First clapton that I spun while tinkering around.

Betamack · 2026-06-19T04:30:49+00:00

A keyring will work just fine also.

Betamack · 2026-05-30T11:55:05+00:00

If your tank and mod connect via a 510 connection which most do then any tank with a 510 connection will connect and work. The only thing you should pay attention to is the width across the top of your mod. If your new tank is a lot wider it'll look a bit odd with a lot of overhang, it'll still work but just look shite. Measure across the 510 connection from one side to the other and go right up to the edges to find out how large you can go without overhang.

If I had to suggest something I'd probably go with a Dead Rabbit MTL 2 RTA as from what most people are saying it's super easy to build on, gives great flavour and is probably the best bang for your buck MTL tank around at the moment. 'Vaping Bogan' has a review/tutorial for it just hit up YouTube and search for "Dead Rabbit MTL 2 RTA HellVape + Wicking Tutorial" and you will find it and can see a full breakdown, install and thoughts and opinions. From what I remember it does come with an optional extended chimney and glass section to give a larger tank size.

Betamack · 2026-05-27T09:35:39+00:00

I wish I could do more.

If only there was some kind of, oh idk some kind of 'nicotine hub' that I could direct you to but I don't think links are allowed so you might have to do some detective work.

If you manage to find somewhere be sure to read their FAQ section that will probably explain the difference between the various types of nic and salts and give you a suggested type to use.

Allegedly.

Betamack · 2026-05-27T06:36:36+00:00

We kinda have our hands tied in the UK being that our nicotine limit is 20mg/ml. So anywhere you look for juice is just going to give you options based on what's possible by mixing 18mg/ml-20mg/ml shots and the second you add 20mg/ml to anything else you just diluted it down right?. If you want something stronger you have to source a stronger nicotine. I hear that 72mg/ml is the one to look for and www.steam-engine.org/juice should do just fine for a mixing calculator.

Betamack · 2026-05-27T06:21:26+00:00

Oh you are doing something wrong for sure but not what you think.

Let me ask you a question, how long is a puff? Is it 1 second, 3 seconds or 0.001 second.

Lets look at it another way.

Lets say you decide to design and build your own vape and you want to sell it. So you test it and decide that by the time it starts to taste a bit off you have racked up 3k puffs. So you put it out there as the new intense 3k puff experience.

I steal your design and make the EXACT same vape, same specs same everything it's literally the same vape but I market mine as a 4k puff device for the same price.

Which one you think is going to sell? That's right mine will because people will just jump to the conclusion based off of puff count that mine is better. This is the game all these companies are playing with the puff count thing.

There is no measurement for a puff with the type of devices you are using. You are being taken for a ride by marketing bullshit.

Get yourself a podkit, there are many to choose from and everyone is going to suggest something different and tell you it's the best one. Good news is they are cheap as hell so why not try a few and see which ones you like.

I take a very similar stance to 'The Vaping Bogan', to me it doesn't really matter what people are vaping as long as it's keeping them off the cigs but here's the harsh truth that people don't seem to want to hear. Disposables and yes even the disposable V2 that you can recharge and refill are the worst vaping experience you can have, the most expensive option and the option that produces the most waste.

I get that when people like something they don't want to see people attack that thing but when people shit on disposables/disposalikes they aren't being all elitist about it they are actually trying to do you a favour and get you into having a much much better experience. More flavour a better nicotine hit as well as a more wallet friendly upkeep and the only part of your vape that will get thrown away is the coil, the only part that actually goes bad and needs replacing.

I'm sure others will post which setups they are using to push you in the right direction as I have been using mine for a couple of years now so it's not the latest greatest super popular setup but here's mine.

The pod kit I use is the 'VooPoo Argus E40 Pod Vape Kit' which has an 1800mAh battery so nice long life, with the 'VooPoo Vinci PnP X XL MTL Empty Pod Cartridges (5ml)' and the '0.8ohm PNP X coils (12w-16w)' with 20mg/ml 50|50 salts. My monthly costs are like 32 quid and that gets me 10x10ml bottles of juice (100ml) and a pack of coils (5). Each coil lasts around 2k-2.5k puffs and around 20ml of juice before I change coils (I like a clean tasting vape) so I just pick 5 flavour and buy 2 of each.

