bringing atomizers back to life

[llamainmypocket]

What I use. Vodka, Q-tips, toothpicks and toothbrush, plyers and a shot glass.

First, pull the atomizer head off with plyers and drop the two pieces into the shot glass, fill the shot glass half full with vodka and let soak for 15+ minutes.

Second, take the atomizer head with wick still inside and gently rub with Q-tips, be careful not to damage the wick.This can use 1-5 Q-tips. Now take a toothbrush and gently brush the exposed coil in circular fashion until the toothbrush is no longer being dirtied. Finally for the second step, scrape behind the coil until it is white again. This will use multiple toothpicks.

Third, without attaching the atomizer head, place the atomizer base unto the battery and attach the cone without the tank. Take it to the bathroom, put it in your mouth backwards, and blow in three second bursts while using the mirror to see if the coil is glowing. A good clean coil will be red across the whole coil and silver colored when not burning.

Finally, put the atomizer back together and store it in the cupboard. It can be used right away but the alcohol will dry off if you store it. I clean 2 at a time and rotate about once a week. There is no dirty taste after cleaning because my method is thorough. It has brought my atomizers all the way back from nothing to new.

 

[dragonbone]

Nice! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Telly R]

Very good tutorial. Thank you for sharing; this will definitely benefit the community.

 

[telsie]

I've discovered that these little dental brushes are good for scrubbing the coil. They're tiny and flexible enough to get down on the sides of the coil too. And you can reuse one of these brushes for many cleanings before it starts to wear out.

 

[dragonbone]

I've discovered that these little dental brushes are good for scrubbing the coil. They're tiny and flexible enough to get down on the sides of the coil too. And you can reuse one of these brushes for many cleanings before it starts to wear out.

That is a most AWESOME idea! I have tried my lampworking bead hole brush, but it's so long and awkward. I knew there was something better.

 

[rico942]

I am definitely going to follow this technique, I'm convinced that the atomizers have a lot of life in them.

Been soaking them in 70% rubbing alcohol (non-drinker, no vodka handy). The soaking gets rid of any burnt taste, but it makes sense that a more thorough cleaning would be more effective. Gonna try putting one in an ultrasonic cleaner at work, see what happens ...

Thanks to the OP for posting a detailed method !

 

[patkin]

So far I've destroyed three trying to get ash off. The wire either came off one side or broke there so they won't fire. And I can't get the wicks clean at all. The tips stay brown and I've trimmed as much as I can safely do. And do soak in alcohol first. I've forgotten that step twice now and ripped two wicks out. Wish I knew a way to get new wicks packed in that little hole... so far no joy. Got one in but after 4 or 5 pulls... burnt taste. I'm just no good at this.

 

[tomcampo]

Wish I knew a way to get new wicks packed in that little hole... so far no joy. Got one in but after 4 or 5 pulls... burnt taste. I'm just no good at this.

You might consider making stainless steel wick for the atties you accidentally de-wicked. It doesn't look too hard. I haven't done it yet, but I am planning to try.
Ego-C Replacement wick - YouTube

I got stainless steel mesh from here:
Woven Wire Mesh Stainless Steel 400 Mesh 6"x6" Filtration SS T316 Free SHIP | eBay

And I got a kitchen torch from here:
BBQbuy Mini Jet Pencil Flame 503 Torch Butane Gas Fuel Welding Soldering Lighter - Amazon.com

 

[patkin]

Thanks. Would you let me know how it goes?

Edit: what do you think of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkcxJnIgLNo

It looks easier. He said #325 I think and just uses a lighter to oxidize. That "conducting electricity" thing the other guy said kinda scares me. How do you know when its completely oxidized? But, could be he's just done it so much, he makes it look so easy. Have you heard anything about the vape tasting metallic with only a mesh wick? Seems like I read it somewhere on ECF but don't recall the setup it was used on.

 

[tomcampo]

Thanks. Would you let me know how it goes?

Ok, I had a few free minutes today and I decide to give the SS wick a shot. I could not believe how easy it was. I followed the instructions by Basel on the video I posted above. It took me about 10-15 minutes to rewick two atomizers I accidentally de-wicked last month while trying to clean them.

As far as the process, I have nothing to add to the video. I started with 6mm by 30mm as the video recommends. (A little less than 1/4 inch by a little more than 1 inch.) I used a paperclip to get the thing rolled up and nice and small. I then used the kitchen torch to oxidize three times. The kitchen torch did not appear to produce much ash. I dipped in a cold water bath after each oxidation. Afterward, the SS mesh seemed to have become more of a one-piece wick and perhaps somewhat denser. I then used a regular lighter to burn e-liquid on the wick three times and then put the wick in the spike, trimming when necessary. That was it. When I primed it with juice I could tell that it was wicking nicely. Then I started vaping and my first impression was...wow. Nice flavor and nice vapor. No more "burnt" flavor from my not-quite-totally cleaned silica wick atties.

