Discontinued Pax Vaporizer by Ploom

[Espo]

Has anyone received any of their spare parts yet?
I ordered screens when I ordered my Pax and I still dont have them. I am going to call VapeWorld tomorrow and add an oven lid to my order, and ask them when they expect to have the parts in stock.

 

[Dammit]

Literally just got it to pop up. Still sending it in because it is not a buildup issue.

Does the ring on your mouth piece move around freely? If it's not, see if it's resin that's stopping it. If that ring is moving around fine and it's still not popping up, send it back, but I have a feeling there's resin building up under that ring because it's getting worse as you've used your pax and not a problem from the start. Even if it looks clean from the outside, I find dirty iso finds its way in there and gets sticky as it dries up.

 

[tranceporter]

Ok after a well needed session and a cleaning the problem seems to be the bud I am using. After one or two oven loads the resin build up is so bad that the mouthpiece will get stuck once the Pax cools down. This.only happened with this particular herb I am running through it. It would take earlier strains repeated usage before the click action felt sticky ( but always popped back up). I will do some more testing but i wont have a different strain until Thursday.

 

[Dammit]

just putting this out there for guys who want to do the replaceable battery mod. i'm still testing and do not recommend you try it yet. everything works, functionality is the same, however even when the battery is at 4.15 volts (directly off the charger), the pax is showing yellow battery status. i have checked the voltage via many points within pax, including all the way pack to the main solder points on the PCB, and it always shows up as the same voltage as the battery is regardless of where its tested, so all my connections are good. quite confused about why the battery is showing as yellow, i'm going to put the device through its paces and see how it performs ignoring the battery status color though.

Something troubles me about your mod. You said you have to pop your pax back on the charger before it will work, right? Wouldn't that take away from the convenience of have a user replaceable battery if you have to bring a charger around with you? Is there any other way to get it working after you replace the battery without putting it on the charger?

 

[tranceporter]

Does the ring on your mouth piece move around freely? If it's not, see if it's resin that's stopping it. If that ring is moving around fine and it's still not popping up, send it back, but I have a feeling there's resin building up under that ring because it's getting worse as you've used your pax and not a problem from the start. Even if it looks clean from the outside, I find dirty iso finds its way in there and gets sticky as it dries up.

I think you may be right on some unseen buildup in the mouthpiece. It could be problem of accumulation time. I always clean inside the mouthpiece with a pipe cleaner and qtip the outside. I am going to soak a little longer this time and see if it still happens after a load or two.

 

[Dammit]

I thought about ordering a spare mouth piece, in case the first one starts sticking... I can soak it and use the spare... or am I getting ahead of myself here?

I think you're getting ahead of yourself, tbh. You don't have to soak the mouth piece long. Even if you just dunked it in for a second or two, you'd be fine. I think where the problem comes is if you just dab some alcohol on the ss tube of the mouth piece and it frees up the ring, but dirty iso builds up under the ring area once it evaporates. This is probably why it's fine right away after cleaning or when it's warm, but starts sticking when it's cold or once the iso's gone. Make sure you dry the mouth piece off well around the ring instead of just letting it evaporate, and problem solved.

 

[jambandphan03]

Thanks, I think the waiting process allows just a little too much time for worry about what I might need later on. I do get ahead of myself Thanks for all the advice, and information! So excited, and not having tracking is actually making it a bit more fun, since now I really don't know when it will be here. Usually I'm obsessively updating tracking several times a day...


BTW what is the purpose of PARTY MODE?? Is it just a blinking light or does it effect the performance in some way?

 

[Dammit]

Thanks, I think the waiting process allows just a little too much time for worry about what I might need later on. I do get ahead of myself Thanks for all the advice, and information! So excited, and not having tracking is actually making it a bit more fun, since now I really don't know when it will be here. Usually I'm obsessively updating tracking several times a day...


BTW what is the purpose of PARTY MODE?? Is it just a blinking light or does it effect the performance in some way?

No problem, although it would be a good idea getting an extra set of screens for that purpose. It gets pretty nasty and takes quite a bit of scrapping to get really clean if you're anal like that, which I am. You could soak your old screen and pop in a new one. It's not necessary, but a clean screen lets you pop out your brick easily for flipping or discarding.

I think party mode is just the light changing colour but I think someone said it also turns off the standby mode.

 

[jambandphan03]

I think someone said it also turns off the standby mode.

I thought I read something about that too, but have not found any other info about it. I guess I can test that out once I get one. I did order a set of screens from one of the pax dealer sites... hope they are in stock. Loving this thread!!

 

[ilovedoobies!]

I swear guys I tried loving the PAX but all it did was sit on my desk un used due to the fact of me not liking it enough .... Sold it and good luck for every other PAX owner =) Just was not for me

 

[willieR]

Thanks for the detailed contribution, doobie...

 

[willieR]

Joe soldered directly to the battery, i do not believe he had any issues.
also, i'd like to point out that i didn't have any issues with the mod when i simply soldered in a new battery (battery had tabs already spot welded onto it), it was only when i attempted to make it easily replaceable that this happened.

Hmmm. Might this simply be a lack of contact? Soldered contacts would offer better conduction?

I'd be curious how JoeKA made his connections so successfully

 

[al bundy]

Did you use flux when soldering the wires?

