Rosin Technique....Easy DIY Solventless

Reminder: do not get ceramic hair irons...mine cracked first time I put it in the vice...did yield an exceptional amount...

So just went to search for muslin cloth, and bought several in Portugal. Will see how that works out.

Then bought a new hair iron with titanium plates. Because that last press had such a nice yield I cannot but have to experiment more....

All hair irons use ceramic heaters inside titanium or aluminum plates that I have seen.

Vises create huge pressures that can flex the metal plates but there is no flexing of the ceramic materials, they just break when flexed.

Try to use less pressure or jb weld your heater plates to the vise jaws next time.

I like the hair irons that have a heater cover made of aluminum and has an end profile similar to this shape

---> ] <--

that way the heater is actually recessed inside the aluminum housing making the heater just a heater as it takes no pressure.

side note. ive found some 316 steel heaters that just need a controller and temp sensor if you wanna go with a pid type control as opposed to just a simple rotary pot control. so its a heater encased in 316 steel. just add power. good for up to 2000°F. no idea if the will sell in small sample orders.

I've been looking for a decent magnetic set up to attach flat iron plates (wife said that is the correct term for a hair straightener) to my vise and found these on Amazon.

They are already mounted to a channel and have holes where a piece of wood or other insulator could be mounted. Pull force seems adequate. My only concern is the magnets are Ferrite instead of the Neodymium type. Anyone have any thoughts on them?

farscaper said:

I like the hair irons that have a heater cover made of aluminum and has an end profile similar to this shape

---> ] <--

that way the heater is actually recessed inside the aluminum housing making the heater just a heater as it takes no pressure.

side note. ive found some 316 steel heaters that just need a controller and temp sensor if you wanna go with a pid type control as opposed to just a simple rotary pot control. so its a heater encased in 316 steel. just add power. good for up to 2000°F. no idea if the will sell in small sample orders.

Click to expand...

i was looking into strip heaters as well. THESE are sheathed in 304 stainless. price isnt too bad, but easily more than a hair iron that already has the electronics worked out for you. so i abandoned the idea because of the cost and extra work. a while back i made temp controller for a hakko vape with a outlet running through a dimmer switch. worked great for controlling the hakko irons temp for vaping. just like THIS, but mine looks nicer. im sure these strip heaters could be run through that yeah...?

and can you link to the iron with the ] shaped profile you speak of?

tepictoton said:

Reminder: do not get ceramic hair irons...mine cracked first time I put it in the vice...did yield an exceptional amount...

So just went to search for muslin cloth, and bought several in Portugal. Will see how that works out.

Then bought a new hair iron with titanium plates. Because that last press had such a nice yield I cannot but have to experiment more....

Click to expand...

Joel W. said:

All hair irons use ceramic heaters inside titanium or aluminum plates that I have seen.

Vises create huge pressures that can flex the metal plates but there is no flexing of the ceramic materials, they just break when flexed.

Try to use less pressure or jb weld your heater plates to the vise jaws next time.

Click to expand...

damn. i was going to pull the trigger on a straightener with cermaic plates today. so they need to be the kind of iron that has the ceramic plates sheathed in metal? will the ceramic inside them still break? my plan was to either get the ceramic plate iron and jbweld some thin SS sheets to them, or just get an iron that has metal plates already. most of the irons with metal plates do not offer the temp range that feature anything lower than 240F. i suppose i could always just set any of these irons to around 240F and then use my homemade temp controller to tune it down to my desired temp. just wanted to avoid the extra bulk of the controller.

rethinking things... again

kazz said:

I've been looking for a decent magnetic set up to attach flat iron plates (wife said that is the correct term for a hair straightener) to my vise and found these on Amazon.

They are already mounted to a channel and have holes where a piece of wood or other insulator could be mounted. Pull force seems adequate. My only concern is the magnets are Ferrite instead of the Neodymium type. Anyone have any thoughts on them?

Click to expand...

id say the pull force is more than enough. in fact may be a PITA to remove...? check out THESE. they are good up to 300F and since we are using a vice the heaters shouldnt be getting close to that temp. not to mention if your insulator is good they wont even see the temp your heaters are at. they seem sufficient to me. i see two in each jaw. and they are cheap.

