Rosin Technique....Easy DIY Solventless

Monsoon said:

My plates arrived and my press is setup and already spitting out rosin! I did some naked squishes and got some to try out. It was very flavourful, maybe a tad too much, even and gave me a flower high which hit me hard since I'm not used to it. Might change, but at the moment I still prefer my QWET over flower rosin. I'll try some dry sift when my bags show up, I'm thinking I might prefer that and it will be easier to press out in quantity anyway.

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Wow, very surprised to hear this. I actually tried reaching out to this guy several times since his little customer service catastrophe but he's been very non-responsive. I didn't buy overly into that drama as the customer came across like a jerk too, but rufio had basically had 50% of my interest dissipate from his lack of interest in actually making a sale and providing info. Now I guess the other 50% interest is gone after hearing your preference for QWET even still.

Just curious, had you been having good results from squishing on previous tech all along? What has you favoring the QWET process? Are you reclaiming the ethanol? Just curious.

Unfortunately the extra tube of parchment didn't really work so well for me this time.
The rosin seemed to seep into the layers and folds of the tube.
Some made it out of the ends, but a bit was trapped and harvesting it from both sides of the parchment that just wanted to roll back up was tricky sticky lol

Tonight's collection of approximately 0.217g from an unknown starting weight lol.

I rolled one sausage which weighed less than half a gram and then started playing by breaking and re-pressing some rosin flakes with the straighteners set to 230F

Ok, forgive me for asking this, but why are you guys getting plates from someone with suspect customer service when we have a provider for plates in this very forum?

CrazyDiamond said:

Ok, forgive me for asking this, but why are you guys getting plates from someone with suspect customer service when we have a provider for plates in this very forum?

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Well, no offense to Joel, because they are really cool plates and I wish I had those metal fab skills, but IIRC he has stated there is a lower limit to the pressure that can be thrown at the cuni plates vs ss. I'm not sure anyone has identified this limit yet. If so, please share.

Secondly, his heaters are soldering irons which are a novel implementation for sure, but reportedly take 20-ish min to heat up. I admit I don't know the heat-to-use time for the SS plates with coil heaters but I believe it was more on the order of 5-10 depending on dual or quad heaters. Not a big deal one way or the other I suppose. Also, there is the whole soldering iron diameter issue vs the slot in the plates.

Anyone feel free to correct me on any of this info but this is my understanding thus far. None of that is unworkable, but it prevents a slam dunk sale for me I guess. I think based on feedback he's probably already got ideas on how to refine the idea further and if/when that happens, I'm likely down for the cause. I continue to not invest and keep an eye out because no one else is seemingly offering a slam dunk either.

Of course, Joel's plates are probably half the cost or less and there are folks using different versions happily. But when I'm thinking over investing potentially a few hundred dollars overall at a solution, I want to feel confident it's going to suit the purpose and possibly lend itself to other upgrades down the line. Some have more tolerance in terms of how turn-key they want something to be after investing. In this case, my tolerance is pretty low. I want the heaters to work, be tough and take pressure, and I don't want to worry about any breakdowns. I just try to do my due diligence with regard to part selection.

There will always be issues and challenges of course. In these events, customer service is key, and I think this is likely a big strong suit for Joel. From the little I've been paying attention, he's worked with folks to sort out any challenges. I like that a LOT. I presume this is the point you're trying to get at @CrazyDiamond.

The Rufiocraft plates were reportedly of a high enough quality for electric pneumatic presses of high pressure to employ, so I did like that.. especially if I invested in a smaller press initially to evaluate and then possibly decided to move up in pressure. The standardized and dual use heaters also were semi-upsides, although there are definitely higher quality heaters. The one publicized incident of poor CS from rufio basically involved an asshole customers and an inattentive vendor. Because of this, it was hard to squarely blame the vendor. So, I entertained it a bit more but his lack of communication with me definitely turned me off. I'm surprised to hear @Monsoon prefer QWET over the plates for squishing though, so I'm curious to see the thought process. Those are seemingly the highest quality plates right now, so if they aren't performing top notch, that's insightful information to learn.

