Diminishing performance of tanks?

[Punk In Drublic]

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.

Insulators are usually made from PEEK plastic which can be printed. However….given the tight tolerances needed within an atomizer a very high resolution printer would be needed. Very expensive and not something that can be found at a local computer shop. One could look for a 3D print shop but I suspect the finial product would also be very expensive. If a replacement insulator cannot be found it’s probably best to retire the atomizer.

 

[Mordacai]

bombastinator, done a little research. Ceramic 3d printing is a thing now, but decent equipment is ridiculously priced. So only way round it would be to use a company such as LITHOZ, but you'd have to consider making a reasonable sized batch to offset the cost.

 

[Punk In Drublic]

Practically anything can be printed nowadays but the question becomes cost. Is a atomizer worth the efforts and financial investment to model and print a replacement insulator where a new complete atomizer can be had for much, much less? That would have to be one special atty!

 

[bombastinator]

Insulators are usually made from PEEK plastic which can be printed. However….given the tight tolerances needed within an atomizer a very high resolution printer would be needed. Very expensive and not something that can be found at a local computer shop. One could look for a 3D print shop but I suspect the finial product would also be very expensive. If a replacement insulator cannot be found it’s probably best to retire the atomizer.

Polyether ether ketone - Wikipedia
Melting point is claimed to be 343c. Which is something like 650f. The highest suggested print head temp for any modern filament I’m seeing is 250c. There may be a 3d printer that can do it but it’s not a consumer grade one. Yet. Technology marches forward though.

 

[Punk In Drublic]

Polyether ether ketone - Wikipedia
Melting point is claimed to be 343c. Which is something like 650f. The highest suggested print head temp for any modern filament I’m seeing is 250c. There may be a 3d printer that can do it but it’s not a consumer grade one. Yet. Technology marches forward though.

As I eluded, a consumer grade printer would not have the resolution to print in such high tolerances.

Ultimate guide: PEEK 3D printing

 

[bombastinator]

As I eluded, a consumer grade printer would not have the resolution to print in such high tolerances.

Ultimate guide: PEEK 3D printing

You’d be surprised. Resolution is based mostly on software. There are tricks that can be pulled to get really small movement increments out of fairly cheap stepping motors. Resolution is the least limiting factor I think. Also there’s the “just hit it with some sandpaper” move which even if it doesn’t produce actual good tolerances can still be used for old style pre-industrial revolution fitting techniques. If you’re dealing with a single handmade part that stuff still works.

That link you found is kinda awesome. I was searching for a link like that. The concept of a glassing temp of a mere 145c could explain PEEK insulator failures. That’s definitely within range of an atty.

 

[Punk In Drublic]

You’d be surprised. Resolution is based mostly on software. There are tricks that can be pulled to get really small movement increments out of fairly cheap stepping motors. Resolution is the least limiting factor I think. Also there’s the “just hit it with some sandpaper” move which even if it doesn’t produce actual good tolerances can still be used for old style pre-industrial revolution fitting techniques. If you’re dealing with a single handmade part that stuff still works.

That link you found is kinda awesome. I was searching for a link like that. The concept of a glassing temp of a mere 145c could explain PEEK insulator failures. That’s definitely within range of an atty.

Tell ya what. How bout you cost out the price of a qualified 3D printer, including the print heads that can allow for a high resolution print and any development in software that maybe needed. Include the cost of the raw PEEK material and report back to the thread whether the investment is worthy of repairing an atomizer that can be replaced for, on average, less than $40.

Don’t know about you but if I break a $40 atomizer that cannot be repaired for significantly LESS than what the atty initially cost, it’s being tossed in the garbage and my search for something that will most likely be better will commence.

 

[F-machine]

This looks like a long read, but personally, I never experienced degrading performance on attys. There's one outstanding situation though, with my one and only smok atty. That atty is still with me, it's degraded to the point that whatever build or drop in coils I insert in her just don't work and my mod only keeps showing 'short'. Someone will surely find a nice joke in that sentence.

Anyways, reading OP and a few comments here, I think OP only needs to visit Shinyitis Support Group! Shinyitis Support Group

 

[Punk In Drublic]

Not sure if this has already been brought up – got caught up in boxer shrimps and carburetor cleaners (the boxer shrimp is a fascinating creature), but @Susaz perhaps you are just bored with the Zeus and need a change. Just a thought

 

[bombastinator]

Tell ya what. How bout you cost out the price of a qualified 3D printer, including the print heads that can allow for a high resolution print and any development in software that maybe needed. Include the cost of the raw PEEK material and report back to the thread whether the investment is worthy of repairing an atomizer that can be replaced for, on average, less than $40.

