Easy but really effective build
Here I am going to show step by step a newbie build which is very easy but gives a top performance result. It does not chuck the massivest clowdz in the world but it is good for Flavor, Clouds, Ease of Build and Low Spitback. This is the only build most people would ever need unless they really wanna chuck those clowdz and can be done with a minimum of outlay on tools, wick and wire. Any atomizer with a two post or a velocity style deck can use this build but it is not really suitable for three post decks as the main airflow is going to be up through the center of the deck - that's where that pesky third post would be
Needed
1. Some wire - I am going with 24AWG rolled kanthal A1 - anything similar will work out.
2. A coil jig with a 4mm diameter mandrel, 3.5mm if thats your biggest.
3. Wire cutters.
4. Cotton.
5. Scissors.
6. A two post RDA - I am going with a Double Vision, because they are great.
Optional - Long nose pliers, ohm meter and ceramic tweezers.
1. The coils are the easy bit - just wrap two six wrap 4mm ID coils and you are done. If you are not using a velocity type deck bend one lead so that both leads come away from the mandrel at the same level.
2. Put them into your RDA and get them into position so that they are centred and the bottom of the coils will be roughly level with the top of the airflow holes. With the Double Vision this will be when the top of the coil is about level with the top of the posts. As you can see I have a slightly out of true lead leg on one post, I know that the cotton will fill that so I am not bothered by it.
3. Work out hotspots with tapping, strumming, squeezing the coils or whichever other method you like to employ.
At this point you might get a bit of pretty colors in the coils aaaawwwww
You will get different range and intensity of colors with different metals, Nichrome 80 is a good one for colors.
4. Wicking...I remove the outer layer of the pad then cut it in half along the grain. You need clean hands at this point or clean gloves, anything you have on your hands when you roll the cotton is going to end up a little bit in the cotton. If thats grime the cotton will taste grimy, if it's soap the cotton will taste soapy - clean hands is what you want so that you aren't making the cotton bad before you start.
Roll the cotton under your hand in one direction only until you have a nice cotton stick, this will usually be three or four rollings for me. It will end up tight but not quite Scottish Roll tight. If you want to do Scottish Roll you will need more cotton than half a pad to roll.
5. Wick it, Wick it real good. Insert your cotton sticks in the coils, once the coil is in the middle of the cotton stck use your fingers on the ends of the sticks to roll the cotton the opposite way to how you rolled it to tighten it, it will fill out the coils. Cut it off so it is still long enough to reach the deck plus a couple of mm.
Tuck the cotton in the deck but leave it over the edge of the deck just a little - this is to seal the airflow.
Put the cap on and check your coils have not been moved and you can see the bottom of the coils through the airflow holes and that the cotton is sealing the deck airflow. You might have to do some fiddling here to make sure no cotton is catching at the barrel.
This means that the airflow can only travel either under the coils and up through the center or under the coils and up around the sides, either way it is both cooling your coils and carrying your vapor with it. Most top caps will have some kind of lip on them which will further concentrate the airflow.
6. Drip it, drip it good. It will suck up a lot of juice when it is dry so don't be putting ten drips in there and thinking it is ready because it will still be dry as a desert. I usually start with about thirty drips and see if it needs more after that.
Give it a little test fire once you think it is ready....
That's it, you are ready to rock'n'roll. If you had clean hands and clean cotton when you did your wicks you should not have any 'break in' time on your vape it will taste right first hit. The large ID but short length coils mean that you won't get dry hits or burnt cotton in the center of the coil because the wicking is easily going to keep up as long as there is juice in the cotton. Rolled tight wicking also means you will have more burn resistant cotton anyway and tighter rolls actually wick better than loose cotton. I don't use actual Scottish Roll wicking because I find it mutes flavor a bit when it is that bit tighter rolled but it is the same principle as Scottish Rolls.
Vape it!