Advice needed... NiChrome and Kanthal

[montezuma]

Hi Guys

I have been using a Heatvape Kayfun using NiChrome 0.32. I have tried cotton and silica as wicks, also some Japanese cotton.

At first, things seemed okay, but lately things do not taste that good. Have been building micro coils ranging between 1.3 and 1.9 ohms, using an istick.

I would like to try Kanthal with rayon as a wick.

My question is, what gauge Kanthal will be best to use, based on the size coils I have been building, also on ease of use (building the coil)?

At present I am back on the Nautilus Mini which works great, but would like to get the Kayfun on the go again.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated

 

[Dubz]

I also had that problem when I started using my Kayfun on the iStick. The only thing that worked for me after much trial and error was to use a standard coil (spaced out coil). I found that using the micro coil (compressed) I got dry hits (burnt taste) most of the time. I recommended this to @BumbleBee as he was having the same issue and it helped solve his issue too. It seems that using a micro coil in the Kayfun when using an iStick creates too much focused heat in the coil resulting in dry hits. Try it out and report back.

 

[free3dom]

I find 28gauge Kanthal best for my Kayfun builds, but 26 and 30 work just fine too. I haven't tried 24/32 so I can't comment on those, but I suspect 24 might be a bit tricky to tighten under the screws.

I also did a dual coil build using 28G a while back, but in hindsight 30G would have been much better for that purpose.

PS: I also build my coils at 1.0+ Ohm for iStick use

I have no experience with NiChrome wire so I cannot comment on relative perfomance, but my builds in the Kayfun with Kanthal have all been very satisfactory so far

 

[free3dom]

I also had that problem when I started using my Kayfun on the iStick. The only thing that worked for me after much trial and error was to use a standard coil (spaced out coil). I found that using the micro coil (compressed) I got dry hits (burnt taste) most of the time. I recommended this to @BumbleBee as he was having the same issue and it helped solve his issue too. It seems that using a micro coil in the Kayfun when using an iStick creates too much focused heat in the coil resulting in dry hits. Try it out and report back.

Very interesting, I've not had any dry hits using compressed micro coils on the Kayfun - but I only run it at around 14W max (except for dual coils). What power do you use?

 

[Dubz]

I use wattage anywhere between 9 and 12 with a 1.3ohm coil

 

[WHeunis]

28 gauge is a pretty versatile size for kanthal, for me.

30 gauge might be more in your ballpark ohms range.

 

[free3dom]

I use wattage anywhere between 9 and 12 with a 1.3ohm coil

Very interesting...I suspect that there is a lot of variance in the Kayfun clones (mine is from Yeashmo. a 3.1) which might account for different performace

 

[Dubz]

Very interesting...I suspect that there is a lot of variance in the Kayfun clones (mine is from Yeashmo. a 3.1) which might account for different performace

That could possibly be yes, I have a Heatvape 3.1es

 

[SunRam]

I found 28g best for kayfuns. Can comfortably build a kayfun micro coil from 0.8 to 2 ohm with 2mm id, without running into a space issue. 28g will also result in a 'stiffer' coil compared to 30g or 32g, and therefore is less likely to move with a drop or bump, resulting in a potential short. The stronger coil structure then also makes it a lot easier to rewick with cotton/rayon or whatever.

Btw, get yourself some kanthal, there's plenty around, it tastes better, and supposedly is a bit safer, but who knows.

 

[montezuma]

Thanks for the responses

I think I need to get in some 28 and 30 gauge kanthal with rayon. Hopefully it will solve my issues.