Just got my first mechanical Mod!

[Kabz]

I just bought my first mod the Anarchist Mod Clone, so far its better then i would of guessed! Just wanted to know if there is any advice from people on here about getting into it and what tanks would be good to use starting out. Thanks to this forum found tons of tips on here!

 

[UncleRJ]

Good batteries, good charger and any tank with a 510 connector the world is your oyster!

As far as tanks go, are you looking for something with pre-built heads or RBAs?

 

[OBDave]

Good batteries and charger are indeed #1. Beyond that, I'm thinking some of the newer generation sub-ohm tanks are likely what would appeal to a mech user - though the vast majority of mech folks use them with devices designed for coil rebuilding, whether it be a Kayfun-style tank or a rebuildable dripping atomizer (RDA).

What are you looking at? Ask 10 people and you'll get 20 suggestions, but tell us some of the gear you're interested in and we'll be better able to help you with the pros/cons of each...

 

[Kabz]

yeah that was my biggest thing making sure id have a good charger, so far ive been looking at the Aspire Atlantis and the iGo-W4 its what most of the guys at the shop use they say its good for what it is but not the best so i think its going to be one of those

 

[OBDave]

Solid choices for a first tank and first RDA.

 

[bondo]

yeah that was my biggest thing making sure id have a good charger, so far ive been looking at the Aspire Atlantis and the iGo-W4 its what most of the guys at the shop use they say its good for what it is but not the best so i think its going to be one of those

Their preference of tanks is secondary and mostly subjective.
what batt did they sell you?

 

[Kabz]

seen some Kayfun tanks they look sweet! never tired one, they seem pretty basic to use are they worth it?

 

[Kabz]

Their preference of tanks is secondary and mostly subjective.
what batt did they sell you?

i had a eFest 18650 2250mAh IMR already my friend bought it thinking he would use it and never did and they gave me the EH 18650 35A 2500mah IMR Battery came with the mod deal they had going on

 

[CurlyxCracker]

seen some Kayfun tanks they look sweet! never tired one, they seem pretty basic to use are they worth it?

Kayfuns are great for a newbie builder. Pretty darn simple. Draw is TIGHT though. There are far better RTAs on the market now but used to be the bees knees

 

[Kabz]

Thats really good to know I never heard much about them, seen a lot around, hoping to get into making coils and RDAs soon, looks like something that needs time to get good at so I might try a Kayfun for now

 

[MarkS]

Be smart! Educate yourself and invest in a good ohm meter. Give yourself some margin/headroom with respect to the current draw you will be subjecting the battery/batteries to.

 

[Kabz]

Be smart! Educate yourself and invest in a good ohm meter. Give yourself some margin/headroom with respect to the current draw you will be subjecting the battery/batteries to.

Ive been watching videos and reading up on it last few days have been ohms and resistance, just Macro coils are giving me a bit of hard time to understand but ill be sure to get that down!

 

[MarkS]

I started with simple Macro coils. I use Japanese cotton for my wicking and didn't want to risk getting a dry hit with Micro coils. I'm considering, in the near future, going with some cellucotton (rayon) due to less flavor carryover, better wicking properties, and less of a chance for a dry hit with simple Micro coils. Currently I've been mainly building variations of twisted coils and running them mainly as duals in parallel. I do have an RDA set up with twisted quad coils (0.5 ohms) that I occasionally get out to vape. My go to (60% of the time) is a Fogger V6.0 running twisted dual macros at 1.3 ohms on an iPV mini.

The main thing I do is calculate, measure, measure, and measure. I have a volt/ohm meter with alligator clip leads for measuring each coil after winding as well as a 510 ohm meter. If you or anyone decides to go the twisted route I highly recommend torching it after initial twisting before wrapping because it is really springy. If you don't have ceramic tipoed tweezers, get some. Watch to make sure your lead wires are tight by checking them multiple times, I periodically continue to check mine due to potential loosening from thermal cycling. Also, as I'm sure you've either read or seen, keep your leads as short as possible (minimize lead loss) and cut the backside flush with terminal posts (prevents shorts).

I initially fire my coil builds on a protected/regulated mod and finish arranging, dressing, and tightening them prior to wicking. I also do my first vaping of them on the protected/regulated mod before going with it on anything else. I use well known and characterized batteries that will take more than the calculated maximum and regulated mod protection current (e.g., a battery capable of 25A constant current, build design for 18A [at maximum voltage], and regulated mod protection at 20A). I say all this to you to reinforce being safe!

