Become a Patron!

Help with Claptons, please!

EMusic

Gold Contributor
Member For 3 Years
Member For 2 Years
I have the basic understanding of making Claptons, but I don't know how to get my 38ga wire to wrap around the core wire so that the wire wraps sit as close together as possible -- I always get generously-sized gaps between wraps, and that's what I want to get rid of.

Thank you! :)
 

EMusic

Gold Contributor
Member For 3 Years
Member For 2 Years
Is it better to Clapton while holding the spool or should I be holding the 38ga wire right under the core wire? I've heard different individuals say each method so I don't know which to do.
 

whiteowl84

Silver Contributor
Member For 3 Years
Member For 2 Years
Member For 1 Year
Just hold the spool perpendicular to the wrap.
With 38g and up I use no tension. I just hold it so the friction from my fingers keeps the line tight.


Sent from my E5306 using Tapatalk
 

EMusic

Gold Contributor
Member For 3 Years
Member For 2 Years
Just hold the spool perpendicular to the wrap.
With 38g and up I use no tension. I just hold it so the friction from my fingers keeps the line tight.


Sent from my E5306 using Tapatalk
Thanks, whiteowl! I'll come back once I've done it right. :)
 

whiteowl84

Silver Contributor
Member For 3 Years
Member For 2 Years
Member For 1 Year
It might help if you hold the spool about 8" to 12" from the core. That's how I clapton and alien.

Sent from my E5306 using Tapatalk
 

whiteowl84

Silver Contributor
Member For 3 Years
Member For 2 Years
Member For 1 Year
As fast as possible. I use a 3000rpm AC drill.

Sent from my E5306 using Tapatalk
 

EMusic

Gold Contributor
Member For 3 Years
Member For 2 Years
I did it! I did a triple-core fused Clapton and it's easily the best I've done yet. :) Thanks for everybody's help! (I think that I need a faster drill, however, to get it completely perfect ... mine only goes to 2000rpm).

IMG_0678.JPG
 

EMusic

Gold Contributor
Member For 3 Years
Member For 2 Years
Would I be able to make four 5 wrap coils from 16 inches of wire?

Also should I do bigger than 3mm ID since it's a triple core? If so, how big should I go?
 

whiteowl84

Silver Contributor
Member For 3 Years
Member For 2 Years
Member For 1 Year
It takes 1/2" of wire to wrap 3mm once. You'll have plenty.

It's rare that I use anything other than 3mm because I'm building stuff with gobs of surface area so I don't really need a large ID or more than 3.5 wraps.

Sent from my E5306 using Tapatalk
 

EMusic

Gold Contributor
Member For 3 Years
Member For 2 Years
It takes 1/2" of wire to wrap 3mm once. You'll have plenty.

It's rare that I use anything other than 3mm because I'm building stuff with gobs of surface area so I don't really need a large ID or more than 3.5 wraps.

Sent from my E5306 using Tapatalk
Thanks for all your help, whiteowl! :)

I have just one more question: Which RDA(s) would a triple-fused Clapton be more suited to -- Tsunami 24 RDA or Twisted Messes Squared RDA or Aria Built x Anarchist Sleeper RDA or the Recoil RDA? I don't want to do a build only to find that there isn't efficient vaping like what happened with my Hannya RDA yesterday.
 

whiteowl84

Silver Contributor
Member For 3 Years
Member For 2 Years
Member For 1 Year
Idk I don't use RDAs but I've fit triple core aliens and much larger in everything I've owned.
I put a 16ply in an original Griffin 25 and that was great. All your attys are much more build oriented than that was.
If you have one with bottom air I'd use that.
I tend to only like things with clamps or top screws so the legs aren't twisted. Sometimes the legs can throw the whole build off and you'll have a harder time getting the hotspots controlled. Then your color shots screwed because you only heated one wrap and by the time that was fixed it's color is gone...I may be rambling a bit.

Sent from my E5306 using Tapatalk
 

EMusic

Gold Contributor
Member For 3 Years
Member For 2 Years
I just did a dual coil build on my Tsunami 24 and the vapor production and taste are phenomenal! Miles above the dual-core Claptons that I'm used to vaping. Awesome! Thanks again, everybody.
 

joeyboy

Gold Contributor
Member For 5 Years
I "tried" to make a clapton yesterday just for kicks. Yeah, not as easy as it looks. It was a no go. Back to the drawing board.
 

