Rosin Press: Information Thread

[ShiggityFlip]

Just no space for that. It is even a stretch for this one. I read the same thing on the reviews on Harbor Freight's page about it and a guy on there says it is all about how you build it? This is only for personal use so it won't get much work.

I also could add a couple of stainless steel guide pins that would keep the plates aligned no matter what.

I really hope you are wrong?

I have one myself and can't wait to replace it. The top metal pieces are less than 1/16" thick. So there's just no fixing the flimsy. The vertical frame is two pieces and not an H frame. So they tend to shift in relation to each other no matter how tight you make everything.

Mine is only personal use as well and is such a pain to restraighten and use. There is also minimum room between the top and bottom horizontal braces. Makes it hard to get any decent plates to fit. Stay away it's definitely not worth the headache

 

[ShiggityFlip]

I plan on going this route. It's reasonably priced and has a real hydraulic manual press with gauge. And much more solid construction. The strongway 10 ton bench press.

 

[TheGreenYeti]

I am glad that I am seeing this before I start trying to make one. My plan was to make one with a 6 ton harbor freight press.

 

[TheGreenYeti]

Buck was telling me that was what he was going to get. They look to be a little more than the HF 12 tons though. But they look to take up less room.

 

[ShiggityFlip]

Buck was telling me that was what he was going to get. They look to be a little more than the HF 12 tons though. But they look to take up less room.

And one of my requirements was finding one with a gauge. That way you know exactly how much pressure you are using at the time.

Bucky and I hunted this one out one day. It is the cheapest benchtop that has a gauge and a hydraulic arm.

If you can afford it the dake B10 is nicer than the strongway but that one has a rotating ram. Which is fine if you have circular or cages plates. But if not can be a real pain. Especially with rectangular plates.

There is a gentleman called timewizard greyfox that makes gorgeous captive plate sets which are insulated to protect the hydraulics. They are truly beautiful platens! I want them so badly!

 

[Nismo12]

That's one thing I wish we had on our 20 ton...a damn pressure gauge lol.

 

[ShiggityFlip]

That's one thing I wish we had on our 20 ton...a damn pressure gauge lol.

I know right? I want to standardize my protocols and having a gauge would enable much more precision in pressing.

 

[Nismo12]

I know right? I want to standardize my protocols and having a gauge would enable much more precision in pressing.

For sure man. I wish there was a modification you could do to add one. Now I'm half tempted to get a different one.

 

[Man'O'Green]

Anything can be done with enough money! You can buy a bottle jack with a pressure gauge


or you can add a gauge to yours if you are handy with tools

look



or if you really want to get exotic you can add a 20 ton load cell and readout.

 

[Man'O'Green]

Finally some progress on my 6 ton press. Harbor Freight had a 25% off coupon today so I pulled the trigger and bought the press. Still waiting for my heat cartridges to get here from China. The ram head I thought was designed to press fit on the shaft slipped on and off. I used some foil to shim it on tight. Assembly was not too hard and all parts were accounted for.

 

[ShiggityFlip]

Looks good but it looks like the jack is slanted to the right a little. Did you check with a level? With this particular press if you are off it will cause issues fast.

Also how will you lift the top plate?

 

[Man'O'Green]

Looks good but it looks like the jack is slanted to the right a little. Did you check with a level? With this particular press if you are off it will cause issues fast.

Also how will you lift the top plate?

Yes it is square and plumb. What you are seeing is parallax from the camera. I am not done machining the plates. I am waiting for the heat cartridges. After the holes are drilled for them I will mount some tension springs to hold the plate up with a piece of leather between the ram head and the top plate.

The heat cartridges cleared customs in San Francisco today. I should have them by Thursday.

 

[ShiggityFlip]

Yes it is square and plumb. What you are seeing is parallax from the camera. I am not done machining the plates. I am waiting for the heat cartridges. After the holes are drilled for them I will mount some tension springs to hold the plate up with a piece of leather between the ram head and the top plate.

