So I Dismantled an Atty

[Mongrat]

So I dismantled an atty to try and understand what REALLY needs to be done to clean these things. Im really not too convinced that dry burns or soaks actually fully clean the atty. When I took it apart after cleaning a couple times and not much result, i found the "Wick" really wasn't very dirty. The coil however was definitely caked with tar or carbon. My plan is to try a couple cleaners on it directly and see what happens. I have a feeling the best cleaner is going to be some kind of spray contact cleaner, not sure if that's something that would be bad to vape after using... (it does evaporate)

 

[jfdpl686]

I'm very interested in your findings. Please post your tests and results.
I'm willing to try any other methods too.

 

[Elokin6]

I'm interested too. I've tried just about everything you can think of and have yet to find a method that I think really works.

 

[smokin n jokin]

Did you try to clean it before you dismantled it and if so how?

 

[wmrwl]

For $7 I would rather buy a new atty than use some sort of spray contact cleaner. A pack of analogs costs more than that where I'm from.

 

[DJ Quick]

Good luck with your mission

 

[Mongrat]

Did you try to clean it before you dismantled it and if so how?

This one I did a hot water rinse and dry burn. In the past I have tried vinegar, vodka and rubbing alcohol.

As for the $7 part, your right, they are cheap which is why I have 7 half working atties sitting here in a cup. I usually just order a new one every 2-3 weeks but I recently got laid off and tryin to cut corners!

I'm gonna look at some contact cleaners at the store today, I need some anyway for cleaning the contacts on the battery connectors....

 

[v1John]

Did you try the ultrasonic cleaner method?

 

[mwa102464]

a coffee steam machine works well so does the crest health pro soak, the dry burn works well if changing flavor and cleaning just the bridge, I however agree about chucking them, once mine start slowing down I do the crest health pro soak then hit them on my coffee machine and steam them put a couple drops of pg on them then put them in a cup and let them sit and save em for a rainy day if I ever run out of Atty's which will probably be never, hahaha

 

[jfdpl686]

Righ now I do the Crest cleaning about every 1 or 10 days.
One thing I've done in the past couple weeks that looks to be helping my latest attys is to do some dripping rounds of pure VG then a cuple of PG at the end of the day.

I do change flavors in the same atty and notice the vapor decrese, when doing the VG, I can see vapor coming back to normal.
When the VG/PG doesn't help, then I use Crest.

New methods are more than welcome.

 

[cloudkat]

Hey Mongrat... Any updates here??

 

[scrappy]

I think first you should figure out what is causing the caked on crap. When I took one of my attys apart it looked like melted nylon so I'm convinced it's melted wick. Since then I've pulled the wick out of all of my attys and have yet to see any black caked on stuff.

 

[Mongrat]

Sorry guys, no updates. I was set on working on this then I discovered cartomizers work extremely well on my 6v and I just throw them out every two-three weeks. 5 Packs for 510 cartos are only about $10 and you dont have to fill them as often as a standard atty

 

[boredoutofmynut]

I think first you should figure out what is causing the caked on crap. When I took one of my attys apart it looked like melted nylon so I'm convinced it's melted wick. Since then I've pulled the wick out of all of my attys and have yet to see any black caked on stuff.

yes i think u are correct , i have tooken appart every atty i owned
and used to think there was nothing solid inside the nichrome like in a m401 has carbon rod, when u pull apart 501 all u get is crumbs..
so i think your observation of the nylon melting and coating the nichrome wire is correct....
how long are your atties lasting with the nylon pulled out. have u tried bottom feeding u do not need the wicking, and un like dripping , u do not flood atty , due to the juice flowing back into bottle( excess juice that is)

 

[guitarman023]

My suggestion on the contact cleaner would be to spray it on a clean window, let it evaporate, and see if it leaves any residue before you try using it. Even if it doesn't I would still spray it on, and then dry burn it before actually puffing on it.

 

[nubee]

First.... I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS AT ALL

But, I tried WD40 when I first started looking at cleaning my attys. I know, oil..oil..oil = yuck!! But I was after the junk cutting abilities of WD40 to see if that would break down the carbon/gum build up.

It did seem to work and cleaning after with soapy water followed by boiling water rinse and overnight dry time seemed to remove most of the left overs.

But over time, I found it still didn't really give me any extra life out of my attys and so I quit using it and now just stick pretty much to the blow it out and drain it method.

I've found that even hot water rinse with drying time and priming doesn't seem to increase the life span so I've taken to just getting them to do their best with blowing them out and then when they die, start a new one.

NOTE: over my year of reading/researching this I've found that the nichrome wire itself oxidizes over time increasing its resistance. The combo eventually renders the atty useless for 3.7v vaping and eventually 5v vaping and finally....breakage.

 

[Sardonic]

Option 1: New atty
Option 2: Vape until taste is gone, then dry burn till red-hot

I have all but one of my original attys and the one I lost was not due to cleaning. I think the methods are just what each person finds works best for them. I did try compressed air, one note, don't use it on the mouth end or you will get a nice taste of bitterant used for dissuading stupid children from abusing it.

 

[AvalonMyst]

The coil however was definitely caked with tar or carbon.

Can't be Tar, it's not a real cigarette. It's more likely build up of the vg.

 

[Crystallas]

I use a steam cleaner and some straight VG.
I'll wet the "bad" atty with a tiny bit of VG, warm up the steamer, and just spray it for a good 5-10 seconds into a washcloth. Let it dry, prime another tiny drop of VG into it, and it's good as new.

Since I started doing this a few months ago, all of my attys vape like new, everything tastes great, and I can just swap flavors around whenever because the cleaning process takes about 10 minutes from the moment you twist it off the battery, to the moment you twist it back on(so this includes about 8 minutes of waiting time!)

 

[the vaporizer]

I use a steam cleaner and some straight VG.
I'll wet the "bad" atty with a tiny bit of VG, warm up the steamer, and just spray it for a good 5-10 seconds into a washcloth. Let it dry, prime another tiny drop of VG into it, and it's good as new.

Since I started doing this a few months ago, all of my attys vape like new, everything tastes great, and I can just swap flavors around whenever because the cleaning process takes about 10 minutes from the moment you twist it off the battery, to the moment you twist it back on(so this includes about 8 minutes of waiting time!)

interesting...steam can do wonderful things...where did you get the steam cleaner?...if you dont mind is it small? inexpensive? Sounds like a good idea!


The attys are glued together using a special GREEN glue...the threaded part gets glued to the tube and the wires are soldered to the threads...I found this out accidently when i hit one of my attys and noticed it was crooked...jiggled a little bit and apart it came!!!!! it actaully holds good even after breaking and makes for cleaning much easier! I really havnt tried to do this to any of my other attys but it might be worth a shot...i nusually buy new ones every couple months...i found a place that has a true 6month warranty on attys and i dont bause the privlage and they always give me one replacement of all the attys...because i buy multi packs!!! and even the multipacks come with a 6mo warranty!!!! WEEEEEEE my biggest problem is bad taste sometimes when i burn them too long without juice...ive gotten better but sometimes its hard to kno when low...im at about 6-8 months of vaping and ive learned a lot in that time...im waiting for a new variety of attys to come out!! Ones that last a year and have high quality materials that dont wear as fast..no atty is gonna last forever but i think with some knowledge and some good materials someone could make an atty that vapes good for 6 months!!!