The Lemo RTA: A Build With Pics

[MidwestGuy]

Midwest Guy, How long have you owned your Lemo, and how often have you replaced seals, out of curiosity.

I've had three since November. I've replaced seals when they start to crease and fray. The clear rings will crease a bit after long term use, and the chimney ring likes to start fraying a bit, it will have little pieces of it's material hanging off it.

No leaking as long as I don't over tighten and make sure the seals are well lubed with e-liquid before tightening... replacements are mostly for just keeping them maintained in order to prevent any future leaking. The Lemo is my #1/only atomizer in my rotation now for various excellent reasons, so always like to have spare parts around too.

 

[WeirdWillie]

Just an FYI in a pinch a little pipe thread tape on the threads of the upper chimney will work.
One of my first Lemo's to this day still has pipe tape on the threads, because the o-rings buggared up on me and I needed a quick fix at the time.
It worked so well that I haven't seen any reason to remove it.

 

[cigatron]

Elyptic has it right B2T, a leaking chimney seal or leaking upper tank seal will NOT cause dryhits; they will cause flooding. He's also right about checking your juice channels. Below are pics of how I wick my Lemo.



Wick tails cut at 45° angle so they sit flat on the juice well. Chunky wick!



Juiced and placed in position.



Chimney installed and wick moved away from channels.


Vaping this very build and wick at 25w with no dryhits from a full tank to the last drop.

 

[Mellowbuzz]

Juice channels being opened are critical in the lemo. It takes a lot of juice to support that massive airflow!

 

[cigatron]

Nice clapton build Mellow, yours?

 

[KGB7]

I'm running low on Lemo seals as well ... I sent a note to eLeaf US last weekend and have not received any response yet. I'll post here as soon as or if I do.

I sent eLeaf 2 messages on spare parts acquisition and a month later they have yet to get back to me.


If you have better luck, let us know how we can get the parts from them.

 

[KGB7]

Another update;

New coil and new wick and after about 6ml of juice, the wick seems to be cleaner. This time im using Total Vapor juice brand 6mg Nic with less "sugary caramel" type of flavoring.

Turkish Blend, which supposed to be a tobacco flavor, taste a lot like English Black tea, and it kept the wick clean. When i switched to Strawberry flavor, which for some reason smells a lot like Turkish Blend and has a dry flavor(Total Vapor)), the wick started to slowly gunk up, much slower then "sugary caramel" from a VapeJoose.

I remember some one mentioned that more sugary type juices will gunk up coil and wick a lot more then none sugary juices.

Conclusion in my short experiment; wattage makes almost no difference in wicks life. Flavor additives on the other hand do make a big difference.


Picture taken after vaping 4ml of Turkish Blend and 2ml of Strawberry flavor, even though its a lot like Turkish Blend and the juice is much thinner, more water like then any juice i have ever seen.

 

[cigatron]

KGB7, are the turns in that coil really all different diameters or is it an optical illusion? If they are different diameters you were vaping that build at 4 different "effective" wattages. That is, it's easier to heat up a smaller diameter wick than a larger one. It shows in the progressive darkening of the wick from right to left in the pic.

 

[MidwestGuy]

Here we are ... Replacement parts. A little pricey on the silicon rings (price is for ONE but it's the only one I've found so far...) If anyone could provide some absolute/exact measurements of the larger rings we may be able to find better options. I have no precision measuring equipment.

Chimney O-Ring: $1.56 Silicone O-Ring Seals for Atomizers (50-Pack) 50-pack - 8mm*6mm*1.0mm(OD*ID*W) at FastTech - Worldwide Free Shipping FastTech SKU # 1536601 (pack of 50)
Clear O-Ring/seal: Eleaf Lemo | Lemo Drop O-Ring Replacement by iSmoka - EVcigarettes.com ($0.99 for ONE)

 

[horton]

Wow, that is expensive. I do remember noticing the listing on the EV site, but when I saw the picture I thought they came in sets of 2 which sort of makes sense. Those parts should last just about forever if a little bit of juice is applied each time the tank is cleaned and put back together. I'm more worried about 0-rings.
I do have an electronic caliper I just bought. Not sure how accurate it is but I'll try to measure that clear 0-ring and post them. Give me a little time to "practice" my skill. I can see it would be very easy to compress a soft part and skew the measurement. I'll give it the old "college try" though......

OK... here's what I came up with.... Thickness = ~.8mm Width = 2mm OD = ~22mm I'm pretty comfortable with the thickness and the "width" of the ring. It was more difficult measuring the diameter. I did measure both the ID and OD and subtract the two plus factored in the "Width" X2 and came up with roughly the same number as just measuring the OD. I hope what I'm trying to say makes sense.... I'm so far from a machinist or materials person as you could get. If you have suggestions, I'll be glad to give them a go for more accuracy.

 

[puffon]

I bet these would work.
Next time I have to order o-rings, I give them a try.
018 Buna-N Square O-rings - Tetraseals [SN70018] : O-Rings - The O-Ring Store, We make getting O-Rings easy!

 

[Mellowbuzz]

Nice clapton build Mellow, yours?

I wish! lol My (less than desirable) Clapton coils are still a work in progress!

