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Oct 24 2019 0 Comments

vape coil building guide

Coil building: What must you know about coil building?

Where to buy vape coils online is a frequent search term on the Internet. The reason being is that several vapers are actually unaware of what coil building is and how it’s done. Some vapers may hear of coil building but think it’s something that’s impossible for them to do themselves. Having the right knowledge is obviously important but using the right materials and tools is even more crucial. Coil building is very possible for anyone seeking to take their vaping experience to the next level and It can be incredibly rewarding to take the first drag of your very own build.

A perfect coil build needs practice and dedication. A vaper must have knowledge of Ohm’s law and other vaping basics to build their own coil. This post guides anyone who wants to expand their knowledge, on what you need to build your very own coil.

Why do vapers enjoy making their own coil? Coil building gains popularity as it is cost-effective and allows customization. Customization ensures a more enjoyable experience that fits your vaping needs. Vapers are building vape coils as a hobby for enhancing and controlling the vape taste and feel.

Often vapers take pride in building their own coil. Their dedication and labor results in a successful coil building. With every successful attempt, their coil building skill improves. A time comes when vapers build their coils in no time.

So, what are you waiting for? Take the following steps to build your first coil.

how to build vape coil

What do you need to build your vape coil?

Several tools are available for coil building. You can get tools and accessories both online and offline. There are advanced tools for coil building. However, keeping the matter simple will help the new vapers.

Plenty of coil building kits are available in the market. Vape coil kit includes all the necessaries you need for building your own coil. However, a la carte option is available too. The kit provides all in a box, making it a perfect choice for the First-timers.

Let’s check what you need to build the coil:

  • Resistance wire: Any of the vaping wires would do.
  • Flush cutters: Wire cutters that can cut close in small spaces
  • Ceramic tweezers: To pinch your coils while pulsing
  • Small metal rod: A small screwdriver, or coiling tool
  • Scissors: For trimming the cotton

Optional accessories are:

  • An ohm reader: To accurately detect resistance
  • A coil jig: A coil builder to roll the coil easily

You will get all these in the Wotofo tool kit for building your vape coil wire. It includes all the essential tools.

Get Wotofo Tool Kit Now!

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wotofo coil building tool kit

How vape coils work? (Ohm’s law)

Vape coil follows Ohm’s law. Before you make your own coil, know the basics of Ohm’s law. It is worth investing time in knowing ohm’s law. It will allow you to make better coils and keep you safe from any potential accidents.

Three basics you need to understand about Ohm’s law.

Resistance

Resistance is the rate at which the wire opposes the current while passing through it. Lower resistance will ensure a faster current passing.

Voltage

Voltage is the electrical potential difference between two points. Volt is the unit to calculate the voltage. For instance, the difference between the positive and negative points of the battery.

Increasing the voltage between these points will give a higher energy output without using extra power/charge.

Current

Current is the rate at which the electron flows through the coil. The unit is Ampere (amp).

Mathematical representation

V=I x R,

V is the voltage difference, I is the current in amps, and R is the resistance in ohms.

Coil resistance decides the power of the vape device and the amount of power it will draw from the battery.

A low resistance draws high power from the battery hampering the safety of it. It can cause a battery explosion.

Testing the resistance and identifying the problems prior to using the coil is a must.

Now, as you have completed the basics, let’s know what coil options are available in terms of material.



What are vape coils made of?

Selecting the right wire type contributes to the successful coil building process. The material allows you to get better control of the wattage, temperature, flavor, cloud quality, ramp-up time, etc.

The current post discusses five different vape wire types.

  • Kanthal
  • Stainless Steel
  • Nichrome
  • Nickel
  • Titanium

Kanthal Wire

Kanthal wire made of ferritic iron-aluminum alloy is a suitable wire type for wattage vaping. The aluminum immunizes the coil from oxidation and rust. However, Kanthal will not suit the temperature control mode.

Easy handling of the Kanthal coil makes it perfect for the new coil builders. You can mold it effortlessly, but the rigidity keeps the coil in perfect shape. Such qualities make Kanthal the favorite of the vapers.

Check the pros and cons of Kanthal
Pros
  • Best for a flexible wattage range
  • Use in mechanical mods without issues
  • Easy to handle and wrap
  • Rigid enough to hold the coil shape
  • Widely available in the market
  • Cheaper than other option
Cons
  • Cannot use in TC vaping mode

Stainless Steel Wire

Stainless Steel is an alloy made of chromium, nickel, and carbon. You can find several grades of purity in this alloy depending on the varying percentage of different metals. 316-grade SS is the most commonly used stainless steel grade for building vape coils.

Medical, pharmaceutical and food industries use the same grade of Stainless steel. Check the pros and cons of the stainless steel wire here.

Pros
  • Compatible with both TC and WC modes
  • Quicker ramp-up time compared to Kanthal
  • Easy to use and handle
  • Rigid enough to hold its shape
Cons
  • Nickel in it may be toxic
  • Difficult to find in the market

Nichrome Wire

Nichrome has similar qualities of Kanthal. However, it does not provide a low resistance value and a quicker ramp-up time like Kanthal. Vapers can mold it easily. But its sturdiness helps it maintain the shape.

