I trashed my Stardust

[domesticextremist]

Took the more heavily used of my Stardusts to bits using the
evapes.gr method, which works pretty well.
I didn't rewixk/coil, but wanted to give it a good clean out and dry burn and get
some hardened gunge of the wick ends.

All went well until I tried to reassemble:

[domesticextremist]

To lighten the draw, I had modded this one by filing two notches out of the base ring.
Unfortunately, this weakend it so that it splt when trying to push it back on.
Also, the silicone seal had got trapped in one of the notches and had a chunk taken
out of it (should have been more careful when pushing it in - they seem very delicate).



Bugger!

[Gordy]

sorry to hear that Dom

[HeadHunter]

win some, lose some Dom......still you got a winner with the uprated SDK mate

[domesticextremist]

After a vape and a think, I decided I could fix it

Firstly, I put a condom over a carto and sliced off a thin cylinder to make
a new seal.
Easier said than done to get it the right thickness ( around 1mm) and even
all the way around. I generated quite a few silicone spirals , but finally got
something that looks the part.


I filed down any rough edges from my modding and carefully reassembled the base



Without the silver base ring, there is no compression, and aa little oozing of juice
out of the bottom. I was worried about knocking ii out altogether if dropped.
So I gripped the base ring to the tank with some pliers and soldered it in place.

[domesticextremist]

In the last photo you can also see quite a large (and growing) crack.
That was there already, so I guess this one is near the end of its days.
The soldering keeps the ring in place but there is still some oozing of
juice. I'll vape this tank full and use it for spares and repair I think.

Moral of the story is not to file notches in your Stardust

Though it might be possible to just do the base of the tank once it
has been dismantled. Be careful not to leave any rough edges and
very careful with that silicone seal

[Perpetua]

Dom, you have the patience of a saint!

I wonder if a O ring of some description would make a suitable substitute for that silicone thingwee?

[domesticextremist]

I'm sure it would, but I think the real problem is the base ring which
provides the compression required to keep everything juice tight.
I did briefly think about using a Jubilee clip, but that would look silly .
I will retire it and use it for spares and experiments...

[Perpetua]

Mar 17, 2012 18:23:01 GMT domesticextremist said:

I did briefly think about using a Jubilee clip, but that would look silly .

[Deleted]

:)bog roll tube stckey back plastic and a paper clip we have all been there and will return