To sum up... for me at least, it was a matter of effective spending and best bottom line performance/value for not just the near term but potentially down the line also. Joel's plates are awesome it seems, and most likely the best cost value if you are more open to DIY but the heaters are a concern, followed by pressure thresholds.

Just my two.

@EpicNameGuy , no worries. FYI, @BoogerMan did take a 2" block (3.14sq inch) to 20,000 pounds and it did not crush it.

Soldering irons may be a novel solution but they are also very accurate, reliable and safe imo. I think it's a practical and elegant solution at an affordable price comparatively speaking...

My competition is Revlon and Remington.

Edit: The only issues with irons so far that I know of are with those that chose to use different irons than the ones I use.

Edit 2: if anyone ever breaks my vise jaws, I will replace or refund.

So I had 1.9g of some 73u and 25u bubble hash from OG platinum and Tahoe OG sugar trim. I squished it with the clamp I previously posted. I squished it three times each about 5-7 seconds until rosin quit flowing. I pulled 1.4. My scale is .1 off. I'm just wondering if this is regular? Did I get lucky with this one? Or must my math be off, but being pretty easy math I don't think that's the case.

Edit*** Found the culprit there is a little left over moisture. Not horrible any tips on removing?

EpicNameGuy said:

The Rufiocraft plates were reportedly of a high enough quality for electric pneumatic presses of high pressure to employ, so I did like that.. especially if I invested in a smaller press initially to evaluate and then possibly decided to move up in pressure. The standardized and dual use heaters also were semi-upsides, although there are definitely higher quality heaters. The one publicized incident of poor CS from rufio basically involved an asshole customers and an inattentive vendor. Because of this, it was hard to squarely blame the vendor. So, I entertained it a bit more but his lack of communication with me definitely turned me off. I'm surprised to hear @Monsoon prefer QWET over the plates for squishing though, so I'm curious to see the thought process. Those are seemingly the highest quality plates right now, so if they aren't performing top notch, that's insightful information to learn.

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Sorry for the delay, shitty week IRL and I got a gaming PC which is stealing the rest of my time.

Regarding the Rufiocraft / Rosinworks plates, keep in mind that the product is still being developed and this is the first gen. From what I've gleaned online, Rufiocraft doesn't actually handle the day-to-day operations of the company (he's in a different city) so any questions should be directed to one of the social media accounts for Rosinworks, the website itself or Michael Boudreaux. Their customer service skills have a long way to go but they've yet to actually screw a customer out of money so there's that anyway.

I've only done a few 1-2g squishes, once I get my mesh bags I'm trying out 7g of flower and dry sift in a wrap to try to get it to pour out. I may yet get results I'm happy with. The QWET I'm making now is 100% clear and stable shatter (no autobudder after 2 months) with a smooth but somewhat subtle taste that exhibits the dominant terpenes that survived the extraction process. The high varies with strain but tends to produce a clearer more functional high, I'm thinking because it's missing something. Rosin to me was more like vaping flower, had a fuller and fresher taste which I didn't like but maybe I'm just not used to it yet. No issues with the plates themselves so far.

Monsoon said:

Sorry for the delay, shitty week IRL and I got a gaming PC which is stealing the rest of my time.

Regarding the Rufiocraft / Rosinworks plates, keep in mind that the product is still being developed and this is the first gen. From what I've gleaned online, Rufiocraft doesn't actually handle the day-to-day operations of the company (he's in a different city) so any questions should be directed to one of the social media accounts for Rosinworks, the website itself or Michael Boudreaux. Their customer service skills have a long way to go but they've yet to actually screw a customer out of money so there's that anyway.

