Diminishing performance of tanks?
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Strangely enough, I don't.Have you stopped sucking as hard on them?
Sorry, couldn't resist
Another thing I've noticed, I don't see bubbles anymore. Checking on seals. Liquid goes down but I don't see bubbles like I saw in the beginning.
Well, the way I see things, RTA's or tanks are generally the longer lasting part of your vape system.
You can replace almost every part on most of them, coils, wicks (for the RTA types) glass, o-rings and drip tips, some have replaceable decks..
I saw a lot of cleaning on the OP's post.. but no replacing of o-rings.
I also didn't see what care was given to the Mod, the other long lasting part of a vape system.
Were the connections cleaned? Batteries changed regularly? Is the mod even operating in the original fashion? Has eliquid seeped into the mod?
You can replace almost every part on most of them, coils, wicks (for the RTA types) glass, o-rings and drip tips, some have replaceable decks..
I saw a lot of cleaning on the OP's post.. but no replacing of o-rings.
I also didn't see what care was given to the Mod, the other long lasting part of a vape system.
Were the connections cleaned? Batteries changed regularly? Is the mod even operating in the original fashion? Has eliquid seeped into the mod?
One of our understandings of the way ultrasonic cleaners work is flawed. More than half the time when that happens it’s me.
I therefore give you what I know about ultrasonic cleaners:
Cavitation happens when water is pushed faster than its effective flow rate. A rapidly collapsing vacuum bubble is formed which acts more or less like a microscopic explosion. In nature the “boxer” variant of the mantis shrimp actually uses the phenomena to stun prey, and it’s a serious issue with marine props as the blades develop putting caused by cavitation. It creates very loud underwater noises as well, which means it’s one of the things military submarines are designed to avoid at all costs. An ultrasonic cleaners does it on purpose though. It uses a vibrating transducer shake the entire water bath faster than the water in it can flow. Objects not attached to the water bath but which are inside it will get cavitation bubbles on their surface that effectively explode dirt away. Using a different fluid than water can change the flow rate of the fluid, changing both the character of the cavitation and whether it even happens at all in the limited range of motion the transducer can produce. This will vary heavily then on which model of cleaner is being used, and what exact fluid is being used in it. Because of the nature of this cavitation hard surfaces produce a much better cavitation than soft surfaces. The mantis shrimp previously mentioned has special hardened “boxing gloves” it uses to create the cavitation bubbles and push them into soft creatures. Soft materials often don’t produce cavitation bubbles at all. With the limited strength of cheaper ultrasonic cleaners it is possible for even a fairly small amount of soft material to absorb basically all of the vibration energy and prevent cavitation entirely.
UPDATE: this btw is why I just said “it shakes stuff”. Who the heck wants to read all that garbage?
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bombastinator I can certainly agree that you cannot form cavitation with soft objects, it just doesn't happen.
But with ultrasonic cleaning, cavitation forms microscopic bubbles that have a kind of gentle scrubbing action even on soft objects. Even though soft objects will absorb some of the energy of the ultrasonic waves.
And of course what cleaning solution or solvent mixes and temperature you use, decrease time and increase effectiveness.
But with ultrasonic cleaning, cavitation forms microscopic bubbles that have a kind of gentle scrubbing action even on soft objects. Even though soft objects will absorb some of the energy of the ultrasonic waves.
And of course what cleaning solution or solvent mixes and temperature you use, decrease time and increase effectiveness.
There's nothing that can as quickly or miserably degrade the performance of a tank than a wonky 510 insulator. Take it from a clearomizer, Protank, etc. veteran with some expertise. I think we've greatly benefited with the plethora of atomizer options over the past three years with little thought for the availability of parts. And this one part being the most important and most neglected.
[I should clarify that's it's repeated high heat that does it. And with clearo's for many reasons "hot legs" were common. Once the material started to dry out it would easily burn and scar. Modern insulators are more temp tolerant but not infallible. We seldom know the composition of 510 insulators these days].
It's a sad and maybe tragic perspective that it doesn't happen because we're running low power.
As 510 insulators degrade you will start to see a loss of efficiency. With time micro-arcing will start to be evident but with losses of effective power every kind foul vape can happen. The electrical effects on taste can also make the vape quite acrid and hot; or, cooler if production radically drops.
Everything we buy imo should have spares of key components. Why I most favor competition gear that does even if pricier. Mostly, if I can't get in it…I don't want it.
Good luck.