Also maybe the type of solder used.
When i used to do Dishnet receivers I know one solder was better then the other.
I have"Silver bearing solder" it says lead free, and also"Rosin core solder" i think i used the Silver bearing solder on the receivers. both at Radio shack.

 

[kronickidd]

JUST GOT MINE IN THE MAIL... was any body else's box NOT shrink wrap? was the box... already open... in the sense... there was no shrink wrap? hope mine isnt a refurb....got it just in time to charge up and ready for lunch!

 

[CarlosSpiceyWeiner]

JUST GOT MINE IN THE MAIL... was any body else's box NOT shrink wrap? was the box... already open... in the sense... there was no shrink wrap? hope mine isnt a refurb....got it just in time to charge up and ready for lunch!

No shrink wrap.

I know it looks like it should have shrink wrap around it like an Apple product would.

 

[CentiZen]

Did you use flux when soldering the wires?

Also maybe the type of solder used.
When i used to do Dishnet receivers I know one solder was better then the other.
I have"Silver bearing solder" it says lead free, and also"Rosin core solder" i think i used the Silver bearing solder on the receivers. both at Radio shack.

Back when radio shack existed maybe. I'll have to shop around for silver bearing solder because I only have rosin core, thanks for the tip.

Ideally I am looking around my area to find a spot welder, and failing that I may build one myself as it's the best way to connect leads to batteries.

 

[willieR]

I would be interested to hear more about this CentiZen

 

[dudeeitsbrian]

lead free solder = more brittle, less reliable connection. rosin core solder would be best for this purpose, basically its what you want to use when soldering electronics.

at least that's my understanding of the situation.

 

[willieR]

I have the silver solder which I understand is for better electrical conductivity. No idea how much better, but it's what I have. Might be fine for me, as I don't plan on removing the new battery until it craps out.

I thought JoeKA simply used the tight fit of the battery to hold the connections.

 

[CentiZen]

I'm sure that would work; but I'm not doing my work on the Pax at this point in time. I need to find a spot welder so I can attach tabs to the batteries I am buying wholesale from AW for the Arizer Solo; or a good soldering solution. Also I have a 6 cell battery pack from a laptop I want to fix up. Plus, a spot welder can be hella useful... I just feel quite reserved about constructing my own spot welder. It's actually really easy but you either need to remove the transformer of a microwave and alter to put out high current instead of high voltage, or get a ultracapacitor with at least 20 volts and 1 farad of power. Still that's a lot of power to be dealing with; which is why I'd much rather find a certified welder who can do it for me.

 

[thevapenazi]

Ok guys, I swore I'd never post here again (would rather not get into the reasons but some of you can probably figure it out), but I am hurting watching you guys hurting, because I have information that will help. I was quite reluctant to share this with FC but I do love the users themselves, so.. here goes.

1) All of you hurting from low stock? If you guys are near the SF Bay Area, there are two headshops that currently still have the PAX in local stock (this was true as of last friday at least). I checked out the purple and blue models in person and bought myself a second cobalt one to supplement my onyx one that is stuck on medium permanently due to the button. Check out Goodfellaz and Pipe Dreamz in haight-ashbury, SF. That's where I got mine and they had at least 10-15 more boxes on the shelf when I was there last. $249.00.

2) Due to the second pax, I discovered that there was a mid-production revision that ploom skirted admitting. They admitted to me that the PAX unit itself is the same revision and has NOT been modified since the preorder ones went out. This is true.

HOWEVER.. they made a revision to the mouthpiece. My cobalt PAX (AH00083), has a larger inner diamater in the mouthpiece downstem. My onyx PAX (AG00881) has a visibly smaller/narrower diameter downstem and this tight tolerance is what causes the sticking.

Sticking mouthpiece? Call Ploom and ask for the revised mouthpiece. My cobalt PAX has been under heavy use for about a week now and I haven't cleaned it once. Mouthpiece clicks and pops out like it did the way it was new even today. My original onyx? I can clean it all I want, mouthpiece and floating collar and all - but 2-3 sessions later it'll be back to sticking and sliding up slooooowly. Here is the pic. I probably won't be back to answer questions, so hope this helps and solves everybody's issues.

Take care, pax lovers! Pax Aeterna!

 

[jambandphan03]

JUST GOT MINE IN THE MAIL... was any body else's box NOT shrink wrap? was the box... already open... in the sense... there was no shrink wrap? hope mine isnt a refurb....got it just in time to charge up and ready for lunch!

when did you order yours again??

Also should we charge this baby up prior to first use?

 

[kushcabbage]

great stuff vapenazi thanks for the comparison, was wondering why my replacement mouthpiece works so good I stopped using the mouthpiece it came with because like you said a few bowls and it would be sticky, or even right after I cleaned it.

 

[JoeKickass]

has a visibly smaller/narrower diameter downstem

I'll take your word for it...

You could have held them closer together lol, it's pretty hard to see a difference imo

Edit: I think I see it, but I thought one was more rounded than the other. If you ignore the shadows the metal looks almost the same..

 

[kushcabbage]

I'll take your word for it...

You could have held them closer together lol, it's pretty hard to see a difference imo

looks like a noticeable diameter difference in the picture i'm looking at. Will take a caliper to my other mouthpiece and see what's up