Intro
Owing to our part-reliance on Chinese knockoff clone vendors for emesh RDAs, we have encountered a variety of issues which have been present on delivered RDAs
As delivered with oversized plate
As from Dec 22, this has been a commonly reported problem. Upon delivery, one or more over-sized mesh plate will not tighten without leaving a gap and even sometimes found jammed into its clamp, unable to move at all..
If jammed into the clamp, remove the set screw of the affected side, and via the vacated screw hole use an allen key (generally the one supplied with the RDA) to lever out the clamp plate.
Then using a small file, for example a metal nail file (Amazon, Ebay, etc) , shape the edges of the plate into side-bevels as shown
Edges filed, now a much better fit
A cheap Amazon metal nail file or similar should do the trick
Clamp plate hole accomodates a non-threaded peg extension on the clamp screw
This problem causes the clamp screw to go right through the clamp plate and onto the mesh, often cutting its own thread in the process, and actually withdrawing the mesh clamp as it's screwed in
Result is that retaining pressure on the mesh is almost completely supplied by the tiny end of the screw and this results in a poor and unstable contact which is likely to prevent temperature control from working.
One remedy (thanks to Alex13 for reporting), is to place a piece of mesh between the screw and the hole, which allows the peg to locate in the hold, but not penetrate through to the other side.
As shown here, the hole should be too small to allow the threaded part of the screw to enter
Has your mesh emerged from the RDA with indentation marks like this? Yes? - you probably have this problem.
A single piece of mesh inserted between the clamp screw and the clamp plate fixed it
Consider overlaying two pieces if the hole is especially large
Too much screw thread showing in the clamp when fully tightened
Sometimes the screws are slightly too short, or perhaps the internal clamp space is oversized, and the screws need to be screwed so far in that they almost go right through the clamp's female thread (left pic), leaving much thread left exposed.
If this occurs, the entire mesh-retaining pressure of the plate may be held by one single thread line which may result in damage and insufficient pressure to maintain good electrical contact.
On solution is to make up some small padding shims , which I fabricated from an old stainless steel piano hinge I had lying around the garage.
Padding shims indicated by the arrows allow clamps to tighten with more engaged thread on the clamp screws
Much better position of tightened screw with shims inserted
Many thanks to Morgan for reporting (Feb 2023)
A newly reported issue with Mesh pros which is the screw not tightening, instead it just keeps spinning. It appears that some are being shipped with slightly undersize screws.
Note: One user has reported using a larger screw to solve this issue, although a larger screw head may protrude and therefore not allow the RDA to be fully screwed onto the mod 510 without leaving a small gap.
Managed to get it to sit in firm by folding a piece of mesh on itself and using it as like a wedge against the wall. Works well but it’s very fiddly.
I folded a small piece mesh double and then this into an L-shape (forming a double-thickness L shape), using the clamp post to size it (pic1). Then placed the L into the hole in the RDA base (pic2). Replaced the post at an angle (pic3) and just pushed it against the mesh, wiggling it it around until it went in. Then just pushed it down firmly. The piece is wedged in and doesn’t move.
Note From Minty: We don't yet have confirmation on whether this fix will give sufficient contact integrity for reliable temp control operation
Pic 1: Cutting and folding (to double-thickness L-shape) a piece of mesh, using the clamp post as a template
Pic 2: Placing the mesh into the base hole
Pic 3: refitting the post, inserting at an angle
The mesh/post just prior to being pushed firmly home
As delivered with burred, uneven surface, resistance was very unstable
This can work wonders for resistance stability (and hence temperature control consistency).
Closely inspect the 510 screw connector on your RDA. If the centre pin has parts which protrude, for example from imperfect manufacture, this will likely reduce the surface area of the conducting joins,increasing resistance and reducing stability.
A suggested remedy is a very gentle and flat filing with a fine-toothed file (e.g the nail file shown in Mesh Pro #1 above). Finishing off with around 800-1000 grade wet 'n dry paper, then a careful polishing with Autosol or similar and washing off with WD-40.
Be extremely gentle and take your time to keep it flat, even and smooth. A strong magnifying glass or phone camera zoomed right in will help.
After remedial work, resistance stability was massively improved
Many thanks to Peter89 for reporting
I performed this same procedure today to 3 vandy vape knock offs, opening the base was easier than I had thought. If one has issues with the clamp edges, then this would be a viable solution for diy-ers.
Here is what I did:
Removed the two black O-ring gaskets that surround the base
Wrapped the base 4-5 turns with electrical tape
Wrapped electrical tape around the tips of pliers
Squeezed the base gently in a vice, upside down, so that the wider part (the bottom) is above the vice, that is what I was gripping with my pliers
Gripping the bottom part and giving it a rather light twist with the wrapped pliers made it come loose enough so it could be pried open with a flat head screwdriver.
After this you've access to the clamp plates and the corners can be bevelled, which was a big improvement on how well and evenly the mesh is held in place. If you don't have access to a vice, a pair of vice-grips, channel locks or any other type of plier will do just as well. Just be gentle to reduced disfiguring & scratching the base.
Before assembling back together I sanded the mating surfaces with a fine abrasive a bit and put a dab of oil on it so it would come apart easier in the future.
Note From Minty
I tested the above Vandy Vape Knockoff dismantling procedure. It was much harder to get mine apart than described above, so apparently there are differences in batches and units. The only way I could get it to budge was by using two sets of water pump pliers(see pics), forcefully twisting in opposite directions and then repeatedly alternating. Much patience was required, but it came good in the end.
