trouble getting cartos open

[chrgrmke]

I attempted to get the white cap off my carto to refill it and the thing broke. Has anyone had this problem too? Or am I just not holding my face right? I watched the video on how to do it and was attempting the same thing. Has anyone had much luck just filling from from the atomizer side? I saw a video of this but can't find it now.

 

[Pawpaw]

I haven't broken one yet (lucky!), but several others have.

There is a "touch" to opening a new carto. You pry up on one spot (the touch is knowing how hard). The cap won't move, so you turn it a little and pry up in a new spot. You keep doing this until the cap begins to lift.

If you make it all the way around the carto and the cap doesn't move, try again but pry a little harder.

After the cap has been removed once, it is much easier.

Hope this helps.

 

[GeeYourHairSmellsTerrific]

Honestly I had great luck taking them off with a paperclip with a little hook bent into the end. I didn't pry at all, just put the hook in and and one hard yank was getting them off damage free. Lost my little paperclip hook and switched to prying, now I break one from time to time.
When you break one just snip a little hole in a cart condom and use that till you end up with a white cap spare from a dead carto.

 

[chrgrmke]

I didn't pry very hard at all, it just popped as I was going around it. I will remember to just use a cart condom next time I break one. that's a good idea, now why didn't I think about that.

 

[NMJ]

When you go to pry make sure you are in far enough to get under the little rubber thing.

 

[rocks82]

i've broken 2 or 3. Be really gentle prying them off and work around the circle to loosen it up first.

 

[frogbmth]

I'm using a tiny ball end hex driver and it works a treat, you can slip it through the hole in the cap and use the ball to hook inside and prize it open

 

[chrgrmke]

All sound like good tips to try, I didn't know you had to get under the rubber ring too. I'm taking notes

 

[Pawpaw]

All sound like good tips to try, I didn't know you had to get under the rubber ring too. I'm taking notes

I don't get under the rubber ring. Too much chance of hooking the atty wire and ruining the whole thing. I take the ring out after I have the cap off, so I can see what I'm doing.

 

[keyzygirl]

Ive broken a few,use the condom or save it till you burn one up.

 

[mephisto69]

For a brand new cart, it seems as if the sticker more often than not is adhered to the white mouthpiece. I have had good luck using a corkscrew to get the caps off. Now I am using a metal dental pick I got from Menards - it's hook-shaped at the end perfectly. I found that by trying to catch the clear o-ring prevents undue pressure on the white piece, and it works pretty slick - I haven't had a problem yet grabbing a wire (and there was only one cart that had the atty abnormally high where it could have been a problem - I am careful!)
At any rate, I have a clear fishing tackle case with all of my parts in it. I should try to get a pic up one of these days with my gear.
The carts aren't going to last forever, but with care, the mouthpiece and o-ring should last a while longer...

 

[~Gazoo~]

All sound like good tips to try, I didn't know you had to get under the rubber ring too. I'm taking notes

As I am sure you have seen, the rubber ring is a very tough piece. So by getting under it and forcing the tip off, there is much less of a chance of messing up the tip. It does take a little practice an you will be an expert at it in no time..

Make sure you save all your burned out cartos so you have some spare parts.

 

[littlewing58]

I never had one cart break until I got the white chocolate strawberry ones. So far all of the caps have broken like they were glued down. The best tool to remove those things is the #8 crochet hook.Oh, and great tip on the rubber cover!

 

[OzAmBloke]

Ive broken a few,use the condom or save it till you burn one up.

I had to read this a couple of times until I realised what it meant. I thought it meant something else

 

[Sheryl]

LOL (my smileys didn't work, reason for edit)

 

[lilly1185]

I wound up actually nabbing my brother's swiss army knife; it has one of those corkscrews stuck to it I found works really well.
edit; I find I can usually get the mouth piece and rubber ring in the corkscrew so I don't send the parts careening all over the floor. Or down the drain. They're nearly impossible to recover then.

I keep meaning to give it back to him I really do...but he doesn't use it and he's got another lol.

 

[chrgrmke]

Yeah, mine broke like it was glued on. I have a swiss army knife, I even picked it up and looked at it. It didn't occur to me to try the cork screw.

 

[mephisto69]

I wound up actually nabbing my brother's swiss army knife; it has one of those corkscrews stuck to it I found works really well.
edit; I find I can usually get the mouth piece and rubber ring in the corkscrew so I don't send the parts careening all over the floor. Or down the drain. They're nearly impossible to recover then.

I keep meaning to give it back to him I really do...but he doesn't use it and he's got another lol.

Yeah, that was what I was using before I found another tool to use. It does work pretty well, though - I love my Swiss Army Knife!

 

[antok]

I broke the first two I tried to open, but I went and got one of those cheap "tooth scrapers" with a curved tip at Walgreen's for about $2 and it's worked very well. Just kind of work around it gently and make sure that it's not getting caught on the colored sticker. The scraper also makes it easier to control so you don't have little flying saucers shooting around the room.