Vape School: How To Build Coils + Anatomy of an RDA

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Are you trying to enter into the world of rebuildable vaporizers but have no idea where to begin? Well, it’s time we dive in deep to the anatomy of a Rebuildable Dripping Atomizer.

Building coils for vaping is really not as hard, or as scary, as it seems. The most important part to rebuilding your own RDA is understanding the different components and their purposes.

Once  you understand the parts of your RDA, you are off to experiment in the land of flavor. Knowing the basics of building is crucial, and then it is all “fun and wire"" from there on.

Positive post

The positive post on an RDA is the piece that is connected through to the pin on the bottom of the atomizer. This comes into contact with the positive pin of the 510 connection on the device and is separated from the negative by an insulator. For the most part the positive post is in the center of the deck, however there are some RDA’s (like the one pictured above) that only have two posts. The way to be sure what post is positive is paying attention to where the insulator is. The positive post will always be the one with the insulator around it and not directly milled out of the deck.

Negative post

The negative post on an RDA is the piece that is directly milled out of the deck. The entire RDA (besides the positive post/center pin) acts as the negative ground. For the most part the negative posts are the posts towards the outermost edges of the RDA and are directly milled out of the deck or in some cases pressure-fit in.

Insulator

The insulator is the piece of material that separates the positive post/pin from the rest of the deck. The insulator is made of a heat-resistant material that resembles a hard plastic but has a VERY high melting point.

510 Connection

The 510 connection is the piece protruding out the bottom of the RDA which is screwed into the device. The outer threading of the 510 is negative and the center is positive. Inside of the 510 connection there is an insulator separating the two.

Expert Tips on building/installing coils:

• The coil should never touch the top cap, deck, or anywhere on the positive/negative posts besides where you attach the leads.

• Coil’s should never be touching each other. This can create a hotspot. We’ll cover hotspots in a future post.

• Coils should always heat evenly from the inside out.

• You never want your leads to be too long because it will cause the coil to heat fastest from the legs.

• You can always adjust the coils using your building tool, small pick, ceramic tweezers, or pliers.

• If you are trying to squeeze your coil together never do so while firing unless you are using ceramic tweezers. Using any metal tools while firing will melt your lead and require you to start from the beginning.