I'm all about solventless extracts so my tech is dry sift either by hand with stacked trays or a motorized tumbler and making rosin.
My tumbler has been brought out of retirement for these projects. Back in the day I was tumbling trim and popcorn then pressing it in a heated Piecemaker press. It was good hash but not what I really wanted so I got into making rosin which turned out to be exactly what I wanted.
Today I'm into my 3rd rosin press. Well 4 if you count the day I tried using a janky hair iron. I have a hat press machine (sucks and it broke) a twister style manual press ( good but takes lots of work and I break it all the time) and finally my latest press, a Nugsmasher OG ( badass mamapajama I shoulda bought a long time ago instead of wasting $$ on the previous ventures)
I've tried a lot of different methods, temps, grades of weed & kief and so on. Much of it is matter of preference. Debate between rectangle and square heating plates is subjective. I like both but prefer square as I work with the Nugsmasher now. Everything evolves so it's never cookie cutter. Today I'm still in the honeymoon period with the nugsmasher as I find it's nuances.
Seems it runs hotter than my other presses or I should say more accurate temps compared to my other presses. So I'm finding 210 on the NS is nothing like the 210 on my twister. And that 12 tons of pressure is nothing like the manual pressure either.
The work done so far with the NS is done with shake, trim, and popcorn nugs. Old stuff collected from my rolling tray, strains I tired of and tossed in the same bag for storage, breeding project weed after seeds were sifted out of it. That kinda stuff. Once I find the ideal temps to smash weed using this stuff then I'll start doing nugs runs of the best weed in my stash.
My tumbler is an old defunct Tumble Now machine. They don't make 'em anymore but they should because it was for a time the best tumbler out there. What's being sold these days are plastic totes that lack the detail and craftsmanship of the TN.
I've kinda modified my tumbler using a new 6volt motor but I use a variable power supply to control motor speed. Tumblers can beat the shit out of weed. Too dry and too much run time and you get green dust in the tray. Material too wet and you get nothing and clog up the barrel. Run times and dryness have to be just right to get a good haul from a tumbler.
Before this gets too longwinded lets do some pics!
Tumbler and power supply to control speed
video of it on action
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The barrel has a 150 micron screen and drops everything into the bottom drawer
The bottom of the drawer is another 70 micron screen so the kief is separated into two grades
The 150 mic will be bagged up and smashed in the rosin press while the 70 also gets smashed but at a low 150 degrees to press it rather than extract it. After pressing then it gets rolled into a cannoli
And finally smoked. Nice heavy body high relieves all my muscle and joint aches and has that rich hashy flavor aroma and flavor
Into the rosin side of things.....trying lots of different things with the new press. From stuffing bags by hand to using a Dabpress prepress mold, testing various weights and returns, heat temps, time, and so on.
So far I'm narrowing down to about 7 gram max load in a bag, Using bottle/barrel tech positioning, 120-160 micron bag for flowers, 60-25 micron for kief, and haven;t got to the sweet spot on temp yet but I'm thinking around 195-200 as 210 is too hot on this press.
I have two prepress molds..a large Dabpress which makes a puck and a Rosin Evolution which makes bricks or slabs. When it comes to paper I prefer 12"x16" sheets of unbleached parchment cut to fit my press
Dabpress prepress mold of scrap material collected off my rolling tray
Bottle tech position with the bag works best for me with the square heating plates
Good flow. Too warm but getting there.
I do a very slow press to prevent bags from blowing out and to get nearly every last drop of goo there is to be had out of the bag
Various collections
This was done with no bag and a prepressed slug. Weak yield and it's corrupted with flower material so unlike my twister which was great doing bagless, seems the Nugsmasher should be ran with bags for optimal results
A couple kief runs
Tools I use for collection...lots of 5mil silicone jars, lots of spatulas, and plastic razors
Some collected rosin test runs of microns ranging from 25, to 60, to 120
Squish any hash yet? Researching presses as we speak. Hoping to convince my wife that I "need" one plan on mostly pressing hash but would like the ability to smush flower as well. Looking good though brother, along for the ride!
