Would surgical stainless steel or titanium be better for building coils, or does anyone have experience using either for coil building? Are than any properties of the materials that make them preferable to Kanthal? Just wondering.
The most common "surgical steels" are 316 stainless and 440 and 420 stainless steels. There is no formal definition on what constitutes a "surgical stainless steel", so product manufacturers apply the term to refer to any grade of corrosion resistant steel. If you're thinking 316 SS, usually Chromium and Nickel are involved 316 stainless steel, also referred to as "Marine Grade Stainless Steel", is a chromium, nickel, molybdenum alloy of steel. 440 SS and 420 SS, also called "Cutlery Stainless Steel", are high carbon steels alloyed with chromium.
Titanium, however, is something being looked at.. But its resistance is fairly low, I do believe, and would take a temp controlled chip to work good. I believe there is such a chip coming out (GG? I think?)
Myself, I've been really happy using Kanthal A1. Have you considered that option?
A little birdy told me that the super expensive gplat wire that's such a hot commodity, that stores charge $25 for 5 ft is really just 316L stainless steel mig welding wire. $100 for 2500ft
I'm not exactly sure what soddering wire is. Something new? I've been a mechanic for 20 years, and my dad has a TV and electronics repair shop, I've heard of "solder", matter of fact I'm pretty good at it. But I can't say I've ever heard of soddering wire. You might be onto something new bro!I have heard it's just standard soddering wire.
I'm not exactly sure what soddering wire is. Something new? I've been a mechanic for 20 years, and my dad has a TV and electronics repair shop, I've heard of "solder", matter of fact I'm pretty good at it. But I can't say I've ever heard of soddering wire. You might be onto something new bro!
And another B5 fan
IMHO, stick with a proven material for your coils. Why go looking for trouble?
And I would have to think that Titanium coils would be diffictult to make and really expensive as well
ive been reading a lot on this subject and from what i gather Ti is the safest wire available right now. and you can get surgical grade1 Ti in 50' (about $10) and 200' (about $30). working with it is just like kanthal. yes its expensive compared to kanthal, but safer and not that pricey. esp if it is the safest. now im not certain how much we know about all this for our use, but i am reading that ANY of the wire options are dangerous if you get them red hot. that it produces oxidation of which is poisonous. which means all those out there who dry burn their coils are poisoning themselves...? anyway i have been curious about using Ti for coils and will likely be trying it soon.
i was going to start a new thread about wire and its possible dangers, but then i saw this thread. figured it would be a good place to put it. thoughts?
and my apologies if there is already a thread covering this subject. i did search a bit before posting.
Look up the inhalation exposure limits on stainless steel, you may be surprised.
So I did and it looks like anything less than 5 milligrams per cubic meter of air is not considered hazardous. If you completely vaporize and inhale an entire coil over the course of about 800 lung hits, you might have something to be concerned about. Everything I've been able to find indicates that stainless steel is at least as safe as any other wire you might use for coils, if not definitively safer.
People are swearing by SS workability, durability and clean taste. From what I can gather, it's not all that great on energy efficiency though. I have extra batteries and chargers; I'm not too worried about it. I just ordered a 925 ft. roll of 24 ga. 304 SS wire for about $20 yesterday and I'm eager to try it (wicked with Rayon!). If I like it, I'll have enough to last a while and PIF a little bit.
Running a little behind, but better late than never, eh?
Sure, here ya go: https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/31980105can you link to where you ordered all that wire? im also interested in trying SS. im currently running Ti in TC mode. my VTC does not have a SS mode... is there a way to run SS in Ni or Ti mode? similar to how some use Ti wire on a TC mod only set up for nickel...?
Yes, so long as your build falls within its range, I keep everything except for 1 atty in ss now and swap between mods,Will all mod's run stainless? Sorry if this is a noob question.
Here's what I've tried and my opinion
Kanthal- the standard
Nichrome- slightly funny taste at first, but burns off quickly
Nickel- pain the ass to build with and after a while I get a funny taste-debate of safe/unsafe bugs me so I stay away
TI- tastes like dogs ASS- the debate of safe/unsafe bugs me so I stay away
SS(317,316)- appears to behave like Kanthal as far as working with it goes (coil building I just pulse rather than dry burn), has been used for a while in non TC applications, but it performs wonderfully in tc mode for compatible mods.
Safety wise, I am not a dr, or metallurgist, but I've not read or heard anything from a reputable source telling me the evils of SS...yet. I'm sure that's a matter of time or a trip to ecf. TI and Ni200 we've all heard the blah blah vomit stuff, so I wont bother with them.
Edit::: the taste issues are my experience ive read of others having similar and still others say I'm nuts (arguably I am not normal)
awesome profile pic 2c5000
Haven't tried it yet, myself, but I would be interested in what settings you're using. I think you need a mod with Titanium mode and then you need to have it set to about 100 degrees F. lower than you would normally set for a Titanium coil. I'm not positive about that - I've read so many different things from so many different people about it in the last few days. My plan is to use it in power mode until I get a TC device specifically with a SS mode or a SS mode update becomes available for my IPV4 or Evic VT. Well, I take that back. I'll probably play around with the TC settings on those with SS, but my expectations are low. I'm pinning my hopes on Smok not screwing up the Treebox Mini I pre-ordered.Anyone else tried making SS coils for TC? I just did, got a .15 ohm dual build. Unfortunately, when I go to vape in TC, it puts out vapor for like 2 secs then hits its temp limit and you have to wait for it to cool down and then try to vape again. I'm using and XCube and unless my settings are somehow wonky, this is not a very enjoyable experience.
Awesomeness dude! you know, with ss you don't need spaced coils, they work just fine as contact coilsWell, I got my 925 ft. spool of 24 ga. SS.
8 spaced wraps on my Morph Tank RBA deck turned out a .4 ohm coil. It was easy to work with and is producing a nice clean, flavorful, warm vape at 30 watts. I'm still in the exploration phase, but so far, so good.
Ahhh yes, but my rayon wick prefers it for best results.Awesomeness dude! you know, with ss you don't need spaced coils, they work just fine as contact coils
Gotcha!Ahhh yes, but my rayon wick prefers it for best results.
Okay, I've been getting used to using this 24g SS for a couple days and there was a small learning curve. I burnt up the first wick within a couple hours. Doesn't seem like it's conducive to chain vaping like I tend to do when I'm trying something new. I had to compromise my style and turn down the watts a couple notches. The second wick is fine. I just had to pay closer attention until I got the hang of it. I can see where this SS could benefit from a TC device with a SS mode though. I tried using the Ti settings on my Evic and that didn't really pan out as I'd hoped. Maybe a smaller ga. wire would work better for that. *shrugs* The taste is clean and good. Dry burning between wicks was fine. I can easily imagine this coil lasting a very long time. Time will tell, eh?
I got a small roll of Ti from Unkamen, but I threw it in the cabinet and haven't tried it yet. I'm afraid I might find out what ass tastes like and I don't want to know.
Just curious, can you set the temp coefficient by any chance? Or fiddle with it on your device in any way? If so I normally put mine between .00100-.00115.