Rosin Technique....Easy DIY Solventless

[invertedisdead]

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The terps in the 400F + dish are not surviving as liquid terps--they are vaporized and you inhale them. Life is good.

When pressing, you want to have the terps be free flowing liquid and flow out but NOT vaporize and be lost to "space".
The lower pressing temps would yield more terps. The higher temps would have more of these volatile compounds go past free-flowing and be lost.

But if they are so volatile that only 20 degrees difference in the squish loses them, I feel it will be very hard for them to survive the trip to 400F. Especially during time lost waiting to carb.

 

[mixchu69]

I always wondered about the slight differences in temp like @invertedisdead mentions.

If you are pressing a nug, (i.e. 2gram) in one press, wouldn't u want the footprints of the plate to be the smallest possible. When I watch some press videos on FC, I am curious if the flowing rosin that moves away from the plates taste better than the rosin sitting on the plates for the entire squish. I would expect the extra time the rosin stays on the heated plates would have less flavor/terps than the overflow that moves away from the heat.

Any thoughts?

 

[JCat]

I always wondered about the slight differences in temp like @invertedisdead mentions.

If you are pressing a nug, (i.e. 2gram) in one press, wouldn't u want the footprints of the plate to be the smallest possible. When I watch some press videos on FC, I am curious if the flowing rosin that moves away from the plates taste better than the rosin sitting on the plates for the entire squish. I would expect the extra time the rosin stays on the heated plates would have less flavor/terps than the overflow that moves away from the heat.

Any thoughts?

I've been wondering this too ... this would mean I'd be better to make new plates that are round and have a diameter of ~1" larger than the diameter of my pressed puck (bottle-tech) ... this would leave 0.5" all around the puck on the plates, but that would mean most would get off the plates very quickly.

 

[psychonaut]

Ideally yes. If the consistency of the product is any gauge of the flavor. My pressing on 3x3 plates where the bottle tech bag footpront was paired well with the plates, most of the oil ran off the plates and was sappy, very little shattery rosin left under the plates. I always collect it all in one batch so I think there is some homogenization happening to a degree but still it would be best to squish material that's going to have a puck as close to your plate size as possible, with as narrow plates as possible too (for rectangle plates)

 

[Hackerman]

I've been wondering this too ... this would mean I'd be better to make new plates that are round and have a diameter of ~1" larger than the diameter of my pressed puck (bottle-tech) ... this would leave 0.5" all around the puck on the plates, but that would mean most would get off the plates very quickly.

This is my press, exactly.

I use 4" round plates and I press 2 gram pucks about 1" in diameter. When I press, the puck squishes out to within about 1/2" from the edge.

I could never understand why everyone used square plates. My first few prototypes were sq/rec but I quickly found round to be way better (for small presses like mine).

 

[JCat]

This is my press, exactly.

I use 4" round plates and I press 2 gram pucks about 1" in diameter. When I press, the puck squishes out to within about 1/2" from the edge.

I could never understand why everyone used square plates. My first few prototypes were sq/rec but I quickly found round to be way better (for small presses like mine).

I'm pressing 5-10g at a time, but doing bottle tech with my 2"x4" bag (so 4" circumference so that's = 4" / pi ~= 1.25" diameter) ... so that means 2" diameter plates would be ideal, leaving 3/8" all round between puck and edge of plates. (been thinking about this quite a bit ... probably too much ... )


Edit: On a complete other note, I used a roll of PTFE Slick Sheet the other day for the first time, and I ran a press @ 205F (which is the temp I've settled on that gets good results and generally prevents it from turning to budder/wax and keeps it stable in a pull/snap state ... I haven't found differences in yields @ lower temps, just doesn't stay stable, and higher doesn't do anything except maybe burn off some terps ... I find anywhere I've tried from 180 to 200 it always turns to wax/budder fairly quickly)

Anyways ... didn't mean to talk about temp ... the important thing is the results with the PTFE; what happened, is it all stuck to the PTFE! I had a heck of a time collecting it, it just didn't want to come off. Tried cooling it in the freezer, which helped some, but in a lot of spots it was just really stuck on. I eventually got most of it but did waste some, it was a serious pain, and the PTFE I was left with definitely was not reusable (I had torn it in a few places working trying to get stuff unstuck)

Anyone else have similar experiences? I was expecting it to be easier with the PTFE not 5x more difficult. I was expecting the PTFE to be equally as slick as parchment or better ... definitely not my experience. Is my sheet defective or something???

 

[mc]

So many posts to talk about!!

1. Yes, for flower in filters, bottle tech with round plates provides the best overall quality IMO. Both with the least amount of trichom and heat damage. Cage plates makes this difficult.

2. You'd still want square plates if doing hash or keif so you can do directional flow.

3. PTFE - always more difficult to get the resin off, so that is a common experience Jcat. I believe that also means it will be less likely to release into the resin. Hopefully

4. I do inhale when loading the dab just for these volatile terp reasons. I only carb while still in my first pull. That's when using a banger anyway, I most use a waxpen so it's irrelevant.