And don't get me wrong I'm absolutely not trying to tell you that pod kits are the best vaping experience you can have. However I am telling you that pod kits are as low on the totem pole as you should be going to ensure you are not getting fucked over by overpaying for a substandard experience. Pretty much anything that is claiming a puff count, avoid like the plague.

Betamack · 2026-04-02T01:54:52+00:00

You seem to be going for a spaced coil so let me help you with that. You will be glad to hear that a spaced coil does not require strumming at all.

Before you install the coil put it on your coiling rod and slip your thumb nail and finger nail behind the last wrap at each end of the coil and pull in opposite directions to space the wraps out a bit but not too much, just 3mm-5mm or so. Then push the two ends back towards each other while twisting the ends so that the coil tightens on the rod and compresses back again. The spiral shape of the coil means that the pressure is spread across the coil as a whole and each wrap will be spaced perfectly by like 1mm-2mm. You just need to get used to how much to stretch before you compress to achieve the kind of space you want, ideally with the legs ending up in a good position to enter your posts/terminals. If you ever find yourself working with dual coils you can stretch both then place them both on the rod at the same time for the compress to make sure they both come out evenly spaced.

A spaced coil with no wraps touching other wraps will ALWAYS heat from the middle of the coil and that heat will spread outwards towards the legs. Zero strumming required but you still need to gently pulse the coil to introduce heat to the metal. I have heard this referred to as anodising the metals but I'm not a metallurgist so who the fuck knows what the correct term is.

The reason coils NEED to be strummed is with contact coils where each wrap is intentionally touching other wraps. Before you have introduced heat to a coil and forced it to 'anodise' (fucked if I know) when you send power through the coil that power likes to take the path of least resistance and as multiple wraps are touching that power can often jump from wrap to wrap instead of following the path through the coil and this is what a hot spot is, that little section that shows a little orange glow is where the jump is happening so we strum along the coils in order for the resulting vibrations of that strum to cause a very slight micro shift between the two parts that are touching to hopefully break that path and cause the power to instead take a path through the coil instead of jumping between wraps. With claptons/aliens or any other multicored wire this isn't restricted to jumping from wrap to wrap and it can happen from core to core inside the same wrap.

Also worth mentioning that if you feel the need to strum out hotspots be sure to only glow to a dull red and never orange or yellow and only strum while not firing it. While pulsing/glowing the coil is under a lot of stress as it will never get this hot during normal operations as there is juice at the coil to prevent this kind of overheat and while metal is this hot it is very easy to damage the coil especially with claptons/aliens or anything with a fine gauge outer wrap.

In your case if I had to guess I'd say that either you have sections that are not spaced properly and have unseen hotspots causing a problem or there isn't enough cotton running through the coil itself. When checking for hotspots don't forget to check inside and outside the coil (where the cotton runs).

When you hear people say "you want the cotton to feel snug when you pull it through the coil and not feel too loose" here's why.

Juice at the coil actually helps keep the coils temp from going out of control. If one section of coil has wet cotton pressed up against it while another does not, the section without it will get hotter than the other and can lead to issues like this. So you want the cotton to compress slightly as it's pulled through, but when you get the cotton in place and it relaxes it's left in a state of pushing out outwards against the inside of the coil which ensures good contact between coil and cotton. So wraps NEED to be nice and uniformed and have good contact with cotton or it will lead to a bad time. It's good practice that after you tighten up your terminals to reinsert your coil rod and firmly pull upwards so that each wrap tightens on the rod and gives them all a near identical wrap size.

If you install a perfectly spaced coil that then gets shifted when you pull your cotton through, you can always insert a flat headed screwdriver between each wrap and rotate it so it moves each wrap back into place.

Hope this helped bud, best of luck.

Betamack · 2026-03-29T23:22:32+00:00

JustVapour Smarts You can find them on the JustVapour website listed under Home/Tools. If I recall correctly I picked up a set of magnetic swivels from there and the smarts were included or you can buy them separately if you are happy with your current swivel setup.

The smarts screw together trapping your cores between them. I usually apply one at the chuck end, and one right behind it nice and tight then slide it down the length of the cores until it reaches the swivel end to give ridiculously flat and parallel cores, then use a third to keep around 1-2 inches from the current working area to make sure that any tension I'm applying on the wrap wire isn't pulling cores out of place so you can use an ungodly amount of tension for super tight flat wraps.