I've only done a few 1-2g squishes, once I get my mesh bags I'm trying out 7g of flower and dry sift in a wrap to try to get it to pour out. I may yet get results I'm happy with. The QWET I'm making now is 100% clear and stable shatter (no autobudder after 2 months) with a smooth but somewhat subtle taste that exhibits the dominant terpenes that survived the extraction process. The high varies with strain but tends to produce a clearer more functional high, I'm thinking because it's missing something. Rosin to me was more like vaping flower, had a fuller and fresher taste which I didn't like but maybe I'm just not used to it yet. No issues with the plates themselves so far.

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That makes perfect sense. You're probably right on the more volatile terps being gone and possibly contributing to the cleaner effects, so-to-speak.

Regarding the Rosinworks CS, I gleamed as much regarding who was responsible for what. The Rufio guy was talking to me and then stopped and wouldn't reply for days but would be posting the same squish video on instagram several times a day. Just seems bizarre that I'd have to do so much digging just to find the right person to talk to when he could have easily put me in touch. He had been talking to me up to a point.

Oh well. Looking forward to hearing how the tech works, but may ultimately choose a more affordable option such as the CuNi jaws to get me by for now. Concentrates in the area have become way to expensive or way too low in quality to justify the purchases :/

EpicNameGuy said:

Oh well. Looking forward to hearing how the tech works, but may ultimately choose a more affordable option such as the CuNi jaws to get me by for now. Concentrates in the area have become way to expensive or way too low in quality to justify the purchases :/

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I only went with Rosinworks because I can swallow it if the whole setup ended up being worthless. Everything on the market, which isn't much, is still very first generation and pricey. Probably best to go cheap for now and then upgrade later on.

may be able to get a few of these..

@iDRINKBLEACH that yield (minus the moisture) sounds about right for good bubble. I haven't had to do it yet, but if I had excess moisture in my rosin I would just leave it out at room temp and check it each day. You can tell when rosin has moisture in it because it will sizzle when you take a dab. I have also found that moisture makes the dab taste fairly harsh (way more throat tickle compared to rosin with no moisture that has no sizzle when dabbed).

@EpicNameGuy let me give you some updated information.

First off, like @Joel W. said, CuNi is plenty strong for the pressure we use. I did apply 20,000 lbs to one of the CuNi plates and it did no damage at all. However, we have learned that exceeding certain pressures actually results in lower yields. So 20,000 lbs or 6,370 psi (with my 3.14 square inch round plates) is just way too much and will actually result in lower performance. I believe the limit discovered was about 3,000 psi so I press at 8,000 lbs which gets me at about 2,548 psi with my plates.

Here is the vid of the CuNi crush test if you didn't see it.

And here is the info that @Monsoon posted about the the pressure (and temp) tests


Now for the soldering irons. I honestly think they are great. I love that fact that if they break I can go get replacements the same day from multiple different stores. I respect @Monsoon for going with RosinWorks because if his heaters or PIDs stop working, he is SOL for at least a couple weeks. Hopefully they last and are good quality, but replacements are definitely not readily available.

As far as heat up times go, here is the newest info now that I have everything dialed in. If I set the irons to the max (450C) the plates get up to 200F in 10 mins then I dial it down to 350C and the plates sit right around 210F. I tried something new just now. I turned my irons up to 450C and used my Newport butane torch to assist in heat up. I heated for about 30 seconds at a time and did this 2 times. I was able to get the plates up to 230F in 2 minutes and then I turned the irons down to 350C and they dropped to 220F 3 minutes later and then stayed right around 210F when I tested it 5 minutes later. So with the help of a torch, I can get up to temp in just a couple minutes and it stays there!

I am more than happy with my @Joel W. plates and soldering iron heaters. And now that Joel has offered a full refund/replacement policy if they break (while being used within reasonable pressures), I honestly don't think you can go wrong

Oh and I pressed 7g tonight. Took about 30 minutes to get the plates to temp, cut 15 pieces of parchment, find 15 nugs that weighed out to 7g, and then press 15 nugs. I haven't done the collection yet but it should only take 5-10 minutes. My plates started at 210F and ended at 205F after 15 back to back presses. The irons work amazing and the heat retention of the CuNi is awesome as well!

