Tools That'll Make Things Easier

Your tank will likely include a few very basic tools, which can range in quality from throwaway to just about useable, but generally designed more for catalogue appeal than actual use. In any case there are additional tools to consider which'll make life easier in the long run.

All the following are available from the usual Chinese online retailers. Not all are mandatory, your judgement will guide as to which are worth investing in.

Tools you might find included with your tank. The orange 'T' drivers and allen key are OK but blue drivers are almost useless

Vape Toolkit

Cheaply available from Wish/Aliexpress. Not premium quality but'll start you off in the right direction. These include (L->R)...

Folding scissors - for cutting cotton wicks, sharpness of these seems a lottery
Pointed tweezers - used to comb cotton wicks etc, not essential
Coil rod - have stepped diameters for winding coils around (1.5->3.5mm at 0.5mm intervals). Mine's now been superceded by my Pirate coil winding tool (below)
Small keyring screwdriver - quite good for scaping away swarf, shaping wicks, etc
Wire brush - useful for getting hotspots out of coils when space is limited
Side cutters - for cutting wirre, mine are actually quite good
T driver - has M2.5 & M3.0mm hex key for terminal screws plus a cross point
Ceramic tweezers - great for adjusting hot coils, also the flexible hinge can be used for shifting overtightened tank caps & bases

👁️ On my coil rod, the stepped diameters are exact specified values of 1.5->3.5mm This means that coils wound on this tool will have approx 0.2mm greater inner diameter than expected.

Coil Winding Tool

Optional but can save time & effort. If interested, I suggest the Pirate Coil/clone equivalent. Several others are available, but check they're designed to wind both clockwise and anticlockwise coils (not all are). They need practise to get the hang but great for a quick forming of an even coil, which especially makes sense if you're intending to drive your RTA at higher Wattages, have a small build deck, or any reason to need an accurately wound coil.

Pirate Coil/Coil Father or clone. Probably the preferred option for our purposes but ensure it handles both clockwise and anticlockwise windings before buying.

👁️ Like the stepped coil rod mentioned above, diameters of all rods are exact specified diameter so creates a coil of ~0.2mm extra inner diameter than might be expected.

Looks great, but this kit's only geared for winding clockwise coils (see this page for an explanation of coil orientation) - there's only one wire guide hole (circled red), which is angled for CW coils. So not ideal for a Kylin Mini V2 . Update - I've now drilled my own CCW hole on this tool but it was a tricky operation.

👁️ Saving grace! The rods diameters on this tool ~0.2mm less than their specified diameters, so achieving a very close match to the desired value on the finished coil.

Another coil tool. These certainly do the job although to me they seem best with thicker gauge wires. For "sub ohm" nornal gauge winding, I personally prefer the ones shown above.

For finer MTL wire gauges. Both sides are for inner diameter 2.5mm, one is a left handed and other a right handed thread so clockwise and anticlockwise coils can be wound. Also includes cross point and flat blade driver tips.

Snipe Nose Pliers

For straightening coil legs that have emerged twisted from the winding process. Jobs that tweezers aren't really beefy enough for

Reasonable Quality Screwdrivers

These don't need to be premium, just OK to operate without risk of scratching or otherwise damaging screw heads

Coil Leg Measuring Tool

Handy for cutting off coil legs at a good size for your tank. I've seen genuine "Coily" models at insane prices on Amazon. Don't overpay, they're only a lump of plastic available very cheaply on Wish

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