bringing atomizers back to life

[Dominique Hoogduin]

Yeah, I wouldn't use a lighter to try and clean wicks - been there, done that and they just end up a black, sooty, foul-tasting mess

Isopropyl will certainly dissolve some of the crud out of an eGo atty though so that's worth a shot. Good luck!

hmm when using lighters dont hold stuff above the yellow part.. the blue part is the cleanest burn

 

[AndriaD]

I think I'm just going to try and use them as long as possible... soak them in 60% alcohol, 40% water... let dry for a good long time... and hope for the best, but not expect miracles. I just got a new pack of atomizers today, so I won't "run out" or anything... plus, I'm getting that iTaste vv3 Thursday, and won't need the eRoll for full-time use.

Thx!
Andria

 

[rico942]

I'm convinced now that an alcohol soak just isn't enough to completely restore good taste in used attys ...

I look at the 20 odd attys I have sitting in a tray, and think that represents an $80 investment, the coils are still good, and they're not that hard to open up ...

I ordered new atomizers too, but am curious about cotton wicks over silica ...

 

[Dominique Hoogduin]

I'm convinced now that an alcohol soak just isn't enough to completely restore good taste in used attys ...

I look at the 20 odd attys I have sitting in a tray, and think that represents an $80 investment, the coils are still good, and they're not that hard to open up ...

I ordered new atomizers too, but am curious about cotton wicks over silica ...

Need to obtain some cotton soon here.. then ill try that and let u know '

Well dont ask me why but i have a bag of 100% cotton balls that was on a shelf here somewhere.. Ill get into that tomorrow

also: http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/joyetech-eroll-mini/531953-making-cotton-wicks-eroll.html

he's been down that road already too

 

[rico942]

OK, so last night I finally got some time to take the plunge and try to recover some burnt atomizers, after a long alcohol soak ...

I tried trimming the discolored coil end of the slilca wick, taking off just the very end with small surgical scissors. That worked alright ...

Then per directions I fired the coil by placing the open atty on a battery and inhaling at the other end. The coil fired for maybe 3 or 4 seconds each time, and by the third time all of the brown crud was completely burned away, leaving a nice shiny coil, like magic ! Just as previous posters have said ...

Didn't need to use the mirror trick, the coil fired after each inhale, and continued long enough to turn it around and observe ...

The shortened wick gives a disappointing performance, though. The burnt taste is gone, but vapor and throat hit are much reduced. I suppose this is because the juice has to bridge the gap between the wick and the coil, interrupting the flow ...

So now I gotta get serious and make some new cotton wicks, per the video, long enough to reach the coil. The self-cleaning of the coil works much better than I expected, never had to touch it with a brush or pick ...

 

[ke7in11]

I've had the same experience so far with a vodka soak for 24 hours, then scalding hot water replenished every 45 minutes or so for about a day, then air dry, and dry burn. I have not rebuilt a wick yet.

If I use cotton, do I still need a SS sleeve in the point?

 

[Dominique Hoogduin]

got a cotton wick in nice result

 

[chefkeith]

I rewick every time now. No sense fussing with trying to clean a wick.

 

[rico942]

I took another 5 atomizers apart last night, and put them in alcohol to soak. One of them had a silica wick so badly discolored that I poked it out of the spike with a paper clip. Then I noticed there was something else in the hole, it was a metallic outer wick, a hollow tube of mesh ...

Is this normal, or peculiar to a particular brand of atomizer ?

 

[Dominique Hoogduin]

I took another 5 atomizers apart last night, and put them in alcohol to soak. One of them had a silica wick so badly discolored that I poked it out of the spike with a paper clip. Then I noticed there was something else in the hole, it was a metallic outer wick, a hollow tube of mesh ...

Is this normal, or peculiar to a particular brand of atomizer ?

Seems to be normal for the joyetechs

Verstuurd vanaf mijn GT-I9195 met Tapatalk

 

[rico942]

I'm convinced that metal wick jacket restricts juice flow. I removed it along with the old burnt wicks ...

After following the steps in rj134's thread for making cotton wicks, I'm getting much increased vapor and throat hit, with the same juices I used before ...

Maybe the cotton wicks won't last as long, and the tanks will empty faster, but I'm getting the best performance ever from my Elips and eRoll units ...

 

[usastratsu]

Simplest way of looking after your eRoll attys is this:

1) Soak them in some hot water for 15mins in case the wicks are stuck to the coil.
2) Prise them apart gently with a jeweller's screwdriver.
3) Burn the black gunk off the wick on a gas hob (should be white-ish when clean - leave the wick in the 'spike' and hold with pliers).
4) Take the coil end and stick that back on the eRoll battery with the 'cone' and blow gently into the end.
4a) Do this preferably looking in a mirror so you can see what's happening.
4b) Only blow for 3 seconds or so at a time - eventually you'll see the coil glowing.
4c) Keep blowing until no more smoke comes off the coil.
5) Rinse everything, let it dry, reassemble.
6) Add a few drops of e-liquid to the spike to soak the wick then you're good to go.