Boogerman - Nice bro! That with the Joel W plates?

Here's a beautiful shot to show what can be done with a vise and Joel W plates!

Straight from the flower. This is my next dab:

herbivore21 said:

Boogerman - Nice bro! That with the Joel W plates?

Here's a beautiful shot to show what can be done with a vise and Joel W plates!

Straight from the flower. This is my next dab:

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Yep his plates with my H press. I love this setup and plan to use it for a very long time

That rosin looks bomb man! Glad you are enjoying the vice plates

Great stuff man, I'm in the same position, couldn't be happier!!! This rosin machine sure works well! I am really getting some great efficiency I can definitely squish nugs dry

BoogerMan said:

@iDRINKBLEACH that yield (minus the moisture) sounds about right for good bubble. I haven't had to do it yet, but if I had excess moisture in my rosin I would just leave it out at room temp and check it each day. You can tell when rosin has moisture in it because it will sizzle when you take a dab. I have also found that moisture makes the dab taste fairly harsh (way more throat tickle compared to rosin with no moisture that has no sizzle when dabbed).

I thought that too about moisture with taste as if it was holding chloraphyl and other shiFt.

@EpicNameGuy let me give you some updated information.

First off, like @Joel W. said, CuNi is plenty strong for the pressure we use. I did apply 20,000 lbs to one of the CuNi plates and it did no damage at all. However, we have learned that exceeding certain pressures actually results in lower yields. So 20,000 lbs or 6,370 psi (with my 3.14 square inch round plates) is just way too much and will actually result in lower performance. I believe the limit discovered was about 3,000 psi so I press at 8,000 lbs which gets me at about 2,548 psi with my plates.

Here is the vid of the CuNi crush test if you didn't see it.

And here is the info that @Monsoon posted about the the pressure (and temp) tests

Now for the soldering irons. I honestly think they are great. I love that fact that if they break I can go get replacements the same day from multiple different stores. I respect @Monsoon for going with RosinWorks because if his heaters or PIDs stop working, he is SOL for at least a couple weeks. Hopefully they last and are good quality, but replacements are definitely not readily available.

As far as heat up times go, here is the newest info now that I have everything dialed in. If I set the irons to the max (450C) the plates get up to 200F in 10 mins then I dial it down to 350C and the plates sit right around 210F. I tried something new just now. I turned my irons up to 450C and used my Newport butane torch to assist in heat up. I heated for about 30 seconds at a time and did this 2 times. I was able to get the plates up to 230F in 2 minutes and then I turned the irons down to 350C and they dropped to 220F 3 minutes later and then stayed right around 210F when I tested it 5 minutes later. So with the help of a torch, I can get up to temp in just a couple minutes and it stays there!

I am more than happy with my @Joel W. plates and soldering iron heaters. And now that Joel has offered a full refund/replacement policy if they break (while being used within reasonable pressures), I honestly don't think you can go wrong

Oh and I pressed 7g tonight. Took about 30 minutes to get the plates to temp, cut 15 pieces of parchment, find 15 nugs that weighed out to 7g, and then press 15 nugs. I haven't done the collection yet but it should only take 5-10 minutes. My plates started at 210F and ended at 205F after 15 back to back presses. The irons work amazing and the heat retention of the CuNi is awesome as well!

Click to expand...

