When I had my Dart rebuilt recently, it was Ten dollars + shipping, so basically still $15
We also dont know if it will be even servicable after you take the core aprt thus voiding the warranty. tv could easily say sorry you voided the warranty time to buy a new one. Not that they definitly will.
And with all this cleaning talk, how often does everyone clean? I thought it was better to top off and you shouldnt have a problem with build up or having to clean?
Also @
darkrom your cleaning method works. But Iso at the end (if you dont do the 4th boil) is kinda stupid to me. OF boils, iso and then does the final boil to remove the residual ISO. So Isoing as the last step may be pointless and harder to remove the iso after
Thanks for the reminder, makes perfect sense now, but that's no doubt where I got the $10 from.
I agree, it would be wonderful if they'd blindly quote repair costs for 'basket cases' (which is actually what we're talking about here, not the typical use of term basket case) but Dell doesn't do it, nor will Toyota or Apple. I think MNIM has pointed to the flaw in that wish?
I also think folks are looking for rainbows here. It seems pretty clear to me that if you tamper with the insides it's no longer under warranty....like Dell, Toyota, and Apple?
I opened up my Solo to tinker around inside. I take responsibility for that and don't expect them to warranty it after. Likewise I opened up my Puffit and drilled a hole to get around that horrid red/green indicator, I fully expect that if I sent it in and they saw that hole they'd reject it. Pretty simple to me, the deal to warrant performance is based on not tampering. If you tamper, you cancel the warranty, not them.....or anyone else for that matter. As a customer I sure don't what to pay 'my fair share' of that responsibility for others. The maker won't 'absorb' (meaning take it out of profits) such costs, they simply charge everyone a bit more. No free lunches, someone has to pay.
And while I don't want to fish for a lot of posts on how much of a Member's hard earned money this all costs, it is what I consider a consumable part. It has a finite lifespan and owners should accept that if they use it a lot it will die eventually. No magic here, just a sold design well built? I too bought spare cores (which is nice in the EO case, you can have other strains on tap).
I was kind of under a similar impression though now I can see how incorrect that was and, in hindsight, it seems obvious that some form of buildup is going to occur to the point where performance will eventually be impacted.
I'm still not quite clear on what the answer is though. It seems like taking a more proactive approach and cleaning after running 0.5-1g or so through it would maintain the core at near optimal performance. I'm somewhat concerned that there's also a certain amount of risk associated with going through the boil/soak/repeat process too frequently in that, the more you're mucking with it, the more opportunity there is to accidentally damage it. Either I'm just too paranoid about it or there's a happy medium which I haven't found yet.
I'm not so sure the core is all that frail. As long as you don't drop it, of course. Similar medical stuff is
autoclaved over and over on a routine basis, the materials are up to it.
When I first started testing Cera cores for TV I went way overboard cleaning I think. Looking back I'd clean between strains, which I did often. It's a habit I picked up from TV. Their testing, I noted, always started with a clear core. Fresh starts. Makes sense. For them.
Then I realized you lose .2 grams or so of otherwise good concentrate every time. So, after some thought and discussion with 'the guys' I shifted to the idea of 'playing it by ear'. That is keeping an eye on things and basing when to clean on performance. I get it that some guys don't want that, they want a schedule, but I think there are just too many variables here for that. You'll either waste a guys goods or get him into trouble with fouled carts blindly following some routine here?
As to the 'OF boil first' thing, please remember that's based on not trying to reclaim. I understand lots of folks do, so as DR suggests boiling first is a bad call. My preference is based on getting the core as clean as I reasonably can as fast and easy as possible. I think that boiling as a first step gets more junk out than ISO, that's all. No secret insights, just my experience based on my 'needs'. As always, I think guys should conduct (reasonable) experiments. This is not a 'one size fits all' thing by any means. It was intended from the start to allow for individuals and their varying wants. It's a tool (and IMO a good one), it's up to the craftsman holding it to determine how useful it is?
OF