I am going to continue with this SS thing and see how it goes. I will report back after a few days to see if any metallic flavor emerges or any flooding issues. I am also interested to see how long the SS wick lasts before it too needs to be cleaned and/or replaced. As far as the coil goes, it seems like it will last a while.

 

[RuDawg7890]

What I use. Vodka, Q-tips, toothpicks and toothbrush, plyers and a shot glass.

First, pull the atomizer head off with plyers and drop the two pieces into the shot glass, fill the shot glass half full with vodka and let soak for 15+ minutes.

Second, take the atomizer head with wick still inside and gently rub with Q-tips, be careful not to damage the wick.This can use 1-5 Q-tips. Now take a toothbrush and gently brush the exposed coil in circular fashion until the toothbrush is no longer being dirtied. Finally for the second step, scrape behind the coil until it is white again. This will use multiple toothpicks.

Third, without attaching the atomizer head, place the atomizer base unto the battery and attach the cone without the tank. Take it to the bathroom, put it in your mouth backwards, and blow in three second bursts while using the mirror to see if the coil is glowing. A good clean coil will be red across the whole coil and silver colored when not burning.

Finally, put the atomizer back together and store it in the cupboard. It can be used right away but the alcohol will dry off if you store it. I clean 2 at a time and rotate about once a week. There is no dirty taste after cleaning because my method is thorough. It has brought my atomizers all the way back from nothing to new.

Nice write up, but I feel you missed some things.

I say you need two shot glasses.
Step one should be "fill 1 shot glass with Vodka, then bottoms up"!!

 

[patkin]

I think I did it! I can't stand when I can't do something so I tried again with what I have on hand. I used 2mm silica, threaded it doubled thru the spike from the bottom using a dental floss threader and pulled it thru. I left it uncut and sticking just slightly out the spike hole, trimmed the atty end to ever so slightly below the bottom rim as I feel like the originals are too low and burn too much. F for the last hour its been working great. It may be my imagination but I think it might be slightly better than the original wicking. I use a 50/50 juice 3/4 way up in the tank and fill the other 1/4 with 100% PG so I don't know how this would wick with other combos. I hope this holds as its a really good vape and easy for me to do. If it does, I'll be so happy not loosing attys when the coils are just fine.

Edit: Ugh... sorry... the "tank" I speak of that I'm testing this on is a Joye CC not the Eroll. I'll test on that next.

Well, shoot, after hours of vaping, there's a strange taste. I can't exactly call it burnt... more like strong nutty taste. I'm not sure what that taste is. It could be something in my juice I never tasted before but I'm not crazy about it.

 

[tomcampo]

After three days I am still on my first stainless steel wick. I could not be happier. No more burnt flavor. In fact, this is as close as I have gotten to the amazing flavor of dripping with the eRoll. Delicious. It does seem to consume more liquid, but I am not sure if that is because I am enjoying the eRoll more or if I am simply getting bigger hits. Either way, I am sold thus far. Will report back after another week or two.

 

[Daveh]

Somewhat related to bringing attys back to life: I've dug through posts about rebuilding the coil on these… seems that it's no where near as easy as others huh? Adding soldering to the mix significantly reduces the appeal to rebuilding. Pretty disappointing considering how expensive each atty is. The fact that I bring that up points to my prepping for the future, since I got my eRoll this afternoon, charged during the day, and got home to try out for the first time maybe 2 hours ago. This thing is truly impressive for how tiny it is.

The reviews of these were quite accurate(always skeptical with online reviews since so many variables are subjective), and I now echo what so many others have said: I'm impressed! I don't foresee the eRoll taking over as my primary pv, but has fit nicely into a specific niche, one that it is really quite well suited for. I compared(again subjective) vapor production, flavor, and throat hit between the eRoll and my eVic with protank, vamp with rsst, and sentinel clone with a cheaper RDA @ 1.0 ohms. Obviously it's comparing apples to oranges, but it really held it's own against the big boys(in my opinion beat out the evic with protank)… <--All subjective, biased opinions!

P.S. - If I missed any info on rebuilding the coils in these attys please lemme know

 

[chefkeith]

Somewhat related to bringing attys back to life: I've dug through posts about rebuilding the coil on these… seems that it's no where near as easy as others huh? Adding soldering to the mix significantly reduces the appeal to rebuilding. Pretty disappointing considering how expensive each atty is.

I own 12 attys (owned an eRoll for eight months now), and have only popped one coil - probably just too aggressive at cleaning or dry burning. The other 11 are still going strong, so I'm feeling pretty good about the longevity.

Just pick a clean juice and you should experience very few problems.

Good luck!