[I should clarify that's it's repeated high heat that does it. And with clearo's for many reasons "hot legs" were common. Once the material started to dry out it would easily burn and scar. Modern insulators are more temp tolerant but not infallible. We seldom know the composition of 510 insulators these days].
It's a sad and maybe tragic perspective that it doesn't happen because we're running low power.
As 510 insulators degrade you will start to see a loss of efficiency. With time micro-arcing will start to be evident but with losses of effective power every kind foul vape can happen. The electrical effects on taste can also make the vape quite acrid and hot; or, cooler if production radically drops.
Everything we buy imo should have spares of key components. Why I most favor competition gear that does even if pricier. Mostly, if I can't get in it…I don't want it.
Good luck.
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Ultrasonic cleaning either is cavitation or it isn’t. One could say that with enough power, a large enough transducer can overwhelm a given amount of soft material and produce cavitation bubbles on the hard surfaces anyway. The bubbles are microscopic and last only microseconds though. How could they possibly migrate to the soft surfaces? Are you talking about secondary pressure waves caused by the explosions that move around the tank?
Solvents and solutions as well as temperature could change the flow rate of the working fluid. They would also do a bang up job on cleaning soft and hard surfaces all by themselves though. I’m wondering if what is happening might be that the ultrasonic cleaners may have been turned effectively into a little degreasing hot pot. Nothing wrong with that. It’s a chemical cleaning though not a “sonic” one. Might even get some cavitation cleaning on the hard surfaces too if the heat and working fluid were set just exactly right. That might be tough though. It would take a lot More chemistry, math, and hydrodynamics than I got (which isn’t much) to unpack that little engineering problem. The only thing I could do is randomly try stuff and just make bald guesses as to whether it worked or not, and if it was the cavitation or just the chemicals doing the cleaning. I suppose that could be more than good enough for vaping purposes though. It doesn’t really matter HOW it got cleaned as long as it is clean.
I think that one of the best ways to look at it bombastinator is, no matter what you have in an ultrasonic tank. It will absorb some of the energy, I don't know what it's called but I do believe that this effect helps precipitate the formation of bubbles.
But it's a low end commercial 40KHz ultrasonic cleaner I'm using as well, so don't know if that makes any difference.
But real world experience with those seals does confirm that ultrasonic cleaning does work on seals to some extent, as they smelt foul due to machining oil contamination. Plus no need to scrub for ages, just a 10 minute run.
And if you clean a tank that you're using, that shouldn't take more than a 20 minutes total, unless it was something exceptionally foul you tried in the tank.
But it's a low end commercial 40KHz ultrasonic cleaner I'm using as well, so don't know if that makes any difference.
But real world experience with those seals does confirm that ultrasonic cleaning does work on seals to some extent, as they smelt foul due to machining oil contamination. Plus no need to scrub for ages, just a 10 minute run.
And if you clean a tank that you're using, that shouldn't take more than a 20 minutes total, unless it was something exceptionally foul you tried in the tank.
Low end commercial is going to be a heckuva lot more powerful than even high end consumer, so very possibly. When I tried ultra sonic cleaning it was a long time ago on EVOD coil cartridges with a little plastic consumer “jewelry cleaner”. It did bupkis on em even though they had silica wicks which are glass. I suspect merely the presence of the little o-rings was enough to make the whole thing pointless. I took the thing apart later as is sometimes my want with crap I buy that doesn’t work and the transducer was the size of a couple of stacked quarters.
Silicone is really impervious and chemically neutral stuff though. You said you used some sort of solvent and heat as well as running the cleaner. Perhaps that alone was enough to get rid of whatever was on them. Again, not that it matters.
UPDATE: reading the tread back you used carburetor cleaner?! On something you put in your mouth?! Carburetor cleaner is seriously potent stuff. My personal suspicion is the carburetor cleaner did it but then you had to wash the residual carbuator cleaner off with alcohol and soap.
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Paging through thread again. Noticed a “disagree” I disagreed with and it turned out to be mine(?!) meant to agree with that not the reverse.
bombastinator, for the seals I used 450ml Distilled Water, 50ml Isopropyl Alcohol and 1 drop of dish soap. Then rinsed well. Now no smell to them whatsoever, so looking good so far.
For the metal parts I used Carburetor Cleaner and Corrosion Remover, rinsed well and just finished up giving them a good scrub with toothbrush and toothpaste. As the machining oil contamination was everywhere, including threading on the build deck. Sigh.
But now metal parts just smell of mint with a touch of metal, so job done.
