Mech squonkers are by the far the most popular type of squonk mod. This is because it’s easy to make them, and also because they will last forever if you clean and maintain them properly.
Well that brings us to the interesting part: cleaning.
I don’t think most people do this. Why? Because I’ve bought one too many used mech squonk mods that have either never been cleaned, or cleaned improperly. Sometimes I still find dried up e-liquid in the 510 parts.
By the way, never buy a mechanical squonker that cannot be easily disassembled and cleaned – there are some out there.
It’s actually a very simple thing to do, and will prevent unwated shorts, voltage drop and corrosion or staining. I just use alchohol wipes (Isopropyl alcohol) for cleaning. Sometimes I put the entire 510 into my ultrasonic cleaner for a quick clean.
You must know how to remove the 510, and even disassemble the 510. New mods will work fine for a while, but eventually you will notice low performance.
The Moddog Pulsar I bought recently for example. It worked but I had this feeling that it was not hitting as hard as it should. After all, it has pure silver contacts and used the Moddog 510 which many say is the hardest-hitting 510.
So I disassembled everything, even the 510. Gave it a quick ultrasonic cleaning then rubbed off some sticky goo with my wipes, and put everything back together.
The performance was much, much better after the quick cleaning.
Take care of your mech squonkers. If you’re like me and have many of them, they get out of rotation quickly when new stuff arrives. Before putting them away, clean wipe your mod properly.
It’s definitely worth taking the time for it.