I'm using stainless steel wicks now but I'm still using the two coils that came with the eRoll back in December - pretty darn resilient!

So where do you pry the atty apart at? Between the gold contact on the bottom and the plastic OR between the plastic and silver housing (bottom of the cylinder)? Or maybe between the top of the cylinder and the spike? Those are the 3 possible joints that I see on the atty.

 

[chefkeith]

You'll wanna stick with option 3 ;-)

 

[jav74]

Did you have some tip for easy way to turn needle back to head of atty?it is hardest part for me

 

[patkin]

So where do you pry the atty apart at? Between the gold contact on the bottom and the plastic OR between the plastic and silver housing (bottom of the cylinder)? Or maybe between the top of the cylinder and the spike? Those are the 3 possible joints that I see on the atty.

There are air slits on the spike plate. One or both will be just big enough to fit a jewelers or sewing machine flat screw driver in. Pry gently there. If it fits on both sides then alternate sides to "walk" it out. Make sure they're soaked good before doing this because if the flavor wick is stuck to the coild, pulling the spike plate out will pull the flavor wick out of the spike. That's okay if you're going to replace if of course but, if not, it will just be extra work getting it back in the spike.

 

[telsie]

Did you have some tip for easy way to turn needle back to head of atty?it is hardest part for me

No and that's the hardest part for me too. It's easy to take the apart, difficult to put back together! The only thing that helps a little bit is if you pay attention to where "Joyetech" is etched onto the atomizer in relation to the rotation of the spike before you take it apart. When you re-assemble, try to line it back up the same way. The spike fits a little better in the atomizer if you put it back in the same exact spot.

 

[rico942]

I've had pretty good luck reassembling the spike end to the case with large needle nose pliers. I grip the spike in the smooth part of the plier jaws (to avoid tool marks) and get the case started onto the ridged part of the spike plate (there's a small chamfer there), then just push from the contact end with my thumb. If it doesn't start easily, rotate a quarter turn and try again ...

I've been dumping all of the spikes and cases in a tray after soaking and dry burning, and assembling them at random. If one gets stubborn, just try another combination ...

Finally had a coil that actually failed, probably one that came with the original kit. The coil was deformed anyway, had a dip in the middle, maybe from one of my early attempts to push in a stainless steel wick ...

Filling the SS wick with cotton was not a great idea, the cotton burned after a few hours of use. So I've settled on just the pre-rolled 350 mesh wicks. Had the same ones in the eRoll for about 3 weeks now, still going strong. In the Elips, I do get an accidental dry burn occasionally, which leaves bad tasting gunk on the coil. It does not get better with use. I always carry a primed spare, and soak the burnt one in alcohol later, then open and dry burn to clean the coil, and reassemble. The bad taste is coming from the coil, but the SS wick is fine after a soaking in alcohol ...

Got about 20 attys in rotation, and my batteries will probably give out before the attys do. It seems like a big investment, but I was spending more than that in a couple of weeks with analogs, and had nothing to show for it but a chronic cough and a pile of ashes ...

 

[patkin]

What do you mean by "pre-rolled 350 mesh wicks?" Do you buy (where) or make those?

 

[rico942]

What do you mean by "pre-rolled 350 mesh wicks?" Do you buy (where) or make those?

I found them while poking around on the VaporKings website, here's the link ...

Pre-rolled and oxidized stainless 325 mesh wick

The listing says $1.95 per each 1 1/2" long wick, but I got a bag of 5 wicks when I ordered in March. With a little care you can get 4 wicks from each piece. They're rolled tight and pre-oxidized, ready to cut and fit. Whoever made these did a better job than I could. I had to cut some excess from the first one I used, maybe it was rolled loose, but the others fit the first time. I did soak them in alcohol and dry to remove a little soot from oxidation ...

The 400 mesh wicks seemed a bit too dense, didn't draw well on the eRoll, but the 325 mesh is perfect. Don't know how long they last, but I haven't burnt one yet ...

If you search for the brand name DIYATOM on VaporKings, there's listings for Ekowool and silica wick stock, and also for the mesh sheet. Think I might try the Ekowool, the RBA folks seem to love it ...

 

[jav74]

After 2 month of using aty with silica wick,and cleaning every 4-5days,i have 8 good attys and 2 destroyed silica wicks i order ss mesh to try with ss wicks.i am tired with cleaning with alchohol hot water....