Hey @Jeffrey Dabs. Welcome to the forum!
) and the return was about double from the hobby vise run. and the puck did not come out sticky at all. it was pretty dry. so i folded it onto itself a couple of times and repressed getting more tasty rosin out, but not as tasty as the first. i was not able to weigh the return because it was still sappy. i was pressing at 200-210F. between the first two presses i got about 1 decent dab and a half maybe. tasted amazing and was very potent. then i pressed again for another min, but got nothing. so i thought the flowers were tapped. to make sure i got all/most of it i crumbled the puck up and put it in my solo. turned it up to 4 and got no vapor. turned it all the way up to 7 and got about 2 - 3 nice pulls before nothing. so there was still some left in there, but i imagine a more hydrated flower and even more pressure would get that last bit out. since this was my first press with this set up i was going easy on the pressure. i tightened her until the jack started to resist and then gave it another full pump. clearly i could keep pumping away so i imagine i only tapped into maybe 1 of the 5 tons the press can put out. moving forward i am going to be using fresher/more moist material and i will be testing the pressure for real. and im already thinking of ways to improve it.Looks sweet brother! I haven't squished anything in weeks now, been exclusively dabbing full melt bubble hashes but I want to step up my rosin setup in a major way soon.
@2clicker. I love your hydraulic setup and wanna see the results as well as ease of construction (I have a scientist and technician background, not a shop class background!) you get with it before I decide on a weiss, pneumatic or hydraulic setup.
I wanna be able to squish nugs an 8th to a quarter at a time ideally. Now that I can make incredible solventless extracts without rosin tek, I need more yields and less effort to justify having a more expensive rosin setup.
Speaking of, I have some epic ideas for plate designs that could achieve this and also direct all of the rosin outside of the heated plates and away from the nugs!
I think when I get some time I need to collab with someone with the metalwork skills like my bro @Joel W. on making this concept a reality! These plate designs I have in mind should work with vise/hydraulic/pneumatic presses
the key here was to use pilot holes and step up each bit a bit to get to the final 1/2" hole. i started with 1/8" then 1/4" then 5/16" and finally the 1/2". so that part took time with using cutting oil and all that jazz. it was fun tho. so ease of construction was semi difficult for me. im no metelworker, but generally pretty handy so i figured it out as i went along. oh and i had to drill 1/4" holes (2 of them) in the base of the jack to mount to the bottom plate. that shit is fucking on there!
Here is the bent handle. I'll probably go buy a vise grip or c clamp and try to bend it back together (the two bars are supposed to be touching, not split apart like that). I would just use the vise I have but you can't remove the handle. All other parts of the press use bolts and this handle uses rivots so without breaking those you can't remove the handle. Everything still functions fine, it just looks strange split apart like that.
SO DO NOT USE A CROW BAR OR PIPE TO GET EXTRA TORQUE ON THE HANDLE!
Okay here is the only comparison I will be doing because it is the only comparison needed.
The long parchment on the left is a 0.75g nug pressed twice with the d-nail press at 225F (big one in the center, tiny one near the outside). I got about 0.03g. Complete garbage. The parchment in the bottom right is this same 0.75g nug pressed a 3rd time in my vise and it got 0.02g. The dnail press left so much behind. So sad
The parchment in the top right is a 0.75g nug of the same strain pressed once using the vise at 225F. I got 0.11g. If I would have pressed it a second time in the vise I probably would have got another 0.03g.
So basically the dnail press yielded around 4% in 2 presses and the vise yielded around 15% in one press. Also note the dnail press left 40% behind in the nug that the @Joel W. vise setup was able to squeeze out.
No more testing or playing with the dnail press will be done. I'm going to fix the handle then sell it with my set of pocono sifting screens on CL and recommend it be used to press sift for maximum yields (I'm not trying to rip anyone off and claim that it works great with bud because it clearly doesn't from my experience).
Sorry to everyone who spent money one this. I hope you can get it back one way or the other.