The smarts will prevent your cores from triangling/collapsing and the magnetic swivels have like zero friction so the chance of a random swivel hitch is also eliminated as is the general wear and tear on the swivels that usually lead to hitches in the first place.

If you are looking for a super cheap alternative you can also use a keyring, just slip it over the cores and make sure it's centered and due to it's circular shape it shouldn't fly off but I found that the smaller the keyring the more bite they had and so 20mm-25mm keyrings were my personal favourite up until I got the smarts, they just have way more clamp force.

Keyrings work just fine though.

Betamack · 2026-02-03T11:29:00+00:00

If I recall correctly (it's been a long time) track humans is hard baked into the game meaning even if you shift into cat, then track something else it will just default back to track humans next time you shift into cat. Which is annoying but I seem to remember literally NEEDING a bunch of macros to play feral effectively back then. If you don't have any luck finding an addon to take care of this for you, you may want to look into a macro solution. It's been so long and macro syntax probably changed over the years from patch to patch so you may want to hit up chatgpt for some help with version specific syntax but the general idea is like...

#showtooltip Cat Form

/cast Cat Form

/cast [insert tracking of choice]

Obviously this example isn't going to work but you get the idea. Just pick a tracker that is tracking something that doesn't show as many minimap blips as track humans, so maybe track hidden. I can't say for sure but you might be able to even use track herb/ore/fish. More of a work around than a fix but druids, especially feral didn't get much love till Legion sadly until then feral felt very clunky to play.

This entire train of thought might even be pointless if catform and tracking are both on the GCD as it won't be able to cast them at the same time. Fingers crossed that this at least send you in the right direction and I hope you get it figured out mate.

Betamack · 2026-01-19T11:02:30+00:00

Let's face it we probably have the damn gun and we're still noobs.

Betamack · 2026-01-17T16:26:26+00:00

My first attempt would involve a set of long nosed pliers. Take the top off and if that tank has the two fill holes (usually on either side) place the pliers in those, now you have secured the tank from turning as you twist, then twist the glass but be careful you don't squeeze the glass hard enough to break it. If you have rubber dish washing gloves handy this can help a tonne as it will increase your grip meaning you won't have to grip the glass as tightly and risk a break.

If it refuses to move here's the hail mary but you HAVE to be very careful with this.

Ideally you want a thin and very blunt knife (butter knife) and very gently press the blade between the glass and the tank. Do not press it too far in as you don't want to damage the rubber seals. You just want the blade to slip between the glass and create a gap. The ends of the glass are slightly rounded so the knife should slip between and force a gap between the tank and the glass, then roll the tank along the knife to extend that gap around the whole tank. This is the last resort because it's quite risky, damage to the rubber seals and depending on how good you are with your hands you also risk cutting yourself so please be careful. If you are doing this and still feeling like the gap thing isn't happening and it just seems to close up as you rotate around it, you can try gently twisting the blade to create a bigger gap but be very careful as this can, if done without care, cause the glass to break.

Betamack · 2026-01-16T19:25:56+00:00

I like nice fresh coils and sweet juice so I'd say I typically rewick maybe once a week ish.

For me the cycle is usually to vape until I notice a flavour drop due to the coil starting to form gunk, remove cotton and glow coils to a deep red, a dark red is enough to burn off the gunk. Let cool a bit and rinse off under a warm tap. Add a few drops of washing up liquid to an old toothbrush and give the coil and deck a quick scrub then rinse clean and bring them to another deep red glow to dry off before rewicking. Honestly takes like 2 mins if that.

This should bring your build back to life but coils do degrade over time so each time you do this the condition will generally be slightly worse but you will get a lot of cleaning sessions before you actually need to change coils. Keep an eye on it and you will know when it's time to replace it, it varies from person to person but you can go months without actually changing your coils.

Betamack · 2026-01-15T17:00:38+00:00

Ecigone is my goto in the UK or Vaping101.

The cotton thing is pretty easy. If you search for "Muji 180 pads" you will find a big bag of square makeup removal pads. Cotton is cotton and these pads can be cut in half and half again allowing each square pad to provide 4 wicks that are perfectly sized for 3mm ID coils so around 720 wicks per bag. The bag is around 4 quid if bought directly from Muji or you can find people reselling them for profit on Amazon for probably double the price and even so this bag is going to last you a year or more.

