Step 1)  Have a coil you want to build.  This example is a PT2 head, but it's the same for a PT3/aerotank with one addition that will become apparent later.



Step 2)  Take it apart.  Everything pulls apart, there's no screwing or anything.  Make sure you don't lose the little while rubber washer (the second item from the bottom above the silver "plug").  It likes to run away.



Step 3)  Wrap your coil.  I find that 12-13 wraps around a 1/16 drillbit gives me ~1.2-1.5ohm coils using 28ga kanthol.  This is a nice resistance because I can fire it well on my sentinel, or my regulated mods and it produces well.  Leave at least 1" tails from either side to aid in step 4.  I didn't burn the wire or anything.  I just wrapped it as tightly as I could manage.





During the next steps, please pay attention victorgonazales's warning about shorting the circuit:

Quoted:
Another thing you should add in bold red is to make sure the coils isnt shorting or very close to it.  With such small space I try to make sure the center post wire and that side of the coil have at least a 1 mm gap from the wall of the atomizer.  I have had shorts from assembling and screwing it onto the mod and that wire budged a tuny bit.  Better to have the coil slightly off center than to have a short.  I always check the resistance again now after assembly and after screwing it on and off the mod a couple times just to be sure.

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Step 4)  Pinch the wires together, and put them through the hole in the cup-like part.  I find that leaving the bit inside of the coil aids in the next few actions.




Step 5)  Bend one wire over so that it holds the coil in place.  Do NOT bend the other wire, yet.



Step 6)  Insert the little whitish rubber gasket that was referred to in step 2 (the thing that likes to run away).  The bent wire should be on the "outside" of the gasket, while the straight wire should be going through the hole (you want the wires separated by the gasket so that they don't touch).



Step 7)  Bend the wire over on the last straight piece (the wire inserted through the center of the gasket) on the opposite side as the previous wire (we don't want them to touch).



Step 8)  Cut both wires so that they are as flush as possible.  If they stick out, you will mess up your coil when you screw the atomizer into the base.



Step 9)  Place the metal plug back in the center of the rubber gasket.  Make sure that no wires are sticking out, clip them if they are.




Step 10)  Make your wick, thread it through the coil.  Trim to fit.




Step 11)  Install chimney


Step 12)  Test resistance.  I'm waiting on my ohm tester, so I used my seven 22.  This one is at 1.3ohm.


Step 10.5 ONLY IF YOU HAVE A PT3/AEROTANK atomizer!!!!!
There is a larger gap on the aerotank/pt3 atomizer to allow the dual coil setup that was originally used by Kanger.  This means you need to put a flavor wick on top of the wicked coil in order to take that space up or you will get flooding, gurgling, and bad stuff.  Make sure that the space where the wick extends out is totally filled by wick so as not to allow free flow up the chimney from the tank.

Conversely, this suggestion was posted further down in the thread.  

Great tutorial.  I find that the pics with description is easier to follow since I'm not pausing and rewinding youtube vids.  Thank you for the effort.

I need to try this with my other tanks.


How does the homemade coil compare to a stock atomizer head?

Its 100x better

Very good write-up.



ProTanks were the first rebuilds I ever did, and when re-coiled with a micro-coil and re-wicked with cotton like OP did, it's night and day better than a factory head.

Glad I pass peer review

Another thing you should add in bold red is to make sure the coils isnt shorting or very close to it.  With such small space I try to make sure the center post wire and that side of the coil have at least a 1 mm gap from the wall of the atomizer.  I have had shorts from assembling and screwing it onto the mod and that wire budged a tuny bit.  Better to have the coil slightly off center than to have a short.  I always check the resistance again now after assembly and after screwing it on and off the mod a xouple times just to be sure.

This is a very good idea.  I will add your bit to the OP.

Thanks for the writeup.  I will have to try a micro coil again- I usually do 5 larger diameter coils of 32ga A1 Kanthal.  Usually hits 1.8 ohm.  During my last build I tried a tighter coil but when I installed the cap it resulted in a short on the voltmeter, even after trying to reseat it a couple times.  I'll need practice.

Good on the cotton- I have many meters of silica wick that I think are just going to sit around.  I used to use silica, then tried organic cotton and it pulls much better, and no funky taste on the first dozen drags even after boiling the stuff.

I do install my new heads on a spare Evod base and fire it with a couple drops of juice for a few seconds a couple times to "burn it in" and verify operation.  I occasionally had a metallic or tinny taste on a new head, but that's gone now that I do a couple test burns.

I noticed you don't use the "flavor wick" on top of the coil.  Maybe that's why my micro coil attempts resulted in shorting when it pushed down on the coil.

I found the "flavor wick" on the PT2 atomizer actually made the vapor less thick, and taste worse.  I think it is a flow problem due to the design of that particular atomizer.

On an aerotank/pt3 (factory dual coil) atomizer, I do use a "flavor wick," see the very bottom of the post, in red, about that.  It's not really about flavor, or taste in this instance.....

I really think that cotton is the way to go.  Since switching to cotton, I haven't been getting the burnt tasting hits from hell that I was getting with the OEM wicks.  They are also denser, and better tasting.  IMHO, cotton is pretty darn good for this application, and is cheap & easy to procure...and easy to rewick every other day with if you want that clean taste.

Thanks for the tip- I'll try my next builds without the flavor wick.  I bet I can get that micro coil to work since I won't be shifting it when the flavor wick presses down on it!

the trick to getting the coil to stay where you want it, is to bend over the kanthol wire at the base as directed in the writeup.  Doing that leaves "hooks" that will hold the coil in place pretty well once the metal plug is inserted.  If you don't include the hooks, the coil will come out much more easily.

I rewicked a coil today.  I yanked the cotton out with a pair of tweezers and the coil didn't even move.

I ussually push the centrr post side of the coil over a luttle bit after putting the insulatir and center post in and before removing the bit or whatever I used to wrap and hold the coil in place.  Make sure theres a decent gap on that side.

 

Very good guide...You don't mind if I link your thread to my thread for the all in depth guide for coil building do you

Be an honor.

Added with credits

One thing to add, after building these damn things for my wife and BIL, you can use regular single coil PT heads in an aero tank, and eliminate leaking/gurgling by stacking two of the rubber grommets that go over the chimney. One right on top of the other will take up the extra space.

that is a good idea!  i'll have to try that

Thanks for the tip, wire and organic cotton balls ordered. Now to rebuild my spent coils and profit!

I received my wire and cotton today along with a protank 2 that was too cheap to pass on. It took a few minutes but I wrapped up 3 new coils and tested on my MVP 2. On my second try the coil was reading all over the place from 1.0 - .03 so I figured it was junk and tossed it. The other coils are running a perfect 1.5 and are working great. I put one of the 1.5 rebuilds in the protank 2 and left it screwed on just a little loose on the MVP at 3.5v its working good for me. If you tighten the protank 2 all the way up it is very restrictive and pulls like a coffee stirrer. Good flavor and a decent cloud make me a happy vapor. Now to rebuild the rest of my used coils!

Get a aerotank base for that protank 2. Linky.

Makes a world of difference, and you won't eventually get leaks from leaving the coil loose like i did.

Sweet, just orderd it. Thanks!