Coils and wire types

sniffer66

I've been making my own coils for a while now as its a damn sight cheaper than pre-mades and its satisfying to do. I bought a Coilmaster V3 toolkit a while ago and it's made the whole process very easy, having everything I need to hand in a case.

I'm typically building dual coils between 0.3 and 0.5 ohms and started off using Kanthal. However, I've sene lots of posts on the benefits of SS, claptons etc coupled with a TC mod and how good the flavour is. So, I started off with some SS316L and built a few different coils. Results were OK but no better than kanthal in VW mode and pretty much the same with TC - I don't tend to get dry hits with kanthal anyway as I've gotten to know my builds and how to wick them.

Last week I bought some SSL clapton wire and put a few different builds in my Tsunami but they ran really hot and however I position\wick them I can't stop them spitting and crackling.

Got fed up with the muted SSL flavour in an RTA this morning and swapped back to a tried and trusted kanthal build and its night and day. Loads of clouds and full of flavour.

Was wondering what you guys are coiling with and whether you've found a massive difference with fancier wires ? Is it all just hype or should I keep plugging away until I get it right ?

GMC79

I get odd spit n huge crack or pop with a clapton wire (got a clapton build in my tsunami now) and ramp up time is a bit higher. Can't get that quick blast as fast when cold either needs a pre puff or pressing button in advance. A more normal build is better overall i would say because of that.
Not tried stainless yet with own coils. was gonna nab some from work but smallest i had was 0.9mm, far too big.

sniffer66

I did think my ramp up time was maybe too fast with the claptons, causing the pop of the juice sat in the wire wells, but even dropping the watts didnt help. Constant hot spitting on my tongue in the tsunami and the vape was really warm, even with TC. Turning down the temp. then led to loss of flavour.

I've got an OBS Engine coming in the next few days and the deck is much further away from the driptip so will try them in there.

I found the stainless muted flavour quicker than kanthal so wasnt that impressed...

Wingsurfer

Have you tried vertical coils? I find that when the coil does spit the hot liquid spits horizontally & much less into your mouth.

I am using tc ss coils that I make myself, in a steamcrave v-rda. They work well, probably equal to kanthal taste wise. The last build I did was dual 28 gauge 316L twisted. 15wraps in each coil, 0.4ohms. I've got my dripbox set to 265c, this is nice to me - not cold but not burning hot either.

What resistance have you been getting with your SS attempts? I've been told that for TC to function with accuracy you need between about 0.3&0.5ohms

sniffer66

Thanks, will have a look at vertical coil builds and how to wick them

I've been aiming for about 0.4 ohms on my builds. Last attempt (before the claptons) was dual, 24 gauge 316L at approx 14 wraps, 3 mm. Took me a little more time than the kanthal to get them heating evenly from the middle but they got there eventually.
I didn't do spaced coils though and doing some reading suggests they work better with SS. Might try another build when I get the time

Wingsurfer

I've not done spaced coils either. With the size of the coils I'm using I don't have the room to space them anyway.
The first time I wicked my verticals I only had the lower part of the wick in the juice well. This caused the top of the wick to dry out before the bottom. Now I leave a longer wick at the top  & feed it down to the bottom in the middle of the posts. This has really helped even out the juice in the wick

sniffer66

Thanks will check out some vids on verticals and how to wick them. Seen a few pics where people have wicked so its only one end in the well but, as you say, that would appear to me to halve the wicking capability. Makes sense to get juice coming in from both ends...