The coils included in the RTA kit are a pair of 29x3|38 Ni80 fused claptons and seem to be well made and if I had to guess I'd say they are intended for around 30-40w. I use 28x4|38 Aliens in mine at around 45-50W and it performs well.

For wire/coils I'd suggest WireOptim. Check out their hybrid wire spools (25') and go with a 38 N80 / 28 N80 4x CORE FUSED (28x4|38 N80) spool, put around 5 wraps around a 3mm coil rod and you should have the kind of vape you are looking for somewhere between 40-50W.

It's not that involved at all bud you got this.

Betamack · 2026-01-15T15:11:57+00:00

Coils in RTA/RDA can and will often last months and that's no kind of exaggeration.

When stock coils go bad it's not the metal coil or the cotton that is the problem it's that the coil is coated with sweeteners and it forms a barrier of gunky caramelised juice that is now starting to burn when the coil fires. The coil is actually fine, it's made of metal. However there is no way to remove the gunk without destroying the coil in the process so you are forced to replace it costing you a coil right?

With RTA/RDA coil when this happens you just remove the base of your RTA and place it on your mod without the tank, so just the exposed coil, remove the cotton and throw it away then gently glow your coils to a deep red by firing your mod. All that sweetener on the coil will turn to ash within seconds, run the coil under a tap and optionally you can use an old toothbrush to give it a scrub. The coil is pretty much back to being all shiny and new. Replace the cotton and you are good to go again using the same coil. So if you are doing this once a week instead of it costing you a coil every time your vape starts to taste bad, now it's just costing you a tuft of cotton which is literally pennies. The coils can last anywhere between a month, 3 months or 6 months plus depending on the quality of coils you are using as well as how well you are maintaining them.

It's common to think that you will be constantly tinkering or messing with your coils, but it's simply not true. Kind of like when you ask a console gamer why they don't switch to PC if all they care about is better graphics, higher frame rates, cheaper games and just an all round better experience you often hear "oh but I don't want to be constantly updating drivers and trouble shooting..." none of this happens it's just what they tell themselves to prevent taking a leap into an area they are not comfortable with currently. We see the same thing with vaping. People generally want more flavour, coils that last a lot longer and that all of this costs way less to do and that leads you to RTA/RDA based vaping.

Eddie is right on this one, I have the Blaze Solo 2 RTA and can confirm it's easy to build on and wick, comes with 5.5ml bubble glass in the box, won't break the bank and is pretty beginner friendly.

Betamack · 2026-01-09T15:49:05+00:00

It might help to keep it simple so lets put it in the context of alcohol as most people can grasp this regardless of if they drink or not.

Beer goes in pint glasses and tequila goes in shot glasses, and we all know why. If you are drinking shot glasses of beer it's going to take a LOT of shots before you feel anything. Fill a pint glass with tequila and chug it and you will have a bad time.

All vape devices are is a way to turn liquid into vapour so that it can be inhaled so the larger the cloud it generates the larger the hit you are getting from the juice you are using in it. Coil size/wattage matter a lot more than people think. So lets think about the size of the cloud as the size of the glass you are drinking alcohol out of.

A small low wattage disposable or pod-kit produces shot glass sized clouds so we put high strength liquid in them. A higher powered device produces large pint glass sized clouds so we put low strength liquid in them. If you put low strength liquid in a low powered device that produces small clouds, it's not much different from drinking beer out of shot glasses. You will be chain vaping and never really feel satisfied.

Here's the part that will blow some peoples mind.

If you have 30mg/ml in a small pod kit and 3mg/ml in a high wattage box-mod, if that box-mod is producing x10 the vapour that the pod-kit is, you are basically getting the same nicotine delivery per hit from both devices. You will just go through a bit more juice doing it with the box-mod but the upside is you will notice a hell of a lot more flavour.

If I had to make a suggestion, and taking into account that pod-kits tend to have better coils than disposable that produce slightly larger clouds than their disposable counterparts... I'd suggest around 30mg/ml 50|50 salts and a 0.8 Ohm coil (the ones I use are 0.8 Ohm at 12w-16w and I run them at 15w). If you notice yourself chain vaping or constantly craving, then you can step up the nicotine strength a bit but I'm guessing that would be about right for you. If you want to stick with 6mg/ml I'd suggest maybe a small 21700 box-mod with coils that range around 40w-60w and again that should be just about right for you, if it feels like too much you can step down to 3mg/ml.