 

[elmomuzz]

Gravity plays a big part also. My old rig had round plates that were mounted vertically on a set of vice jaws. The majority of the rosin would flow downward.

For what it’s worth the rosin I’m collecting using my big 3x7 plates tastes as good as any I’ve ever made or tried so I’m quite happy with it as it.

 

[MinnBobber]

IMO from "studying" rosin tech, neither round nor square are best,
Rather, long and narrow give the shortest path for rosin to escape.

One article, cannot find it again, even had a formula for this ratio of sides' lengths to total length of sides.
Square shape and round were both the "worst" ratio for promoting the shortest exit path.

Long and narrow plates with long and narrow puck would give the shortest distance for sap to travel to escape puck.

Agree that small pucks would also help in this regard BUT small is not good for production runs.
@CannaPlates ---I cannot find it now but I think your site even mentioned the plates and/or a certain
press could be used "sideways" to hasten the flow of the rosin out from the puck. The press and plates
would be turned 90 degrees to let gravity help hasten the rosin flow.

When I get set up, my first forays will be small pucks, long and narrow (and tall??).
Long and narrow "bottle tech"

All this rosin tech talk makes me antsy to try it

EDIT-- @elmomuzz , you beat me to it on gravity being your silent helper

 

[Mondy]

Hi everyone--Here are some principles that I have collected since my first appearance here after trying to squish dried out bunk weed in a hair straightener at 300 degrees.

Please comment, correct, or add any thoughts that you have. Thanks!

ROSIN PRESSING BEST PRACTICES AND QUESTIONS
1. Best preparation and selection
a) Do not grind
b) Do pick out bigger sticks from buds.
c) Form into puck (as opposed to long rope of starting material)
d) This method only works with quality (high THC) material.
e) The best starting material is (bud? hash?)
f) Material should be at 62% to 70% relative humidity.

2. Best substrate
a) Silicone-coated parchment?
b) PTFE (Teflon, "OilSlick") seems to soften too much and rosin sticks to it.

7. Best filter material
a) None at all, just pick out the green bits and get higher yield?
b) 90-120 micron mono-filament polyester trade off of yield/purity?
c) Muslin (cotton) because it doesn't have plasticisers and any fibers that pull off wont hurt you if you heat them?

3. Best temperature
a As a rule, the lower the better.
b) About 115C/240F max(?)
c) About 90C/194 F min(?)
d) Varies with material (flower, hash) and strain.

4. Best time
a) Varies with pressure
b) Probably a minimum of 30 seconds?
c) Long and slow is better than hot and fast.

5. Best pressure
a) As a rule, the higher the better.
b) For hair straighteners, as much as you can get

6. Best press
a) Dual heated plate high pressure pneumatic or hydraulic
b) Hair staighteners work best when you (Stand on them? Use a vice/clamp, throw them in the trash and get a real press? etc.)

 

[invertedisdead]

IMO from "studying" rosin tech, neither round nor square are best,
Rather, long and narrow give the shortest path for rosin to escape.

One article, cannot find it again, even had a formula for this ratio of sides' lengths to total length of sides.
Square shape and round were both the "worst" ratio for promoting the shortest exit path.

Long and narrow plates with long and narrow puck would give the shortest distance for sap to travel to escape puck.

Agree that small pucks would also help in this regard BUT small is not good for production runs.
@CannaPlates ---I cannot find it now but I think your site even mentioned the plates and/or a certain
press could be used "sideways" to hasten the flow of the rosin out from the puck. The press and plates
would be turned 90 degrees to let gravity help hasten the rosin flow.

When I get set up, my first forays will be small pucks, long and narrow (and tall??).
Long and narrow "bottle tech"

All this rosin tech talk makes me antsy to try it

EDIT-- @elmomuzz , you beat me to it on gravity being your silent helper

I believe you are thinking of Pure Pressure. They talk a lot about it on their blog. if you watch a vid of them pressing flower, you can see that pretty much all the rosin successfully runs away from the heat. I also assume the dual heaters per plate help facilitate this.

 

[mc]

I do like the longer rectangle plates but they have a lot of dissadvantages. It requires more pressure to extract with them and they need really long or dual heaters per plate. On the pro side, they would be better for doing both flower and hash if you need to do both. This is why bottle tech is so good, it's also about uniformity and a small puck footprint, so less plate size needed.

 

[invertedisdead]

I do like the longer rectangle plates but they have a lot of dissadvantages. It requires more pressure to extract with them and they need really long or dual heaters per plate. On the pro side, they would be better for doing both flower and hash if you need to do both. This is why bottle tech is so good, it's also about uniformity and a small puck footprint, so less plate size needed.

The Pure Pressure Pike's Peak is only a 5 ton machine.

 

[mc]

The Pure Pressure Pike's Peak is only a 5 ton machine.

Ya I'm not a fan of the pike's peak at all. I meant longer tighter plates. HIs are almost the same as doing 3x5 plates the way he's pressing. He's getting 17 and 19% on cultivars I know should get more. And he's not even using the whole plate length. If he was he'd be down to 500 PSI.And that guy doing the video, he used to think 500 was enough until we corrected him.

