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Here's a great guide by our friend "u/nikondork" originally hosted on reddit and imgur. This guide shows you the proper procedure with cleaning a new RDA right from the factory. All credits go to u/nikondork, we simply embeded it here on VapeTech710 for informational purposes.
USPS Black Friday weekend shipping was on point! Ordered on Saturday afternoon and it was sitting in my mailbox when I got home from work on Monday. I looked all over the internet to find the authentic, everywhere was sold out. After seeing the preview images, I ended up snagging a clone off 101vape. I did like that this one had no logo. The authentic's logo is meh in my opinion. Anyway, here she is. The Mutation X version 2 by Cloudcig. Sturdy box. decent padding. Definitely a higher quality clone. It was wrapped in plastic.
I almost forgot to check under the foam. Bam. Actually a pretty good assortment here. A full o-ring kit, replacement deck screws, two actually really nice premade microcoils and a length of silica wick. Also, cant forget our friend, the little blue screwdriver.
Basically, from this point on this album will be a visual guide for a beginner getting their first dripper in the mail. How to inspect, clean, and ready it for building. This is also a review of the Cloudcig Mutation X v2, so I will mention specifically about this RDA. Since they all pretty much function the same, you can apply this information to other RDAs. Start out by removing the body tube/topcap off the deck. Notice the amount of friction while doing this. It is the difference between being able to dry fit in use or having the need to wet the o rings a bit with juice for tighter fits. The Mutation had a smooth dry fit. Snug but not tight. +1
*You'll have to excuse my beat up hands. Im a woodworker/finisher by trade
Shotgun bore baby! More resistance here than the deck. Very good because I do not intend to remove it a lot. The topcap's fit was as snug as the deck.
Upon opening, two very wirey bits of metal turnings fell out. This is why a close inspection and thorough first clean is important. Metal shavings, turnings, dirt, dust, grease and cutting fluid can possibly all be present. Authentic devices are normally a whole lot better at reducing all of this but its still a good idea to inspect anything you intend on inhaling from before you use it. Other areas to inspect would be the edge of the drip well wall/deck. You're looking for metal flashing or burrs. Run your fingers gently around edges looking for things to scrape or sand off lightly. A fine grit sandpaper like 200-320 would work well. Becareful around high polished areas you dont want scratched! This atty had most burrs removed and the machining on the center block and deck are pretty decent.
Check the fit of the screws. If any of them feel really hard to unscrew or crunchy, it could be cross threaded or something could be caught in the threads. If a screw feels abnormally tight, loosen with care and try one of the spares.
Have a look through the wire holes in some strong light. Check for any burrs. In the image, the top two holes have burrs in them. They were easily removed with the tweezers. Other removal tools: a very small screwdriver, an x-acto or a small round jeweler's file. Note the bottom most wire hole. Slightly misaligned with the other three but not a big deal.
You can see the burr a little better here. Im using a 10x photographer's loupe held up to my phone. If you have terrible eye sight, I recommend getting one. Handy to have for lots of things. I do apologize for these sub-par closeups. It was kinda difficult doing all this handheld.
Just look at all the spall that fell out from just some light taps.
Copper center connection. But the hoser that assembled it gouged it a little and now its slightly deformed. We'll have to fix that.
One bit of advice from this part: use a proper sized flat head screwdriver for this. One that fits snugly in the slot, with a tip wide enough to fit the whole screw head. Especially on copper. Copper is a very soft metal and not using the utmost care removing one of these and you will break it or strip the threads.
Lots of room for adustment on this pin. Some atomizers might not be adjustable. Even some might not even be an actual screw! I could just be a press fit pin made to look like a real screw if you go really really cheap.
She stopped backing out after a few turns. Carefully take a pair of small pliers or sturdy tweezers and gently wiggle it free. Already I can see some grease on the delrin insulator.
Grime in the center post. Let's take it out..