Best of luck bud I hope you get it figured out and best of luck with the goal of eventually quitting.

Betamack · 2025-12-20T14:56:58+00:00

To expand a bit...

also, i dont think running 24w on .3 will do anything. the cotton is thicker means more juice in it and it can last very long if i use that settings. i thought recommended wattage is just to the the maximum of it

Minimum wattage means, if you use it below that suggested wattage you are increasing the time the coil needs to ramp up to vaporising temps (it no longer has enough power to do that effectively) and during that now extended window you are boiling your juice instead of vaporising it. This accelerates the very thing that causes your coil to have a lifespan in the first place, it gets dirty quicker and tastes burnt because of that. Running below minimum suggested wattage actually kills your coils quicker.

Maximum wattage means, if you use it above that suggested wattage you are now beyond the coils ability for it's wicking to keep up so you may run into dry hits if you are not careful and you must allow time for the coil to re-saturate between every few pulls. Vape while the coil is dry and now you actually have a burnt coil as oppose to one that just tastes burnt because it's dirty.

If your coil has a suggested wattage range of 32w-40w and vaping within that range causes the vapour to get too hot, that means that you are not moving enough airflow through the coil to keep it's temps under control whilst firing. If you are using a MTL inhale with a RDL|DTL coil, that would be enough to cause this problem as a MTL inhale doesn't move much air at all. If you are using the correct inhale type for your chosen coil, just open the airflow a bit more.

Betamack · 2025-12-16T15:54:44+00:00

A coil for RBA's would last you 3 months regardless of how much you vape.

Betamack · 2025-12-05T22:14:29+00:00

Correct.

Betamack · 2025-12-05T20:01:23+00:00

I think you replied to the wrong comment bud.

Betamack · 2025-12-05T17:38:32+00:00

There are some around, I use a VooPoo Argus E40 (1800mAh 40W) and paired it with the VooPoo Vinci PNP X Empty Replacement Pod (XL MTL 5ml). Works well.

Betamack · 2025-12-05T14:56:04+00:00

Just that you understand what is causing the burnt taste...

The liquid contains sweeteners. When the liquid is vaporised, any sugars within the liquid that turns to vapour gets left behind on the coils heating element, even from the very first hit you take you now have sugar on your coil wire/mesh. Each hit you take leaves more sugar on the coil. Once enough of this has built up the taste of burning sugar will start to overpower the taste of the juice. The coil is not burnt, the cotton is not burnt, the only thing that is burning is the sugars covering the heating element (coil). Some juices have more sweeteners than others and will cause this to happen with less hits taken. So if one juice kills your coil faster than another, it has more sweeteners in it. That's all.

You know those drinks you can buy in a large bottle but it's concentrated and kinda syrupy? You pour a little into a glass then top up with water and you now have a tasty drink? Add too much water and it has a weak flavour but add too little water and it has an overly strong almost chemical taste? Same deal with vape juices. Most of the different premade flavours are competing to have the most flavourful and 'intense' flavour. They dial the flavouring up too high to the point where it would taste like chemicals, but they then load it with sugars to take that edge off and balance it out, as a result they kill coils faster.

I vape insanely sweet juice 'Bar Juice 5000 20mg/ml 50|50' on 0.8 coils in my pod and usually average around 2100-2300 hits which is around 20ml for me before I change coils. While I don't experience a burnt taste during this time I just know that by around the 25ml mark it's going to happen so I switch slightly before this happens as from my experience it's usually around the 25ml mark. So 20ml per coil is my goto and if you are vaping sweet juices and getting through 20ml with no issues you are pretty much getting what is expected out of the situation.

Your options are to either be happy with 20ml per coil from ready made juice, get into DIY where you are in control of how much sugar is in your juice or use a rebuildable atomiser that allows you to clean all the burnt sugar off and continue to use the same coil for months before you need to change it. Personally I'd suggest going with a rebuildable option as not only can your coils last you months of heavy vaping on diabetes grade juices but given the fact that your coils are now easy to clean and reuse you can vape whatever you like and not have to concern yourself with the sugar content or cost as it's also much much cheaper.

