!
 

The Cromwell

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I’ve got a few semi mechanical mods. Are those going to die as quickly as the chippy ones?
Typically no.
No display to croak and very simple electronics in the switchfet mods compared to the regulated ones.
 

Rhianne

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Typically no.
No display to croak and very simple electronics in the switchfet mods compared to the regulated ones.

Cool, I have a couple semi mechanical mods. I like that I can use them and not be worrying about them.

I bought a few when I first started vaping and didn’t realize what they were. I guess they’d be fine with RDAs. Thanks, Cromwell.
 

The Cromwell

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Cool, I have a couple semi mechanical mods. I like that I can use them and not be worrying about them.

I bought a few when I first started vaping and didn’t realize what they were. I guess they’d be fine with RDAs. Thanks, Cromwell.
Even a pure mech is fine with RDA's as long as it has a 510 pin so that the bottom of the atty 510 does not directly connect to the battery end.
Factory coil subtanks are a bit more problematic as most coils have only a thin silicone grommet keeping positive and negative apart and if the silicone gets pinched thru by the wire you have a short. Which may well cause undesirable results when attempting to fire the atty and nothing happens so one keeps on trying to fire it and BOOM>

first rule of a mech is if it doesn't not fire the atty when it should... figure out why.
Do not just keep trying to fire it.
 
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gopher_byrd

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6. Tweak, fire, tweak until you get coil/s where they fire evenly and glow nicely, blueing your coil. ( Grimm Green, can't knock a Grimm. :) )
7. Wick coil. (Yes, other ways to wick exist. Other wick material exists as well. I've even heard of someone using quartz crystals to wick. Scottish roll using organic cotton is probably about the leading way to wick. If you want other ways.)
8. Check coil ohm reading on ohm meter. You want to look for around 0.30 - 0.50 in my case (that's preferred build zone) and you can go say to 0.25 to 0.55 for tolerances. I don't like going but maybe 0.01 - 0.03 +/- from my "target" build. And yes, when I started out I rebuilt plenty.
One thing I would change on this list of your's MMM is I would move #8 to be #6. You should check the resistance before firing and tweeking and again after reassembling the RDA/RTA to make sure there is not a short to the cap or chimney.
 

casketweaver

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Fuck it, I just build what I want, slap it into my RDA / RTA (so long as the wire allows it to fit), trim my leads, and go from there. Even on mechs. Granted, IF I have a mech that completely torn apart, I always ensure I don't have stray clippings laying on my switch somewhere. Had that happen once on my FOM Mutant - kept hitting the fire button and my finger kept getting burnt, took the bottom cap off to see there was a small piece of wire stuck to the magnet. Talk about bad day... LOL!

HOWEVER, it's always good practice to have a resistance meter / burning tab for safety. I just don't dally with it anymore. As neat as they are, I don't build so low (as I've become familiar with various wires / wire guages to know what's good and what's not) and double check my work before I even put a battery in the device. Calculators are good so long as you understand that those are based on 'Perfect World Scenarios' and we, as sad as it is, live in an imperfect world. So, usually I trim my leads to length, set the leads in their location, tighten down my screws, pull my coil away from the posts and high enough away from the build deck itself, check screws - tighten if needed, trim leads if needed, make final adjustments, wick, juice, and test fire.

If my face doesn't spontaneously explode in a hail of fire, my finger doesn't get burnt by the switch, my mech doesn't get hot to the touch, or my battery doesn't start hissing, I know, likely, a job has been well done.
 

Carambrda

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Fuck it, I just build what I want, slap it into my RDA / RTA (so long as the wire allows it to fit), trim my leads, and go from there. Even on mechs. Granted, IF I have a mech that completely torn apart, I always ensure I don't have stray clippings laying on my switch somewhere. Had that happen once on my FOM Mutant - kept hitting the fire button and my finger kept getting burnt, took the bottom cap off to see there was a small piece of wire stuck to the magnet. Talk about bad day... LOL!

HOWEVER, it's always good practice to have a resistance meter / burning tab for safety. I just don't dally with it anymore. As neat as they are, I don't build so low (as I've become familiar with various wires / wire guages to know what's good and what's not) and double check my work before I even put a battery in the device. Calculators are good so long as you understand that those are based on 'Perfect World Scenarios' and we, as sad as it is, live in an imperfect world. So, usually I trim my leads to length, set the leads in their location, tighten down my screws, pull my coil away from the posts and high enough away from the build deck itself, check screws - tighten if needed, trim leads if needed, make final adjustments, wick, juice, and test fire.

If my face doesn't spontaneously explode in a hail of fire, my finger doesn't get burnt by the switch, my mech doesn't get hot to the touch, or my battery doesn't start hissing, I know, likely, a job has been well done.
One day I had a very tiny piece (about 1.5mm) of stray clipping that fell on top of the peek insulator on the bottom of my Velocity type build deck, right between the post and the side of the deck, where it went unnoticed because that gap is just so narrow and deep. In the event that you forgot to look there, that's when an ohms reader might still ultimately save your ass─or face, or maybe even both─so... danger always lurks in small corners, Murphy also has a Law, and, it's better to be safe than sorry. In Dutch we have an expression that rhymes, "meten is weten". It means "measuring is knowing", but some people changed that so it still rhymes, "meten is tijd verscheten"... "measuring is farting around". :giggle:
 

casketweaver

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Member For 4 Years
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One day I had a very tiny piece (about 1.5mm) of stray clipping that fell on top of the peek insulator on the bottom of my Velocity type build deck, right between the post and the side of the deck, where it went unnoticed because that gap is just so narrow and deep. In the event that you forgot to look there, that's when an ohms reader might still ultimately save your ass─or face, or maybe even both─so... danger always lurks in small corners, Murphy also has a Law, and, it's better to be safe than sorry. In Dutch we have an expression that rhymes, "meten is weten". It means "measuring is knowing", but some people changed that so it still rhymes, "meten is tijd verscheten"... "measuring is farting around". :giggle:

Yeah, normally, when I clip leads, I turn the atty to the side and trim, and when I trim, I trim onto a magnet or into a small bowl. Normally its a small bowl because magnets and electronics - generally hate one another. Not to mention most of my big magnets are out in the garage and who builds their coils in their garage? I have... but I don't do it often. To top it off, the way build decks have become, it's be pretty hard to miss a piece of wire on a postless deck anymore. But I feel the velocity. Could lose coils in there at times.

I'm not saying it's a terrible idea that you should measure your build, all I'm saying, is I don't do it anymore. I'm comfy enough with what I'm doing that I don't pay any mind to doing it anymore. But after I build, I also do things most people probably don't anyways. I seat my coils, trim, tighten, adjust, and wash my build deck, coils, and brush my 510 threads with hot, soapy water. Every build, every time. Just like I put latex gloves on before I wick my atty. Seems crazy, but I do it. We each have our own way of doing things, mine just focuses more on sanitary and less on missing wire bits... lol. I deal with fat wire though so, if I miss a stray clipping somewhere, then that's on me. I have yet to miss any since I pushed the fire button and burned the shit out of my finger, thanks to that magnetic switch.
 

Carambrda

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Yeah, normally, when I clip leads, I turn the atty to the side and trim, and when I trim, I trim onto a magnet or into a small bowl. Normally its a small bowl because magnets and electronics - generally hate one another. Not to mention most of my big magnets are out in the garage and who builds their coils in their garage? I have... but I don't do it often. To top it off, the way build decks have become, it's be pretty hard to miss a piece of wire on a postless deck anymore. But I feel the velocity. Could lose coils in there at times.

I'm not saying it's a terrible idea that you should measure your build, all I'm saying, is I don't do it anymore. I'm comfy enough with what I'm doing that I don't pay any mind to doing it anymore. But after I build, I also do things most people probably don't anyways. I seat my coils, trim, tighten, adjust, and wash my build deck, coils, and brush my 510 threads with hot, soapy water. Every build, every time. Just like I put latex gloves on before I wick my atty. Seems crazy, but I do it. We each have our own way of doing things, mine just focuses more on sanitary and less on missing wire bits... lol. I deal with fat wire though so, if I miss a stray clipping somewhere, then that's on me. I have yet to miss any since I pushed the fire button and burned the shit out of my finger, thanks to that magnetic switch.
Trimming onto a magnet doesn't work with Ni80, it doesn't cling to magnets. Trimming into a small bowl was not an option either, as I was just re-trimming a leg that I had already trimmed, and the coils were already mounted into the posts so I needed to use both hands to re-trim, and needed to use them in such a precise way that aiming into a small bowl would require help from another person who was going to hold the bowl in the right place for me. It still doesn't matter anyway. I just should have looked between the post and the side of my build deck, but I forgot to. Lesson learned, I guess.

About that tiny piece of stray clipping again... the pointy edge of the 36g wire that I had staggered fused clapton'd around two 28g core wires, had welded itself to the bottom of the build deck right between the peek insulator and the post. This welding happened during my dry firing the coils to tweak them, and, because it had welded itself like that, rinsing with fast-running tap water hadn't removed the tiny piece of stray clipping so it still remained lurking in there unnoticed. I rinse my build deck before I mount the coils, and, I don't rinse it again until after all the necessary tweaking has already been finished. As for dealing with fat wire, I personally don't do it, but that doesn't mean in any way that the thing that had happened wasn't on me. I forgot to look. The proper way to deal with it was remembering to look. Even though it was my ohms reader that eventually did remind me to look so this was my last line of defense and lucky for me it worked, remebering to look everywhere inside the build deck without needing to be reminded is still the only way. My point is people don't always. I got distracted so the final conclusion was to not let myself be distracted at times when staying completely focused matters.
 

Jimi

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May be an image of text that says 'nti bu ck t list. name something you will never do again...'
 

MyMagicMist

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Well @Jimi,

Can tell you this old dog won't skydive, not even to HALO any more. Nope. No more for me. Might say I'd be all kinds of rearing to go. No, I'm in shape for it now. Even if I were, no, just not going to do that.
 

nadalama

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For me, I won't ever go into the ocean at Virginia Beach past about midcalf-deep again. Years ago I got sucked under, tumbled head over heels, and somehow the ocean decided to just spit me out about 200 feet from the shore. I had already realized I was going to drown and die, and I don't know to this day how I didn't. Maybe it was because I didn't try to fight the water - doing that in any water emergency is an easy way to get yourself into real trouble.

I love going to Virginia Beach, but the part of it that I like is an efficiency hotel room with an oceanfront balcony. I like having my coffee and book out on the balcony while it's still chilly in the mornings, before the beach gets crowded. But so far I have kept my own backside away from that water. I like going to K&W Cafeteria in Norfolk, Food for Thought in Williamsburg, Christmas Mouse in Williamsburg, the Ben & Jerry store at the beach, and the Pocahontas cafe for great big breakfasts. One of these days I want to go on a clipper ship up the York River.

Virginia Beach is a great place to go on vacation, especially in the off-season.
 

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