Darn. I was hoping there would be an easy fix so I would not have to clean as much.
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Just a quick progress report. I removed the filler out of one of the Go-Go carts and replaced it with Water Polishing Pad Material from Fluval. Its working like a champ! I did clean and dry burn it as well. And man, it really really worked. So, thanks again for the tips!
If you don't mind me asking, could you tell me where to buy something like that. I don't have a clue where to look.
Thanks, and we even have a PetSmart here. Now I have an idea about what to do. I think this would be easier than trying to reuse the same filler material. I'm going to give it a try. THANKS AGAIN.
Edited to add: Do you already have measurements figured out for cutting? I'll assume that the thickness is just about right already when compressed if it's the type of material I'm thinking about.
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Fluval is cheap. Experiment with it. If you don't like the results, pull it out and try a different piece. For a reference, I started out by slicing the fluval half as thick and then cutting a piece the same height as the centertube and one and a half times as long as the original filler. I pack it so it's about a quarter inch lower than the top of the centertube for 80/20 juice. This will give me about 35-40 drops. For thicker juice I cut a smaller piece and pack it looser. For dripping, I cut down a gocart, pulled the center tube and rolled a small piece of fluval between my thumb and forefinger and placed it in a circle around the coil at the bottom of the gocart and dripped onto that. When I wanted to change flavors, I pulled the fluval with needle nose and rolled another piece at the base of the carto. Fluval is cheap. I also think fluval is a good idea for carto rebuilding as it does appear there is quite a variance between filler type, placement and overall wicking qualities between different manufacturing runs of the gocarts. Fluval may be a superior filler for gocarts but due to chinese manufacturing costs, other filler options are used in the process. Just my thoughts on the subject of filler. I have no proof of this fact with the exception that some batches of gocarts seem to work for weeks and then some batches lose flavor, TH, etc in two or three days..
Thanks sincerely - I look forward to trying this. I've had real good luck so far with long-lasting cartos without cleaning at all, but there does appear to be some changes in carto quality. I plan to try this with my first short-lasting carto. Part of my luck may have something to do with using the same juice every time in the carto at lower VG levels - 25% or less. I also fill from the bottom up instead of topping off - keeping the area around the coil wet. Obviously, I have to do this with a syringe - my preferred method. I consider a good carto to work in excess of 2 weeks.
I have to agree with Mohawkz on the filler being so spotty as to quality. You can actually see a difference in the material or so it seems, when cleaning more than one and them lined up on a cookie baking sheet. Some seem to retain the water from the cleaning better than others.
It may just be the luck of the draw so to speak but I seem to notice more inconsistencies with the 2nd gen powder coated ones than the earlier sticker wrapped cartos. I have a couple that have been through 3 rebuilds and are still performing well while some last only a couple of days and never perform well again after their first rebuild cleaning.
It may just be the luck of the draw so to speak but I seem to notice more inconsistencies with the 2nd gen powder coated ones than the earlier sticker wrapped cartos. I have a couple that have been through 3 rebuilds and are still performing well while some last only a couple of days and never perform well again after their first rebuild cleaning.
I'm not an engineer, but I understand the basic principles of capillary action, and I think that there is a big problem in the assembly of the Go-Go carts. From the two Go-Go cart coils that I've been able to inspect so far, the material that is wrapped inside the coil is too short. This is causing inadequate wicking of juice to the coil.
If the coil's wrapped wick doesn't extend outside of the split base of the center tube, it can't touch the filler material that contains the juice. This seems to be causing the coils to run dry and develop that horrible burnt taste. Maybe the filler material is shrinking away from the coil as the cart gets used. I don't know, but this is becoming annoying. I'm tired of going through the unpleasant premature death routine of Go-Go cartomizers.
Maybe we can get some of the engineers at NASA to look into this. They're gonna have some extended free time on their hands in the near future.
If the coil's wrapped wick doesn't extend outside of the split base of the center tube, it can't touch the filler material that contains the juice. This seems to be causing the coils to run dry and develop that horrible burnt taste. Maybe the filler material is shrinking away from the coil as the cart gets used. I don't know, but this is becoming annoying. I'm tired of going through the unpleasant premature death routine of Go-Go cartomizers.
Maybe we can get some of the engineers at NASA to look into this. They're gonna have some extended free time on their hands in the near future.
