Help with reviving stuck Billow v2.5

[Zio421]

So, the title says it all. I'm desperate. I know this is a tale as old as life, but this is the first time I've struggled so much with the device.

Long story short, I've found a used v2.5 and been vaping it happily, until at one point the base simply refused to unscrew on me. The things I've tried so far:
- Rubber gloves
- Hot water
- Freezer
- WD40
- Ceramic coilbuilding tweezers
- All of the above and at the same time

I've already broken one of the glasses. Luckily, this one still has a spare. It doesn't help that the atty is designed in such way that makes gripping the top part extremely difficult. The only thing that's left is to use pliers, but I don't wanna ruin it. Billow v2 was the device that got me off the smokes and this one holds special place in my heart.

Any Billow owners that could overcome this problem in the past?

 

[yoshi.poshi]

Haha been there. No experience with this particular device, mind you. But plenty of toppers that have refused to come unstuck. WD40 huh? Can’t say I’ve ever tried that one before. Hmmm. All right by certain tweezers I imagine you’re talking the ones with the base gripper built in - with the bulbous round end. Surprised that didn’t help any.

Ultrasonic cleaner?
Dishwasher?

Okay so what I like to use and has worked in the past… they make these round rubber grippy things for the kitchen to help open jars. Can help with gripping the top part. Also there’s this white mesh like rubber stuffs that’s often used in place of shelf paper. That’s good stuff to have around, too. Extra grippy. Same principle.

Worst case scenario - and if you tell anyone I said this I’ll call you a filthy liar and deny it - all else fails hand it to your wife and have her give it a go. It can be emasculating, but when I’m desperate, very effective.

 

[LuckyBlackCat]

I second the suggestion for the round rubber grippy. Those things were all over the place in the 90s, and I don't know what special formula they used but that rubber had Looney Toons levels of strength and elasticity. If you don't have one of those on hand and that atomizer is steel, maybe check out copper inlaid jewellers pliers? I don't own a billow either so I don't know if those would work, but if its steel, copper is softer and should take all the scratching

 

[yoshi.poshi]

So funnily enough after I sent you my suggestions I had a similar situation. I dig up two old Innokin U-Cans that I hadn’t seen in … I don’t know when. Old enough that the smell when I opened it up the juice it was… enough to make my face change color.

Anyway I could open them up and get the juice reservoir open but the part that covered the needle wasn’t going to budge. Not even my wife and her famous monkey grip could do the job.

I soaked them in Dawn and white vinegar for about two hours. One of them came open. Had to use that round grippy kitchen jar thing and the round end of the ceramic tweezers and a lot of muscle but it came open.

The other still wouldn’t budge.

Put them through the dishwasher. Then again with the rubber grippy and the bulbous side of the tweezers and that got the second one.

So give those things a try I guess. Good luck!

 

[Zio421]

Thanks a lot for the suggestions!

Vinegar, rubber grippy and dishwasher next. I'll report back if I manage to do it.

 

[englishmick]

Never had to try it myself but I read something here many years ago. Someone recommended holding the tank upright and tapping it on the top with a rubber mallet. The idea was that all the other methods involved using turning force but this one involved lengthwise force which would hit the seized up part in a different way. Maybe break or weaken the lock. I don't recall whether it had worked for the poster or it was just a thought they had.

Another suggestion I remember was to try turning it in the tightening direction as well as the loosening direction. I've used that technique on locked up bolts and so forth.

Whatever, eventually I would be hitting the sucker with a hammer or grabbing it with vice grips and so forth. When there was nothing left to lose.