Guide to Building a Kayfun Style Atomizer
I’ve written many articles on how electronic cigarettes are taking the Nation by storm. As more beginners move into intermediate and advanced devices, more advanced atomizers will eventually be explored. I will be showing in detail how to properly rebuild a Kayfun style atomizer. A Kayfun is a very popular rebuildable atomizer that is rebuildable using kanthal and wicking material such as cotton. A Kayfun performs similar to other tank based atomizers, but it is larger in size and delivers fantastic flavor.
Items you will need:
Kayfun Lite/ Kayfun Lite Plus (clone or real thing, doesn’t matter for this tutorial)
Kanthal (28 gauge, but other gauges would work)
Ohm meter
Tweezers (ceramic preferred)
Cotton or other wicking material (use cotton if available)
Scissors
Micro screwdriver
Drillbit (5/64” preferred)
Step 1:
Put the Kayfun base onto the ohm meter. Although this step is not necessary, it is just easier to build the coil; as having a solid weighted base will make things easier (trust me on this).
Step 2:
Wrap the kanthal wire around the 5/64” drill bit (or screwdriver like you see above) 9 times. Try to wrap the wire as tight as possible. If there is space, between the wraps, no worries, we’ll tighten the wraps later on.
Step 3:
Use a smaller screwdriver or drill bit to create a small wrap on each side of the coil. Tough to explain but looking at the picture, bend the wrap such that the wrap is perpendicular to the coil. When making the small wrap, make sure they are equal distance apart and not too far away from the center coil. 2-3 millimeters should be sufficient.
Step 4:
Remove the screws on the Kayfun base and place them both in the smaller wraps created in the previous step. Carefully rescrew the screws back on. Place the 5/64” drillbit/screwdriver back into the coil and screw the screws back onto the base. Placing the drillbit/screwdriver back into the coil keeps the coil’s shape while the ends are being tightened.
Step 5:
Cut the ends off on both ends. Be sure to cut the kanthal wire as close to the edge as possible so that no extra piece hangs off. If there is an extra piece hanging off, use the screwdriver to bed the piece inward.
Step 6:
Turn on the ohm meter to check the ohms. It should be around 1.6 ohms. A bit higher or lower is fine (depending on what device you are using). If the ohm meter is reading below 0.8 ohms or above 2.0 ohms, you have to rebuild it again as that is not in the optimal range. If you are using a non-regulated device (a mech mod), the ideal range is 0.9ohms to 1.2 ohms. On a regulated device, the ideal range is within 1.2 ohms and 1.8 ohms.
Step 7:
Be sure there is at least 1 mm of space between the coil and the atomizer base. If the coil is near touching or touch the base, it could short out your atomizer.
Step 8:
Put the atomizer base onto a device and fire the device. The atomizer should glow red. Do not fire for too long; in fact, only do short bursts. Use tweezers to squeeze the coil so that it compresses the coil so that it will be as non-springy as possible. Be sure not to touch the coils while you are firing. I’m dead serious as metal tweezers can cause sparks to fly. Press on the coils while the coils are red, but be sure you are not firing the device!
Step 9:
Thread the coil with a piece of cotton. Make sure the cotton piece is not too tight and not too loose. The cotton will expand when saturated with E-Juice. If the cotton is too tight, airflow will be restricted. If the cotton is too loose, the coil can burn without and E-Juice causing a dry hit.
Step 10:
Fluff out the cotton. It doesn’t have to be perfect.
Step 11:
Cut off the excess cotton so that no excess cotton is hanging off the base.
Step 12:
Screw on the middle piece of the chamber (looks like a cylinder). And stuff the cotton into the chamber and adjacent to the coil.
Step 13:
Ensure that there is space on both sides of the coil ends and no cotton is blocking the sides of the chamber. This allows the E-Juice to flow into the chamber and saturate the wicks and coils. Drop a few drops of E-Juice into the coil and cotton and fire your device. You should see the E-Juice vaporize.
Step 14:
Go ahead and screw on the rest of the Kayfun. As you’ve already guessed, you are almost done at this point. Do not fill you E-Juice until the next step. Ensure everything is nice and tight, but not too tight as you want to eventually want to take it apart in the future.
Step 15:
Fill your E-Juice from the bottom fill hole. Go slow; otherwise you may make a mess. The picture on the right hand side shows you which is the fill hole. Make sure you go for the bigger screw of the two on the bottom. The bigger screw is for the fill hole, the smaller hole is the airflow adjustment screw.
Step 16:
Take a few puffs from the drip tip without firing to ensure the wicks are fully saturated. You should see bubbles come up when you take the puffs. If you do not, hold the airhole (pictured above) close with your finger and take a few puffs until bubbles appear. Assuming your wicks did not block the juice channels (like I showed in step 12), the air bubbles should appear.
You may get some cotton taste for a bit, but it should go away eventually. Enjoy! The Kayfun is one of the best atomizers out there and always gives great fantastic flavor. If you start to get a burnt taste, it is time to change out the cotton, but I’ve gone through a several weeks before having to change out the wicks; assuming you do not dry fire for too long that is. The coils will last a couple of months even with heavy use. Remember if you are using thicker E-Juice, it may take a bit longer to saturate, and the ‘trick’ explained above with the finger over the airhole will have to be used more often to avoid dry hits over the use of the atomizer. But from experience this only happens with super thick (Max VG) E-Juice.
With a rebuildable atomizer like the Kayfun, you no longer have to worry about replaceable coil heads for your atomizers; instead you just rebuild one yourself! A bit annoying at first (and time consuming) but it is worth it at the end.
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