My first three runs were very small like you show. My problem was not enough heat. Examine your slugs, if they are soft and squishy you may need more heat.
If you are using the 'seep kit' you should not have seepage?
Didn’t spring for the seep kit...figured that was/is part of the learning curve.
Puck was hard and flat, neither soft nor squishy.
I agree, there’s something off about my heating.
0.176g would be 5%, your amount is 1.51%...but I'm not so strong with maths
I was thinking a 30% ideal yield would be 1g, so what I got is a twentieth of that.
Not great with math either, but I can climb around in it my own way...
Learning with the slug33 Fat Mac could be a real heart breaker should you fuck up. 3.6gm per run...ouch. I feel for you
@ClearBlueLou
It would hurt lots more, but we ran into this mystery nug for 100/z, so we got some. Just because, y’know.
BRING THE HEAT!......Turn that torch up full blast. You can then subtract your heat time incrementally to find that sweet spot. In my opinion it's better to have a lot of rosin that may not taste the best but still gets you ripped rather than very little rosin and frustration. Ive never heated my fat mac for more than two minutes per side. Lack of Rosin is 99 percent because of not enough heat. And don't forget, after heating, GO SUPER SLOW to finish, until you've bottomed out all the way.
Great advice, Doc. I like the idea of starting high and cutting it short, I’m generally quite conservative about these things, and I have a tendency to fail from insufficient push when I’m getting the feel for new tools and techniques. In this case, heat was a solid 2:10 on one side, and I noticed the seepage around the piston with 0:40 to go, and cut the heat. Then I noticed that the washer was missing, which is why I saw the seepage.
I had forgot to install the washer. I managed to remove the slug, remove the piston, install the washer, and reassemble the whole thing back on the presss, with a half-inch of travel left on the piston. In hindsight I see I should have heated the slug back up again, maybe a minute each side, but instead I gave it a little heat, more compression, more heat, more compression until the piston bottomed out.
I feel you on the super-slow part, maybe too much. An example of too slow is the fact that I usually seem to have a minute or more of pressing to do when the time’s up on the heat (half the length of the piston). I may not be compressing the cold load enough? I tighten it to where it feels firm and compact, but with more compression available, I don’t wind it tight.
About turning the torch up, this is how I’ve set fire to so much parchment lately. Much above where I have the Ion set, the flame splashes, it doesn’t ‘clean up’ like the blazer. With the blazer, I get a tidy jet of flame that I can pinpoint better. Even so, it’ll splash if I’m not careful.
I’ve watched your torch technique a bunch, and I’ve been unable to duplicate the torch setting I see you using. My approximation is a 2.5” jet, keeping the bright blue portion near but not right on the slug. I aim for a point about a quarter-inch below the top of the slug and I hold steady while the timer winds down.
Please feel free to pick apart anything and everything I’m doing, I only want to get this right.
