# Aircraft grade stainless steel locking wire for building coils



## Stew (9/7/20)

I would like to know if anyone has used Aircraft grade stainless steel locking wire for building vape coils. I still have a roll which I need to measure the gauge or thickness, but wondered if it will work well.

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## blujeenz (9/7/20)

Stew said:


> I would like to know if anyone has used Aircraft grade stainless steel locking wire for building vape coils. I still have a roll which I need to measure the gauge or thickness, but wondered if it will work well.



I'll confess to having tried it. 
Very thick at 0.8mm compared to #24 gauge which is 0.5mm.
Its also a lot softer than SS vape wire.
Wipe off with alcohol and you should be good to go.

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## Stew (9/7/20)

blujeenz said:


> I'll confess to having tried it.
> Very thick at 0.8mm compared to #24 gauge which is 0.5mm.
> Its also a lot softer than SS vape wire.
> Wipe off with alcohol and you should be good to go.


Thanks very much. How many loops did you make and on what size jig or internal diameter?

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## alex1501 (9/7/20)

Stew said:


> I would like to know if anyone has used Aircraft grade stainless steel locking wire for building vape coils. I still have a roll which I need to measure the gauge or thickness, but wondered if it will work well.



If it's SS 302/304 it will work fine in "Power" and "TC" mode, slightly higher TCR than SS 316l.

https://raceandrally.com/lock-wire-aircraft-grade-302-stainless-steel

Make sure you know the thickness, before you make a coil. If it's thicker than 22G (~0.64mm), I would avoid it.

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## Stew (9/7/20)

Make sure you know the thickness, before you make a coil. If it's thicker than 22G (~0.64mm), I would avoid it.[/QUOTE]
Thanks very much.

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## alex1501 (9/7/20)

You can use this site to help you with coils from the wide variety of materials.

http://www.steam-engine.org/coil.html

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## blujeenz (9/7/20)

Stew said:


> Thanks very much. How many loops did you make and on what size jig or internal diameter?


If memory serves it was 7 loops on a 3mm id, but my mods at the time werent up to the job nor was the atty which got very hot.
Bear in mind this was about 4 years ago and I was running mostly MTL kit at that time.

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## Stew (9/7/20)

blujeenz said:


> If memory serves it was 7 loops on a 3mm id, but my mods at the time werent up to the job nor was the atty which got very hot.
> Bear in mind this was about 4 years ago and I was running mostly MTL kit at that time.


Thanks so much.

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## Stew (9/7/20)

alex1501 said:


> You can use this site to help you with coils from the wide variety of materials.
> 
> Thanks. Will have a look at it. I am person that likes to use resources I already have where possible so thought if I could use it it would be great.

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## RayDeny (9/7/20)

Yip, must confess that I have and still do when I dabble with SS wire I stick to 0,25” - 0,20”. I’m much more of a nichrome user so the locking wire dose not get much use.

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## Raindance (9/7/20)

You can also stretch it to reduce the diameter. It hardens the wire but a quick heat treatment anneals it and you can stretch it some more. It's the way I make 26 and 28 AWG from 24 AWG. Got some formulas somewhere... I think...

Regards

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## Resistance (10/7/20)

Stew said:


> Make sure you know the thickness, before you make a coil. If it's thicker than 22G (~0.64mm), I would avoid it.


Thanks very much.[/QUOTE]

You'll just need to take shorter puffs to avoid heat build up in the coils and check you resistance before you use the coil.

I have used thicker wire before. Ramp up takes longer so,
Release the fire button while taking a puff(halfway through) and the air wil cool the coils. Thicker guage coil stays hotter for longer so releasing the button after taking the puff will leave too much heat behind eventually burning through the wick.

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## Stew (10/7/20)

Raindance said:


> You can also stretch it to reduce the diameter. It hardens the wire but a quick heat treatment anneals it and you can stretch it some more. It's the way I make 26 and 28 AWG from 24 AWG. Got some formulas somewhere... I think...
> 
> Regards


Thanks. Nice tip.

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## Stew (10/7/20)

Resistance said:


> Thanks very much.



You'll just need to take shorter puffs to avoid heat build up in the coils and check you resistance before you use the coil.

I have used thicker wire before. Ramp up takes longer so,
Release the fire button while taking a puff(halfway through) and the air wil cool the coils. Thicker guage coil stays hotter for longer so releasing the button after taking the puff will leave too much heat behind eventually burning through the wick.[/QUOTE]

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## Stew (10/7/20)

Thanks. Also a great tip. Thanks.

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## Hakhan (10/7/20)

Raindance said:


> You can also stretch it to reduce the diameter. It hardens the wire but a quick heat treatment anneals it and you can stretch it some more. It's the way I make 26 and 28 AWG from 24 AWG. Got some formulas somewhere... I think...
> 
> Regards


was just going to suggest that or alternatively take a hammer and flattened out the wire on a nice smooth service. But having such a thick wire the resistance is going to be very low. SS have a lower resistance compared to Kanthal and Nichrome

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## Stew (10/7/20)

Hakhan said:


> was just going to suggest that or alternatively take a hammer and flattened out the wire on a nice smooth service. But having such a thick wire the resistance is going to be very low. SS have a lower resistance compared to Kanthal and Nichrome



Thank you so much. That was really interesting and something I will definitely give a try.

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