HELP WITH BUILD

[Pbinutah]

Hello I am kind of new to vapping. I have had the basic ecig vap. But now want to mod... I tried a friends vap and loved it, all he said it had Manhattan mod a .3 coil and 18650 battery. I really want to use the Manhattan mod because it is amazing! But need to know what else besides those mods I need to complete the vap!!! Please help! Would love a list I could follow to make huge huge vap clouds! Please be descriptive. Include every thing please

[Earthling789]

Welcome to V|T!

Are you vaping to get away from smoking, or just vaping to cloud-chase?

The Manhattan is a tube which holds the battery (essentially), with a mechanism to "fire" the atomizer. There's nothing wrong with a Manhattan, but it's not the end-all-be-all of MOD tubes There is still the matter of which RDA (atomizer head) you wish to use... and there are hundreds to chose from, each similar in function, but with vastly different designs and purpose.

Before you venture into "modding" and "cloud-chasing", I would suggest you do a LOT of research into the hardware and builds on YouTube... and there are many many threads on here regarding "builds" for vapor production.

One thing we stress here is SAFETY-FIRST... knowing your equipment, using batteries that can handle the loads of low-resistance coils, having all the proper equipment to TEST your builds before you fire them off and experience catastrophic failures, understanding of electronics and Ohm's Law, etc. etc. etc.

I don't want to sound like a prude, but we want you to be safe and responsible (and welcome your specific questions)... but be aware that the vast majority of the "true" vaping community have little tolerance for noobs that want to go from "starting-line" to $1000 cloud-chasing rigs on day-one, without taking the time to LEARN, be courteous, and be responsible.

[VapeBerry]

The Manhattan looks like a cool mod, but really all mechanical mods like the Manhattan do the same thing, just alterations of a basic principle (battery with a direct on/off button/switch). You really don't need (and I wouldn't recommend) dropping serious cash on a $200 mod if it's your first venture into rebuilding. Luckily, there's a lot of clones of popular mods that are nearly identical and very well-machined, and much more inexpensive. Here's my first rig, it's a Tobh Atty clone with a Panzer "Black Hawk" edition mod clone. It cost about $80 for the mod and like $25 for the atty. I still have it, it still works great, and I still use it even though I've gotten into some of the authentic gear.

That being said, I'd say get a mech mod clone and an RDA clone. Once you have these, you'll need a solid battery to power it. Here is a list of safe batteries you should use. http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/blogs/baditude/4848-9-battery-basics-mods-imr-protected-icr.html

Once you have all that, you'll obviously need to rebuild. It's tricky at first, but you'll get the hang of it pretty fast. Because you'll probably be wrapping and re-wrapping a lot of coils when you start, I'd recommend you go to Amazon and buy a big spool of Kanthal. I just checked and 100 feet is $4-7, depending on gauge. If you buy your wire from a vape shop, $4-7 will only buy you a very small spool in comparison. http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Akanthal%20wire

Watch some YouTube videos to learn how to physically wrap the coils. RiP Tripper's has been a hot topic lately, but he has a lot of great videos on rebuilding and I learned a lot watching his videos. Don't bother with the advanced builds if your new, just get down a basic dual coil set up and then move up. Here's a link to RiP's coil building tutorials. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKD8bdRWqx77f-ie7-TyYDzFo_Eh3I2zY

With your coils built, you'll need wick. There's a ton of opinions on what to use, none necessarily right or wrong. If you don't want to boil cotton, just get some ready-to-use wick. I use cotton bacon, it's very cheap. http://www.electronicstix.com/products/cotton-bacon-10-pieces

I'd also recommend you either get a multimeter or coil tester, to verify the resistance of your coils. I really don't hardly ever test my coils anymore because I just don't build that low, nor do I find scorching hot builds really that enjoyable. When you're new and not sure, however, it's best to be safe. If you don't already know Ohm's law, learn it inside/out/front/back whatever. This isn't something you want to mess up on. http://ecigarettereviewed.com/ohms-law-explained-for-vaping

Fortunately, however, if you use good batteries (which you absolutely should), they will likely let you know ahead of time before they blow. If your mod starts getting warm, take the battery out and feel it. If your battery is getting hot, that's the first indicator you either have a short, or are running it with a coil that is too low.

Here is a link describing some basic vaping terminology http://guidetovaping.com/2012/06/13/a-z-e-cig-glossary/ If you have any questions about further terms (RDA, RTA, RDTA, APV, whatever), google is your friend.

[Rixter]

I'd also recommend you either get a multimeter or coil tester, to verify the resistance of your coils. I really don't hardly ever test my coils anymore because I just don't build that low, nor do I find scorching hot builds really that enjoyable. When you're new and not sure, however, it's best to be safe. If you don't already know Ohm's law, learn it inside/out/front/back whatever. This isn't something you want to mess up on. http://ecigarettereviewed.com/ohms-law-explained-for-vaping

That was some really good information that you provided, but I have to disagree with you on one point:

"I really don't hardly ever test my coils anymore because I just don't build that low, nor do I find scorching hot builds really that enjoyable."

You should ALWAYS check your builds before firing them. It doesn't matter if you've done it a bazillion times...you can't know whether your build is safe without metering it first. You can do the same wrap over and over and still have small (and sometimes not-so-small) variances in resistance that could lead to disaster.

Granted, modern high-amp IMRs are pretty safe and, when shorted, take a substantial amount of time to actually pop, but like you said, "it's best to be safe".

You don't have to spend a ton on a meter either...you can get ohmmeters online for around $10-$20 that should do the trick just fine.

[Tam]

Adding to what Rixter said, you also don't know for 100% sure that there isn't some small defect in the wire you're using at that time. In a perfect world, we would always have perfect wire with no imperfections and the entire length would be exactly perfect, but we don't and it's not. Better to be safe than sorry and always check with a meter.

[Mplough]

I use cotton bacon, it's very cheap. http://www.electronicstix.com/products/cotton-bacon-10-pieces

Lmao! When I first saw this I automatically thought this was going to be bacon flavored cotton. Admittedly this is a juvenile comment but after looking at them I realized my wife has a box of those already.

[VapeBerry]

Lmao! When I first saw this I automatically thought this was going to be bacon flavored cotton. Admittedly this is a juvenile comment but after looking at them I realized my wife has a box of those already.

Hahaha I know, I first tried it when I called my vape shop and asked for wick and they said they had cotton bacon. I was so confused lol.

Rixter and Tam, yeah you're right. Looks like my fluke multi is going back to school with me. I just tested a build in my new RDA, it's a tricoil with 7 wraps of 24 gauge. It's reading at 1.1 ohm ! I really thought it'd be a lot lower, somewhere in the mid sub ohm, to tell you the truth........just goes to show you don't really know till ya know!

Edited December 27, 2014 by VapeBerry