Back to the jumping ohms LOL
Well it started again with a vengeance - I ripped it down and gave it a few cycles in the ultrasonic cleaner and it was still all over the place, did the variations on how far out the 510 pin was and it was still going bonkers. I was ready to retire it for sure! When it works it is brilliant but when it doesn't it is infuriating.
But I think I have solved my problem.
I believe that a film gets coated on the pin from either the ematal deck or where it screws in. I used a pipe cleaning brush (not a normal pipe cleaner) it is similar to interdental brush. Using a little metal polish on the pipe brush I cleaned up all the contact points using like a screw going in the threaded area. I also had to really polish up the 510 pin as the dull grey coating wouldn't move easily. But metal polish did the trick. I believe this is oxidisation from the two different metal surface touching.
It's now working better than it ever has. Rock solid and no need for any new pin or aftermarket insulator, no need to mess around with how much or how little of the pin needs to stick out from the housing. The main point I believe, is not to just focus on the pin itself - I believe that oxidisation occurs in the housing that a normal clean, or even an ultrasonic clean won't completely remove. It needs to be carefully polished out with a mild abrasive (metal polish)
So... back to squaping
