No problem. I’m no expert either but I have been playing around with different types of wire for a while now.
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You may now more about it than I do but from my research I feel confident using 304. It has slightly less nickel and holds its shape better. The higher TCR helps with TC of course. The only real difference that I could see is that 316L has a small amount molybdenum in it for added corrosion protection against chlorides. I have not noticed my 316L coils lasting any longer than my 304 coils. Am I way off on this? I hope not cause I vape a lot on 304.
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The number in front of SS doesn’t refer to a “grade” per se, in that 316 is better than 304. The number refers to a different mineral/chemical make of stainless steel. There’s a few different ‘recipes’ (For wont of a better word) of SS. Some people prefer 304, others 316, 317, I’ve even seen some people use 430 SS. If I recall, 316 and 304 have the easier resistance changes to register(or was it TCRs to calculate?), which is why they’re used more than others.
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Uhh Ohhh, it can’t ??? Hmmmmmm, I’m always dry burning it. Great, what’s it do, cause cancer ?? I’m screwed…
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I’m a doo doo doo when wires concerned…
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Interesting, is there a SAFER (hehe) chemical make up to use maybe ?? I’ll deal with the springiness …
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Check out @louiesquared’s answer above. I use 316L, simply because I don’t wanna take the time to load the TCR for 304 onto my DNA devices. I gotta get out the laptop, then Win-doze will wanna update, and Kapersky will try and shake me down for even MORE money-straight up PITA.
Or, I’ll not be a lazy so and so and copy-paste here:
You may now more about it than I do but from my research I feel confident using 304. It has slightly less nickel and holds its shape better. The higher TCR helps with TC of course. The only real difference that I could see is that 316L has a small amount molybdenum in it for added corrosion protection against chlorides. I have not noticed my 316L coils lasting any longer than my 304 coils. Am I way off on this? I hope not cause I vape a lot on 304.
Courtesy of @louiesquared
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For me at lower watts I taste alittle bit of metal with kanthol as comparred to ss316L. I also like dual coil at the 0.2-0.25 ohm range and ss316L fits me just perfectly.
So in short ss316L just seems a bit cleaner for me and fits my build style.
As for spring’y issues I use 24g and have no issues. For spools if premaide clapton if you want a 3mm it’s easier just to wrap on a 2.5mm bit and allow it to spring out a bit and so on.
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Sure wish I could like a little here…
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I use ss on wattage mode don’t really care for temp control 316L It’s actually really easy to work with to be honest not springy like your thinking! You’ll have to give it a shot and I’m sure you won’t go back to kanthal! Kanthal is Garbo, but that’s just my opinion. Definitely a cleaner flavor and also once it’s gunked you can pull cotton fire it til red and rinse under tap water. Do this 2-3 times then recotton. You can do this several times before needing to make new coils. Can’t do that with kanthal lol
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@GalacticResidue Thank you for that. @Silhouette stated she also thought the SS just tasted better/cleaner, and in doing a side by side, it would reveal itself even more. About the red dry firing coils, I kinda DO do that with my Kanthals, am I blowing up my own coils ?? SS just handles it better ??
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Ya you can with kanthal, but not as well as it’ll melt sometimes lol! ss will too if you hold fire button too long! It just can take more of a beating! You can use the same coils for a month to two if you clean em every few weeks. For me once vape starts to get harsh or taste like burnt crap time to clean em. I’m sure you like it once I started using it I’ll never go back to kanthal!
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I learned to build with ss and so the springiness doesn’t bother me because I’m used to adjusting for it. I wanted to start with ss because I wanted to be able to run tc or wattage, although now I really don’t vape in tc so I can’t really speak to how it performs there. SS is really all I know other than a handful of kanthal coils I’ve made. I think the taste is nice and clean, I really have no complaints, so that’s why I just stick with it.
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@TheTinMan1 has a point tho about resistance as it’s higher for kanthal! 7 wraps of ss 3mm is about .19-20ohms and can’t remember exactly maybe someone will chime in on this, but same build on kanthal might be around .4-5 (I think) lol probably safer for mech mods I have ss on my mech .23 ohms with 9 wraps which kinda blows! Would be safer @.3-5ohms but oh well using a vtc4 30amp but try to stay at 20 or less amps. A vtc5a is rated at 15 amp only so probably need to be careful with one of those.
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If you don’t use TC then I don’t see any advantage to SS. I can’t comment on any metal taste. I don’t get that with any wire I use. As far as SS being springy, that’s pretty minimal too unless you are playing around with core wires at 30g or less. Where I do run into challenges are dual coil atties with limited deck space. SS as mentioned is low resistance wire and I like building 0.25Ω and above. That takes space. Something new I’ve seen in a few atties is the tendency to drill into or through the “receiving” or “back” post when milling the grub screw holes. With 28g SS this will cause the wire to be cut by the threads of the grub screws. Here again, forcing the use of some kind of clapton which again takes up room. SS of course heats slow and cools slow. I do get “after burn”. This may bug someone, not me. In TC the ramp up can be controlled by wattage available, so again SS and TC work. Beyond that, it’s a friggin wire. You force current through it, it get’s hot. Heat vaporizes juice. Me likes vaporized juice.
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Your too funny! There are definitely advantages whether temp or watts but a coil is a coil! Both have there advantages and disadvantages! Also me like vapey too lol! I like your explanation of temp control by the way! 
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Lol, well, I love vaping and l love chatting about it. Maybe a little too much. But… there are those times where the technical details just don’t matter that much. It’s like picking the white stuff out of the chicken shit.
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Now that is funny!
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