Don’t know about you but if I break a $40 atomizer that cannot be repaired for significantly LESS than what the atty initially cost, it’s being tossed in the garbage and my search for something that will most likely be better will commence.

And you would be correct to do this. One can do a styrene print at my local public library for $5 though. With all this talk of the vapeoccalypse and juice hoarding and whatnot, insulators struck me as an interesting hole in the prepper defense. A grotesquely expensive and overbuilt mech without an atty is just a tube.

I decided to fulfil your request simply by dropping a link to shapeways. In the process of that though I discovered that a printer that can print PEEK can generally also print Ultem, which is another plastic interesting to vapers.

 

[vapdivrr]

Have you replaced all orings? Vinegar is an acid and would seem to me that after a couple years this would degrade them. Personally I think cleaning a tank regularly with vinegar is overkill.

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[puffon]

O-ring chemical resistance guide:
Chemical Resistance Guide : The O-Ring Store, We make getting O-Rings easy!
black o-rings we use are Buna-N
white/clear are silicone

 

[MacTechVpr]

Have you replaced all orings? Vinegar is an acid and would seem to me that after a couple years this would degrade them. Personally I think cleaning a tank regularly with vinegar is overkill.

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We do not know the comp of a great many of the synthetics used today to gauge potentially adverse interactions.

Most of the really great legacy 22 and 23mm gear preceded the relatively recent PEEK advent.

Good luck.

 

[Susaz]

Not sure if this has already been brought up – got caught up in boxer shrimps and carburetor cleaners (the boxer shrimp is a fascinating creature), but @Susaz perhaps you are just bored with the Zeus and need a change. Just a thought

Might as well be. I'm spoiled by the Intake. So nothing I vape on compares. But I'm not the giving up type, I'll eventually get to what's bugging me.

 

[Susaz]

Have you replaced all orings? Vinegar is an acid and would seem to me that after a couple years this would degrade them. Personally I think cleaning a tank regularly with vinegar is overkill.

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No, I haven't. What strikes me it's that I vape 70/30, I should be getting more vapor. I'm crossing things one at a time. Might be high barometric pressure and dropping temps?

 

[Susaz]

This looks like a long read, but personally, I never experienced degrading performance on attys. There's one outstanding situation though, with my one and only smok atty. That atty is still with me, it's degraded to the point that whatever build or drop in coils I insert in her just don't work and my mod only keeps showing 'short'. Someone will surely find a nice joke in that sentence.

Anyways, reading OP and a few comments here, I think OP only needs to visit Shinyitis Support Group! Shinyitis Support Group

I had something like that on a Nautilus tank. The inside contact pin got pushed and heads wouldn't be making contact. I had to buy a new atty. With the prices of new things nowadays it's easy.
I'm already a part of that group! Hahaha

 

[Susaz]

Have you replaced all orings? Vinegar is an acid and would seem to me that after a couple years this would degrade them. Personally I think cleaning a tank regularly with vinegar is overkill.

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Clear o rings are mostly silicone, while dark ones are made of rubber or other rubber injected materials. Vinegar is not good but it takes much longer times to be that bad. I must have washed it with vinegar 3 times tops!

 

[bombastinator]

Not sure if this has already been brought up – got caught up in boxer shrimps and carburetor cleaners (the boxer shrimp is a fascinating creature), but @Susaz perhaps you are just bored with the Zeus and need a change. Just a thought

I personally suggest any video entitled “true facts about the.....” by ze frank. The man is flat out hilarious

 

[bombastinator]

Practically anything can be printed nowadays but the question becomes cost. Is a atomizer worth the efforts and financial investment to model and print a replacement insulator where a new complete atomizer can be had for much, much less? That would have to be one special atty!

Yep. The concept sort of assumes attys becoming ungettable and requiring extreme acts of maintainance on those that remain.

 

[bombastinator]

bombastinator, done a little research. Ceramic 3d printing is a thing now, but decent equipment is ridiculously priced. So only way round it would be to use a company such as LITHOZ, but you'd have to consider making a reasonable sized batch to offset the cost.

And if vaping gear became illegal they likely wouldn’t even do it to begin with.