Kanthal A1 26ga + 32ga Clapton Single Coil build

[shamu762655]

I've been using this wire for dual could builds and it's been great. I'm looking to see if a single coil is possible at around 0.5ohms but struggling to make a coil large enough to properly fit in serpent smm deck. Is there a clever way of doing this?

 

[stevoknevo]

Make your wrap 3mm id. and that will allow less wraps.

 

[Mitz]

Space the wraps. But you'll never get down to .5 ohm. A 2.5mm ID coil with 4 wraps will be .65 ohm.

Get some Ni80 coils.

 

[shamu762655]

Space the wraps. But you'll never get down to .5 ohm. A 2.5mm ID coil with 4 wraps will be .65 ohm.

Get some Ni80 coils.

Cheers mate, just built at .68 but had to space a lot. What's the benefit to Ni80? From what I've googled it seems like faster ramp up times and lower wattage.

Any specific brand you'd recommend?

 

[Mitz]

Cheers mate, just built at .68 but had to space a lot. What's the benefit to Ni80? From what I've googled it seems like faster ramp up times and lower wattage.

Any specific brand you'd recommend?

No worries.

OK, so the 3 main wire types are KA1 (Kanthal), Ni80 (NiChrome) and SS (Stainless Steel). Kanthal has the highest resistance, Nichrome is in the middle and SS the lowest.

For example. Let's take your 26/32 wire and make a coil with a 3mm ID and 5 wraps. Using Kanthal the resistance will be .85 ohm. If I make an identical coil using Ni80 the resistance will be .64 ohm. And if I make another identical coil in SS the resistance will be .44 ohm.

So a big difference between the wires is the resistance your coil will be. By using Ni80 and SS you can get coils at a lower resistance not achievable with Kanthal.

And, yes, due to the lower resistance, Ni80 and SS both ramp up and cool down faster than Kanthal. They need less power to fire. And personally I prefer the cleaner taste of Ni80. A lot of people prefer SS. I do use a lot of Kanthal but primarily with my mech mods.

Are you looking to buy from China or the UK? If you wanna buy from the UK I would highly recommend this lot....

https://www.wireandstuff.co.uk/products/Vaping-Wire.html

And use this tool to work out your coil resistance.... http://www.steam-engine.org/wirewiz.html

 

[shamu762655]

Thanks for that mate, much appreciated. Will look to order some Ni80, I normally get most stuff from China but the website you linked is pretty cheap!

I do find all the different wire types, gauges etc. a bit confusing. If I'm just building simple coils do you think there's any point when you can get premade so cheap from China. I think I paid about 4 quid for around 40 premade coils of varying type.

 

[Mitz]

Thanks for that mate, much appreciated. Will look to order some Ni80, I normally get most stuff from China but the website you linked is pretty cheap!

I do find all the different wire types, gauges etc. a bit confusing. If I'm just building simple coils do you think there's any point when you can get premade so cheap from China. I think I paid about 4 quid for around 40 premade coils of varying type.

Yeah, there's a lot to take it. But it's just a case of time and experience. Before you know it it'll all be second nature.

In my experience the quality of the coils out of China can vary quite a lot. Especially with the more complex coils.

Here is the clapton wire you're currently using but in Ni80..... https://www.fasttech.com/p/8598700

Here is some fused clapton I would recommend with dual 26ga core and a 40ga wrap.... https://www.fasttech.com/products/3033/10040550/9625982

Here are some excellent quality pre-made fused claptons.... https://www.fasttech.com/p/7747900

And these are my current favourite pre-made coils to use in single coil devices. Dual 26ga core with a 39ga wrap and then an additional 26ga wire in parallel. The resistance is a bit low when used in dual coil setups but in single coil devices they're awesome.... https://www.fasttech.com/products/3033/10015376/7705200


When buying fused claptons (fused claptons have more than one core wire) always remember that good quality fused claptons always use a wrapping wire that is a minimum of 10 gauges higher than the core wires. So if the core wires are 26ga the wrap should be no lower than 36ga. 22ga cores should have a wrap no lower than 32ga. And so on. If the wrap is higher than 10 gauges that's fine but it should never be lower than 10 gauges.

 

[shamu762655]

Thanks for that mate, much appreciated. Will look to order some Ni80, I normally get most stuff from China but the website you linked is pretty cheap!

I do find all the different wire types, gauges etc. a bit confusing. If I'm just building simple coils do you think there's any point when you can get premade so cheap from China. I think I paid about 4 quid for around 40 premade coils of varying type.

Here is some fused clapton I would recommend with dual 26ga core and a 40ga wrap.... https://www.fasttech.com/products/3033/10040550/9625982


And these are my current favourite pre-made coils to use in single coil devices. Dual 26ga core with a 39ga wrap and then an additional 26ga wire in parallel. The resistance is a bit low when used in dual coil setups but in single coil devices they're awesome.... https://www.fasttech.com/products/3033/10015376/7705200

Thanks for all the info and links - you've been really helpful mate! Just tried a few different builds in steam engine with that wire and getting exactly the kind of results I want.

Have placed an order for both and will stick to dual coil for now!

 

[Mitz]

Thanks for all the info and links - you've been really helpful mate! Just tried a few different builds in steam engine with that wire and getting exactly the kind of results I want.

Have placed an order for both and will stick to dual coil for now!

No worries mate. Glad I could help.

 

[Roman zorko]

Hi ,
I have also placed my order for the coils you recomended so i am curios how much watts is the best to have on my mod for these coils ? Is it important to set the temperature too?

Thanks