FEATURING STEVE MASSINGHAM AKA CRAFTY COILS
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FEATURING STEVE MASSINGHAM AKA CRAFTY COILS
Hello and welcome to my first spot as Vapouround ’ s resident coil guy !
Please allow me to introduce myself . I ’ m Steve Massingham , aka Crafty Coils , I ’ ve been vaping for just over five years and coil building for three . I ’ ve been in the coil business for two and a half years now , and I may have met some of you at the Vaper Expo UK over the last couple of years where I run the coil build area . As this issue marks my most recent feature in Vapouround Magazine , I thought I ’ d start at the beginning and look at different types of wire , their pros and cons , uses and then pass on some tips . So with all that established , let ’ s get started ! I ’ m going to approach this from the most to least common which means our journey starts with Kanthal A1 or KA1 or simply kanthal . It ’ s the metal that most people start their coil building endeavours with and it ’ s good for that . It ’ s easy to work with as it holds its shape well and it has a reasonable resistance . Some people feel it offers your vape with a slight metallic taste , others not so much . Of the many areas of the coil builder ’ s art , heat colouring your metal is where kanthal falls down ; it ’ s notoriously hard to colour . Now we move on to nichrome 80 , also known as n80 or ni80 . This is where most builders end up . Nichrome is a slightly softer metal than kanthal , with a lower resistance . Most coil makers prefer nichrome to
180 ISSUE 12 VAPOUROUND MAGAZINE
work with as its lower resistance makes for faster heating and its less springy than kanthal when wrapping your coils . Plus , when done right , you can create beautiful blue and purple colour combinations when heat colouring . Stainless steel 303 and 304 food grade are the most common types used in coil making . Prized for its reputed clean flavour and the stunning colours
it produces when heat coloured , it is however not used as much as kanthal and nichrome due to its very low resistance and comparative inflexibility . It is the first metal on the list that can be used for temperature control , something I ’ m going to look at in a future article . Of all the temperature control metals , this , in my opinion , is