That's a build that a buddy of mine supposedly did. He sent me the picture a few days ago. Rather impressive to say the least. Now if I can just get him to show me his method.

 

[RedheadedBStarD]

If you have the width as a pretty accurate figure try measuring the deck of the Lemo from the inside of the lip. It won't distort.

 

[KGB7]

KGB7, are the turns in that coil really all different diameters or is it an optical illusion? If they are different diameters you were vaping that build at 4 different "effective" wattages. That is, it's easier to heat up a smaller diameter wick than a larger one. It shows in the progressive darkening of the wick from right to left in the pic.

This coil and all coils in the past are same diameter, its just the spacing on this last coil is uneven.

 

[horton]

If you have the width as a pretty accurate figure try measuring the deck of the Lemo from the inside of the lip. It won't distort.

Do you see now why it's good I'm not a machinist? Thanks for the hint..... sometimes I can't see the proverbial forest from the trees.....lol
When I tear one down I'll do that measurement. I just cleaned the 3 I have yesterday so it will be a bit. If it becomes a pressing issue I'll tear down sooner......

 

[RedheadedBStarD]

How often are you guys and girls tearing the build deck down completely to clean it? I have yet to pull the deck apart, but noticed what almost looks like a plating of the metal coming off. That or its some scummy film that isn't coming off with a simple rinse of the deck still assembled.

This photo shows what I'm referring to.

Advise appreciated!

 

[whiteweazel21]

Well after destroying my first RTA (a Lemo), made sure to buy 2 more : )

Some noobie questions:

1. I was vaping a sweet DIY juice including 8% CAP Sweet Strawberry, and 3% Sweet Cream but no EM/Sucralose. At some point while chain vaping, a dark brown fluid leaked into the tank. Would I be correct in assuming this from overheating/coil gunking? Is there an exact reason, and at the point when this happens should I always dump the tank and add new juice? Should I re-wick?

2. The black o-rings on my Lemo got sooo damaged. They were torn, and small pieces coming off. Was I too forceful placing my drip-tip in? I did wash parts in hot water with the rings on, does this cause the o-rings to expand/be at risk for damaging them? Do you guys remove the o-rings before washing?
Thanks kindly

 

[MidwestGuy]

Well after destroying my first RTA (a Lemo), made sure to buy 2 more : )

Some noobie questions:

1. I was vaping a sweet DIY juice including 8% CAP Sweet Strawberry, and 3% Sweet Cream but no EM/Sucralose. At some point while chain vaping, a dark brown fluid leaked into the tank. Would I be correct in assuming this from overheating/coil gunking? Is there an exact reason, and at the point when this happens should I always dump the tank and add new juice? Should I re-wick?

Most likely overheating and/or coil gunk. When not vaping for awhile, it tends to seep out of the juice channel openings. This has happened with most of my atomizers, especially with darker liquids. Especially if not changing the wick regularly. I don't think it's much to worry about, other than a possible indication that your vape may start to taste a little funky in the next few hours/days. It's a good indicator to re-wick your coil on the next fill. If it's happening immediately after a fresh wick, then you may be burning your liquid/wicking material.

2. The black o-rings on my Lemo got sooo damaged. They were torn, and small pieces coming off. Was I too forceful placing my drip-tip in? I did wash parts in hot water with the rings on, does this cause the o-rings to expand/be at risk for damaging them? Do you guys remove the o-rings before washing?
Thanks kindly

The black o-rings, especially on the drip tip and the top of the chimney, need to be lubricated before they are inserted/used. As long as you keep them juiced up, they should last a bit longer; but like many have said, these o-rings (especially the chimney o-ring) are taxed pretty hard. You can buy a 50-pack of replacements from FastTech (see my last post in this thread for a link). Keep them juiced up and they will serve you well, especially the chimney o-ring. If that one fails you will have liquid leaking everywhere out the air-intakes/bottom of the Lemo, as that one is vital for proper vacuum seal in the tank.

 

[whiteweazel21]

The black o-rings, especially on the drip tip and the top of the chimney, need to be lubricated before they are inserted/used. As long as you keep them juiced up, they should last a bit longer; but like many have said, these o-rings (especially the chimney o-ring) are taxed pretty hard. You can buy a 50-pack of replacements from FastTech (see my last post in this thread for a link). Keep them juiced up and they will serve you well, especially the chimney o-ring. If that one fails you will have liquid leaking everywhere out the air-intakes/bottom of the Lemo, as that one is vital for proper vacuum seal in the tank.

Oh I know about leaking. For the heck of it I'm using the screw on a new Lemo, not a single drop yet. I guess the screw + new o-rings is pretty nice. And tip for any new RTA users with a Lemo, you don't need to tighten hard at all, just snug and in-place. I tightened mine so hard eventually I was using a pliers to take it apart lol. Also, don't tighten on your mod. Take it apart, tighten, and screw back in.

 

[jhhollier]

Eleaf US posted a "what can we improve" thread over on reddit and someone asked the representative about a drop kit for the full-sized Lemo. The representative posted a link to the Eleaf store and they now offer a drop kit. $7.99 plus shipping. I did a search in the thread and did not see it mentioned but if I missed it apologies in advance.