The low melting point is one of the downside Nichrome wires. Dry burns can cause a messy situation. Often while vaping at high power, you may find your coil melts. Nichrome may not be the right choice for those starting their coil building journey.

Pros
  • Quicker ramp-up time
  • Easy to handle
  • Sturdiness helps to hold the shape
Cons
  • Presence of nickel may be toxic
  • Low melting point
  • Not commonly available on the market

Nickel Wire

Nickel wires get made from pure nickel of Ni200. Nickel wire provides great control over temperature. One can find these coils easily available in the market.

The nickel wire also comes with some downsides. It is too soft to hold its shape. The fragility often causes coil deformation even at the slightest touch. The first-time coil builders must avoid it for coil building.

Finally, at high temperature often Nickel releases carcinogenic contents harmful to human bodies.

Pros
  • Compatible with temperature control mode vaping
  • Easily available in the market
Cons
  • Difficult to handle due to its fragility
  • May damage human health due to pure nickel presence

Titanium Wire

Titanium Wire can be tricky to use. Think about safety concerns prior to using it. Often high temperatures, titanium reacts with oxygen to form titanium dioxide a toxic substance.  

Titanium dioxide can cause potential hazards to the human body. Further, it is hard to put out the fire because of its inflammatory quality. Unless you have years of experience, stay away from the titanium coil.

Pros
  • Compatible with temperature control mode of vaping
  • Easy to use
  • Holds the shape formed into
Cons
  • May be hazardous to the human body
  • Risk of fire
  • Not commonly available on the market

What Wire Gauge Should You Use?

Finding the right gauge of the wire is immensely important. Gauge is the diameter value of the wire. Gauge is the higher numerical value of the wire. The resistance increases as the coil become thinner.

The end resistance of a coil with four wraps of 28-gauge wire will be higher than a coil with four wraps of 26-gauge wire.

Consider it while coiling the wire for your RTA & RDAs.

What is the Micro and Macro coil building?

Both micro and macro coil building are common coil building. To create these types of coil, you need to wrap a single wire around the screwdriver, drill bit or coil jig. There are coil jigs available for a specific diameter. In case you have a preference, you can buy that.

  • Micro Coil builds: Micro coil builds are the coil build with an inner diameter between 1-2mm
  • Macro coil builds: Macro coil builds are the coils with an inner diameter of more than 2.5mm

The bigger inner diameter has a higher resistance and vice versa. However, one can go for a Clapton coil build. Twist two different wire strands against each other to form this coil. Building a Clapton coil is difficult for new coil builders.

How to make vape coils

Now, after covering all the pre-coil building processes, it is time to know how to build vape coils. Here is a step-by-step guide for building your coil.

Cut the wire of a right length

The first step towards building the coil is to cut the wire from the long wire spool. You can find these wire spools in the wicks and wire section under the Accessories category on the Wotofo website. It is advisable to cut a clean piece of vaping wire from the spool with an approximate length of 3-4inches.

Beginners can cut a little more like 5-6inches. It will help them adjust the coil size. For beginners, Kanthal wire is always recommended.


How to wrap the coil?

Now, as you already cut the wire, you need to wrap the coil properly. Several tools are available in the market for wrapping the coil. However, screwdrivers and jigs get used for wrapping the wires.


Wrapping with the help of screwdrivers

Building the coil is one of the fun parts for several vapers. Hold the screwdriver and start wrapping the surrounding wire. While wrapping, try to maintain a strong tension. A strong tension helps the coil remain tight and farm, which is an important requisition for perfect coil building.

While wrapping the coils, avoid overlapping. Round the wire till you get your desired loop numbers. The loop numbers help in getting the desired resistance. Finally, ensure both ends remain aligned in the same direction.

how to make vape coils step1

Wrapping the coil with the help of the coil jig

Coil Jig is a vape tool that helps wrap the coil consistently. Further, it guides the wire to wrap on the rod properly. It is a useful tool to build coils with minimum effort.

You need to detach the jig cap. Through the whole thread a few inches of the wire at the top. Then you need to wrap a half-turn around the steel rod of a fixed diameter. Usually, a jig length about 30mm. then you need to turn the top cap until you reach the desired loops.

Finally, pinch the new assembly firmly together to get a tight and strong coil. Jigs come with detachable rods of different diameters. Depending on the diameter, you can select the rods. Coiling the wire with the Jig is simple. It is the best tool for new coil builders.


How to put a new coil in a vape?

To install the coil, detach the tank build deck. Hold the Jig with coil on above the build deck. Slowly insert one coil end in the positive slot and the other in the negative slot. Try to keep the wire straight as much as possible. Keep the coil in the deck middle. Slowly pull out the jig and tight the screws gently. Your installation is complete.

how to put new coil in vape

Short circuit testing

After the coil installation, the next step is to check the coil. For this, you need an ohm reader. Check the coil resistance to prevent any short circuit and assure a safe coil use. In case of finding a short in the ohm reader at once check the point of contact of the tank and the coil. If the problem continues, go for the coil reseating.

