I've been grinding so have slipped on this thread, and I mean the below as respectfully as possible, but a few things should be cleared up.
[1.] Just so we're on the same page or for anyone coming to it late. There appear to be 3 known insulators. The original (possibly silicone or hard plastic) white-ish one, the second limited release clear (PEEK), and the one currently released tan one (PEEK), and possibly a minor variation for the mini that's just related to sizing.
[2.] People keep saying that because they changed to a brown PEEK, it's proof there is something wrong with the clear PEEK. That's a huge leap into
post hoc ergo propter hoc territory, and while I can't say why the switch happened, there are any number of explanations that are as or even more likely, such as initially sourcing parts that are were more expensive than necessary in order to get a fix out the door before switching to the tan insulators.
[3.] Peek is a partially-crystaline polymer, or thermoplastic, known as polyetheretherketone. It has a glass-transition temp of 143C and melts at around 340C. 143C seems low, but some versions are OK at around 250C. There are 4-5 main grades of PEEK:
(a) Unfilled: No reinforcement, certified for food. Naturally a very light brown, but also comes in black. There are variants that are certified foodsafe/lifescience that aren't tan/black, but they're less common.
(b.) 30% Glass: Glass fibers are added to make it better withstand high temps with less expansion, as things like to expand/contract when cooled/heated and in low-tolerance situations that isn't ideal. Also light brown/tan.
(c.) 30% Carbon: Carbon fibers make it stiffer with much less expansion. Black/dark gray.
(d.) Keltron/HPV/Bearing: Carbon fiber, plus graphite and lubricants added. Black/dark gray.
(e.)Various Blends: There are white blends (ceramics) and blue blends (glass I believe usually) and translucent blends (vestakeep, etc.). They all behave differently and have different strengths, like ease of injection-molding or extrusion, surface resistance at higher temps, etc.
My
hunch is the first clear PEEK falls into (e). It may be that it was actually better for our purposes in some ways and the tan is simply cheaper, or it may be the clear variant was good enough but the tan handles 10C more for the same price. Claiming in bold letters and exclamation points that they're unsafe everywhere doesn't seem warranted.
Thanks for updating us! Unfortunately I and many others have not heard back yet
[4.] JC87, you're using language that is implying things I haven't found evidence for. e.g., "I and many others" repeatedly for everything, but when I've searched on this I primarily just keep finding your posts all over the internet (various forums, reddit, multiple threads here). You originally started telling people Kanger wasn't responding to emails about it, after you'd emailed them at 7am and not gotten a reply that day at 5pm. It feels weird.
[5.] I didn't see what underwhelmed posted that got deleted, but I've seen you intimate that he's a schill or works for Kanger at
least three times in this and other threads: even though the points I've seen him make are correct. You did change the contents of the posts to change their meaning, and it does look like it melted from heat.
He simply believes that user error was involved, and that you're maybe hoping to conflate the original issue with the insulator to absolve yourself of it. Regardless of whether he's right or wrong, it's a very valid viewpoint and insinuating someone is a schill to intentionally discredit what they're saying isn't cool.
[6.] I've melted insulators as you're showing, one in an RDA where there was buildup in the positive post and I hadn't cleaned it as thoroughly as the internet had warned me to, and once in a kayfun due to an autofire leading to a dry-burn. I learned from both, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if that's what happened here. As I suggested before, using a little bit of dawn dish soap in the tank should it out and have you up and running, at worst you might have to change the o-rings.
[7.] I get the squeaky-wheel-so-you'll-stop tactic, but you also have to recognize that if there are others who had this issue, they're a statistical rounding error, so it points less to the insulator and more towards something else. There could be something that happened you aren't aware of or aren't telling us, or something off with the RTA platform you received. The tolerances for this design of RTA module are really small, so it may be it wasn't dead-shorting but the wires were causing healt-buildup.
Personally I think it's pretty great that the subtank comes with an RTA module, but there's an argument to made that combining something for novices (replaceable coils) along with something for advanced users (RTA module) is asking for trouble. And there's arguments to made that if someone buys a tank/atomizer he shouldn't have to clean it thoroughly right away of machine oil or other things, but once you work with them awhile you realize that isn't the world we have at the moment.
