Cigar rebuild - PICS (Bling v2)

**RjG** · 05-01-2009, 05:23 PM

There's two kinds of silver solder - I used low temp soldering iron "lead free" silver solder. The stuff they use from the factory melts with a soldering iron, so I felt comfortable using that. Personally, I think there's not a lot of silver in it, but that's what the label says

I just didn't want to use lead based solder in there for obvious poisonous reasons.
The acid core solder I have, that I needed to use for TINNING the nichrome, IS lead based. I don't know if you can get lead-free acid core.

(Tinning - for those not so electronically inclined - is a very very thin coating, just enough to put a different color on it. It's not thick, just enough to have an oxide free compatible metal for your preferred solder to have something to bind to)

I do use silver solder braze (which is the other variety Kender is talking about) on other projects, for stainless steel, and fixing busted bandsaw blades. You really need a brazing torch to make that stuff melt. The flux is some white paste that needs extreme heat too. Dull red is the temp the flux melts and the silver starts flowing. .004 nichrome might survive... maybe.... the copper wire probably wouldn't though.

P.S. Even the acid core solder I used to TIN with will vaporize that .004 nichrome if you let the soldering iron sit on it for more than 1/10 second.

**kender** · 05-02-2009, 01:57 AM

thanks for clearing that up. That was the only silver solder that I knew about.

**kender** · 05-02-2009, 05:22 AM

do you know about the temps the atomizer runs at. It must be pretty low. I normally set my soldering iron at 700 degrees so the atomizers must run lower than that. Guessing around 400? I have a small temp probe at work and I'll place it under the bridge by the coil and see how hot it gets while I vape.

**nbrice** · 05-02-2009, 10:06 PM

On this mod I'm looking for some details on how to disassemble the inners of the cigar. RjG is extremely talented and creative on the tools to accomplish this project.

Unfortunately, I don't have the skills or equipment to do what RjG did. I'm looking to see if others have been able to do what RjG did with common tools: Take the screw ends out, extract the atomizer assembly out of the cigar tub and reinstall the atomizer assembly back into the cigar tube.

Once that’s done I have some detail questions like the steel mesh and where to get it.

Any help or ideas would be appreciated.

**RjG** · 05-03-2009, 10:41 AM

The only really hard part is getting the ends off . They are a tight fit, with a bit of glue or glaze too. You can probably rock them off with a mouthpiece if you're careful - it will screw in both ends with a bit of effort. The thread is the same, it's just a tiny bit smaller on the LED end.

I've done BLINGS, RN, and DSE cigars, the process is exactly the same. I haven't had to use it every time, but a heat gun on the tube helps a lot to loosen things up when they get stuck (metal expands a lot with a little bit of heat). You should be able to push the guts out with a screwdriver or something, rather than the tool I made. Once it breaks free, the insides slide out reasonable easy. You don't need really need any tools to put them back together, other than a screwdriver to push the insides back in.

I took lots of pictures of RN's and DSE cigars as well, disassembled. I should post them somewhere :-)

**kender** · 05-03-2009, 07:05 PM

Excellent work on those RjG!
I took the temps under the bridge in the atomizer with a janty dura manual battery and a joye510 atomizer.
205 degrees at the start then dropped and held steady at 175 degrees for the rest of the draw.

They run a lot cooler than I thought they would.

The atomizer was pretty dry so they might run even cooler when wet.

**nbrice** · 05-06-2009, 01:50 AM

Originally Posted by RjG

The only really hard part is getting the ends off . They are a tight fit, with a bit of glue or glaze too. You can probably rock them off with a mouthpiece if you're careful - it will screw in both ends with a bit of effort. The thread is the same, it's just a tiny bit smaller on the LED end.

I've done BLINGS, RN, and DSE cigars, the process is exactly the same. I haven't had to use it every time, but a heat gun on the tube helps a lot to loosen things up when they get stuck (metal expands a lot with a little bit of heat). You should be able to push the guts out with a screwdriver or something, rather than the tool I made. Once it breaks free, the insides slide out reasonable easy. You don't need really need any tools to put them back together, other than a screwdriver to push the insides back in.

I took lots of pictures of RN's and DSE cigars as well, disassembled. I should post them somewhere :-)

When you get some time this would be a good place to post those pix

**kinabaloo** · 05-06-2009, 04:38 AM

I wonder if it would be better to crimp join the nichrome coil to the feeder leads.

Some tests that Exogenesis did showed a surprising amount of tin in the deposit material that presumably had leeched from the solder under heat, electrical and juice-solvent action.

Btw: I vote to sticky this thread; perhaps in the Atomizer sub-forum.

**kinabaloo** · 05-06-2009, 04:44 AM

Originally Posted by kender

Excellent work on those RjG!
I took the temps under the bridge in the atomizer with a janty dura manual battery and a joye510 atomizer.
205 degrees at the start then dropped and held steady at 175 degrees for the rest of the draw.

They run a lot cooler than I thought they would.

The atomizer was pretty dry so they might run even cooler when wet.

That's interesting Kender, but was this coil temperature or the temp of the air near to it?