Cleaning atomizer

[Princessdee]

Hubby just made me the coolest atomizer cleaner!

somewhere on the cola method thread http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/for...vel-works.html

someone posted that he made a cleaner from a battery box. I give him credit for this idea. (Too lazy to look up which post )

He wrote up how to do it for us.
Email me or post questions. I never remember to check my PMs.


Atomizer Cleaner

This is a simple to make atomizer cleaner that take rough 15 minutes to make.

The power source for this cleaner is an AC adapter. If you are like me you have dozens of these transformers lying around
from old consumer electronics that the actual device died and you could not bare to throw the transformer out cause you may need it for something some day. Make sure the output is 5-7 volts DC (NOT AC) and at least 300mA. Most consumer electronics, the AC adapters are less than 1A (1000mA) at least the DC output one, but I have seem some that where higher. I would not go any higher than 1A. The transformer I used for mine is 5.8 volt DC, 300mA and it works great.

What you will need:

A power source
A No.2 Pencil
Soldering Iron
Razor knife
Heat shrink tubing or electrical tape.


1) Take the pencil and pull the eraser and metal holder off the end of the pencil. DO NOT pull the eraser out of the metal holder.

2) Take the razor knife and cut the eraser off leaving roughly a millimeter sticking out past the metal holder.

3) On the AC adapter cut off the end that plugged into the electronic device and toss it.

4) Now strip the insulation off the ends of the wires about one inch and use the soldering iron to "tin" both wires. Make sure to "tin" the whole one inch of exposed wire. "Tin" basically means coat the wire with the solder so the strands become one solid wire.

5) Now take one of the wires and push it through the middle of the eraser from the inside where the pencil was toward the outside you cut off. You can use something like a paper clip to make a pilot hole first so the wire pushes through easier.

6) Once you get the wire through the eraser, pull it from the outside until the insulation of the wire is touching the eraser.

7) Now either solder the second wire to the outside of the metal housing of the eraser or using either heat shrink tubing or electrical tape, secure it to the outside of the meta housing.

8) Trim the excess length of wire from the outside and trim the wire going through the eraser leaving roughly a millimeter or two sticking out the end of the eraser.

That is all there is to it.

A standard No.2 pencils eraser and metal housing is just the right diameter to fit in the end of the atomizer where it connects to the battery. All you need to do is touch the atomizer to the end of the cleaner. The metal casing of the eraser will touch the threaded inside of the atomizer and the wire in the center of the eraser will touch the center of the atomizer completing the circuit. Do not hold it there more than a couple seconds at a time. If you look in the end of the atomizer you will see the element get red hot. Do this a few time for a couple seconds each time and this will burn off any residue that is built up.

Good luck and have fun.

[BlackNiccer]

one things for sure.every atomizer is smoother and tastes better long before its cleaned. boiling for a short time in lemon or orange juice, use grapefruit and bamboo tongs. homedepot and lowes to suggest killing yourself.after 20 drops the draw is stronger than new but never tastes the same, but at leat without the altered tastes from other safer means. it beats running it thru with hot water and what that does

[BlackNiccer]

or less safe means

[MaxPower]

this may have been tried before but I read through as many pages as I could and didn't find anything.

Alcohol such as denatured or isopropyl and salt. Put ingredients in a ziplock bag with atomizer and shake it.

I've used this to clean other "smoking" devices and it works wonders. It's basically the same thing as 420 cleaner which has been around for a long time.

I don't have any atomizers to try this with yet, so i'm not sure if their small size will make it difficult for the solution to work through the device.

If anyone has tried this, how did it work out for you?

[niclover]

will any colgne or perfume spray help in any way cleaning a clogged atomizer.

[belevitt]

This isn't really of any relevance but I have some experience with canned air. The air that comes out is not merely air, it contains some sort of contaminants- in exceedingly low concentration. However, while working with biosensor chips, I noticed that canned air will leave residues on the order of 10 to 50 nm thick on any surface, even when sprayed in very short bursts. I can't believe this would have any effect on something as large as a atomizer coil or battery connections. I don't see any reason why this would be bad for your electronic cigarette.

[markule]

Disclaimer: I don't even have an e-cig yet, so I'm just going off the stuff I've read and seen.

Considering some of the procedures I've read here, this doesn't seem too bad and just might work:
1. Soak in baking soda water. Use warm to hot water with as much baking soda as will dissolve, soak however long you like, 5 minutes at least as a guess. Baking soda will be basic and may dissolve some of the components of the gunk. Like many methods, some people say this has worked for them by itself.
2. Soak in vinegar. Or any other acidic solution, like lemon juice. On the one hand, the acid may dissolve some other components of the gunk, on the other, reaction with the carbonate from the baking soda makes carbon dioxide (it fizzes). Since the baking soda soaked in, some of that bubble production should happen down inside the wick and gunk, and might help break it up. Since there's no real way to scrub the atomizer, it seems like it couldn't hurt. May be part of why cola has worked for some people, carbon dioxide bubbles forming in the wicking, (plus cola is acidic). Soak until fizzing stops, and then a bit longer just to be sure.
3. Rinse. I'd suggest filtered or distilled water, but it probably doesn't matter.
4. Dry.
5. Drip, gotta re-wet all that wick with juice.
6. Test?

As the disclaimer says, I have no way to try this, so if anyone does before I get a gummed up atomizer to play with, lemme know how it turns out.

[exogenesis]

markule, you're certainly getting about, good posts all round.

I've tried something similar recently:

With a heavily gunked coil, removed from atomizer,
in a petri-dish, then several cycles of :

1 soak in saturated sodium bicarbonate for an 30 mins
2 drip on acid (85% phosphoric) till excess
3 leave to soak in the acid for an hour
4 drip on sat. bicarb till excess
back to 1

The initial acid stages dissolve out some red-brown colour,
and the fizz from dropping acid on bicarb,or vice-versa,
causes quite a lot of small black bits to 'fall off',
at least for the first two cycles.

After that not much else happened & the majority of the gunk
is still on the coil.

But this was wih an extreme case
(the wiring had been snapped by the hard gunk build-up),
it might be a good technique for less heavy build-ups.

[kinabaloo]

With an active coil, subsequent heating might well have caused the remaining deposit to break off.

[zip]

After looking at the pics of the gunk, I started thinking that it looked very similar to the creosote build up we used to get in our stove pipes and chimneys from burning wood. In order to dry it up to prevent chimney fires, we used to throw a handful of salt on the hot coals occasionally. After this treatment we would give the stovepipe a rap and the buildup would just let go and the pipes were clean again without having to brush. I don't know if a saline solution or heating up the coil with a few grains of salt would have the same effect but it might be worth a try. I am new to vaping and do not have any gunked up spare atomizers to try it on but it might be worth a shot for someone with spares. If it works it sure would be a cheap fix. Caution,I would not try and inhale the salt vapor
Zip