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Yeah it seems the new cartos are spottier, or require slightly more attention than gen #1, but I am very satisfied with them.
I have cleaned out a new one twice in around 10 days. But that's also running a full carto every day. However, my cleaning routine takes less than 10 mins from bleh to full of juice and ready to vape.
-Pull the filler out with tweezers, unroll and rinse everything under very hot tap water. Shake the filler, then press the individual layers between a couple of napkins till dry.
-Thermometer shake, then dry-burn the atty. Rinse then repeat. Roll and insert the filler using the Mohawkx straw method and it's ready to fill.
I've found the diameter of the 2nd Gen cartos inner tube is just larger than the insert of a bic pen. I'll slide one down the shaft and then fill the top portion of the carto with just under 1ml of liquid. Let it soak and repeat filling until it drips out the bottom. No juice should run down the shaft. I just pop the top off the bottle of juice I'm using and let the carto finish dripping, sitting on top of the bottle. All the juice that's coming out is dripping from the wick because the filler is fully saturated, not because juice ran down the middle. Put the cap on, blow out any excess, wipe, and it's good to vape.
The 1st. Gen cartos tube diameter was just larger than some brands of cotton swab tubing, I would cut the swab head off and fill the same way with a Q-tip down the inner tube.
The atty coil will eventually break down from repeated use and dry-burns, but I'm expecting at least a couple of weeks from each carto.
This is a great product.
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The cartos I recently received have a larged tube inside. My straws no longer fit these. I have 4 cartos that I need to put back together, but cannot because the straw doesn't fit. Hopefully I can find some new straws that fit.
When you do find the right size, let us know which one it is.
Will do. I am actually headed to the grocery store now to see if I can find some.
These straws I have now are perfect on the echo-e cartos. It was very simple to clean/rebuid one of those.
Sounds like if the coil dry burns well on these suspect cartos, then they are candidates for a Fluval pack. Originally, I thought that on some gocarts the person running the filler insert machine was just having a bad day and not setting the depth of the filler insertion to the right tolerance, thereby leaving a gap between the filler and the coil. Now though, I've noticed that filler is coming out of the gocarts at different lengths, thicknesses and densities. There does not appear to be a standardized materials QA nor a set manufacturing process. This is not a slam on the gocart system. They are, overall, exceptional cartomizers and the principle of horizontal coil cartos is sound.
From my point of view, the challenges of the gocart are all solvable through shared experimentation and experience. The design is sound. The carto shell doesn't leak, so rule out any problems in this area. The coil is built to last, so this is another strong suit for the carto. It all boils down to filler material and placement that determines the longevity of the gocart. Filler is something we can work on to adjust and improve the overall performance and longevity of the gocart and other horizontal coil cartos. Leakage and weak coils is not.
Edit to add: I've also noticed that most who have constant challenges with burnt flavor of their gocarts are very heavy hitters of their PV and perfer thick, sweet juices. I do believe it is much more probable that one will run a horizontal coil carto dry much easier than a vertical coil. It is highly likely that chain vaping in rapid succession does not give the carto time to rewick properly as the only area of wicking is at the bottom of the carto whereas in a vertical coil the whole length of the carto is utilized in the wicking process. Just something to think about.
I think there is some truth to your assessment, to a certain degree. Early on, when I was dismantling these cartos I came to the conclusion that the thin cotton batting that wraps tight around the centertube was the connection point between filler and coil. It was and is my theory that the juice contained in the polyfill wicks to the cotton batting and down the cotton batting to the coil. Early on I made the decision to extend the cotton batting a small degree below the polyfill when wrapping the fillers around the straw so that the cotton batting would be the primary conductor to the coil rather than the polyfill. I know that the polyfill shrinks with usage because when I go to top off a carto I've used for a week or more, I can see some shrinkage at the top. I've made the assumption that there is similar shrinkage at the bottom also. One thing though, the cotton batting doesn't shrink so if it's placed properly for a good connection between the polyfill and the wick inside the coil, then the carto will last if kept wet.
When you do find the right size, let us know which one it is.
I just know it as a black cocktail straw. It's wider over the center tube, but works nicely.
Edit: I didn't have a McDonalds straw as reference, but the black straw fits inside one easily.
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I use the same straw for both sizes of go-cart tubes. I have one that fits my original tubes perfectly, but is too small for the newer go-carts. My solution was to use a razor to make a slit about 2 inches long on ONE end of the straw.