Edited for better read and spelling corrections.

 

[Kabz]

oh sweet that cleared up a lot of things for sure! to check on a regulated mod i have an MVP 20W would that be good to test it on? thats a big thing for sure do it safe im starting to understand this art, really looking forward to start building!

 

[MarkS]

MVP 20 minimum coil resistance is 1 ohm. So if your build is >= 1 ohm it will work.

If you had an MVP V3.0 you coud use it down to 0.4 ohms.

 

[manthe]

If I may - as far as tanks go, I'd look closely at the Kangertech Subtank Mini. IMO it is a very good 'starter' tank 'system'. On the one hand, you have the ability to use their prebuilt .5 ohm coils (it comes with 1 preinstalled) to get you 'up and vaping' on your mech (as long as your battery can handle a minimum of 8.5 amps constant output) while you go through the learning curve of coil building. The Subtank also comes with an RBA deck to allow you to build and wick your own coils for the Subtank. It also comes with a 1.2 ohm coil which works great on your regulated device. Just seems like it'd be a good fit for what you already have

As for RDAs, there are a blue-billion of them out there! As someone has already mentioned, 20 people will recommend 20 diff drippers. I'd recommend the Freakshow. They are extremely well built, tough, high-performance RDAs with outstanding flavor and vapor production, IMO. I think they'd be easy to build on for a beginner and best of all - they're only ~$30 for an authentic, good quality (good materials) device. There are a lot of RDAs just as good in that General price range as well - I just thought I'd recommend one more for you to look at since I've been so happy with mine. Good luck - and it's nice to see you starting out correctly (asking the right questions, doing your homework, etc)!

 

[Kabz]

MVP 20 minimum coil resistance is 1 ohm. So if your build is >= 1 ohm it will work.

If you had an MVP V3.0 you coud use it down to 0.4 ohms.

ohh alright, ill probably get an ohm meter looks like the best tool to have for building

 

[MarkS]

I agree with manthe in that if I had it all to do over again I would get a Kanger Subtank (or the mini version) to learn with and you will get a lot of opinions on RDAs. I started with RDAs buy buying two IGO-W3s. One I kept as is and the other I removed two of the negative posts and just build duals on it. VaporBeast just recently had them for about $4 ea. I got mine for $7 ea. I figure at that price I couldn't go wrong in getting it to learn on. You will however need to get a drip tip. Now I'm looking to ge a Mutation X V3 or the V4 clone from FT. The V4 looks apealing to me as it should have good air flow for single or double coils and looks ti have a really deep e-juice well. I've also heard that the Derringer is supposed to be among the top in flavor. Watch your nic levels on RDAs as they seem to be more efficient in nic atomization. I've also discovered that I prefer to have a large bore derlin isolated drip tip on RDAs.

 

[Faceless Vapes]

You HAVE to have an Ohm meter if you are rebuilding with a mech mod. Safety safety safety

 

[Kabz]

If I may - as far as tanks go, I'd look closely at the Kangertech Subtank Mini. IMO it is a very good 'starter' tank 'system'. On the one hand, you have the ability to use their prebuilt .5 ohm coils (it comes with 1 preinstalled) to get you 'up and vaping' on your mech (as long as your battery can handle a minimum of 8.5 amps constant output) while you go through the learning curve of coil building. The Subtank also comes with an RBA deck to allow you to build and wick your own coils for the Subtank. It also comes with a 1.2 ohm coil which works great on your regulated device. Just seems like it'd be a good fit for what you already have

As for RDAs, there are a blue-billion of them out there! As someone has already mentioned, 20 people will recommend 20 diff drippers. I'd recommend the Freakshow. They are extremely well built, tough, high-performance RDAs with outstanding flavor and vapor production, IMO. I think they'd be easy to build on for a beginner and best of all - they're only ~$30 for an authentic, good quality (good materials) device. There are a lot of RDAs just as good in that General price range as well - I just thought I'd recommend one more for you to look at since I've been so happy with mine. Good luck - and it's nice to see you starting out correctly (asking the right questions, doing your homework, etc)!

i did not know the Subtank came with a build deck, it seems that RBAs are bit easy to build for starting out i will look into that for sure! The wick for building RBAs are some better just for RBAs then if it would be used on RDAs? i like the style and the air flow looks pretty good for those tanks ill have to get a list going, i also saw they can be used as dripping coils if im thinking about the same tanks

 

[Faceless Vapes]

Also, if you get a hybrid mech mod, do not I repeat DO NOT use a sub tank with it. Any sub tank. It will short and hurt you.