Like I say time and time again, Bottle tech, bottle tech, bottle tech.

 

[mc]

Hi everyone--Here are some principles that I have collected since my first appearance here after trying to squish dried out bunk weed in a hair straightener at 300 degrees.

Please comment, correct, or add any thoughts that you have. Thanks!

ROSIN PRESSING BEST PRACTICES AND QUESTIONS

c) Form into puck (as opposed to long rope of starting material)
Wrong, do not puck unless foreced too because of caged plates. Still, bottle tech is better imo.


3. Best temperature
It's more like;
flower 180-220
keif - 170-190
bubble hash 160-180 is ideal

You can go lower, but I don't find lower than this helps much.


4. Best time
1-3 minutes, with ramp up. So the first minutes you are just bringing the pressure in slow to let the material warm up and start melting the wax and lipids holding in the THCa. Then get it to 95% of "your" max for 1-2 min. Then the last 10 seconds I ramp up the last 5% pressure to get it away from the puck.

5. Best pressure
described above. You want about 1000 PSI on the puck, the plates are irrelevant here.

6. Best press
a) Dual heated plate high pressure pneumatic or hydraulic

Duel heating isn't "required" but it's great if you want to press over and over without closing the plates between presses.

pneumatic means air = less pressure. hydraulic will break down less. pros and cons to each.

updates to some of these inline.

 

[elmomuzz]

I pressed a bit of hash this evening at 170 degrees. It came out very flavorful. I might try 160 next time.

 

[Mondy]

Thanks mc!

Can someone please explain to me "caged" and "uncaged" plates?

 

[mc]

Thanks mc!

Can someone please explain to me "caged" and "uncaged" plates?

caged plates have 4 bars, one on each corner, and springs keeping the plates separated until the ram of the press comes down and closes them. The whole cage (plates and all) kit sits on the base and the ram comes down to it.

Non caged plates have the top plate connected to the ram and the bottom plate sitting on base.

The benefit of cage plates is the ram doesn't heat up since it's not connected to the heated plates. The downside is you don't always have a lot of room to work between the cage and the fact that they don't open as far.

 

[MinnBobber]

@Mondy ,
caged plates have an assembly (cage) to keep them aligned. They allow easy setup/ easy movement to another press.

 

[Mondy]

Thanks for the schooling, guys!

 

[psychonaut]

My Dake B-10 has shit the bed. I had lost some oil in the cylinder when I had to disassemble the unit and it never recovered. I had filled the pump, talked with Dake support over the phone a number of times and tried to bleed any air locks out but no luck. Damn good customer service though. I started with Grainger where I purchased and they put me through to Dake which was very helpful. Getting a replacement pump sent out today, so should be back in business next week.

I haven't heard a lot in this thread about maintaining or repairing these units but I've read elsewhere that once they start going they have to be replaced. That almost makes me want to look at a pneumatic setup.

Just for reference, to replace the pump and cylinder (basically the whole bit of kit that powers the press) it's the cost of the machine at that point.

 

[mc]

That's too bad man!! I thought hydraulic were stronger and more durable than pneumatic. At least at the pressures we are going.

I think there are pneumatic over hydraulic jacks too which I'm looking for myself.

 

[shredder]

My Dake B-10 has shit the bed. I had lost some oil in the cylinder when I had to disassemble the unit and it never recovered. I had filled the pump, talked with Dake support over the phone a number of times and tried to bleed any air locks out but no luck. Damn good customer service though. I started with Grainger where I purchased and they put me through to Dake which was very helpful. Getting a replacement pump sent out today, so should be back in business next week.

I haven't heard a lot in this thread about maintaining or repairing these units but I've read elsewhere that once they start going they have to be replaced. That almost makes me want to look at a pneumatic setup.

Just for reference, to replace the pump and cylinder (basically the whole bit of kit that powers the press) it's the cost of the machine at that point.

A pneumatic press still needs a hydrolic cylinder. The air just actuates the pump nstead of manually pumping it, at least the ones ive seen.

A 20 ton harbor freight low profile hydrolic jack is like $40, if mine ever fails. Not really a big deal. How much will yours be? Could you substitute another brand?

 

[psychonaut]

I thought hydraulic were stronger and more durable than pneumatic. At least at the pressures we are going.

They probably are. I just figure an air compressor is a lot less of a PITA to troubleshoot than an oily pump.

A pneumatic press still needs a hydrolic cylinder. The air just actuates the pump nstead of manually pumping it, at least the ones ive seen.

A 20 ton harbor freight low profile hydrolic jack is like $40, if mine ever fails. Not really a big deal. How much will yours be? Could you substitute another brand?

I looked around and it seems like I could scoop up an off-brand for 50-60 bucks. At this point I'm just grateful they are sending me a free replacement. I've got a 12-ton out in the barn, strongway. That one surprisingly is the 1 out of 3 presses I own that works perfect every time, and the most simple

 

[shredder]

Free is good, lol. I thought they were charging you. Dake does have a good rep.

Mine has oil around the ram, but it never drips or runs. I imagine one day the seal will go, but at $40 it's no biggy. I don't even know if HF has a warrantee.