Gently wiggle or twist while pulling. Some center posts will be tighter than others. This Mutation clone's post was super tight.
Lookin good but wait...
Plastic flashing stuck in there.
I noticed a little more on the bottom insulator as well. I used an X-acto with a fresh, clean blade and lightly trimmed away any loose plastic flash on the insulator edges.
After trying for while to remove the insulators completely like I normally do, I decided to leave them in there. They were just so damn tightly pressed in I thought I might damage one trying to get it out or back in.
Tear down complete. Time for a bath. WAIT! One more step!
Removed them. Grease or cutting fluid could be trapped behind them. I've had it happen to me. Don't dig them out, squeeze them out. Thumb and fore finger apart, concentrate your grip on the o ring and pinch your fingers together. They'll lift right out.
We'll wash the o rings separately.
All the loose bits removed from this atomizer. This is the reason why you need to really give your new gear a good looking over before you use it.
I have a pretty decent Ultrasonic Cleaner. I picked it up off Amazon. iSonic P4810. This one is a little bit more expensive than a basic unit because it can do up to 30 minute cycles (as opposed to others with just 3-5 minute timers). It also has a heat option. If you do not have an ultrasonic, these next few pics wont matter to you. Just fill a small container with hot water and a few drops of dish detergent. Give everything a good soak followed by a quick brushing with a toothbrush and rinse really well in clean hot water.
Load parts, I put the really small bits in one of those fine mesh stainless steel sink traps for this purpose.
15 minute cycle, heated. Hot water and 2 drops of dish soap. Remove basket and rinse with clean hot water. Dry parts with vaper towel.
15 minutes later................
The o rings did feel a bit oily, so I gave em a quick soak in some isopropyl alcohol.
Blot them dry.....
There are these scratch marks all over the inside of my atty! Is that a problem? Don't worry, a deburring tool was used to remove burrs where the metal was drilled. It's only cosmetic.
Careful. Don't stretch them out too much.
Lookin' good so far...
Use caution if your top cap has air flow control blades on it. The edges could be sharp enough to damage the rubber.
You can see here how not flat that is. I dont like that. Why don't I like that, you ask? Because its not flat and it could be reducing how much of that surface area is making connection with my mod's pin, or in the case of my SMPL mech, the top of the battery. You want to maximize the surface area on connections.
Here I have 600 grit sandpaper resting on a glass coaster. Find something similar to rest your flat paper on. You want a flat, firm surface.
While making sure you keep the head of the screw flat to the paper and your fingers gripping the screw as low as possible, keep your strokes to one direction and slow. Do a stroke or two, rotate the screw slightly in your grip and do it again. rotate. again. rotate. Frequently check the head to make sure you are actually sanding flat. This process is called Lapping. Take it slow, frequently stop to check your progress and stop when you have it flat. You can totally overdo it and ruin the screw. There was no replacement for this screw with the box.
So much better.
Replace center post. I got it started with the pliers and used the edge of my desk to push it back in.
Again, it's copper. Be careful.
Again, using the proper sized screwdriver to not fuck up all that lapping you just did.
The difference between taking them out and putting them back in without all the crap in the holes was noticeable. You have no idea how much wear and tear you just saved those screws and threads.
Since I like to use mechs and im also paranoid, I meter my attys before I put my first build in them. It's good practice and makes diagnosing a shorting problem easier if one should come up. This is what is displayed on my ohm meter when there is no connection.
Good. The insulators are doing their job. Now I know if I build on it and It reads that its shorted (0.0), I know it's the build somehow and not the insulators.
Not going to get into the build. That's an entire tutorial itself. As for the Mutation X Clone, Im enjoying it. Good machining, Good tolerances and fit. Great parts kit. Hits like a train. I recommend this particular clone if you're having trouble finding the authentic. Thanks for checking out my guide! Hope you enjoyed reading and were able to use the information to some capacity. If you did enjoy, let me know. I would love to do more.
u/Nikondork.