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Ever rebuilt an Aspire Cleito coil?

Th3_uN1Qu3

Member For 1 Year
Howdy all,

This is my first post in this community. I have been a vaper since October of last year, and it helped me lay off the smokes almost completely. I light up a cigarette maybe 5-6 times a month nowadays.

My second ecig was a Joyetech eVic Primo Mini with an Aspire Cleito atomizer. The Joyetech had some issues, so i bought another mod, the eLeaf iStick Power 80, in wood finish. Being a tech, i repaired the Joyetech device in the meantime, but for the most part, the eLeaf mod that i bought is superior in many ways and i am using that one most of the time.

I run ArcticFox firmware on both of my mods.

By this time i'd already learned to take care of my coils so the two coils supplied with the Cleito atomizer lasted me over 3 months total. I bought a replacement 0.2 ohm coil, with the 0.4 no longer available in local vape shops. Then i learned about a SS316 0.4 ohm coil being released for the Cleito, and i searched for it, but it seems to be out of stock everywhere. I really wanted to try temperature control, and my curiosity got the best of me when i decided to try taking apart the worn out coils of the Cleito atomizer instead of just throwing them away. After i took them to bits (quite easy, btw), i saw a pretty good chance of them being rebuilt. I first rebuilt them with the original wire, giving reasonable but unsatisfactory results.

Then i bought some SS316 0.35mm (~27 AWG) wire from my local vape shop and gave that a few tries. The first coil that worked well used 2 strands of this wire in parallel with 8 wraps on a screwdriver 4.8mm in diameter, ending up at roughly 0.7 ohms. I was not satisfied, i had to run fairly high temperatures on it (210-240 C), it was making the wick look blackened (but not burnt) after a few days and it was giving me a slight headache. I believe this was likely due to the flavoring getting burned. I am sure it was not the nicotine as i used to vape 6mg/ml with the factory 0.2 ohm coil on the Cleito no problem, and even 4mg gave me a little bit of a headache after a whiile on this one.

The next build and the one that i am currently rocking, uses 3 strands of this 0.35mm SS316 wire, 7 wraps on the same screwdriver. This ended up at roughly 0.45 ohms. I used the old 0.2 ohm coil body as base for rebuilding this one, as opposed to the 0.4 for the other. The 0.2 ohm coil body looks to have been designed for more airflow, as with the same diameter coil it feels a lot easier to draw on. Wow, what a difference this made. This build can take all the power my device puts out, delivers immense flavor (so much so, that i lowered my flavor percentage from 9-12% to 8%) and huge clouds at temperatures as low as 120-140C. In fact, this coil has got so much surface area and the power handling is so good, that at the full 80 watts it can't get much higher than 150C.The wick is still completely white after a full day and about 15ml of juice of 3 different flavors, and no other effects were noted besides the stimulating effect of nicotine. I used mostly 4mg/ml juice throughout the day.

I will be back with pictures and details in the morning. :) Just showing that atomizers that are not designed as rebuildable, can be rebuilt with fairly minimal effort.
 

zephyr

Dirty Pirate Meg
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I'm glad you're happy with your new build! I hope it continues to work for you.

Stainless steel will very easily form "hot spots" if not spaced and dry burned prior to vaping. The dry burning (a very low heating before wicking) will cause a thin layer of protective oxidation to form on the metal. Since this is impossible to do when rebuilding a factory coil, your spacing and overall build must be spot on. I would not vape any coil metal that was not dry burned prior to wicking, that includes all factory coils as well mind you, but that is my preference.

And welcome to VU!

Edit: Pretty impressed you got a 3 strand parallel stock coil rebuild to work in temperature control mode!
 

PoppaVic

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I suspect some big-assed RDA with a clamp-deck would work fine to pulse/dry-fire - then you gently lift that sucker out and mount in your coilhead.
 

inspects

Squonkamaniac
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Welcome aboard.....:vino:

It's nice to hear you can rebuild factory coils, that's quite an accomplishment. You may get them better than they came from the factory....!
 

The Cromwell

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I am not sure but they may have a rebuildable coil head for the Cleito?
But I may just be confused again ;)
 

inspects

Squonkamaniac
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I am not sure but they may have a rebuildable coil head for the Cleito?
But I may just be confused again ;)
Quote---After i took them to bits (quite easy, btw), i saw a pretty good chance of them being rebuilt. I first rebuilt them with the original wire, giving reasonable but unsatisfactory results.
 

The Cromwell

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Quote---After i took them to bits (quite easy, btw), i saw a pretty good chance of them being rebuilt. I first rebuilt them with the original wire, giving reasonable but unsatisfactory results.
Right but I thought they sold a special designed to be rebuilt head for the Cleito?
I am probably just confused though.
 

inspects

Squonkamaniac
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Right but I thought they sold a special designed to be rebuilt head for the Cleito?
I am probably just confused though.
Possibly, I've never seen nor heard of it. Which doesn't really mean a damn thing tho.....:)
 

Th3_uN1Qu3

Member For 1 Year
Thank you for the link, i did spot a RTA head for the larger Cleito 120 in my local vape shop, but not for the regular Cleito. It is nice to know that it exists.

Here's the pictures i took while making the first, 2-strand SS316 coil, 0.7 ohms, in the old 0.4 ohm coil body:







And this is the current, 3-strand coil, 0.45 ohms, which i fitted inside the old 0.2 coil body. No other pictures were taken of this one as my phone ran out of battery. The steps in building it were the same.

The coils are spaced but not dry burned. I will try dry burning before fitting the wick, next time i have to replace it. Which may be a while away with the efficiency of this build. :D

 

Th3_uN1Qu3

Member For 1 Year
Re-wicked the 3-strand coil after 5 days of use, noticed that the cotton was not so puffed up anymore. Performs great once again.

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I will definitely try to find a way of dry burning it, as resistance acts up every once in a while, likely due to turns touching each other.
 

Th3_uN1Qu3

Member For 1 Year
I have taken the coil out and dry burned it using a power supply, i did it 2 times for a few seconds, until the whole surface glowed orange. Something interesting happened - the resistance of the wire dropped! It is now around 0.39 ohms instead of roughly 0.42-0.43 it used to be last time i rebuilt it.

I was concerned about shorting so i took it out, separated the turns nicely and wicked it again - the value of the resistance stayed at 0.39. So i guess that SS wire changes its properties after it has been heated to the point of glowing. Interesting.
 

mixsomniac

Member For 2 Years
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probably because of the oxide layer pegleg talked about

This is why probably, im the opposite I never dry burn my SS coils or any coils actually. not sure what the right answer is health wise, ive heard that the oxide layer can crack very easily because it gets so brittle and then its much worse than either possibly leaking hexavalent chromium. my coils never last very long dry-burned and the flavour drops off extremely quickly. Maybe I should make a thread I'd love some good answers, welders should know.
ill look into it again
 
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mixsomniac

Member For 2 Years
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old video i remember watching, talking about SS coils dry burning, oxides and chromium
theres some good info in the comments actually, seems like the layer will happen over use and maybe at safer lower temperature. a coil wont glow red if it's well wicked should last longer IMO
 

The Cromwell

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I use spaced ss316L coils. No oxide needed to insulate the turns in the coil.
 

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