2clicker said:

id say the pull force is more than enough. in fact may be a PITA to remove...? check out THESE. they are good up to 300F and since we are using a vice the heaters shouldnt be getting close to that temp. not to mention if your insulator is good they wont even see the temp your heaters are at. they seem sufficient to me. i see two in each jaw. and they are cheap.

Click to expand...

I went ahead and ordered the ones I linked in my post above. I like the pull force which I hope will limit shifting, etc when closing the jaws and really like the ease of attaching a wood buffer.

Thanks for your input!

kazz said:

I went ahead and ordered the ones I linked in my post above. I like the pull force which I hope will limit shifting, etc when closing the jaws and really like the ease of attaching a wood buffer.

Thanks for your input!

Click to expand...

anytime! can you post pics when its done? looking forward to seeing/hearing about it.

i think i have decided on THIS iron. its lowest setting is 248, but i may add a SS plates on top of the titanium to reduce the temps to the inside of the jaws just a bit.

If you look close there are 2 sets of heaters in this picture. The 2 inner heater are aluminum from Remington's and the 2 outer plates are titanium from the LOOF brand.

Joel W. said:

If you look close there are 2 sets of heaters in this picture. The 2 inner heater are aluminum from Remington's and the 2 outer plates are titanium from the LOOF brand.

Click to expand...

any reason you went with 2 sets of plates? and can you link me to those irons?

nice!

I had already crushed 4 irons at that point so I tried using the dead aluminum plates to reinforce the thinner titanium heaters, but I only got one good squish before breaking it.

1" low temp titanium LOOF brand.

I got the Remington's from Walmart.

Edit: this setup worked for several presses. It was my next attempt that got one squish and broke.

Joel W. said:

I had already crushed 4 irons at that point so I tried using the dead aluminum plates to reinforce the thinner titanium heaters, but I only got one good squish before breaking it.

1" low temp titanium LOOF brand.

I got the Remington's from Walmart.

Click to expand...

ty for the link. so that setup in your pic is already broke?

Yes, I broke it right after posting that picture a few weeks back. . Lol.

That's why I made my own Cuni jaws that heat from soldering irons..

Most recent pic of my setup.

2clicker said:

anytime! can you post pics when its done? looking forward to seeing/hearing about it.

i think i have decided on THIS iron. its lowest setting is 248, but i may add a SS plates on top of the titanium to reduce the temps to the inside of the jaws just a bit.

Click to expand...

I will be glad to post a pic. I hope to get it built over the weekend. Do you have a Tuesday Morning store in your area? I found an iron that will go down to 220 there that has metal plates over the ceramic. I'm at work now, so I can't tell you the name. But it was the only model my store had.

2clicker said:

i was looking into strip heaters as well. THESE are sheathed in 304 stainless. price isnt too bad, but easily more than a hair iron that already has the electronics worked out for you. so i abandoned the idea because of the cost and extra work. a while back i made temp controller for a hakko vape with a outlet running through a dimmer switch. worked great for controlling the hakko irons temp for vaping. just like THIS, but mine looks nicer. im sure these strip heaters could be run through that yeah...?

and can you link to the iron with the ] shaped profile you speak of?





damn. i was going to pull the trigger on a straightener with cermaic plates today. so they need to be the kind of iron that has the ceramic plates sheathed in metal? will the ceramic inside them still break? my plan was to either get the ceramic plate iron and jbweld some thin SS sheets to them, or just get an iron that has metal plates already. most of the irons with metal plates do not offer the temp range that feature anything lower than 240F. i suppose i could always just set any of these irons to around 240F and then use my homemade temp controller to tune it down to my desired temp. just wanted to avoid the extra bulk of the controller.

rethinking things... again



id say the pull force is more than enough. in fact may be a PITA to remove...? check out THESE. they are good up to 300F and since we are using a vice the heaters shouldnt be getting close to that temp. not to mention if your insulator is good they wont even see the temp your heaters are at. they seem sufficient to me. i see two in each jaw. and they are cheap.

