First time RTA

[mick brown]

As @Crewella says. When I first started with an RTA I bought small reels of wire and did single strand wire builds to learn. You can use clapton wire later when you get the hang of it. If you use single strand wire its much easier to put the information in to the coil wrapping program to get the number of wraps you need for the ohm rating you want.
Depending on what type of rta/rba you are getting and what ohm rating you like, I'd be probably looking at getting Kanthal wire in 28 , 26 or 24 gauge to learn with because it's cheaper. ( lower the gauge number the thicker the wire and therefore lower ohm ).

Look at YouTube videos about the rta you are getting.

 

[wraith]

All the above.

I'd just also add that RDAs (drippers) tend to be much more forgiving for people learning how to coil and especially to wick.

If you start getting frustrated trying to get tanks right it's worth mucking about with a basic RDA to get a feel for the whole DIY thing.

 

[Twodor]

From my experience, you'll probably need to put more time into wicking techniques rather than coil building.

Maybe that's just me, more of a mechanic than a tailor

 

[mick brown]

Just looked up the rta you are talking about. It's definitely a sub ohm tank so you'll probably not want to bother with 28 gauge kanthal.

You could also look at pre made Ni80 coils but remember as it's a duel coil tank the final ohms will be half the single coil rating.
ie. Two 0.3 coils will ohm out at 0.15 ish.

 

[bigpike89]

Thanks guys, I didn’t even know Ohm meters were a thing tbh ! Reading about them though it would make sense for me to get one.

I’m off the last week in May with nothing to do because of lockdown so I’ve plenty time to trial and error, sure il make plenty of mistakes along the way haha. I’m actually looking forwarding to experimenting with it all. If I struggle to much I will get an RDA. One of my favourite kits I have is the aegis boost pod. I discovered last night you can get a separate RBA for a it, only thing is as it’s a pod device there’s little room for movement so il try and get better at the RTA, RDA first. Only 11 pound as well so good price, the Aegis boost pod with stock coils incredible so can only imagine the flavour of their RBA. I’m sure I will be asking questions a plenty once I start building so il be sure to come here. I’ve now bought two packets of cotton bacon, my mate told me this is the best cotton brand ? . I’ve also bought a box of pre made coils at different resitances to see what I like and gives me an idea of diameter, length and how many wrap arounds etc. Bought some wire on its own also. Got another couple of questions I wanted to ask just now though. First one is so yous think vape shops would be open/allowed to show me / help me to build my own coils? I was unsure as because I wouldn’t be buying anything they may not want to help, I’ve found help at vape shops to be nothing more than a hard sales pitch. Secondly and more importantly what generally do yous think the flavour improvement is from stock coils to making your own, someone I know at work said the flavour increases up to 50 percent depending on juice/brand. I was unsure if it would be that much different, the main reason I wanted to switch was the cost.

Apologies for going on so long, thanks again for everybody’s continued help,advice and friendly encouragement

 

[mick brown]

Thanks guys, I didn’t even know Ohm meters were a thing tbh ! Reading about them though it would make sense for me to get one.

I’m off the last week in May with nothing to do because of lockdown so I’ve plenty time to trial and error, sure il make plenty of mistakes along the way haha. I’m actually looking forwarding to experimenting with it all. If I struggle to much I will get an RDA. One of my favourite kits I have is the aegis boost pod. I discovered last night you can get a separate RBA for a it, only thing is as it’s a pod device there’s little room for movement so il try and get better at the RTA, RDA first. Only 11 pound as well so good price, the Aegis boost pod with stock coils incredible so can only imagine the flavour of their RBA. I’m sure I will be asking questions a plenty once I start building so il be sure to come here. I’ve now bought two packets of cotton bacon, my mate told me this is the best cotton brand ? . I’ve also bought a box of pre made coils at different resitances to see what I like and gives me an idea of diameter, length and how many wrap arounds etc. Bought some wire on its own also. Got another couple of questions I wanted to ask just now though. First one is so yous think vape shops would be open/allowed to show me / help me to build my own coils? I was unsure as because I wouldn’t be buying anything they may not want to help, I’ve found help at vape shops to be nothing more than a hard sales pitch. Secondly and more importantly what generally do yous think the flavour improvement is from stock coils to making your own, someone I know at work said the flavour increases up to 50 percent depending on juice/brand. I was unsure if it would be that much different, the main reason I wanted to switch was the cost.

Apologies for going on so long, thanks again for everybody’s continued help,advice and friendly encouragement

I doubt shops will be willing to show you but I have never used them so not totally sure. Most will be closed at the moment I would have thought.

Flavour wise, if you get the build right it'll definitely be an improvement. Rda's should be even better imo. I still use a couple of rta's but I'm mainly an rda user now (squonking). They're more forgiving wicking wise as well.
Good luck

 

[Nucleus]

If you’re looking for an all in one kit then this right here is fantastic. Has all you’ll ever need, comes with some wire to practice on and comes with an ohm reader too

Coil Master DIYV3 Kit V3 Tool Set with Latest Coil Jig (V4)/521 Mini Tab V2 OHM Reader/Tweezers/Heat Resistant Wire Newest Tool Kit Amazon product ASIN B01M3RDB9D

 

[Kingpo2000]

if you don't ask you don't get! my local shop showed me the basics of installing etc, and even gave me some free wire to practice making my own with - it was only basic wire but got me started.
if you are struggling after youtube, might be worth buying a spool of wire from them as they'll be more likely to help i would've thought.

use steam engine for coil builds, but sounds like you've got the enthusiasm for it, which is half the battle

 

[Jaffacakes]

I have only just started building but as most have said the hardest part of building is not making the coils but installing them.

I was going to get a load of pre made coils but glad I just got wire instead. I have got a reel of clapton but found a simple 2 twisted wire hits just as well tbh.

But the great thing about RDAs and RTAs is the tweak-ability of them!

Best advice I can give you is watch youtube reviews of the RBA you have as they normally do a build with them, and just generally watch lots of videos. Even if you think you have watched something similar someone will have a slightly different tip or trick from another and you can pull all those ideas together and work out what is best for you .

Good luck and keep us updated

 

[Crewella]

The Steam Engine coil calculator is great - have a play with it. Doing that helped me understand a lot - maybe start with A1 Kanthal/round/AWG 26 and work it from there.

https://www.steam-engine.org/coil