EMusic

Gold Contributor
Member For 3 Years
Member For 2 Years
I "tried" to make a clapton yesterday just for kicks. Yeah, not as easy as it looks. It was a no go. Back to the drawing board.
I find it easier to make fused Claptons than regular Claptons. The 38ga wire stays in place on the fused Claptons but is springy and doesn't stay in place with a regular Clapton. I've only once made a regular Clapton where the Clapton wire (36ga) stayed in place, and it's because I was being shown how to do it in person by my local vape shop owner (unfortunately I no longer remember all the tricks he showed me). Back to the drawing board for me, too (or: back to the vape shop to go over it once again).
 

whiteowl84

Silver Contributor
Member For 3 Years
Member For 2 Years
Member For 1 Year
I "tried" to make a clapton yesterday just for kicks. Yeah, not as easy as it looks. It was a no go. Back to the drawing board.
But they are easy.
If you're using 38g which I'd recommend over any other gauge to start with, you just get it started and hold the drill wide open with the spool about a foot from the core. Don't squeeze the spool just let the friction of your fingers and the spinning of the drill keep the line tight. Stay perpendicular to the end.

Sent from my E5306 using Tapatalk
 

joeyboy

Gold Contributor
Member For 5 Years
But they are easy.
If you're using 38g which I'd recommend over any other gauge to start with, you just get it started and hold the drill wide open with the spool about a foot from the core. Don't squeeze the spool just let the friction of your fingers and the spinning of the drill keep the line tight. Stay perpendicular to the end.

Sent from my E5306 using Tapatalk
I was all wrong.
 

joeyboy

Gold Contributor
Member For 5 Years
I find it easier to make fused Claptons than regular Claptons. The 38ga wire stays in place on the fused Claptons but is springy and doesn't stay in place with a regular Clapton. I've only once made a regular Clapton where the Clapton wire (36ga) stayed in place, and it's because I was being shown how to do it in person by my local vape shop owner (unfortunately I no longer remember all the tricks he showed me). Back to the drawing board for me, too (or: back to the vape shop to go over it once again).
I'm going to kidney puncher tomorrow. I need the right wire for the outside.
 

whiteowl84

Silver Contributor
Member For 3 Years
Member For 2 Years
Member For 1 Year
I'm going to kidney puncher tomorrow. I need the right wire for the outside.
KP is ridiculously expensive and you don't get much for your money. It's just Sandvik wire which I get for $8/1000'.
I'd go through Coil Society.

Sent from my E5306 using Tapatalk
 

Alter

Bronze Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Member For 3 Years
I stand the drill up and built a wooden jig I clamp onto the table with a hook to hold the swivels parallel with the drill. I made some DIY bobbin threaders (search YouTube) and also have a couple store bought ones from a fishing store. I saw a video that someone used a empty protank head as a guide, it works quite well. The pressure on the spool by the bobbin threader holds the wire tight and it fits inside the chimney of the protank head thus holding it steady against the core wire. Once you get the wraps started I don't have to hold the spool, it just dangles under the wire and maintains consistent pressure on the wraps and the PT head guides it down the core wire. The only issue I've come across is that if the core wire isn't perfectly balanced, it begins to wobble then throw the wraps out of sync. I kinda solved that since your only using 1 hand to trigger the drill, the spool is dangling so no need to touch it until your done, the other hand I push down on the core wire so it doesn't wobble as its spinning. I only make a foot of clapton at a time and make nice tight claptons that the wraps don't space when your building the coil.

Home made bobbin threader made with some coat hanger, a couple wooden mushroom caps, heat shrink and a generic qtip shaft that has a hollow center. I had to put a hex wrench into the qtip shaft cause when heating the heat shrink it heated the plastic qtip shaft enough to collapse under the pressure of the heat shrink shrinking.
HolderampThreader.jpg


A pic of the Lego stand holding the spools and that works like a hot damn to store spools. Spool on the far right is the store bought threader and the other 4 threaders I made in about 15 minutes.
HolderampSpools.jpg
 

whiteowl84

Silver Contributor
Member For 3 Years
Member For 2 Years
Member For 1 Year
You could have just gotten one spool tamer. I've used them on 38g/46g clapton and it worked perfectly over 4'.
For normal stuff holding the spool is just so easy though.

Sent from my E5306 using Tapatalk
 

VU Sponsors

Top