Click to expand...

those 304 maybe what I saw on the other site... probably the manufacturer site... offered in 304 or 316.

anyway... ive been noting my heater plates at 1"... sorry. I was wrong... got out the ol tape measure and they are 3/4" wide by 3 1/4" long. and idk if its the same... I gutted my hair iron and didnt think twice when I pitched the casing but this is basically what im working with for hair iron.
http://m.target.com/p/conair-3-4-ul...B22zo_0slO609pagbIhMJ492lOOaagNWx1xoCeNLw_wcB

although my plates are gold not pink... but same analog dial in the same area and small plates. the heater on mine slip inside the heater plate like a shoe and are only an inch or so long.

Joel W. said:

Yes, I broke it right after posting that picture a few weeks back. . Lol.

That's why I made my own Cuni jaws that heat from soldering irons..

Most recent pic of my setup.

Click to expand...

kazz said:

I will be glad to post a pic. I hope to get it built over the weekend. Do you have a Tuesday Morning store in your area? I found an iron that will go down to 220 there that has metal plates over the ceramic. I'm at work now, so I can't tell you the name. But it was the only model my store had.

Click to expand...

farscaper said:

those 304 maybe what I saw on the other site... probably the manufacturer site... offered in 304 or 316.

anyway... ive been noting my heater plates at 1"... sorry. I was wrong... got out the ol tape measure and they are 3/4" wide by 3 1/4" long. and idk if its the same... I gutted my hair iron and didnt think twice when I pitched the casing but this is basically what im working with for hair iron.
http://m.target.com/p/conair-3-4-ul...B22zo_0slO609pagbIhMJ492lOOaagNWx1xoCeNLw_wcB

although my plates are gold not pink... but same analog dial in the same area and small plates. the heater on mine slip inside the heater plate like a shoe and are only an inch or so long.

Click to expand...

ok so i have decided to box in my hair iron heaters in SS sheet w/ key stock. basically the plates will be made of 1/8" thick x 1-1/2" wide X 4" long sheets and 1/4" key stock. there will be one layer of 1/8" sheet, then 1/4" X 1/4" SS key stock on the top and bottom (to make room for the heater), and then another layer of 1/8" sheet. this way the heater will see zero pressure from the squeeze. the size of the key stock may need to be adjusted to accommodate the thickness of the heater of course, but no worries there. so now it doesnt matter if i use ceramic plates.

these heated plates will be attached to 1/2" pieces of red oak that have magnets embedded in the back to hold to the vise jaws.

i think i am ready to order!

EDIT* @farscaper & @Joel W. after removing them, how thick are the flat iron heaters from the models that you have dissected? from the plate surface to the absolute back side.

2clicker said:

ok so i have decided to box in my hair iron heaters in SS sheet w/ key stock. basically the plates will be made of 1/8" thick x 1-1/2" wide X 4" long sheets and 1/4" key stock. there will be one layer of 1/8" sheet, then 1/4" X 1/4" SS key stock on the top and bottom (to make room for the heater), and then another layer of 1/8" sheet. this way the heater will see zero pressure from the squeeze. the size of the key stock may need to be adjusted to accommodate the thickness of the heater of course, but no worries there. so now it doesnt matter if i use ceramic plates.

these heated plates will be attached to 1/2" pieces of red oak that have magnets embedded in the back to hold to the vise jaws.

i think i am ready to order!

EDIT* @farscaper & @Joel W. after removing them, how thick are the flat iron heaters from the models that you have dissected? from the plate surface to the absolute back side.

Click to expand...

my heater plates are 5/16" thick and the actual ceramic heater is embedded into the back inside of the heater plate which wraps around the heater except the back which was open and empty sans the ceramic heater unit, until I filled the void with jbweld and stuck it to the vise.

@2clicker , the Ti plates measure .260"

Edit: I revisited the fry pan idea with larger plates that extended past my jaws an inch or so. It actually worked and deposited a nice ring of rosin but getting it off the fry pan is not so easy.

I have a silicone dabber but it would rather stick to the non stick pan surface than my dabber.

I am at a loss here.

That flat iron tech is getting advanced keep it up!

ok what about flexible silicone heaters like THESE...?

this 1" x 3" size is available in three dif wattages. i assume i want the version with the largest wattage spec to get the quickest heat up time correct?