Test fire and eliminate hot spots

Once you are sure about the resistance, go for the test run. set your tank with the mod and press the fire button. Burn it till the coil glows red. Use a tweezer to remove hot spots. Remember to not touch the fire button in case of using a metal tweezer as it can cause a short circuit. Use a ceramic tweezer to avoid such issues. Continue the work until you get a uniformly glowing coil.

Wick The coil and do the final test

After removing the hotspots, let your coil cool down. Add a wick after it cools down. Use WOTOFO XFIBER organic cotton for the best flavor outcome. Cut enough cotton with a scissor and thread it in the coil. Keep at least half inches on each side of the coil. Fluff the sides with a tweezer and tuck it under the coil to soak the e-juices. While tucking the cotton, be careful as excess cotton can block the path of the e-liquid and less amount of cotton cannot reach the coil base results in hampering the wicking.

Before starting the vaping session, check the vaping basics again. Do a troubleshoot to be assured about the resistance. Check the connections and screws to be sure. Once everything is correct, start vaping.

What are the different types of vape coils?

As you now know about the coil building technique. Take a step forward to know the different coil building types.

Single coil vs Dual coil

Know about the difference between single and dual coil before knowing the different coil types. Nowadays, build decks are coming with two coils. Dual coil atomizers give a better flavor compared to others.

In the dual coil atomizers, one must check for the positive and negative slots. There are two positive and negative slots for the dual coil building. In dual atomizers, the airflow remains on the side to reach both the coils equally.

While building coils for dual coil atomizer, it becomes more important to have both identical coils in terms of size, form, and materials. The resistance will be half of each coil as you are using two coils together.

With two 0.6ohm resistance coils, you will get a build of 0.3ohm. Taking a single-coil out will change the resistance to 0.6ohm.

single coil vs dual coil

How to do RDA coil builds?

Build your own vape mod coil easily. First, look at the deck to check is it a single coil or dual coil atomizer? Be sure about the size that your coil. It may cause the short circuit in case it touches the top cap.

Check post positioning to see whether it is in the same direction or other. Build your first RDA coils for your atomizer. Place it as per the instructions above. If you yet not have an RDA, you can try Wotofo Recurve Dual RDA. Coil building allows you to make the best coils for RDA.

How to build for RBA and RTA?

RTA is a variation of the RBA with some limitations. RTAs rarely have large spaces for bigger coil build-up. Go for a smaller diameter if you feel the coil is touching the chimney, as you will not want to get a short circuit.

You can check out the videos on YouTube on making the RBA coil for Re-buildable Tank Atomizers.

Twisted coil building

Once you are fine with making a single strand coil, go to the next level of coil building with making twisted coils. It requires no fancy equipment. Because of a large surface, a twisted coil often delivers a better flavor with lower resistance.

Several ways are there to twist the coil. However, while twisting the coil, keep the coil tension in mind. However, you can adjust the tension latter as well. You can check out the YouTube channels for the same.

Parallel Coil

Another coil building that requires no fancy tools or drills is a Parallel coil. You need two wires together parallel to each other. Wrap these two coils together. The resistance gets divided between these two coils. You need to know the device limits while building the parallel coils. Exceeding the resistance level may cause a short circuit.

Starting with a 26gauge Kanthal wire to build a parallel coil if you are a beginner. Using the coil Jig allows a better tension in the coil. Altogether, the parallel coils give a better flavor output and more vapor compared to others.

Final Words

Own coil building is easy than it looks. In this current post, you have seen the way you can build your own coil. Building a coil can be challenging, especially if you try building complex coils. You need different drills and tools to build such coils.

However, building a simple coil is not tough. Keeping the basics in mind, one can easily build the coils. The mentioned coils in this post are mostly simple coils build by using Jigs or screwdrivers. As mentioned earlier, a perfect coil building is an art that one can achieve through dedication and time.

However, it is crucial to know the device limits, hardware, and batteries while building coils. Exceeding the resistance can breach the safety norms of the device. If you are building own coils, buy an ohm reader for reading the resistance.

Thus, do not demoralize after one or two failed attempts. Keep trying to achieve the best. Remember building coils is an art but also a cost-effective way of vaping. You can save lots of money through coil building. Further, the customization that coil building allows will not be even in the best pre built coils for RDA. You know how much does vape coil cost.

We hope that after reading the post, you will also get inspiration for building your own coil. With time, you will be a great coil builder customizing your own vaping experience.

To conclude, the whole post is written with the motive to help the common vapers. Hope you enjoyed the reading. Your comments and suggestions matter a lot. Do you have any suggestions on coil building or anything you want to add?

Feel free to share your views with us in comment boxes. We will be happy to know your take on coil building and share your experience.


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