Ok thanks for that. Trial and error tonight then. I will try with and without clamp on frozen and dry trim and cured cola bud.
if it were me I would find a vice or clamp around the house or grab a cheapy and try with that for extra power. just stick the hair iron in the vice or clamp. most will hold up a while and are less prone to sliping when in a vice or clamp. but you can go native if you want too.
In my experience so far, my chips clearly have oil left in them... just not exerting enough force to do so. You may still profit even still though. Try a little and see. It's best to have a milligram scale to test a small bud and go from there.
Good luck.
try re hydrating those chips and repress them again... you might find what you need is a little more steam to push the oils out.
to the general thread:
I think there is always going to be a limitation to how much pressure is necessary... only so much force can be used before damage to parchment occurs.... and as I have hypothesized earlier I think you have a combination of factors that play into rosin.
heat
pressure
moisture (or as I now think [steam])
the moisture is in deed the key element in moving the oil... or rather... extracting it from the plant material... like a solvent.
pressure is key for creating the most confined space possible inside the plant mass to prevent the rosin from soaking into the plant material once it has been liquefied by heat. if you do not apply enough pressure without enough moisture you will end up with rosin soaked chips.
So effectively the code we are trying to crack (if your someone trying to crack said code)
how much steam do you need? (perhaps a better way to say this is at what RH is the best extraction possible... or rather what RH at what temp under pressure produces the steam effect)
how much force is needed but limited to how much force parchment can handle at that rh?
some observations ive done...
very moist flowers spread way more than dry flowers do. no idea what rh was cause I dont have a hygrometer.
the burrito and other wraping techniques work great at containing steam during extraction with hydrated flowers. I note that when I release the vice when flow has decreased or ceased entirely there is always a steam puff when I unlock the clamp. very interesting stuff cause tge extract is the most flavorful ive had in a while from the same stock.