My first nano coil on an IGO-W4

[Tam]

Well, I finally did it. Tonight I built my very first nano coil at 1.6 ohm on a new IGO-W4 with a cotton wick. Since I'm new to this I just went with a single coil at 12 wraps. I'm not getting much vapor, but I think it's because I'm using the Evic...

Wait.

On the Vision Spinner I'm getting quite a bit more vapor but it's pretty harsh.

Just put it on my K100 and...wow! Massive clouds of delicious vapor with little to no harshness. *does happy dance*

Holy cloud chasing, Batman! I think we have lift off, ladies and gents.

There's still some learning I need to do. Just took out a little bit of the cotton wicking -- I think I had too much in there and packed it too tight.

A question for you veteran coil builders out there. Is the harshness due to too much cotton? Should there be any break in time involved? If not, then I'm doing something wrong.... Any tips and tricks you could give would be very much appreciated.

Edited February 17, 2014 by Tameiki

[Joshuab3687]

YAAAY TAM!!! Congrats!

With regards to your cotton, did you run your wick thru the coil or just under and around it? If thru, then it needs to be able to slide back and forth with ease (when dry). If not thru and just around and under, you want it light and fluffy just like a cloud. Also, are you using organic cotton? Did you give your juice some time to absorb? Sometimes I get greedy and don't let it wick up long enough and get a nice fat dry hit! Lol.

Harsh? Oh yeah!

As for the harshness, what mg nic you using in it? That will play a big role. At least it did for me anyway. With strait lung hits with opened up airflow, I had to drop from 12 down to a 6 and sometimes a 3. I'm hitting it way harder than I do with my pt.

[Tam]

Looks like I made several mistakes. The wick is threaded through but bit's pretty well in there. Will ease up on that. Then, I put the excess under and around but packed it too tight. Yes, on the organic cotton and yes on boiling it first and yes on absorb time, but that may have been negated since the wick was threaded through too tight.

The nic is 12 mg FLaN that I direct drip all the time so that shouldn't really have any bearing on it since it's the same juice I chain vape in my HH.357.

Thanks for the tips! I'll give them a try later tonight when I have more time to play. ^^

[Joshuab3687]

Do you take lung hits on your HH .357, or mouth to lung?

[Tam]

Always mouth to lung.

[Joshuab3687]

Even though you are doing m2l on the igo w4, you are introducing a larger volume of air and that can cause a harshness with a 12mg nic. But, then again, I've been up since 8pm last night. So, my thinking may be incorrect. But, the cotton being too tight is another contributing factor.

I wanna get one too just so I can build some sweet windmill nano coils.

[Tam]

Since I'm at home today (Mama-san has been having breathing issues and attacks all weekend), it's a good time to try out a few things. I think I'll try building just a regular coil and see how that works. Experimentation is the word for today.

Good point about more air flow. Might have to try getting some FLaN in 6 mg to see if that helps. I know I have some other juices in 6 mg so I'll give those a try too.

Thanks for the tips, Josh.

[Joshuab3687]

I just hope I helped! Lol. Brain feelin foggy this mornin. Theres nothing more embarrasing to me than to try and offer guidance and then be wrong. Lol

[Tam]

I just hope I helped! Lol. Brain feelin foggy this mornin. Theres nothing more embarrasing to me than to try and offer guidance and then be wrong. Lol

No problem, and I really appreciate the help. Going into this I knew I had some learning to do as well as lots of trial and error (so far it's been a LOT of error, lol). It's good to get alternatives to try. One or more of them should fix this problem and then I'll know what to do next time.

[Joshuab3687]

Once you redo your cotton, give it another go b4 lowering the nic, if still harsh well...then we know to drop a level.

[Tam]

Okay, took out the wick part of the cotton and just put it under and around the coil. If I hold the vapor in my mouth for just a second longer than normal the vapor isn't harsh at all.

Once the cotton isn't too saturated (read: swimming in juice), it vapes very smoothly now. Woo hoo!

As much as I love the HH.357 and its stellar performance, because I vape dark, sweet juices, the coil gunks up very quickly. At $24.99 each, it doesn't last very long -- longer than other atomizers -- but still pretty expensive. I figured if I could build my own coils and get roughly the same performance, it would be a lot more cost effective. Once I get through the learning curve of building coils I think I'm going to be very happy with the IGO-W4.

[Joshuab3687]

Once I get through the learning curve of building coils I think I'm going to be very happy with the IGO-W4.

Yes you will!

[Joshuab3687]

I've taken to it so fully, that I'm putting together my wishlist for the various RDAs and RBAs I wanna get. When I get home, I'm gonna throw an order at Fasttech and get a crap-ton of clones and give'em a try! I've got my auth Patriot that I LOVE and my Nimbus clone that was meh till I drilled out the post holes bigger and replaced the allen key set screws with knurled head screws.

I have yet to gunk up a coil in either one, but that may be because I rebuild a different coil/s for them about every 2 days! Lol. I can't stop myself! I need a straightjacket!

[Tam]

What do you use for a torch? I got a Butane mini torch that is refillable, but for some reason Butane and I have never gotten along even back when I was smoking. Trying to refill it...well, let's just say that I get out my colorful vocabulary and dust it off and give it a good work over.

[Joshuab3687]

This is what I use.

[Tam]

That's the same one I got, but haven't been able to get it filled so far. As mechanically inclined as I am you'd think filling a simple Butane torch wouldn't be a problem but it is. We've already gone five rounds and I haven't won one yet. It will be wrestled into submission, though!

Any mysterious tips on how to get it to fill?

[Joshuab3687]

Hold torch in left hand upside down, line up tip of butane can with fill port with right hand. Then push can down firmly and hold till it starts hissing and overflowing then stop. It is now ready to be used!

[Joshuab3687]

Did you ever get your torch filled?

[Tam]

No, but I gave it a good fight this time. Lol. I'm totally perplexed that I can never seem to fill anything with Butane. My SO isn't much better about this, either.

[Joshuab3687]

Lmao! If I lived closer, I'd do it for ya'll

Ya gotta get it lined up just right, then jam it down and hold it.

[Tam]

Believe me, if you lived closer I'd be all over you to do it for me.

It's the "get it lined up just right" part that's giving me problems. The "jam it down and hold it" isn't the problem. Lol.

[Joshuab3687]

Lmfao!!!

[Tam]

Okay, I think I'm on coil #7 or #8 now. This one is a nano coil at 7 winds around metering out at 2.2 ohm. The last one was at 4.0 ohm. Oops.

Using the hated Evic I've got it set at 3.8 volts and the vape isn't as harsh, it's almost palatable. Still not as smooth as I'd like but it's getting there. More practice is needed.

Isn't this where I throw myself on the floor and have a tantrum because it's soooo haaaarrrrrdddd! Everything should be easy with no effort on my part. *blows raspberries*

Edited February 19, 2014 by Tameiki

[joejoevapekins]

I wasted about 4 feet of kanthal before i got my technique down to were it worked for me. I still goof up from time to time.

Have you done the firmware update on your paperweight?

[Tam]

No, but I probably should to see if that'll make a difference. I must admit that I've been pretty frustrated with the lack of performance so I've really not done anything with it. My bad there.

When it was on sale I picked up a reel of 500 ft. of Kanthal. Now I'm glad I did so I have plenty to practice with! Lots and lots of practice is in my near future. Do you have a favorite youtube vid that helped you get this right?