The dnail press may work better with hash since not as much pressure is needed (it seems like from bubblemans videos). But I can't say for sure since I won't be trying it.
so i did my first press with my new pneumatic setup last night with great results! pressure was def an issue before and is not even a thought now. well other than applying too much pressure, but i should get the hang of its limits after more testing.
i will post some pics later when i can snap some. the finished press looks pretty damn cool. and i can show my press results. im low on material so i wanted to experiment on a small amount. so i pressed .15g of dry flowers. i did this press late night and did not worry about attempting to hydrate the dry flowers in any way. this time around i pressed for 1min 15 secs (had a distraction at the time
and run into it i did! so after the press i would turn the pressure relief and it would start to depress the ram all by itself... for about a 1/4" and then stopped. lol
now this isnt a huge deal, but will be a PITA if im trying to do many presses at once. so right now i have to use my hands to push the ram all the way back down. honestly it doesnt need to go all the way back down so for now its fine. i can always presmash the flowers just a bit to get them in there until i can figure out a way to set this thing up with springs like you are talking about. i have a good idea on how to accomplish that already so i will update it to reset the ram after releasing pressure. more to come on this.
yep that is red oak. its got those magnets embedded in them so maybe that will help with any crushing issues? either way if they get crushed then ill make new insulators. that phenolic sheet looks great! thanks for the link. i wonder how thin of a piece would be similar to the insulating performance of the red oak im using...? if you do get a sheet let me know. i would be interested in a couple of 4" x 1.5" pieces. or maybe i could split it with you? let me know if you do get some. any way to get some #s on their performance. obviously the thinnest that would work for us would be ideal. i wonder if 1/8" thick would work well...?
yep its solid and weighs about 45 lbs... lol. the top and bottom plates are 3/8" steel rated with 65,000 PSI tensile strength and 55,000 PSI yield strength. the threaded rods are rated with a 45,000 PSI yield strength and there are 4 of them. id think that is plenty stout to handle the bottle jacks max pressure of 10,000 PSI. and since i really only need to use 3 of the 5tons then we are talking 6,000 PSI. i should be able to pump that fucker until my arm falls off before it ever warps in any way.
thanks partner. coming from such a seasoned hash maker as yourself that means a lot! i purchased the frame parts (plates and threaded rods) in 1' lengths of which were used. so no cutting there which helped. i did however have to drill all the holes in the steel plates. and that was a task no doubt. especially since i was drilling them out with a Milwaukee 18V brushless cordless drill.
ill have updated pics of how it looks with everything installed later tonight. oh and PM me with your new plate ideas if you dont mind. i am already thinking about jb welding 1.5" x 1.5" square pieces of the aluminum plates to the plates im already using. that way i get the benefit of the square plates. or possibly a 1.5" round plates. oh boy... when does this shit ever stop???
when it isnt pneumatic at all. its hydraulic. yikes.
There's smaller ones out there too, "jewelry press" gives a lot of smaller options like these ones. The Mini one looks like it would work well for rosin, it uses an 8 Ton bottle jack though it only has 1.75" clearance between the plates for the heaters and the gap. The 20 Ton one for $550 looks like the best choice with the most room to work with, 5x5 surface area for platens and 5" of clearance.Damn you @Monsoon! Just when I thought I was satisfied... That thing is sexy and affordable. Looks like I'll need another set of plates from @Joel W. in the near future
Just noticed how big it was even though you said it was big lol. I need to figure out how to reorganize my garage to fit this bad boy in there!
Thanks for the ideas!
@2clicker Your local hardware mart should have a couple of light springs. It doesn't take much pressure to get the jack to retract, just a bit more than it has on it's own. This is an easy issue - you've got the hard stuff done, and it looks great
I think that's going to make a great press and the hydraulic setup is a bit nicer than a bottle jack. The ram is attached a sliding rail, I wonder if you can take advantage of that somehow for pressing.Just pulled the trigger on this H press after seeing how clean @2clicker's press is coming out (and thanks @Monsoon for positing this style press. I never knew they even existed!). Should be here by the end of the week. I can't wait to finally know what pressure I'm pressing at (and what true value I actually need to get good yields. No reason to press harder than needed!)
