Kanthal Wire And Its Variations

[Riaz]

hi guys

i decided to start this thread to educate myself firstly, and those to follow regarding this topic.

can you guys please post what you know about the wire youve used.

things like, which gauge, flexibility, heating time etc etc

post as much info you have on the wire.

 

[BhavZ]

To date I have used both 28g and 32g Kanthal A-1.

28G:
I find 28g to be more resilient and easier to handle from a wrapping point of view. It takes about a second to heat up and and once torched is easier to mold and manipulate.

32G:
I find the 32g to be bit too thin for me. When heating the wire before wrapping the coil it tends to deform a bit meaning that you need to torch it for shorter periods of time. When doing the pinch and torch in the tweezer before mounting it to an atty it can be quite tricky to get it to stay in the tweezer compared to the 28g. Also to get the same resistence as that of the 28g you use less wraps which means less surface area meaning that there is less vapor in my experience.

Personally out of the 2 I prefer the 28g and only use the 32g when I want to build a dual coil in an evod cup as it takes up less space than the 28g giving me a bit more room to play with resistance wise.

 

[devdev]

Awesome thread @Riaz !

Really itching for someone to cough up their experience with Nichrome, if anyone has tried it.

I bought some from eciggies, but haven't used it yet. Too busy with Kanthal builds on my current kit.

Interesting @BhavZ what you say about 32. Apart from doing twisted dual and triples with it I haven't enjoyed it much for single coil or single strand builds.

Should try get your hands on some 30g. Heats up a nicely and is a bit stronger than the 32

 

[Riaz]

So does the variations work with 28 being the thinnest?

 

[devdev]

Nope, other way around.

Higher number, thinner Kanthal. I *think* its based on a fraction system. So its 1/X, with the higher X's value, the smaller the fraction.

Standard 3 Math for da win!

 

[BhavZ]

So does the variations work with 28 being the thinnest?

The lower the gauge "g" the thicker the wire and the less resistance.

Example, with 28g 10 wraps will give you between 1.3 and 1.5ohms where as 10 wraps of 32g you will get 2.0 to 2.2ohms.

So if you want 1.3 to 1.5ohms with the 32g you would need about 6-8 wraps which will give less surface area meaning less juice being vapourised per fire meaning less vapour being produced.

If I can lend an analogy from Rip Trippers, Think of the 28g as a 4 lane highway and the 32g as a small road. The cars on the road are the current travelling through the wire. The 28g (4 lane highway) means that more current (cars) can flow through per meter where as with the 32g (small road) less current (cars) can travel through per meter. Hence the lower the gauge, more current can pass through (less resistance) and the higher the gauge, less current can pass through (higher resistance).

 

[Andre]

I mainly use 27 and 28 g Kanthal on my Reos. Have also done a 32 g triple twisted, which give good flavour. My guess is that 28 g Kanthal is the go to size for RBAs. Have done a dual coil with 26 g NiChrome (=27 g Kanthal) but found a metallic taste.

 

[Alex]

In preparation for my next super awesome coil build, I fired up my trusty AEG cordless with back to back allen keys to prepared a quad twisted 2x32G, 2x28G wire. I tried taking pics of this masterful creation. But they don't do it any justice. So you'll just have to take my word on it.

I'll take some pics of the masterpiece once completed tomorrow

 

[Alex]

KANTHAL RESISTANCE WIRE GAUGE CHART

AWG 34
0.15mm Diameter (152 Micron or 38 SWG)
AWG 34 is an extremely fine wire.

The image above illustrates ohms produced with 5 wraps on 2mm Silica Wick.
Results will vary on thinner or thicker wick.

AWG 34 is best used for

Pros

• • Achieving a resistance above 3.0 ohms (5 - 6 wraps on 2mm wick)
  • Achieving 1.8 - 2.0 ohms on Atomizers with a short distance between the positive and negative posts
  • Using thicker wires on these Atomizers will achieve this but will cover too much surface area over the wick
  • Use with rebuildable dual coil Atomizers since resistance is halved (explained above).

Cons

• • Difficult to work with - will "pop" instantly if a hot spot or if a short occurs.

AWG 32
0.20mm Diameter (200 Micron or 35 SWG)
AWG 32 is the most common wire used for coiling rebuildable Atomizers.

The illustration above is based on the same conditions used above - 2.2 ohms will result with 6 wraps, and 2.4 ohms with 7 wraps.

Pros

• • A great wire to easily hit 1.8 ohm - 2.4 ohm using 2mm - 3mm Silica Wick.
  • Most manufacturers use this wire as their single coil wire of choice.
  • Can be used on practically any rebuildable Atomizer of choice and functions perfectly well.

Cons

• • "Pops" easily on hotspots and shorts.
  • Harder to use with stainless steel mesh wicks.

 

[Alex]

AWG 31
0.22mm Diameter (226 Micron or 34 SWG)
AWG 31 is a great alternative to AWG 32 particularly if you wish to run your devices around 1.8 ohms, or use AWG 32 on stainless steel wicks.

The illustration above displays AWG 31 on a 5 wrap coil, 2mm Silica Wick with an output of 1.5 ohms - 6 wraps will equal 1.8 ohms and 7 wraps a resistance of 2.1 ohms.

Pros

• • Covers more surface area on larger diameter Atomizers than AWG 32, creating a fuller warmer vape.
  • More durable than AWG 32, and therefore less likely to "pop" should a hot spot or short occur when prepping a genesis Atomizer.
  • A great alternative to AWG 29 if your variable voltage battery struggles to operate at 1.3 ohms
  • Can be used on practically any rebuildable Atomizer of choice and functions perfectly well.

Cons

• • Still not as durable as AWG 29 and can still "pop" on hot spots and shorts.
  • Not recommended to be used on smaller diameter Atomizers due to the additional surface area needed to achieve AWG 32's resistance output.
  • Harder to source as less common than AWG 32.
• 
  
  source : http://truevape.co.uk/kanthal-wire-guide/

 

[Alex]

Sorry for the double posts, I keep getting forum errors when trying to paste this stuff, anyway I left a source link to the full content above |

 

[Riaz]

thanks for the great info guys.

this has surely shed some light on kanthal for me, and will definitely help others as well.

seems i need to get my hands on some 28g.

i redid the russian last night, 3/4 wraps came to 1.2ohms.

flavor is great but th is reduced.

 

[ET]

In preparation for my next super awesome coil build, I fired up my trusty AEG cordless with back to back allen keys to prepared a quad twisted 2x32G, 2x28G wire. I tried taking pics of this masterful creation. But they don't do it any justice. So you'll just have to take my word on it.

I'll take some pics of the masterpiece once completed tomorrow

you'll have better luck with a split pin dude