@2clicker we've brought that idea up before and the consensus was that those pads couldn't heat up metal plate well enough...not to say it couldn't work, but I had same thought as you a while back. I don't have any way to manufacture plates like @Bouldorado and @Joel W. ...I love the soldering iron idea from J and some copper block with holes from B would be awesome to get a hold of...hint hint

Joel W. said:

@2clicker , the Ti plates measure .260"

Edit: I revisited the fry pan idea with larger plates that extended past my jaws an inch or so. It actually worked and deposited a nice ring of rosin but getting it off the fry pan is not so easy.

I have a silicone dabber but it would rather stick to the non stick pan surface than my dabber.

I am at a loss here.

Click to expand...

Since silicone is usually intended to NOT stick to product, maybe a stickier dabber (ti or SS?) that already has some sticky residue from previous use might be helpful in this instance?
Something with a flat end that won't scratch your pan coating.
Maybe put plates in freezer briefly before attempting to gather product?

(LOL'd at that GIF BTW)

Thanks, I tried a SS dabber also but it was just smearing it into the pan even worse. I will cool them in the freezer and retry tonight. I was out of time last night.

I also thought about getting it warm again and setting some parchment on the oil and see if I could get it to transfer over but I do not have much faith in this one either.

Joel W. said:

Thanks, I tried a SS dabber also but it was just smearing it into the pan even worse. I will cool them in the freezer and retry tonight. I was out of time last night.

I also thought about getting it warm again and setting some parchment on the oil and see if I could get it to transfer over but I do not have much faith in this one either.

Click to expand...

for that to work... if it will. you will need to have the pan cold and parchment warm. stick it to the parchment and touch the oil areas but dont let the pan warm up.

I use this trick to collect reclaim up after evaping alcohol washing... but thats parchment to parchment typically... I have no clue if it will help in your situation... but worth a shot.

edit: running at 200°f today and getting some decent yield too! im comparing diffrent techniques all done at 200 to see which is most effective.

@Joel W.

I've also considered using larger metal plates for both pressing and collection, but was worried the heat transfer issues would make it a no-go. Now that you've had some success with the method, maybe results could be improved by using your small press blocks with Ti foil (link). It's flexible, resilient, and could be used doubled up like the slickpad method, which should make collection easier.


@2clicker

I tried using a single 50 Watt silicone heating pad to heat a pair of 2"x3"x3/4" copper blocks, with no insulative backing (dumping heat to the press). The heat pad I used would reach over 300F in open air, but was not able to heat the blocks up to 200F even on a hot day.

You should be able to get up to working temperatures with two of the heaters you linked by using minimal thermal mass and good insulative backing. Sandwich each heater between hardwood and 1/4" aluminum plate, and make sure to attach the hotter (adhesive) side of the heater to the plate. Please share pictures and results since you'll be trying something new!

CrazyDiamond said:

@2clicker we've brought that idea up before and the consensus was that those pads couldn't heat up metal plate well enough...not to say it couldn't work, but I had same thought as you a while back. I don't have any way to manufacture plates like @Bouldorado and @Joel W. ...I love the soldering iron idea from J and some copper block with holes from B would be awesome to get a hold of...hint hint

Click to expand...

the silicone heaters that i linked to will operate up to 450F. i have a hard time believing that they couldnt get a 1/8" sheet of SS up to 200F. i know it may take a while, but it should be more than sufficient to get to those temps no...?

i like the soldering iron heaters as well, but was looking for something flat that would cover all or most of the plates surface to keep the temp distributed equally. i see the soldering iron elements working great but possibly being a tad warmer in the center of the plate.

shark sandwich said:

@2clicker

I tried using a single 50 Watt silicone heating pad to heat a pair of 2"x3"x3/4" copper blocks, with no insulative backing (dumping heat to the press). The heat pad I used would reach over 300F in open air, but was not able to heat the blocks up to 200F even on a hot day.

You should be able to get up to working temperatures with two of the heaters you linked by using minimal thermal mass and good insulative backing. Sandwich each heater between hardwood and 1/4" aluminum plate, and make sure to attach the hotter (adhesive) side of the heater to the plate. Please share pictures and results since you'll be trying something new!

Click to expand...

my goal is to mount them directly to the SS sheet via a high temp RTV. im hoping to get the version w/out the adhesive since it has a max temp of 300F. the non adhesive version is good up to 450F.

does everyone think the SS sheathed strip heaters will be a better bet?