 

[Daveh]

Right on, good to know a bit of cleaning goes a long way with these. And the use of a clean juice in maintaining longer atty life seems to be across the board. Curious what company/specific flavor people are getting a nice combo of great tasting(subjective) and long lasting(a bit less subjective). Obviously the higher the VG, the more easily gunked up in shorter time, as well as the desert type flavors, etc. I'm aware of that stuff, so it's more a curiosity of specific brand flavors being used

Also, yesterday was my first day using my eRoll on campus. I brought my vamo and rsst along as well, kinda as a safety net to return to if the eRoll was deemed unsatisfying or flaked out. Happy to report that wasn't the case. I used both and have to say I enjoy the eRoll immensely!

 

[EricDykstra]

I think I did it! I can't stand when I can't do something so I tried again with what I have on hand. I used 2mm silica, threaded it doubled thru the spike from the bottom using a dental floss threader and pulled it thru. I left it uncut and sticking just slightly out the spike hole, trimmed the atty end to ever so slightly below the bottom rim as I feel like the originals are too low and burn too much. F for the last hour its been working great. It may be my imagination but I think it might be slightly better than the original wicking. I use a 50/50 juice 3/4 way up in the tank and fill the other 1/4 with 100% PG so I don't know how this would wick with other combos. I hope this holds as its a really good vape and easy for me to do. If it does, I'll be so happy not loosing attys when the coils are just fine.

Edit: Ugh... sorry... the "tank" I speak of that I'm testing this on is a Joye CC not the Eroll. I'll test on that next.

Well, shoot, after hours of vaping, there's a strange taste. I can't exactly call it burnt... more like strong nutty taste. I'm not sure what that taste is. It could be something in my juice I never tasted before but I'm not crazy about it.

If you want to clean the stock wick, use a pliers to hold on the spike and burn it on the stove until the wick is glowing red. The wick will become bright white again when it cools down. Make sure to let it cool down before touching it, it gets hot.

If you are getting weird flavors on new wick, try the same thing, burn it over the stove until it gets glows red. It will get rid of some of that weird flavor

 

[rico942]

I've only opened one atomizer so far, didn't disturb the wick, and cleaned it per directions here, seems to work OK ...

Been buying 5 packs and putting them aside when they begin to taste burnt ...

This weekend, I put about a dozen used atomizers in a plastic tub filled with 91% isopropyl alcohol, shook it a bit, and then left it for two days while I was away. When I returned, there was quite a bit of gunk in the bottom of the tub, so I carefully took them out and left them to dry on a paper towel ...

Tried a couple of them tonight in an Elips, no burnt taste and good vapor again, as good as new as far as I can tell ...

Since I'm vaping only high PG menthol juices, the wicks don't seem to get clogged. Its just that I sometimes run the Elips tanks to empty, and the atomizer doesn't like that. On the Elips, you can't see the tank level unless you remove the mouthpiece shell ...

Maybe when I have more hours on them, I will need to seriously clean the coils and re-wick. But for now, just a long soak and some agitation in strong alcohol seems to make an improvement and eliminate the burnt taste ...

I'm also more careful now about priming the wicks, usually get 20 to 25 small drops of liquid to soak in before vaping, which should nearly fill the chamber ...

Thanks to all who posted here with detailed directions on extending the life of these atomizers. At over $4 a pop, its worth a little effort to maintain them ...

 

[-Redd-]

I've only opened one atomizer so far, didn't disturb the wick, and cleaned it per directions here, seems to work OK ...

Been buying 5 packs and putting them aside when they begin to taste burnt ...

This weekend, I put about a dozen used atomizers in a plastic tub filled with 91% isopropyl alcohol, shook it a bit, and then left it for two days while I was away. When I returned, there was quite a bit of gunk in the bottom of the tub, so I carefully took them out and left them to dry on a paper towel ...Tried a couple of them tonight in an Elips, no burnt taste and good vapor again, as good as new as far as I can tell ...

Since I'm vaping only high PG menthol juices, the wicks don't seem to get clogged. Its just that I sometimes run the Elips tanks to empty, and the atomizer doesn't like that. On the Elips, you can't see the tank level unless you remove the mouthpiece shell ...

Maybe when I have more hours on them, I will need to seriously clean the coils and re-wick. But for now, just a long soak and some agitation in strong alcohol seems to make an improvement and eliminate the burnt taste ...

I'm also more careful now about priming the wicks, usually get 20 to 25 small drops of liquid to soak in before vaping, which should nearly fill the chamber ...

Thanks to all who posted here with detailed directions on extending the life of these atomizers. At over $4 a pop, its worth a little effort to maintain them ...

I tried this last week and it's worked a treat!
Many thanks for the tip.

 

[ccm2000]

I tried this last week and it's worked a treat!
Many thanks for the tip.

Are you rinsing with water or just letting the alcohol evaporate off? So far, I've had zero success cleaning and reusing these attys.