For the older ones (smaller diameter tube) I use the uncut side of the straw and follow the mohawkx method. For the newer ones (larger diameter) I put sliced end of the straw on the inner tube first. Then, I wrap the cotton batting and filler material tightly around the part of the straw that sticks out of the cartomizer. After wrapping it, I just slide the filler down into the go-cart. The sliced end of the straw serves as a "shoe-horn" if you will, allowing the filler to be slid down the straw and into the cartomizer.
For the older ones (smaller diameter tube) I use the uncut side of the straw and follow the mohawkx method. For the newer ones (larger diameter) I put sliced end of the straw on the inner tube first. Then, I wrap the cotton batting and filler material tightly around the part of the straw that sticks out of the cartomizer. After wrapping it, I just slide the filler down into the go-cart. The sliced end of the straw serves as a "shoe-horn" if you will, allowing the filler to be slid down the straw and into the cartomizer.
I finally got a straw that works and is a good fit on the bigger tube cartos. It's a black drinking straw I got with a coke from a restaurant. It doesn't work so well on the smaller tubes but is close enough I won't complain much. Also check out your local gas station, sometimes they carry the narrower gauge straws. Good luck!
I finally had some success with cleaning and was able to get 5 of the 10 I cleaned working again. The 5 that don't work are the same ones that didn't work well from the start (or within a day or so), I believe.
I restuffed them using Fluval and kept the inner cotton piece after I cleaned it. I found a straw that worked and used a larger straw to push the filler down and seat it near the coil. All I did was take out the filler, bundled them together with a rubber band and ran them under hot water for several minutes, then blew them out. I then shook them like a thermometer to get most of the moisture out and did a short dry burn. Because I didn't want to waste juice if they wouldn't work I filled them with a mixture of straight pg/vg and established if there was the proper vapor production. I used the same piece of soaked filler in all of them since the straw method made it so easy to insert the Fluval. I was able to easily take it in and out of the carto.
The ones that are working are working VERY well and so far I like the Fluval better than the stock poly. I took it out of a couple to inspect it and there were no dry areas. I think it wicks the juice better than poly. What's interesting is that ALL of the older style came back to life and the ones that didn't were all the newer, powder coated ones.
The key to getting the filler back in is the size of the straw and once I had the correct one it was a cinch. I marked the clean cartos so I can track how they perform.
P.S. I think I got both of the straws at McDonalds. One is the large milkshake straw and the other is about half the diameter but is the same style straw. The larger one works great after the Fluval is in place to pack it down a bit. Now that I don't have a bag of so-so cartos I feel better and can throw away the bad ones without guilt.
Wouldn't it be cool if we could get a vendor to throw in a straw the right size with a box of cartos? It doesn't make sense for us to buy a whole box but they could get them cheap in quantity. It would sure save on frustration when trying to clean these... and gas hunting them down. LOL
I restuffed them using Fluval and kept the inner cotton piece after I cleaned it. I found a straw that worked and used a larger straw to push the filler down and seat it near the coil. All I did was take out the filler, bundled them together with a rubber band and ran them under hot water for several minutes, then blew them out. I then shook them like a thermometer to get most of the moisture out and did a short dry burn. Because I didn't want to waste juice if they wouldn't work I filled them with a mixture of straight pg/vg and established if there was the proper vapor production. I used the same piece of soaked filler in all of them since the straw method made it so easy to insert the Fluval. I was able to easily take it in and out of the carto.
The ones that are working are working VERY well and so far I like the Fluval better than the stock poly. I took it out of a couple to inspect it and there were no dry areas. I think it wicks the juice better than poly. What's interesting is that ALL of the older style came back to life and the ones that didn't were all the newer, powder coated ones.
The key to getting the filler back in is the size of the straw and once I had the correct one it was a cinch. I marked the clean cartos so I can track how they perform.
P.S. I think I got both of the straws at McDonalds. One is the large milkshake straw and the other is about half the diameter but is the same style straw. The larger one works great after the Fluval is in place to pack it down a bit. Now that I don't have a bag of so-so cartos I feel better and can throw away the bad ones without guilt.
Wouldn't it be cool if we could get a vendor to throw in a straw the right size with a box of cartos? It doesn't make sense for us to buy a whole box but they could get them cheap in quantity. It would sure save on frustration when trying to clean these... and gas hunting them down. LOL
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