some close up atomizer pics..

[trog100]

for those who wonder what they look like..

this is a dead one out of a cigarillo.. the atomizer and the pressure switch..

note the little fine hair like strands.. this looks to be wool from the cart.. note it shows no signs of having burnt..

the little black blob in the middle is the atomizer coil.. it look like a lump of coal but its a fine wire with something to give it structural strength blobbed on.. at least i think it is.. he he

i can get a lot closer with the right lens.. but there isnt that much to see..

also note the little hole/holes in the side of the ceramic pot to let liquid pass thru from the wire gauze to the heater coil.. all in all a very simple device..

trog

 

[leaford]

Nice pics, Trog. Thanks.

 

[CaSHMeRe]

very interesting ... thanks for posting trog

 

[dnakr]

Great picture, thanks trog.

 

[jamie]

Thank you so much for the awesome close-up. I notice this atomizer does not appear to have the supposed "protective battery covering", "liquid holding" threads sitting inside the U, that were found in mine:

 

[trog100]

a much smaller mini type with gauze bridge removed to show the heater coil better.. note there is a lot less absorbent wire gauze because of the size limitations..

when ripped out it is a coil of fine resistor wire with something on the outside.. a mini has the pressure switch in the battery not as part of the atomizer module..

trog

ps.. the contact bridge on all the ones i have pulled apart is simply a continuation of the wire gauze.. underneath there is a little stainless metal strip to give it structural strength..

 

[trog100]

one more to show the true size difference between a cigarillo which is very similar to a pen style size wise and the much smaller mini.. it also shows the stainless steel suport piece for the gauze bridge..

i cant help but feel bigger should work better as a general rule..

trog

 

[trog100]

bump.. not much point in letting some interesting and informative pics disappear into oblivion never to be seen again to soon..

trog

 

[Evil Santa]

Thanks for the pics and bump trog. It's nice to be able to see the innards of these devices up close.

I wonder what the atomizer for the new KISSBOX looks like.

 

[Mr.Darcy]

ha ha!youre proud of those pics,arent you trog?

 

[trog100]

not overly so i could have done better.. but i know how forums work.. once off the front page it never gets seen again.. good stuff worth looking at vanishes.. junk that gets lots of one line replies hangs around longer..

when a forum gets really busy things can vanish into the ether in a very short time..

knowing this i rarely take the trouble with any informative post.. its a waste of time.. done it tooo many times in the past.. unless sticky'ed the best stuff soon goes..

more proud of this one..

its one of my many pastimes..

trog

ps.. the hairs on houseflies back.. hard to do cos the buggers dont stay still long enough..

 

[Mr.Darcy]

oh absolutely!very worthwhile keeping this post current.great shot of the fly,btw...impressive.

 

[trog100]

why thank u good sir..

trog

ps.. if anybody will send me some expensive brands to test.. i will be only too happy to take pics of em... he he he he

 

[dnakr]

Wow - great close up. Very impressed.

 

[trog100]

just a note to say how these things actually work.. the little wire wound coil gets heated up by current passing thru it from a single cell lithium battery of 3.7 volts nominal..

the amount of current passing thru the coil is governed by the resistance of the coil and the voltage the battery can supply while under load.. fresh off charge these batteries read 4.2 volts.. the safe discharge point is 2.7 volts.. they should not be taken down lower than this.. a fresh off charge battery will heat the coil up more than a half flat one.. best results will be obtained by swapping the batteries more often..

a pressure switch is used to energize the heater coil.. its a simple on off switch.. when a lower pressure is created on one side of the switch by sucking it switches on.. when the pressure on both side of the switch is equalized it switches off..

these are not very reliable devices.. they also vary a lot on how much pressure differential is needed to activate them.. some need a hard suck to work some dont.. they also might get liquid in them which will stop them working.. again this varies from one device to another..

the battery in the smaller devices is not really up to the job its being ask to do.. the heater coil needs close to one amp of current going thru it to work.. the batteries can struggle to do this and will not live that long.. a 300 mah battery being ask to deliver that much current several hundred time per day will soon wear out and need replacing with a new one..

the coil heats up (boils) a small quantity of e liquid when the device is sucked.. its mounted in a small ceramic pot.. like a mini kettle.. the vapour (steam) produced is than sucked into the mouth as e-smoke..

the e liquid starts off in the cartridge.. in essence its just some liquid soaked woolly stuff in a plastic tube.. this get leeched (wicked) down into the wire woolly stuff around the little ceramic pot.. the bridge that sticks up above the pot is there to make maximum surface contact with the woolly stuff in the cart.. the whole process is a bit hit and miss which is one of the reasons the devices can vary so much..

dripping.. a measured amount of liquid dripped onto the wire gauze around the little pot with no cart works more reliably but can create other problems.. overdone it can cause liquid to get into the pressure switch.. it can make the device messy to use and leak out.. it needs doing quite often.. but done correctly it can produce consistent results..

some minis have a chip built into the battery.. this limits each draw to around six seconds for overdose reasons.. it switches the atomizer on after several thousand puffs to clean it.. it says when the battery is flat.. in short its an attempt at idiot proofing the devices.. it isnt necessary but its there.. love it or hate it..

i think i have mostly covered the basic functionality factors..

trog

 

[NerdyCinderella]

Thanks trog,
It looks like a real thorough review.
I just have to get a fresh battery and cartridge and another cup of coffee before I can concentrate enough to digest.

 

[trog100]

its written in simple terms nerdy.. at least as simple as i could make them.. it should give some idea of whats going on (or not going on) for none technical minded folks..

trog

 

[TropicalBob]

Good, accurate explanation. This should become part of a sticky somewhere.

 

[trog100]

it should bob.. it should..

one more tip.. to make the thread a little more useful.. more so for heavy use meanies..

syringing.

get a big ten ml syringe from somewhere.. pull out the wet wool from several new carts.. the syringe will hold a few.. use the syringe to top up the other carts dont use new ones.. your cig will smoke better.. u dont have to drag the dregs out of each cart and there is no wastage.. a few drops on the top will do every so often..

a small ear drop type bottle makes a good dripper to top up with.. or u can just direct drip three drops straight into the (classic type) atomizer.. three drips is good for half an hour of nice heavy smoke.. or about one to two cigarettes.. a pipe will hold ten drips.. a mini isnt very good for dripping..

ultimately order some e pipe carts from e-cig china and squeeze them out for your liquid.. 4 or 5 carts per day is gonna work out expensive..

the best way to get the wet wool out of the cart.. take a thin screwdriver.. poke down the side of the wool so far.. about as far as the cart is wide.. or slightly further.. kinda twist and lever upwards and grab the wool between thumb and screwdriver and dump straight into the open syringe.. poke down into syringe with screwdriver.. do several at once..

tweezers dont work as well..


trog