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What to build with 26g kanthal, no drill?

twan013

Bronze Contributor
Member For 2 Years
Hey guys, I've got an itch to work on a build, but am kind of limited since I don't have a drill. I've got a fresh spool of 26g kanthal. I'm thinking about either a quad coil build or dual vertical on a velocity deck.

Has anyone tried a quad vertical build on a velocity style deck? I've seen a video of a guy putting two coils on each side, one on top of the other. But I was thinking about having the coils in a square configuration. I just wonder if I will have problems with the leads touching and shorting out

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Klayton86

Member For 2 Years
Member For 1 Year
Yep, these were my go-to' s before I got my drill and went down that rabbit hole.... parallel is a great build as well. And no drill needed, just maybe some pliers and coiling jig, driver, or drill bit
 

twan013

Bronze Contributor
Member For 2 Years
Yeah I currently have dual parallel 24g in there. I really like it. I may try to twist a couple up and see how they turn out. I'll figure up a handheld jig to make sure the twists are even

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Klayton86

Member For 2 Years
Member For 1 Year
Do you want a specific ohms ?
Or..... I watched a guy take an ink pen and place his wire (at the bend was at the halfway point of his length of 24g Ka1,) in the clip that holds the pen in a pocket and just make circles with the pen hand until the wire broke, and woila! Twisted wire .. I still think the twisted wire are better when done by hand, but this is subjective
 

champton

Bronze Contributor
Member For 4 Years
You could try sleepers. I've been wanting to work on mine for a while now that I'm out of SS wire for my claptons. They're pretty wicked as far as standard coil builds go.

 

twan013

Bronze Contributor
Member For 2 Years
I don't see how a sleeper would benefit over a standard two wire build. Sure I get the single piece of continuous wire, but when you crimp the two leads in the same hole, does it not give the same result?

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champton

Bronze Contributor
Member For 4 Years
You don't put any 2 leads through the same hole. It's a 3-post build. Both coils use the same positive lead because you're wrapping 2 coils with 1 piece of wire. You basically take a longer piece of wire (one long enough for 2 coils), wrap your first coil, stick your longest lead through the positive post and your shorter lead through the negative post, then you use the long positive lead to wrap the other coil and stick your other negative lead through the other negative post. It's technically one coil split off into two. Since you're using the same positive lead for both coils, you don't have shorting issues. That's its biggest benefit. It'll work on a 4-post as well though. I've used these coils on my 4-post Mason 24mm RDA.

I've tried this with twisted coils as well, and it seems to work better than just wrapping 2 twisted coils separately. Seems to taste better as well. It won't beat a specialty coil of course, but without a drill, this seems to be a good way to get good taste, minimize shorting issues and get an even glow without too much effort.
 
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twan013

Bronze Contributor
Member For 2 Years
Ended up twisting some together, 5 wraps at 3mm, 0.24ohms. All's I can say is.. yup. Very satisfied! So simple yet so tasty and cloudy!

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twan013

Bronze Contributor
Member For 2 Years
Dumb question time! What would happen if one were to try this on a velocity deck? The basic intent is a quad vertical build (this on both sides of the posts). I'm assuming this is a no no because that piece of wire between the coils would overheat and snap.
412a8aee7e914ded66fb14bb531be296.jpg


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champton

Bronze Contributor
Member For 4 Years
I'm not really sure. Never tried this in an RDA like that. That looks a lot like the rebuildable deck on my TFV8, which I could never get working properly. (The tank would leak like a sieve.) I'm used to working with 3 and 4 posters. Plus I've never built a vertical coil before.
 
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twan013

Bronze Contributor
Member For 2 Years
It's a velocity style deck. Two post, two grub screws on each side. Supposedly one of the easiest decks to build on. It's all I have at the moment, until I get my goon clone from China

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champton

Bronze Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Velocitys are supposed to be real good I've heard. Probably not much different from the RDA decks I'm used to working with. I'm sure the TFV8 is a good tank also, it's just that I suck at building on it, LOL!

Just kinda leery of telling you that the build you pictured will work for sure, but then again I'm probably getting all Safety Fred on you for nothing.
 
Dumb question time! What would happen if one were to try this on a velocity deck? The basic intent is a quad vertical build (this on both sides of the posts). I'm assuming this is a no no because that piece of wire between the coils would overheat and snap.
412a8aee7e914ded66fb14bb531be296.jpg


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That is a really good build for RDTA'S with velocity posts. 4 vertical wicks. Only problem is that each coil wraps in a different direction. Question for anyone.. looking for a tutorial on how to build this, I've done it but it's hard to build. -- don't like "double barrel" the legs are unequal length.
 

champton

Bronze Contributor
Member For 4 Years
That looks like a Sleeper setup, but I could be mistaken. That tutorial I posted shows you how you build it. I think with a few changes it would be possible to wire it vertically, but I've never tried it. Watch the tutorial before you try it though, he wires his horizontally.

