Wick Adjustment / Atty Rebuild for Better Vapor

[HeruRaHa]

Hey gang,

I've tried reading through tons of forum posts but can't quite get a good feel for this.

My 3-week old Ego-T has one atty that has consistently underperformed since day one -- very little vapor, very little flavor. It also has a very loose draw, like sucking air through a straw -- I don't know if this is somehow related.

Unfortunately I dropped my good atty on the kitchen tile during a cleaning session and it's now leaking horribly, so I'm back on the weak one.

It seems after reading a few things it might be beneficial to rebuild the atty and fluff the wick out. Can anyone confirm that this is a good way to go? I'd much rather get some new life out of this one until I can receive some cartomizers and clearomizers to try as well then have to go back to local smoke shop tomorrow and pay $15-20 for a new atty.

Hopefully one of you can offer some advice, otherwise I'll post my results to share.

 

[kazz63758]

I can say that adjusting the wick on my EgoT attys made a world of difference in my satisfaction with them. I'm not sure about how to fix a very loose draw--mine were just not getting enough juice to wick down. I lowered them a bit in the spike tube and used a tiny needle (27 gauge) to make a small channel in the wick. I got the "know how" from watching the youtube video where the lady from cignot used the large PVC pipe and mop head to demonstrate.

 

[HeruRaHa]

Great success!!

I popped off the needle plate with a flat-head screwdriver (don't have a hemostat), dry-burned the coil a handful of times (blech! the smell! thank god for bathroom exhaust fans!), burned off the wick with a lighter and rinsed under warm water, primed the wick with a drop of e-liquid, and gave the atty a quick rinse in hot distilled water. Filled a fresh tank, popped it on, and gave it a rip. A little pixie fart of vapor had me close to screaming "why oh why did I ruin my one working atty!?"

But 2-3 draws later, and I'm blowing clouds of vapor with a nice clean taste. My RY4 actually tastes like RY4 again, and I don't need to hold the button down for 3 seconds before taking a long, slow 10 second draw just to get a satisfying hit.

I can't say it's "as good as new" but it's close enough for a 3.5 week old atty that's had about 30 ml of juice put through it.

I was terrified to rebuild an atty, much less attempt dry burns, but all I can say to the doubters is give it a shot (preferably with a back-up on hand).

Good to know, since I'm about to help my mother-in-law get started vaping.... rather than trying to explain all the little maintenance bits to her, I'll just take her old atty's off her hands, or if I'm feeling nice, rebuild them for her...

Thanks ECF! I'd be so lost without you!

vape on!

edit: credit where credit is due, I would've been pretty lost without this awesome post: http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...ep-step-cleaning-maintenance-shaka-zuluf.html

 

[kazz63758]

Congratulations! Glad you got it going again.