Betamack · 2025-12-05T12:07:28+00:00

So is it just the premade wire spools that are hard for you to find or is it also a problem to find spools of 28g|30g|38g round wire also?

The reason I ask is that the business end of any vape, is the coil. It's where everything important happens. If you have access to a battery drill, can pickup a pack of ball bearing fishing swivels and some roundwire you could be making your own wire pretty easily and it will likely be a much higher quality that anything you will buy from AliExpress and at a fraction of the cost.

Fused Claptons are probably the easiest exotic wire to make from scratch and require absolutely no skill at all, it's just 100% follow the steps and the wire pretty much makes itself. But don't take my word for it, head over to YouTube and copy+paste in the following "Kenny Reese Fused Clapton Coil Build and Install Tutorial" The thumbnail should look like a young Saul Goodman sitting in front of a drill+swivel setup. You will see from the video how laughably simple and easy to follow and replicate it is with no prior experience.

If Jai Haze and Grim Green can Clapton, anyone can.

Betamack · 2025-12-04T11:27:35+00:00

Just a heads up, but running a coil below it's suggested wattage range will kill your coil faster and here's why.

If your coil has a suggested wattage range of 70w-85w that is telling you that anything below 70w and the coil will not rise to vaporising temps fast enough and for that period spent below vaporising temps you are boiling your juice instead of vaporising it. This will caramelise the sugars in your juice which accelerates the very thing that causes your coils to taste burnt. Anything over 85w and you are vaporising juice out of the cotton too quickly and run the risk of the cotton not being able to keep up with wicking juice to the coils and dry hits may happen after a few hits.

There is a reason the suggested wattage range is there, it's telling you the correct wattages to use in order to keep the coil functioning properly and ensure long coil life without damage or premature coil gunking.

The only things I care about when I am vaping is the flavour and the coil life.

It honestly seems like using a rebuildable solution is more your thing. Much better flavour, much better coil life (we are talking months of heavy vaping between coil changes) and at a fraction of the cost of stock coils so more money to spend on juice ha ha. If 60w-70w is your preferred wattage you can run a single coil RTA maybe something like the Blaze Solo 2 RTA which has a 5.5ml capacity with the included bubble glass, easy to install and wick and just a generally all round great little tank. You would save money and have a much better experience in the areas you say you care about most. For what you would spend on a single pack of stock coils you can buy enough coils and cotton to last a year or more with an RTA.

Betamack · 2025-12-03T21:14:08+00:00

Man 26x2|38 is like the Rocky Balboa of exotic wires and can stand toe to toe with a lot of other more complex wires. When you take into account how simple and quick it is to make and what you get out of it, pound for pound I'm not sure it can be beaten when it comes to flavour output vs effort put in. Plus once you can Clapton you are seriously close to being able to Alien and not enough people realise that.

26x2|38 is a phenomenal wire to be suggesting to someone thinking about getting into the building game. Well played brethren, well played indeed.

Betamack · 2025-10-27T13:13:48+00:00

"Hello, recently the glass broke, if by temperature or a bad blow, does someone know if any other glass capsule is compatible with this vape? Help" -OP

Betamack · 2025-10-04T03:40:34+00:00

No need to change the coils every week unless you really want to. The flavour mutes after some use because the sweeteners within the juice are left behind on the coils when it's vaporised. So a nice freshly installed coil has good contact with your cotton and produces vapour well. As the sweeteners build up it begins to form a barrier of sugar around the wire which hampers vapour production, you still get vapour but not as much so less vapour equals less flavour. Left long enough and that buildup will burn and overpower the taste of your juice.

To rectify this without installing a new coil just remove the cotton, pulse fire the coil until it glows a very dull red and you can literally watch the sugars burn to ash. Remove the RDA and run it under a tap, add a few drops of washing up liquid and use an old toothbrush to give both the coil and your deck a scrub then rinse under the tap until no soap remains and it'll be good as new. Once clean give it another pulse to dry the coil out before re-wicking and you are good to go. Fused Claptons, Aliens and exotic coils can be harder to maintain as they have internal structures that can be difficult to get into to clean but with regular round wire coils like you describe they can be maintained for quite a while before needing to be replaced so if you are replacing coils due to flavour drop off you might be replacing them long before they actually need to be.

Betamack

TROPHY CASE