The Maths for the alien coil

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  • How to calculate the Decore for your alien coil. It’s very easy, but you have to respect the proportions and avoid speaking in gauge.


    How to calculate the Decore for your alien coil. It's very easy, but you have to respect the proportions and avoid speaking in gauge.

    The alien coil is one of the most popular in vaping, but also one of the most difficult to make. You have to master the clapton and the fused clapton before tackling the alien. The default alien coil is 3 cores (main wires). The inventor of the alien, Blue Eyed Goon (he is also the creator of the RDA Goon), went on 3 cores. But as soon as this alien coil landed, everyone declined it to their liking.

    The base of the alien coil

    Mastery of alien is essential for most advanced coils. But how do you know the diameter of the clapton you’re going to stretch and turn into an alien? By clapton, I mean the wire that will be the “Decore”. The Decore is a wire that is “stripped” from its clapton.

    For example, you clapton a 36 on a 26. Then you put the drill in reverse mode for a few seconds to “relax” the clapton. You remove it and you have a “Decore”. This Decore, you are going to stretch it until the sections space out and then you go clapton on 3 cores tightly together to have your alien.

    Stop thinking in gauge (AWG)

    To do the alien coil math, you need to stop thinking about the gauge, but the wire diameter which is in millimeters. For an alien coil in 3 cores, the math is simple, because you will have a Decore on 26. But what if you do 5 cores, 2 cores and other complex stuff. The calculation becomes complicated.

    How to calculate the Decore for your alien coil. It's very easy, but you have to respect the proportions and avoid speaking in gauge.

    And this is where what is known as the famous “3 to 1” ratio comes in. The 3 for 1 is always a consistency on the alien coil. But to do the math, you need to stop thinking in gauge (AWG) for your resistive wires and consider them in diameter. The unit in AWG does not really make technical sense, it is mainly used by manufacturers to identify wires more easily.

    It’s also easy for us to talk in gauge, but it’s useless when calculating the alien coil. Below is a table that lists the main AWG gauges and their respective diameters in millimeters.

    Table of resistive wires in gauge (AWG) and their diameters in millimeters

    Gauge of resistive wires and their diameters in millimeters
    Wire en AWGDiameter in millimeters
    16 AWG1,9 mm
    18 AWG1,02 mm
    20 AWG0,81 mm
    22 AWG0,64 mm
    24 AWG0,51 mm
    26 AWG0,40 mm
    27 AWG0,37 mm
    28 AWG0,32 mm
    29 AWG0,30 mm
    30 AWG0,25 mm
    32 AWG0,20 mm
    33 AWG0,17 mm
    34 AWG0,17 mm
    35 AWG0,15 mm
    36 AWG0,125 mm
    38 AWG0,10 mm
    40 AWG0,08 mm
    42 AWG0,063 mm
    44 AWG0,05 mm
    46 AWG0,041 mm
    48 AWG0,032 mm
    50 AWG0,025 mm

    In general, coil builders will have a little reminder that contains the diameters in millimeters that they use most frequently to make their alien coil. After a little practice, it becomes second nature to understand the necessary wire for the “Decore”.

    The formula for the alien coil

    The formula to know the Decor of your alien coil is very simple:

    Wire diameter in millimeters x Number of cores / 3

    And that’s all. Let us give examples. If you make a 3-core alien on 26 (the metal type doesn’t matter), then the math is as follows:

    0.4 x 3/3 = 0.4 millimeters

    And since 26 AWG is 0.4 millimeters, you have your Decore. You’ll tell me the answer lies in the equation. And I would say that the alien coil calculation doesn’t matter much on very simple aliens. But when you do advanced builds where you are going to combine the alien with other coils, for example the Fralien, then this calculation will be very important. Now, let’s say you want to make an alien with 2 cores in 26, then the calculation is as follows:

    0.4 x 2/3 = 0.26

    When the value is too precise with lots of decimal places, it should always be rounded. So, for the alien in 2 Cores, we have 0.3 millimeters, so we will have to make a Decore with 28 AWG. For an alien coil in 5 cores, the calculation is as follows:

    0.4 x 5/3 = 0.66

    So you can go on 24 or 22. 24 AWG is 0.51 millimeters while 22 AWG is 0.64 millimeters. This calculation is not an exact science and you can never have really precise values. You just have to play with the closest diameters and it also depends on the Builder’s preference. For many, they prefer 24 AWG, although it is further than 22 in diameters, because the wire will be softer.

    The math for Fralien

    The Fralien is a Framed Staple on which we will clapton an alien. We consider that it is the coil that offers the best possible vape. And the math of the Decore of Fralien is even more simple and easy. A framed staple is made with ribbon, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, etc. But it is not this dimension who is important, but the height of the ribbon. And this is where it is easy, because the height of any ribbon is always 0.1 millimeter. So, the formula for the Decore of Fralien is as follows:

    Height in millimeters x Number of Cores

    If you do a Fralien with 4 stacked ribbons, then the math is:

    0.1 x 4 = 0.4 mm

    And 0.4 millimeters is equivalent to 26 AWG. So, this formula is really good, because it also gives the diameter of the wire for the Frames, but also for the Decore. So a Fralien with 4 ribbons must be framed with two wires of 26 AWG and the Decore will also be done on 26. If we want a Fralien with 5 ribbons, then

    0.1 x 5 = 0.5 millimeters

    And 0.5 millimeter corresponds to 24 AWG which will be your Decore and also your Frames. This formula works to a certain extent, but it causes problems when we do big Fraliens, like 8 stacked Ribbons, because we arrive at 20 AWG Decore which is no longer relevant. But the Decore du Fralien is not an exact science. And we can increase the value to be comfortable on the wire.

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    Editor-in-chief, skinned alive, eternal grouch, conservative and nationalist. Sometimes talks about vaping.

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