 

[MarkS]

Also, if you get a hybrid mech mod, do not I repeat DO NOT use a sub tank with it. Any sub tank. It will short and hurt you.

Have you seen the Dovpo GX-200? I have that one and think it's an exception to what you said.

 

[MarkS]

i did not know the Subtank came with a build deck, it seems that RBAs are bit easy to build for starting out i will look into that for sure! The wick for building RBAs are some better just for RBAs then if it would be used on RDAs? i like the style and the air flow looks pretty good for those tanks ill have to get a list going, i also saw they can be used as dripping coils if im thinking about the same tanks

Wicking is wicking when it comes to coils (moreless ). There are differences when it comes to Geni Tanks and such. I've stuck with Japanese cotton and have been happy. There is also cellucotton (rayon). There are differences but there's a lot of info out there on this.

 

[Faceless Vapes]

I have not seen the Dovpo. I hope these subtanks will fix this issue with their 510 pins shorting and causing violent vents. Or people need to not use them at all with tanks or devices without a nice long 510

 

[manthe]

Also, if you get a hybrid mech mod, do not I repeat DO NOT use a sub tank with it. Any sub tank. It will short and hurt you.

That is sound advice to follow in general - though I feel I should point out that on mine, the 510 contact pin protrudes from the bottom threading OVER 2mm and does not compact down under pressure (so basically, mine does work with hybrid-style devices) - but the point is, it does not seem to be consistent from tank to tank. ALWAYS ALWAYS make sure your bottom contact protrudes from the 510 threading a minimum of 2mm on ANY atomizer before using it on a hybrid-style/direct battery contact device!

 

[Faceless Vapes]

As long as the device does not and will not give way then you are probably good. IMO. I prefer to just use drippers on my mechs. grab a box for sub tank. better experience IMO

 

[Kabz]

As long as the device does not and will not give way then you are probably good. IMO. I prefer to just use drippers on my mechs. grab a box for sub tank. better experience IMO

i get what you mean i tried a couple of drippers and it was really good nice air flow, and they look nice on the mechanical mods i plan on getting into drippers the things you can do to fine tune it just right is sweet, RBAs will probably be where i start off for now

 

[Kabz]

You HAVE to have an Ohm meter if you are rebuilding with a mech mod. Safety safety safety

should i also get a Voltage Drop Meter as well? some people say they never use one others stay its a must have

 

[Faceless Vapes]

Its a matter of preference. They make 2 in 1s that might float your boat

 

[Kabz]

oh alright think they sell the 2 in 1 at the shop down here, the Voltage drop meters seem to run at a low price anyways

 

[manthe]

As long as the device does not and will not give way then you are probably good. IMO. I prefer to just use drippers on my mechs. grab a box for sub tank. better experience IMO

Agreed! My Subtank pretty much lives on my rDNA 40. I put a titanium build in the RBA deck and I'm in temp. protected bliss! I'm primarily a dripper as well (this Subtank is the first clearo I've bought in well over a year - but I must say I have been impressed with it) - mechs are what I cut my teeth on and I just still feel more comfortable with them for some reason - likely just a familiarity thing - I just find myself reaching for them the most. I like all of my regulated devices just fine, but...you know...

 

[Kabz]

so i guess i had a UD iGo-M RDA this whole time laying around anyone ever use that or build a coil with for it? it looks to be pretty good i like that way the post or set up with its positive center block might try to build on that tomorrow once i get an Ohm meter and some wire

 

[OBDave]

I'm a big Igo-M fan - simply built, the dual positive post makes dual coil installs super easy. Definitely get that ohm checker, then go to town, within whatever limits your battery place on you.

 

[Kabz]

Sweet! glad to hear its pretty good! is that Nichrome wire any good i was going to just get Kanthal only thing they only have Nichrome in 30 gauge or 34 gauge

 

[MarkS]

You would probably need to go with dual coils with 30 gauge on 3 mm ID for four full wraps for a 0.5 ohm build. Just an estimate since I dont know specifically what nicrome you have.

 

[Kabz]

You would probably need to go with dual coils with 30 gauge on 3 mm ID for four full wraps. Just an estimate since I dont know specifically what nicrome you have.

just an other question, 28g has lower resistance than 30g right?

