I have used a coil jig similar to that posted by @clockmanFRA. I have used 1.7mm wire, too, and I must confirm there wasn't any problem at all. All the coils were almost identical (120 turns, only few grams weight difference).
The only (minor) problem was to design a proper coil (jig) width as to have an integer number of turns for a row. Actually, you have "n" turns for the first row then "n-1" on the next one, then "n", "n-1" and so on. I had 8,7,8,7,.. turns on alternate rows thus (8+7) x 8 = 120 turns.
PS: It's funny that this topic has been posted on "Solar" section.. the sun makes the wind blow, after all.