I've got 2 new round Cuni plates coming from @Joel W.
I think he is going to weld some tabs to the roundbar so I can use a a hose clamp to attach it to the ram that pushes down. Just need to wait until I have the press to determine the size.
Yeah I think it will be great too. The vise is really nice and works amazing, but it takes up about twice the space that this hydraulic press will (mainly because of the table I had to build to bolt the vise down to). If you already have a workbench, the vise is definitely the way to go and the cheapest! If you don't have a workbench and are trying to conserve space, it seems like this H press is the next cheapest (high pressure) setup, and then I'd say one of those jewelry presses is maybe the best as far as small size goes, but they sure cost a lot more than this H press!
PSA Do not waste your money on gold_ash's rosin screen pouches. The pouches can put yellow fibers into your rosin and are super overpriced.
Extremely Live rosin 180*F press.
Modnote: Edited to display image
Yeah I think it will be great too. The vise is really nice and works amazing, but it takes up about twice the space that this hydraulic press will (mainly because of the table I had to build to bolt the vise down to). If you already have a workbench, the vise is definitely the way to go and the cheapest! If you don't have a workbench and are trying to conserve space, it seems like this H press is the next cheapest (high pressure) setup, and then I'd say one of those jewelry presses is maybe the best as far as small size goes, but they sure cost a lot more than this H press!
Hopefully this new setup will be up and running by mid next week. The press should get here Thursday/Friday and then Joel will modify my new plates to fit this press and those should be here in two days (so maybe Wednesday/Thursday of next week).
I think I'll just use my digital soldering irons for now and set the controller boxes on a table beside the press. I may get the $13 irons that Joel uses since the controller is right on the iron. Then I won't need a table or mount for the digital controller boxes.
I think this will be my last setup for now. I gotta get some stuff for the house, tools, garage shelves or a shed, and I'm trying to get a new car so money will be tight soon! I figure, better spend it while I can haha
I can't wait to share. More to come!
EDIT:
That looks beatiful @Been Vapin! I can't wait to make me some live rosin!
Is there a reason why you chose 180F or is that what you press all bud at (live and cured)?
How long did you hang dry for before pressing the bud? Was the soil wet, moist, or dry when the plant was chopped?
This will be my first live rosin attempt. Strange OG
Overpriced is probably a given right now but can you back up the fiber contamination with more info? Did it happen to one of your batches or did someone post it on another forum?
Yeah I think it will be great too. The vise is really nice and works amazing, but it takes up about twice the space that this hydraulic press will (mainly because of the table I had to build to bolt the vise down to). If you already have a workbench, the vise is definitely the way to go and the cheapest! If you don't have a workbench and are trying to conserve space, it seems like this H press is the next cheapest (high pressure) setup, and then I'd say one of those jewelry presses is maybe the best as far as small size goes, but they sure cost a lot more than this H press!
Hopefully this new setup will be up and running by mid next week. The press should get here Thursday/Friday and then Joel will modify my new plates to fit this press and those should be here in two days (so maybe Wednesday/Thursday of next week).
I think I'll just use my digital soldering irons for now and set the controller boxes on a table beside the press. I may get the $13 irons that Joel uses since the controller is right on the iron. Then I won't need a table or mount for the digital controller boxes.
I think this will be my last setup for now. I gotta get some stuff for the house, tools, garage shelves or a shed, and I'm trying to get a new car so money will be tight soon! I figure, better spend it while I can haha
Here is the bent handle. I'll probably go buy a vise grip or c clamp and try to bend it back together (the two bars are supposed to be touching, not split apart like that). I would just use the vise I have but you can't remove the handle. All other parts of the press use bolts and this handle uses rivots so without breaking those you can't remove the handle. Everything still functions fine, it just looks strange split apart like that.
