Not trying to step on anyone's toes, but I've ONLY used debridged and dewicked atty's for about a year now, so allow me to drop some knowledge.
1. The atty will not leak if you are careful when chopping that sucker. Leaking occurs when you man-handle the bridge and separate the mesh from the sides of the ceramic cup. That opens up a space to the bottom of the atty and liquid drains straight through.
I agree but this is not the only circumstance which will translate into leaking. For many atties have been coming with a coil displacement from the center hole and the cup will not hold any liquid per se if the PV is slightly vertically positioned, as a late fashion of Chinese low-standards in manufacturing…! Also likely lately: A bad placement of the wicking fibers down the bridge may also cause flooding in a new atty.
And the problem, even with the coil rightly placed is not just ‘leaking’ per se, but CLOGGING/ FLODDING, for a flooded and clogged atty may not leak but the quality of the vape will be under-performing so to speak…
2. A dry 510 atty will take four drops. Once the vapor drops significantly add three drops. Not one or two. I've never had a problem with a flooded atty after three drops. If this does happen, it just means you haven't vaped all the liquid in the cup. Try two drops until you get the hang of it, but I promise you, if the atty was properly stripped, it will hold three drops.
A dry 510, if completely dry, may take up to 10 drops maybe, if you give it time to absorb the liquid and drip technically… The size to the drops, though is an ambiguous thing. But lets agree we could talk about a kind of ‘average’ size of a small drop from a DKNG regular bottle, for instance, though this will be non-accurate strictu sensu. The priming is done: from then on; once it is fully primed, if it is a debridged and de-wicked atomizer, eventually it will hold ONLY ONE of the before-mentioned drops! It may take 2 or three but they will make a FLOOD-CLOGGED vape since the size of the cup and element size prevent this from happening otherwise.
From your description it seems you let as much liquid as the cup can handle! If this is the case: WRONG! Maybe you like vaping this way but it means FLOODING! And performance-wise, this is not good!
3. Aim doesn't matter one bit. Somewhere in the center is good enough.
Yep. Agreed! Even dripping down the atties wall, if the metal-mesh surroundings of the cup are kept safe will still be good, since there is a connection to the wicking within the coil.
4. Debridging DOES make a difference. The bridge, and it's mesh covering, just absorb liquid before it gets to the coil. That filters the liquid and weakens the flavor.
This is not so; no FILTERING takes place in the wicking, or mesh. Yet, some circumstances may result in flavor being weakend, in a way…
5. Debridging allows you to see the coil. This tells you when it's gunked up and needs a good cleaning. It also means you can see the coil for a proper dry burn.
Yes… This is an up-side. And you could even re-place the coil from here. But one disadvantage could be backsplash into your mouth if the vape is hot! (This may be solved by a drip tip modded from cart, though…)
Again, I'm not trying to smash any toes. But honestly, if you want to drip, why have anything between the coil and the liquid?
Just sayin'.
‘Backsplash protection’; extra-puffs between drips (=extra wicking…), and eventually cart-capabilities may come in handy (when Tesla carts come round…Heee!)
Having said that; a fully de-bridged atty may be better than a dewicked one; agreed. But the difference is not that substantial, after all, empirically speaking. And the downsides ARE, so… Do the math…!
Maybe it works for you, but it would be better, even then, to encourage people NOT to remove their bridges at first so they can compare if they are finally going to do this and judge this on their own. So:
If you are planning to de-wick and debridge: Just go for dewicking solo: Try this first. If you want to continue then you would have a reference to compare…