 

[manthe]

just an other question, 28g has lower resistance than 30g right?

Correct. Think of it this way - the thicker the wire , the easier it is for current to move through it - gross over simplification, but might help you to remember (and of course, the smaller the gauge number, the thicker the wire).

Re: nichrome - it has a much lower resistance per gauge than kanthal (I find it's close to half, IIRC) - so be careful!

 

[Faceless Vapes]

G Plat also reads lower

 

[OBDave]

I don't have any Nichrome experience, personally - I always built my Igo-M with 24-28g kanthal, started around 1.2 ohm with 28g until I got confident with my builds before eventually settling in the 0.3-0.5 ohm range with 24-26g - something like 7 wraps per coil around a 2.5mm pole. Check Steam Engine or another calculator to be sure though, I've always just guessed and then tested before installing.

 

[Kabz]

I don't have any Nichrome experience, personally - I always built my Igo-M with 24-28g kanthal, started around 1.2 ohm with 28g until I got confident with my builds before eventually settling in the 0.3-0.5 ohm range with 24-26g - something like 7 wraps per coil around a 2.5mm pole. Check Steam Engine or another calculator to be sure though, I've always just guessed and then tested before installing.

Nice i was going try to go for a 1 - 1.2 ohm first build, Steam Engine is sweet! ive found a site like that but not as good thanks for that one! they give a card with the resistance per gauge and per meter so that's a pretty good help if i would try to go with Nichrome at least to give an idea where and how your build should be set up

 

[MarkS]

You would want to at least double what I said previously. I used steam engine with Nichrome 80 shooting for a 0.5 ohms and it said 4/3.

 

[MarkS]

I've found 0.7 a fairly comfortable vape on my 18650 hybrid mod.

 

[Faceless Vapes]

I like to boogie at like .2-.3 range.

 

[MarkS]

I would recommend a dual coil of 0.7 ohms (6/5 wraps on 3 mm, heat flux of about 241 mW/mm2) or a single coil of 1.4 ohms (6/5 wraps on 3 mm, heat flux of about 241 mW/mm2). That's assuming you are running an 18650.

 

[Kabz]

If would recommend a dual coil of 0.7 ohms (6/5 wraps on 3 mm, heat flux of about 241 mW/mm2) or a single coil of 1.4 ohms (6/5 wraps on 3 mm, heat flux of about 241 mW/mm2). That's assuming you are running an 18650.

oh alright i get what your saying, and yes im running a 18650 2500 mah, ill see where those wraps take me i was going to go get some wire today but not in this weather, so around 0.8 ohms id want around 7 wraps 3 mm ID for dual coils ? but 0.7 ohms would be ideal to use the numbers you have seem pretty good!

 

[MarkS]

One way to think about resistance is to relate it to hoses and water flow... the bigger the hose the easier it is for water to flow through it (less resistance). The same goes for wires and electrical flow. The only thing is with wire the thicker it is the smaller the AWG number is. So a 30 ga. wire is smaller than a 28 ga. wire therefore the 30 ga. wire will have more resistance than the 28 ga. wire (for the exact same length).

 

[MarkS]

oh alright i get what your saying, and yes im running a 18650 2500 mah, ill see where those wraps take me i was going to go get some wire today but not in this weather, so around 0.8 ohms id want around 7 wraps 3 mm ID for dual coils ? but 0.7 ohms would be ideal to use the numbers you have seem pretty good!

Mine is based on Nichrome 80 wire. I thought you said you had some Nichrome. Do you know if it's 80?

 

[Kabz]

Mine is based on Nicrome 80 wire. I thought you said you had some Nicrome. Do you know if it's 80?

Yup thats it, they have another one that just says Nichrome wire only comes in 2 sizes but im getting the 30 gauge and 28 gauge Nichrome 80

 

[CDZVaper]

Tanks and mods are mostly subjective.

Ohms law is not, understand what it means and how it applies. If you have questions ask, get yourself an Ohms meter and do not buy cheap batteries, there are many threads here with great info about which to use.
The more you know about vaping the more you will enjoy it.

 

[MarkS]

Here is the difference between 0.7 & 0.8 ohm dual coil builds:
0.7 - 6/5 wraps (5 full), will give you 19-22 watts over 3.6-4.2 volts, heat flux of 177-206.
0.8 - 7/6 wraps (6 full), will give you 16-22 watts over 3.6-4.2 volts, heat flux of 135-184.