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Looking to build my own coils
- Thread starter NWOVaper
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hey man, building coils is a good thing to pick up. you dont have to start doing art builds for instagram, but trying as many builds as you can will always teach you something about getting your best vape out of whatever hardware you have.
making clean round wire coils is a good skill, then you can move to parallel builds from that. you can do twisted (and variants like reef, tidal, helixes, boneyards, hive, tiger etc) with minimal tools, but a drill helps. if you have a drill, you are into clapton territory. fused claptons are always a good choice. they can be configured for anything (hot, cool, big, small, whatever resistance etc), and they are easy enough that most people can get them on their first few tries (watch a couple videos or check out the clapton thread first so you know what to do/look/feel for). up to now, most of the builds are doable on first or second tries. you get a bunch of builds under your belt and some experience with resistance/coil mass/size/hot/cool etc, which are all variables that are just as important as the builds themselves (aliens are great, but if you put the wrong aliens in the wrong atty or power level you will get a bad vape). things like aliens and staple variants are only one or two steps away, and harder builds are often just combinations of skills you already learned (claptoning, staple prep, alien wrap, stagger/fuse etc).
come hang out in post your builds with us
theres a lot of people in there making super fast progress lately because theres so much help and different perspectives on things that it seems like people already know how to do it before they ever try 
making clean round wire coils is a good skill, then you can move to parallel builds from that. you can do twisted (and variants like reef, tidal, helixes, boneyards, hive, tiger etc) with minimal tools, but a drill helps. if you have a drill, you are into clapton territory. fused claptons are always a good choice. they can be configured for anything (hot, cool, big, small, whatever resistance etc), and they are easy enough that most people can get them on their first few tries (watch a couple videos or check out the clapton thread first so you know what to do/look/feel for). up to now, most of the builds are doable on first or second tries. you get a bunch of builds under your belt and some experience with resistance/coil mass/size/hot/cool etc, which are all variables that are just as important as the builds themselves (aliens are great, but if you put the wrong aliens in the wrong atty or power level you will get a bad vape). things like aliens and staple variants are only one or two steps away, and harder builds are often just combinations of skills you already learned (claptoning, staple prep, alien wrap, stagger/fuse etc).
come hang out in post your builds with us
theres a lot of people in there making super fast progress lately because theres so much help and different perspectives on things that it seems like people already know how to do it before they ever try 
NWOVaper
Member For 1 Year
Hey, thanks for the reply! Say I was to do a clean round wire, what would be a good gauge? I've watched videos on different coils but can you give me some ideas of wire I should buy for simple coils?hey man, building coils is a good thing to pick up. you dont have to start doing art builds for instagram, but trying as many builds as you can will always teach you something about getting your best vape out of whatever hardware you have.
making clean round wire coils is a good skill, then you can move to parallel builds from that. you can do twisted (and variants like reef, tidal, helixes, boneyards, hive, tiger etc) with minimal tools, but a drill helps. if you have a drill, you are into clapton territory. fused claptons are always a good choice. they can be configured for anything (hot, cool, big, small, whatever resistance etc), and they are easy enough that most people can get them on their first few tries (watch a couple videos or check out the clapton thread first so you know what to do/look/feel for). up to now, most of the builds are doable on first or second tries. you get a bunch of builds under your belt and some experience with resistance/coil mass/size/hot/cool etc, which are all variables that are just as important as the builds themselves (aliens are great, but if you put the wrong aliens in the wrong atty or power level you will get a bad vape). things like aliens and staple variants are only one or two steps away, and harder builds are often just combinations of skills you already learned (claptoning, staple prep, alien wrap, stagger/fuse etc).
come hang out in post your builds with us
for things like plain round wire, twisted and parallel builds you are probably good with 28, 26 and maybe 24, in your choice of ka1 n80 or ss. ka1 is the highest resistance followed by n80 then stainless...which means, at the same resistance and gauge, ka1 would be the smallest coil and ss would be the largest. they heat up at different rates, and some people like or dislike the flavor of one or the other (every seems to be different on this, i use/mix all three with no regard). i suggest trying all of them. if you want to get into clapton wire, grab some 36 (or higher) as well. usually we stick to n80 or ss for higher gauge/wrap wire, but ka1 is ok too (at high gauges the heating properties dont really matter any more).
