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What is a Mechanical MOD, Beginner Guide.

Vapes City UK

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You can view the original article at Vapes City UK | E-Liquid Shop UK

So, you’ve decided to ditch smoking for vaping. Welcome to the world of vaping!!

You may of hear the term "mech mods" (mechanical mods) but wondering what the hell is a mechanical mod. We have created this guide as a starting point to the use of mechanical MOD's.

Does using a Mechanical MOD require great knowledge?

There seems to be an impression in the vaping community that mechanical mods are for experienced users only. You may have seen many warnings for advanced vapers only, don't let this scare you away. The reason this impression has been cast is that they allow you to re-build your own coils at low resistances that can lead to human error. Mechanical MOD's have no inbuilt protection and if you over-drain the battery and have no idea on how to deal with it, you could come unstuck. So, it would make sense to have some prior knowledge first.

On that note, let’s get back to basics.

What is a mechanical mod?

It’s a basic personal vaporizer. It is essentially a housing that holds a replaceable and rechargeable battery. It will have a switch on the tube, usually a button, that when pressed supplies unregulated current to the atty.

How is it different to a personal vaporizer?

It’s a form of APV but the PVs themselves come with built-in protection features making them safer to use than mechs.

How does a mechanical mod work?

After inserting the battery, the battery’s positive pole makes contact with the mech’s positive connection. When the switch is engaged (usually a button), it results in a connection between the device and the battery’s negative pole.
The positive connection then sends the voltage to the atty’s positive contact point and on to the fitted resistance wire. This causes the coils around the moistened wick to heat up and the result is, you guessed it, vapor generation.

What do I need to get started?

To get you started with a mechanical vape mod, you’ll need the following:

A Mod
Charger with voltage display
Ohm meter
Battery
RDA
Resistance wire
Cotton balls
Tweezers
Small wire cutters

A great kit with nearly all the tools you will need is the Coil Master v2 Kit. The coil jig included is great for making perfect coils every time.

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Coils (resistance wire) can be pre-made or made yourself, for quality wire check out Youde.

Cotton should be untreated (not bleached ext) and can be found cheap on Amazon from Koh Gen Do. Another popular brand is Cotton Bacon by Wick N Vape.

Ceramic tweezers are a great tool for adjusting your coils safely as they are heat resistant and do not conduct electricity.

10 Mech Mod Safety Tips To Observe

A guide to mechanical mods without safety tips, simply just wouldn't be a guide :)

Use a multi-meter

A multi-meter is a great tool for measuring battery voltage, wire resistance, and for detecting shorts. You can also find ohm/volt meters especially made for vaping from Coil Master and GeekVape.

Battery type and quality

Avoid unprotected standard lithium-ion batteries because they tend to overheat. Go for ICR chemistry battery instead or lithium manganese oxide (IMR) batteries which are less volatile. Some common batteries used in mech mods are Sony VTC4's and LG HD2.

Use external battery chargers

A fully-charged IMR battery should range between 4.15-4.20 volts. Anything above 4.25V could be dangerous. Battery chargers such as the Nitecore I4 has a digital dispay to allow you to check and monitor the voltage of your battery.

Battery low voltage

Have a multi-meter on hand and if you don’t have one, make sure your battery is recharged at 3.6V or as soon as the vapor production recedes.

Battery polarity
Make sure the battery is properly inserted.

Battery stacking

If you're just starting out, using only one battery is recommended. There are other mech mods that use multiple batteries out there, but for this guide, we will stick to one.

Remove batteries

When not using your mechanical mod, remove the battery.

Resistance testing

Use atomizers with a resistance of less than 1.8 Ohms. To test, you can use a multi-meter or ohm meter tab. To use a multi-meter, connect one probe to the positive post (center post) and one to the outer metal casing. For ohm tabs, simply screw the atomizer into the 510 connection.

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Vent holes

Never use a mech without vent holes which allow gases to escape in case of overheating.

Observe ohms law

A great tool for all things rebuild-able is www.steam-engine.org. It has multiple calculators to help you on your way to vaping safely. The most important point to remember is not to stress a battery above its amperage rating. To ensure you are within safe limits, use the ohms law calculator on the website above.

Last Words on Mechanical Mods

So we know this post is pretty technical but it's our hope that you’ve found this mechanical mod post useful, and that it has given you a good foundation on what a mechanical mod is and its dos and don’ts.
 

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