Hmm, come to think of it, I've got a TFV8 with that kind of deck. Would be kinda fun to try it out myself.
 
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66572DDE-8258-450A-A923-E27F9FB809D0.jpeg
That looks like a Sleeper setup, but I could be mistaken. That tutorial I posted shows you how you build it. I think with a few changes it would be possible to wire it vertically, but I've never tried it. Watch the tutorial before you try it though, he wires his horizontally.

Hmm, come to think of it, I've got a TFV8 with that kind of deck. Would be kinda fun to try it out myself.

If you do a sleeper and then turn the two coils vertical you get a double barrel. Doesn't fit an RDTA very well. What he sketched has the legs on the outside of both coils, as in picture. Difficult to build since both coils twist in opposite directions. Two of these on an RDTA are best set up I've ever used. Like to see an expert do the build
 

Synphul

Gold Contributor
Member For 4 Years
People may consider other things to be sleepers but as I understand it, the real definition of 'sleeper' was a single wire forming two coils in a 3 post deck. Back years ago when it originated rda's didn't have all the options they have now. Post holes weren't as big so people were limited to smaller gauges of wire. Building a traditional dual coil build in a 3 post, two leads had to fit in the center post hole. With only so much room you couldn't make the individual coils from too thick of a gauge or they simply wouldn't fit.

Enter the sleeper coil, instead of say 2x 26ga wire leads sharing the center post you might be able to fit a 22ga by itself. Using the sleeper method you could end up with 2x 22ga coils that wouldn't fit 2x 22ga leads in the center post.

Now a lot of people are calling anything where two coils are made from a single piece of wire strung together 'sleepers' and sort of misusing the term. Like calling every coil with a core wrapped in an outer wire a 'clapton'. Well no, a clapton is specific and isn't the same as an alien, staple etc. They're not all claptons. There's not as much benefit to using sleeper builds these days with velocity posts or center posts with two separate holes like the dead rabbit and others. The rda's are bigger and post holes are bigger so traditional individual dual coils are perfectly capable of fitting. Not unless someone's using an old school 3 post atty with limited space.
 

r055co

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Platinum Contributor
Member For 4 Years
I love sleeper coils, thus why I love the Druga so much. With two coils sharing a single positive they heat very even and consistent.
 

Brad Mitchell

Silver Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Member For 3 Years
I love sleeper coils, thus why I love the Druga so much. With two coils sharing a single positive they heat very even and consistent.
I understand now about the smaller post holes in the past but are you saying one continuous wire is better than 2 wires sharing the positive post? Also why would a positive post with 2 holes be inferior to one with one hole?
 

r055co

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I understand now about the smaller post holes in the past but are you saying one continuous wire is better than 2 wires sharing the positive post? Also why would a positive post with 2 holes be inferior to one with one hole?
I've found that it is, it's due to one consistent wire that the there is no break in the flow.
 

champton

Bronze Contributor
Member For 4 Years
View attachment 102014

If you do a sleeper and then turn the two coils vertical you get a double barrel. Doesn't fit an RDTA very well. What he sketched has the legs on the outside of both coils, as in picture. Difficult to build since both coils twist in opposite directions. Two of these on an RDTA are best set up I've ever used. Like to see an expert do the build

Took some doing, but I finally got 'er done.

IMG_0057.jpg
 

mach1ne

Gold Contributor
Member For 4 Years
you could try a boneyard coil if you have a hammer. i like it better with 24 but 26 should work if you are careful not to hammer it too much.
 

champton

Bronze Contributor
Member For 4 Years
I understand now about the smaller post holes in the past but are you saying one continuous wire is better than 2 wires sharing the positive post? Also why would a positive post with 2 holes be inferior to one with one hole?

I've found that it is, it's due to one consistent wire that the there is no break in the flow.

To clarify what he just said, the current flow is far more efficient when you do a sleeper setup (or a shotgun like the one in the image.) Since it's one continuous strand of wire, you can get the current to flow more freely into both coils, hence it becomes easier to get both coils to heat evenly.

When you use 2 pieces of wire, the two strands can have different resistances and the current will flow easier through one coil or the other, at least until you pulse them. (Current takes the path of least resistance.)

Furthermore, when you use 2 shotguns like the ones in the image, you have the added benefit of fitting 4 coils where you would normally have 2. I would love to be able to do a quad sleeper (4 coils with 1 wire), but I don't have the patience for that, LOL! I've seen it done before though. You have to kinda work the pathing out in your head at first, but as you get better at it, you'll be able to do it more instinctively. It's possible, just kinda difficult.

Here, I've attached a rough schematic of a quad sleeper coil. This is how you need to get the current to flow inside my RDA. Mine is a 4-post RDA, so it has 2 positive and 2 negative posts. Not every RDA is like this, however. There are 2- and 3-post RDAs as well.

Quad Sleeper Schematic.jpg

As long as you have the current flowing through 1 positive and 1 negative post, the coil should work fine.
 
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