M401 atomizer disassembled - pics

[wop1969]

Great, Thanks for the reply

[breno]

Originally Posted by RjG

Ever wanted to know what's in there? I was ripping a couple apart for the "wick" thread, thought I'd take some pics for y'all

Components of Atomizer


Under the hood



The coil itself (ick)




Neat part - the coil is wound around a ceramic wick, not fiber




Randy

Can I just ask a few questions about this?
There seem to to bit of what I will call 'metallic fibre', a circular bit, and a 'V' shaped bit. There is also a bridge shaped 'thing' straddling the top of the two green wires.

I assume electricity flows across this 'bridge' generating heat, now what about the metalic fibre? Does electricity flow through this or it it more of a 'heat store'?
Also the bridge seem to be inside what looks like a white pastic 'thing' (with two holes in it). I don't see the point of that because that would not seem to transfer heat out very well. Then there is a metal stepped bracket, does electricity flow though this or is it just to support the V shaped metal fabric?

[RjG]

Sure Breno.

The coil is made of Nichrome wire. It is wound around the ceramic pin, which is shown alone, in the last pic. The two green wires are soldered to it, and then it looks like the 3rd picture above (and it's covered in residue)

The coil fits into the white round thing, which is basically an insulator, it keeps everything in place. It is ceramic as well. We'll call that the CUP.

The metal foam stuff is what is wrapped around the CUP. It is the carrier for liquid to get from your cart to where it can be sucked into the CUP - and onto the coil for vaping. The U-Shaped one is just another piece of it, that goes over the top, the bridge. This stuff functions only as a wicking material to transport juice into the CUP from your CART, so it can be vaporized by the COIL.

The bent flat piece of metal is simply a support which holds the U-Shaped bridge up, over the coil, so it sticks into the cart a bit.

(On my newer M401 atomizers, there is also some extra bit of white bridge material, either replacing the bent flat metal part, or under it. Not sure which, since I haven't ripped one apart yet.)

The ONLY thing that conducts electricity is the NICHROME COIL. Nothing else.

Heat is a bad thing in an atomizer. Cold, or even a tiny bit warm, and they work the best. When they get hot, they work poorly. Nothing is made to retain heat.

[Master_Vapor]

Very nice detailed pics! Are the green wires soldered at the coil right at the heat source? I would think the NICHROME COIL leads would go further down the insulator before a solder connection was made so as the solder would be further away from the heat source. Or perhaps even "resistance spot/tack welded" as opposed to solder. Just a thought

[Ez Duzit]

Question for ya RJG. I tried to drill out the hole on the battery side of the atomizer to improve the draw. I was pretty sure it was a big limiting factor. Killed one atty on my first attempt, but got the hole drilled on the second atty. But the increase in the draw was barely noticeable. Did you happen to notice what the limiting factors are with regard to air flow? Or possibly a way to improve the draw on these things?

[RjG]

Yep, every atomizer I've ever seen has a solder blob on either end. Dunno why, because it's cheap and easy to manufacture that way I imagine.

Air flow - I thought there was lots on an m401
But there is pretty huge variations - mine are the Puresmoker version from February, and they have changed quite a bit since then - so yours may be completely different.

I'm not sure how to increase the airflow.

What I do know, is that all the air travels through the center hole, and through the battery, so it would involve drilling another, or enlarging the hole, on the side of the battery thread.

There's no where else for air to get in - even if you drill a hole in the side of the atomizer, there's no path for that air to get to the center hole.

[Carlos49]

RJG:
I would imagine that the 401 attys are made the same as all the others...Everyone who trys to drill the center hole bigger...BEWARE!!! The center piece on the atty will spin if you try to drill and will break the wire that's soldered there. If you are going to drill take apart your atty, unsolder the wires, then you can drill the center part out. Then you can reassemble your atty.
When I started mesing with attys I ruined a bunch before I figured it out, I have rebuild them since but at the time I thought that I just threw a bunch of money out the window. So as far as my experience goes, which I am still learning, just work cautiously and you get what you want. Don't forget you do not have to drill it much bigger.
RJG... Sorry to jump in there just thought that information would help any new members trying this.
Carlos

[RjG]

No worries, Carlos :-)

I wouldn't drill out the center hole at all though, it's the biggest hole already... so there's no point. It's not the restriction.

The restriction would be the smallest hole, which is the tiny hole at the side of the battery thread... on the battery. That's what I meant, if it wasn't clear from the previous post.

They are not all the same though. 510's can breath pretty well from the side. I didn't even have an open center hole at all, when using a 510 on a MOD.

401's breathe exclusively through the center hole though, 100%

[Ez Duzit]

The hole in the battery on the 401 does absolutely nothing to facilitate (love that word) airflow. I would guess it is there so the sound of you drawing air through the mouthpiece, activates the battery. Just try and suck air through the battery, and you'll see there is no airflow at all. The airflow on the 401's comes from the 4 notches on the atty where it meets the battery.

[42109]

EZ, The air from the 4 notches goes through the hole next to the threads and comes to the atty through the batt hole. Try plugging that hole and see what you get.