Patience is perfection whilst extracting. I put in front of a fan for the day. These dabs have more pull then a stretch arm strong n snap back faster then a rubber band no shatter yet maybe bc made a couple mistakes from negligence and beer. Practice makes perfect and I guess drunk practice makes no practice at all :s

hurr disregard this post lmao

Was surprised yesterday when I managed to get some half decent soft hash and decided to try pressing it wrapped with some pieces of coffee filters
Today I managed to get 0.67g from squashing approximately 1.56g of hash, so about a 42% return
It looks a lot darker than the rosin from the flowers and feels a bit stiffer too.
I found I could press this stuff at lower temps, but I had to increase the pressure slowly to prevent the coffee filter paper bursting

Try using 50-25micron ss mesh, it won't split on you ever and you can vape/hot milk the mesh after you're done for the bit that always gets trapped in bags/filter/mesh I found that you need virtually no pressure for that type of content, it almost squeezes itself with a bit of heat.

I forgot , I have a couple of metres of fine 400 mesh (25mic) I snagged from work to make wicks for genesis atomisers.
I'll give it a scrub and try it shortly, thanks

I think 400 mesh is 37u holes, 25u wire. I believe 500 mesh is true 25micron everything, either way, 400 is as good as the rosin t-bags, so no biggie. wrap it up tight, try and get the loose edge of mesh in the centre of your parcel, I do that so that if it does manage to come apart, it's in the middle of the squish where it'll do the least damage but I haven't had one come apart yet so I'm doing that just in case. fold over the sides to stop any blowout at the sides and you're good to go. For the parchment, fold the edges over a couple of times so it's nice and tight, if it's good stuff, it'll run that far

SS mesh was a success.
The first time, I still managed to pop the mesh lol
The second time I went a little slower and seems to have worked quite well

I also tried pressing using the little oil slick duo pads instead of parchment.

It worked for me, but I'm only using straighteners and a clamp and pressing hash at the moment so I'm not subjecting them to extreme pressures or high temps.

http://i.imgur.com/krXs12O.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/JGXSu1p.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/7X5MaWe.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/C37Zhyu.jpg

I'll have to try it properly later, now I know it works and see if I'm getting the same return.

Straighteners and a clamp are perfect for this, low temps (80-100c), it just doesn't need massive amounts of pressure. If you get the right pressure on to start with, it should hold the edge to stop it popping and it should only really pop if you didn't leave enough overhang to account for any shifting of the mesh (I'm guessing here ).

Good call on the slick pad, I was going to try that next. I have tried co-op parchment (it's ok), bacofoil foil backed parchment (it's excellent).

The duo pads seem to work for flowers too http://imgur.com/a/si7kh
Collection was a little more difficult this time though. This is the first time I've seen rosin so hard.
Tiny shards kinda sprayed as I dragged across the pad the first time trying to collect.
After I saw that I popped the pad onto the plate of the straightener so the rosin could soften which made collection much easier. Now it's cooled the rosin's really hard and easily handled but very brittle and snaps.
I'm guessing this is shatter then? lol

[edit] threw it all in the vapexnail and hit it in one.
Flavour was awesome, got the sweats, chest still recovering lol

I think that's shatter but as I haven't seen any irl we'll need someone else to confirm it

Pyr0 said:

The duo pads seem to work for flowers too http://imgur.com/a/si7kh
Collection was a little more difficult this time though. This is the first time I've seen rosin so hard.
Tiny shards kinda sprayed as I dragged across the pad the first time trying to collect.
After I saw that I popped the pad onto the plate of the straightener so the rosin could soften which made collection much easier. Now it's cooled the rosin's really hard and easily handled but very brittle and snaps.
I'm guessing this is shatter then? lol

[edit] threw it all in the vapexnail and hit it in one.
Flavour was awesome, got the sweats, chest still recovering lol

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Here's a video with the duo pads, looks good! The only thing is that over time, the crisscrossing fibers on the pads will get mangled. Sharp stems and maybe pressure itself is to blame. I asked oil slick pads on youtube on Bubbleman's channel and on Twitter what the max psi the pads can take. They never answered. I say you can press about 1-2 ounces of flower between 2 duos before you want to get another two duo pads to press with.