Squish any hash yet? Researching presses as we speak. Hoping to convince my wife that I "need" one plan on mostly pressing hash but would like the ability to smush flower as well. Looking good though brother, along for the ride!
I doubt I'll press hash then bag it and press again but I'm definitely finding a groove pressing kief.
Luckily my wife likes hitting dabs more than herb so it's pretty ez for me to convince her when I *need* something to make dabs
Dude my tumbler and new press might be the best duo since Han & Chewie! I'm dialing in to the sweet spots and getting some results I've never had before!
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Some fresh work and finding my wheelhouse......
I put my press on top of a stack of cinder blocks to get the plates up to eye level. I'm loving it set up like this
kief hand loaded into a bag and pressed at 200 for 2 minutes is giving me my best results so far
Turned a 7 gram bag of kief into a lovely 3 gram ball of rosin hash
I made an attempt at Live Rosin. I have a small DIY freeze drier and put about 10 grams of Animal Star Cookies in it when I chopped the plant then I squished it. Adjustments need to be made but it's coming along
Here's a nug run on some well cured flower
I'm finding my best results are coming when I hand load the bags. The prepress mold leaves some dead space in the bags I think is hurting my yields so I stopped using it and and began hand loading the bags then twisting the top to pack the bag as tightly as possible.
There's some trickiness to load the bag into the press and that's where having the plates at eye level is really helping. The bags don't exactly stand up on their own and as they get pressed can fall over so I need to hold them in place while pressure is applied. It's dicey using my fingers to hold the bags upright so I ordered some 8" forceps to help with that
I doubt I'll press hash then bag it and press again but I'm definitely finding a groove pressing kief.
Luckily my wife likes hitting dabs more than herb so it's pretty ez for me to convince her when I *need* something to make dabs
Dude my tumbler and new press might be the best duo since Han & Chewie! I'm dialing in to the sweet spots and getting some results I've never had before!
Yep it's a game of constant adjustment
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Some fresh work and finding my wheelhouse......
I put my press on top of a stack of cinder blocks to get the plates up to eye level. I'm loving it set up like this
I made an attempt at Live Rosin. I have a small DIY freeze drier and put about 10 grams of Animal Star Cookies in it when I chopped the plant then I squished it. Adjustments need to be made but it's coming along
I'm finding my best results are coming when I hand load the bags. The prepress mold leaves some dead space in the bags I think is hurting my yields so I stopped using it and and began hand loading the bags then twisting the top to pack the bag as tightly as possible.
There's some trickiness to load the bag into the press and that's where having the plates at eye level is really helping. The bags don't exactly stand up on their own and as they get pressed can fall over so I need to hold them in place while pressure is applied. It's dicey using my fingers to hold the bags upright so I ordered some 8" forceps to help with that
Close!
It's a Pulsar Rök. It's very much a competitor of the Puffco Peak and other portable rigs competing with the Peak.
The main big difference between the Rök and others is the water chamber is below the electronics rather than on top so it functions and handles more like a traditional small bubbler bong rather than a new type of vaping device.
Out of the box the Rök is good but upgrades can make it great and unique to the user. I've upgraded mine with an xtra large beaker to hold more ice and give more water filtration, xtra long colored downstem, 3-D printed base covers to protect the glass, and I have several heady glass carb caps, a few with spinning terp pearls to personalize it's looks and function. It's an awesome rig if you're not into torches and nails like me. Only real downside is there's a lot of parts to it which need cleaning but many of those parts can be customized to trick out the rig.
Here's what a Rök looks like out of the box with stock parts
We r e nail users now , been lookin at portables not sure how I’ve missed the rok ? Reasonably priced like ya say gif that bubbler flavor to it , def gonna have to consider it.
thanx
Mosh
I'm about to buy a rosin press so I can dose edibles for my father in law with cancer. Is there any must haves that I should get with the press. Is tonnage really important? Is 4 ton enough or should I go with a 6 ton press.