I'd cleaned one using toothbrush and toothpaste method, reassembled and found out that it hadn't cleaned all the machining oil from it. Was not impressed.
And, yes. The jewellery cleaning ones aren't really the best at cleaning tanks properly, good for jewellery though. Could have done without the expense of buying one, but did some research and bought a reasonable one (Heater, Degas & 40KHz) and at least I have one now for various little jobs.
What do they say. Take up vaping they said, it's cheaper than smoking they said.
For the metal parts I used Carburetor Cleaner and Corrosion Remover, rinsed well and just finished up giving them a good scrub with toothbrush and toothpaste. As the machining oil contamination was everywhere, including threading on the build deck. Sigh.
But now metal parts just smell of mint with a touch of metal, so job done.
I'd cleaned one using toothbrush and toothpaste method, reassembled and found out that it hadn't cleaned all the machining oil from it. Was not impressed.
And, yes. The jewellery cleaning ones aren't really the best at cleaning tanks properly, good for jewellery though. Could have done without the expense of buying one, but did some research and bought a reasonable one (Heater, Degas & 40KHz) and at least I have one now for various little jobs.
What do they say. Take up vaping they said, it's cheaper than smoking they said.
makes sense. Toothpaste is a soft grit cleaner. No surfactants and sure as heck no degreasers. All you did was push the oil aroundbombastinator, for the seals I used 450ml Distilled Water, 50ml Isopropyl Alcohol and 1 drop of dish soap. Then rinsed well. Now no smell to them whatsoever, so looking good so far.
For the metal parts I used Carburetor Cleaner and Corrosion Remover, rinsed well and just finished up giving them a good scrub with toothbrush and toothpaste. As the machining oil contamination was everywhere, including threading on the build deck. Sigh.
But now metal parts just smell of mint with a touch of metal, so job done.
I'd cleaned one using toothbrush and toothpaste method, reassembled and found out that it hadn't cleaned all the machining oil from it. Was not impressed.
big ones too I suspect. You’ll probably never have to buy carburetor cleaner again as long as you’re willing to take the thing off your car and dump it in the bucket. Might be right handy if you happen to leave alcoholized gas in a small engine for more than a month or so. Should take the lacquer buildup right off. Save you $70 for the repair
LoL. They’re probably still right, though by less than they meant to be perhaps.What do they say. Take up vaping they said, it's cheaper than smoking they said.
This makes me want to see if I can order replacement insulators for some of my favorite attys.There's nothing that can as quickly or miserably degrade the performance of a tank than a wonky 510 insulator. Take it from a clearomizer, Protank, etc. veteran with some expertise. I think we've greatly benefited with the plethora of atomizer options over the past three years with little thought for the availability of parts. And this one part being the most important and most neglected.
[I should clarify that's it's repeated high heat that does it. And with clearo's for many reasons "hot legs" were common. Once the material started to dry out it would easily burn and scar. Modern insulators are more temp tolerant but not infallible. We seldom know the composition of 520 insulators these days].
It's a sad and maybe tragic perspective that it doesn't happen because we're running low power.
As 510 insulators degrade you will start to see a loss of efficiency. With time micro-arcing will start to be evident but with losses of effective power every kind foul vape can happen. The electrical effects on taste can also make the vape quite acrid and hot; or, cooler if production radically drops.
Everything we buy imo should have spares of key components. Why I most favor competition gear that does even if pricier. Mostly, if I can't get in it…I don't want it.
Good luck.
For insulators, could 3d printing be the answer?
Of course you'd need to work out the design and what material would be suitable for the application.
Of course you'd need to work out the design and what material would be suitable for the application.
Problem is heat. You need a heat resistant insulator, and 3d printers most commonly work by melting things. There ARE 3d printers that don’t but the material they use is generally very complex and probably not something you’d want to heat and breathe. Iirc most vape insulators are little pieces of slipcast ceramic. What you COULD 3d print is the Moulds for casting the ceramic before firing though. Then you’d just need some simple mix you could throw in a kiln, or with some luck maybe just an oven, to make them.
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Rayon and Cotton Bacon as it's available. Sometimes 50% of tanks have one of each. I found Cotton Bacon is better in high temps of summer. Maybe it's more dense?
No orings have been replaced, correct! Specially on the Zeus. Plans for changing them begin next cleaning.
No eliquid seepage onto mods, thankfully, I'm cleaning 501 connections as we speak. Batteries get paired from the moment they arrive, and rotated frequently. No noticeable battery or mod performance degradation.
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