SO DO NOT USE A CROW BAR OR PIPE TO GET EXTRA TORQUE ON THE HANDLE!
Okay here is the only comparison I will be doing because it is the only comparison needed.
The long parchment on the left is a 0.75g nug pressed twice with the d-nail press at 225F (big one in the center, tiny one near the outside). I got about 0.03g. Complete garbage. The parchment in the bottom right is this same 0.75g nug pressed a 3rd time in my vise and it got 0.02g. The dnail press left so much behind. So sad
The parchment in the top right is a 0.75g nug of the same strain pressed once using the vise at 225F. I got 0.11g. If I would have pressed it a second time in the vise I probably would have got another 0.03g.
So basically the dnail press yielded around 4% in 2 presses and the vise yielded around 15% in one press. Also note the dnail press left 40% behind in the nug that the @Joel W. vise setup was able to squeeze out.
No more testing or playing with the dnail press will be done. I'm going to fix the handle then sell it with my set of pocono sifting screens on CL and recommend it be used to press sift for maximum yields (I'm not trying to rip anyone off and claim that it works great with bud because it clearly doesn't from my experience).
Sorry to everyone who spent money one this. I hope you can get it back one way or the other.
The dnail press may work better with hash since not as much pressure is needed (it seems like from bubblemans videos). But I can't say for sure since I won't be trying it.
so i did my first press with my new pneumatic setup last night with great results! pressure was def an issue before and is not even a thought now. well other than applying too much pressure, but i should get the hang of its limits after more testing.
i will post some pics later when i can snap some. the finished press looks pretty damn cool. and i can show my press results. im low on material so i wanted to experiment on a small amount. so i pressed .15g of dry flowers. i did this press late night and did not worry about attempting to hydrate the dry flowers in any way. this time around i pressed for 1min 15 secs (had a distraction at the time
and run into it i did! so after the press i would turn the pressure relief and it would start to depress the ram all by itself... for about a 1/4" and then stopped. lol
now this isnt a huge deal, but will be a PITA if im trying to do many presses at once. so right now i have to use my hands to push the ram all the way back down. honestly it doesnt need to go all the way back down so for now its fine. i can always presmash the flowers just a bit to get them in there until i can figure out a way to set this thing up with springs like you are talking about. i have a good idea on how to accomplish that already so i will update it to reset the ram after releasing pressure. more to come on this.
yep that is red oak. its got those magnets embedded in them so maybe that will help with any crushing issues? either way if they get crushed then ill make new insulators. that phenolic sheet looks great! thanks for the link. i wonder how thin of a piece would be similar to the insulating performance of the red oak im using...? if you do get a sheet let me know. i would be interested in a couple of 4" x 1.5" pieces. or maybe i could split it with you? let me know if you do get some. any way to get some #s on their performance. obviously the thinnest that would work for us would be ideal. i wonder if 1/8" thick would work well...?
yep its solid and weighs about 45 lbs... lol. the top and bottom plates are 3/8" steel rated with 65,000 PSI tensile strength and 55,000 PSI yield strength. the threaded rods are rated with a 45,000 PSI yield strength and there are 4 of them. id think that is plenty stout to handle the bottle jacks max pressure of 10,000 PSI. and since i really only need to use 3 of the 5tons then we are talking 6,000 PSI. i should be able to pump that fucker until my arm falls off before it ever warps in any way.
thanks partner. coming from such a seasoned hash maker as yourself that means a lot! i purchased the frame parts (plates and threaded rods) in 1' lengths of which were used. so no cutting there which helped. i did however have to drill all the holes in the steel plates. and that was a task no doubt. especially since i was drilling them out with a Milwaukee 18V brushless cordless drill.
ill have updated pics of how it looks with everything installed later tonight. oh and PM me with your new plate ideas if you dont mind. i am already thinking about jb welding 1.5" x 1.5" square pieces of the aluminum plates to the plates im already using. that way i get the benefit of the square plates. or possibly a 1.5" round plates. oh boy... when does this shit ever stop???