I'm about to buy a rosin press so I can dose edibles for my father in law with cancer. Is there any must haves that I should get with the press. Is tonnage really important? Is 4 ton enough or should I go with a 6 ton press.
4 and 6 tons is on the light side. Having had a few presses now the more tonnage the better and even if I was doing small batches just a few times a year I'd look for something as close to 12 tons my budget would allow.
Aside from the heat press a prepress mold is a must have IMO if you don't use extraction bags. They can help with using bags too but you gotta find bags to match the size of prepress and the prepress size and shape should match up with the plate size of the heat press. It's a little complicated but often times there's bundled packages that make deciding and buying ez,
Next you'll need some wax tools. I get those on amazon fairly cheap. A package of 9 tools with different heads for about $10
Plastic razor blades also come in handy. Other things to add to the list are silicone jars, a silicone mat, parchment paper, and isopropyl alcohol for clean up
If your heat press does not have a timer built in like my Nugsmasher then you'll need a stopwatch. For that I just downloaded a free app to my tablet and phone
A digital scale and laser thermometer can be helpful but not necessary. I just use them to check accuracy of load and temps.
Best of luck to you Man and all the best to your Dad and his battle with cancer.
I'm about to buy a rosin press so I can dose edibles for my father in law with cancer. Is there any must haves that I should get with the press. Is tonnage really important? Is 4 ton enough or should I go with a 6 ton press.
4 and 6 tons is on the light side. Having had a few presses now the more tonnage the better and even if I was doing small batches just a few times a year I'd look for something as close to 12 tons my budget would allow.
Aside from the heat press a prepress mold is a must have IMO if you don't use extraction bags. They can help with using bags too but you gotta find bags to match the size of prepress and the prepress size and shape should match up with the plate size of the heat press. It's a little complicated but often times there's bundled packages that make deciding and buying ez,
Next you'll need some wax tools. I get those on amazon fairly cheap. A package of 9 tools with different heads for about $10
Plastic razor blades also come in handy. Other things to add to the list are silicone jars, a silicone mat, parchment paper, and isopropyl alcohol for clean up
If your heat press does not have a timer built in like my Nugsmasher then you'll need a stopwatch. For that I just downloaded a free app to my tablet and phone
A digital scale and laser thermometer can be helpful but not necessary. I just use them to check accuracy of load and temps.
Best of luck to you Man and all the best to your Dad and his battle with cancer.
Thanks for the list. Appreciate the input. Unfortunately, my budget is pretty limited at the moment. I did get the 6 ton before i read this message and I'll receive it tomorrow. I actually would have got the 4 ton but there was a $30 off for the 6 ton. I was hoping to get the hydraulic one but the pump plus press was way out of my comfort zone. I'll for sure go with as close to 12 tonnage next press if I can get the hang of it. Can I just press smaller amounts with the 6 ton? I'm not in need of big squishes.
My father in law likes the chocolates but with rec being legal here the prices are pretty ridiculous. 100mg bar for like $20 to $25. He's hanging in there. Thanks for the support.
Thanks for the list. Appreciate the input. Unfortunately, my budget is pretty limited at the moment. I did get the 6 ton before i read this message and I'll receive it tomorrow. I actually would have got the 4 ton but there was a $30 off for the 6 ton. I was hoping to get the hydraulic one but the pump plus press was way out of my comfort zone. I'll for sure go with as close to 12 tonnage next press if I can get the hang of it. Can I just press smaller amounts with the 6 ton? I'm not in need of big squishes.
My father in law likes the chocolates but with rec being legal here the prices are pretty ridiculous. 100mg bar for like $20 to $25. He's hanging in there. Thanks for the support.
6 ton will do the job just fine but will probably yield less pressing the same amount compared to something like a 12 or bigger. As long as you don't overload the press you should get a good return so you'll probably do smaller loads and more of them rather than fewer but larger loads. Like my 12 ton can get a yield from one pressing that would take my other small press about 4 pressings to get the same amount