Start here steam-engine.org. ... model a few coils based on desire wattage you want to run in the Coil Builder...
What do you vape on NOW... if you use a coil head use steam to backward engineer it.. that how I learned to build...
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Just listen to @mach1ne . I've been building for over two years and everything he has advised me on has turned out to work. Do exactly what he says and you'll be well on your way to building your own coils. Also use quality wire. No cheap Chinese stuff. Kidney Puncher is what works for me. I've heard Twisted Messes makes quality wire too. There are other safe choices but those would be my top two. Good luck and don't give up!
Edit: Two easy builds I started off with. All N80. Take three strands of 26. Put them in the chuck of a drill and hold them parallel with pliers. Twist to desired extent. Then coil that wire. The other is Tiger Wire. Take 1 strand of .8 ribbon and one strand of 24g round wire. Put them in the chuck so that the wide side of the ribbon is lined up with the round wire right in the middle. Twist to desired extent. Then coil that wire. These were the builds I relied on for the first 3-4 months or so of my own building process. I used to find that when I felt my wires were twisted enough that giving just a little more of a twist to it for good measure yielded the best results. You want to keep some tension on the wire when you twist it so it twists evenly and doesn't get wavy. You can definitely do either of these builds if you like. From there I would watch some tutorials on claptoning and then fused claptons. Once you get to that point you'll have a better idea of what kind of build you like and you can go in many different directions. It's always great to hear that another person aspires to build. You can post your builds too, that way one day you can look back on your progress. I look back on mine all the time. Your gonna do great.
Last edited:
NWOVaper
Member For 1 Year
Thank you both for the help! Don't worry i won't skimp on good wire. Quality over quantity
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First it's a great choice, there's something very satisfying about making your own vapable coils. Second I'm with shredtravolta, mach1ne has loads of great tips and is a great all round builder. Take his advice and supplement it with information you can gleen from post your builds and some of the better YouTube builders and you'll be flying in no time. Hope to see you around the Post your builds thread some time soon
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totally forgot steam engine. we have a tutorial here to get caught up on how it works/what its for.
Dang I didn't know a tiger coil was that easy. I guess I have a use for the .8 ribbon I bought the other week now thanks. It's too wide for the Staples in learning. Got some *3 and*4 for those now.
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Yeah I've never tired coiling .8 and I don't think I ever will. I usually preffer .5 ribbon. A lot of whether or not the ribbon will coil properly just comes down to your method of coiling and your prep work. I ordered some hot glue the other day to improve my own prep work so I can get builds with more plys to coil without flopping. Once you go past 6 plys your prep really needs to be rock solid. But also to your point tiger wire is super easy to make and it provides a pretty decent vape. Very decent flavor. For sure I would give it a try and see how you like it. It was my go to build in the beginning.Dang I didn't know a tiger coil was that easy. I guess I have a use for the .8 ribbon I bought the other week now thanks. It's too wide for the Staples in learning. Got some *3 and*4 for those now.
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I’m still new to RDAs and building, but am looking to start making my own round wire ss316L coils that can be used in tc. In RDAs like the Pulse 22 or Wasp Nano, would you recommend 24g or 26g?
I'd use 26. I've got 24 and don't think I ever used it due to being to low of ohms for my liking.
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Thanks, that validates what I was thinking. The only thing is that I want a longer coil for adequate surface area, so I’m thinking maybe 10 wraps for the Pulse 22. That would hit around 0.72 ohms according to steam engine. No problem there?
Edit: I’m looking for flavor here.
