From @Pro_Vapes I learned that contact coils work just fine. However, from experience I learned they must be very, very tight when using in TC, especially the finer gauge wires. Reason being they will develop hot spots wherever a gap exists. Another thing I learned (again, more true with the finer wires) is to keep coil legs short as possible, and this is even more true when using contact coils. I’m not sure but I think it has to do with the speed the electrons can move through the leads compared to the coil itself. Picture them as flowing water. In longer leads they are able to spend more time flowing up to the coil. Once there it’s like a major bottle neck on the freeway. That doesn’t mean they stop trying so there’s a backup of electrons in the leg which causes it to heat up way faster than the coil…hence the glowing hot spot.
Now I may be wrong bout all that. As I said, not 100% sure. But I am sure about the contact coils needing to be tight and the legs short. Do this and you will have more successful Ti builds running in TC.
I am so happy to hear that contact coils are just fine. I can make more wraps giving me a higher resistance and still fit them on a small deck. Anyone who has built a few coils will see that legs are the place where hot spots most occur. I do try to keep legs as short as possible to reduce hot spots and to keep them short and sturdy so they will keep the coil in place and not shify. Know one wants a floppy, shifty coil that could move and touch the chimney, the deck or a post – causing a short.
Being a hobby jewelry maker, I’ve worked a lot with sterling silver and gold-plated wire, and I’ve made a lot of jump rings and wrapped loops for example. So, I probably have a different view of the whole coil-building task. I try to work my wire as little as possible and build a coil without fiddling with it. I’d rather chuck it and start over rather than pushing, squeezing or trying to straighten cheep wire. I try to wrap a coil with leads that will go in smoothly and adjust only once or twice. Everyone wants to squeeze the coil after you pulse it and scrape it a bit to remove hot spots, but the more you bend the wire the softer and weaker it gets. And having a jewelry maker’s eye, the uglier it gets to me. I don’t want a sloppy nicked up piece of junk. Similar to when I make a mistake in beading, I take the time to go back and fix the mistake rather than wasting time to finish it. If I just went on leaving the mistake, all I’d have is a piece of junk when it’s done. Ya, that is different than most people who build coils. I expect more from myself being a jewelry maker. I was keeping all those mishap coils, but I chucked them, and now I just throw them away. Coil wire is so cheap.
I enjoy the titanium wire because I have excuses to chuck it and make more. I love making coils and I can’t wait for them to go bad so I can put new ones in :Lol. I also like silica versus cotton, and I have 5 different sizes of it. 1mm, 1.5mm, 2mm and 3mm, and 4mm. I often double it over installing it by using a piece of thread. I also put a piece of scotch tape on the tip to stiffen it so I can pull it through the coil. Then I cut the tip off so I wont vape remnant glue from the tape. I also have some small pieces of plastic drinking straws that I have cut down their length in a spiral. I put the silica inside the straw, wind it in my fingers very tightly till it’s small enough to fit into the coil. Silica wick (like sand, like porous ceramic) is very fragile and will fall apart if you try to pull it through the coil.
There is something I have been wanting to tell all of you… I use a screw to wind my spaced coils. I have 3 sets that are similar to 2mm, 2.5mm and 3.0mm. You’ll use a screw that is slightly larger because the wire lays down in the threads. You must wind counterclockwise (lefty or righty). The spaces come out perfectly uniform. I can’t wait to hear what you think after you give it a try! You’ll never go back to the old way of pulling them or adjusting the spaces.
How does the Goblin Mini rate as far as flavor goes?
It would have to be excellent in order to deal with the screw fill and the fact that you can’t access the deck with a full tank.
I saw it was rated as 4th in the top 4 tanks for 2015. HOW is the flavor?
Maybe I should pull out that Zephyrus and give it a chance.
I never vaped a full tank in it. I built it 3 times and it leaked.
Now, I’m realizing I was less experienced then and it was probably missing an o-ring somewhere. Now, I know I could check it out and figure it out.
In your list above… Are they listed by best at the top? And do is best “best flavor” or most vapor or a combination of both?
It’s just ok IMO. It’s too small for me. I can’t build it with 22g Ti, so I don’t use it. There’s a lot of people here that really enjoy it. Maybe they will weigh in with their experiences with it.