The heat cartridges cleared customs in San Francisco today. I should have them by Thursday.

Sounds like a plan. I'm glad you are proceeding along an intelligent direction. Still wish you would have avoided the 6ton but do have a suggestion. The main reason for issues is the two piece vertical sides at the bottom of the press.

Because they are not actually joined they want to shift as you put pressure on the lever. If they tilt it will make the whole press shift at a forward angle.

To avoid this get some flat metal brackets and join the two pieces together so they can't shift.

 

[Man'O'Green]

Sounds like a plan. I'm glad you are proceeding along an intelligent direction. Still wish you would have avoided the 6ton but do have a suggestion. The main reason for issues is the two piece vertical sides at the bottom of the press.

Because they are not actually joined they want to shift as you put pressure on the lever. If they tilt it will make the whole press shift at a forward angle.

To avoid this get some flat metal brackets and join the two pieces together so they can't shift.

I understand what you are saying about the split uprights. The nuts were a bear to tighten sitting square on a hard surface but I was able to get a breaker bar/6 point socket on them and really torqued them down. I may add some bracing as you suggest. I have some good angle iron I could use.

 

[Man'O'Green]

Got the heaters today, drilled the holes and mounted the tension springs. It is just way too hot out there in the garage to keep working perhaps tomorrow morning I will finish the build. The tension springs seem to work as I had planned. They hold the top plate up with strength to spare.

 

[Man'O'Green]

The press is completed and I am just waiting on some parchment to start pressing.

 

[ManInDirt]

wow that is bad ass, how much to build me one, lol.

 

[Man'O'Green]

Squish squish......... I did my first presses and this 6 ton press does a good job. Maybe not so much the pressor. I need to learn how to handle this sticky goo! Can you say Keystone Cops.......... It was stuck to my fingers then it stuck to everything I touched. I thought it was not supposed to stick to silicone? Well I assure you it does. I am definitely on the uphill side of this learning curve.

First observations: I need to put a grip on the jack handle. The diameter of the handle is too small. The press needs about 15 minutes to stabilize the temperature of the plates when first turned on. I need to learn how to fold the parchment and load the plates to best contain the rosin.

I ran 14 - 1g test runs with two strains and various temps and press times. A lot more testing needs to be done with volume etc.....
This is a copy of that data:

I got about 17% return not counting what I lost by poor handling techniques. I need to research handling tips.

All in all I am very happy with this DIY press.

 

[Man'O'Green]

I added a knob to the release valve and a padded grip to the pump handle.

I am learning how to handle the rosin. It is not as easy as it sounds. Some strains do pick up easily others are more oily-sticky. They need to be worked nearly frozen. I experimented using dry ice in various ways. The most effective was to freeze the end of the tool on the dry ice and work with really cold rosin. sometimes freezing it by placing the parchment on the dry ice momentarily. This really worked well with the oily rosins but dry ice is expensive and inconvenient. A frozen cookie sheet works but only for a few minutes before it warms too much. So next I will be experimenting with some refreezable ice packs I have molded while thawed into a 6" round aluminum cake pan. I will let you know how that works out.

As to the pressing of the rosin: I have tried 6 strains at various temperatures and volumes of bud. The individual strains have almost the same consistency over the range of temperatures from 180°F to 220°F so if they are going to be oily they will be oily regardless of the press temp. I want the best flavors I can get so I will be using 180 - 190 most of the time. The difference in yield to press at the lower temperature is about 5% so far. This may change with other variables I am still working with. 4g in the 2x3 prepress had very poor yields whereas 1.5g in the 1 inch square prepress had very good yields. I just got the metal to make a 1.25" x 1.75" puck using 3g of bud. I am hoping this will be the magic combination. I still have some filing and sanding before I can test it out.

My vape mix which get you floatin is 50 drops of EJmix to 1g of rosin yields about 2.5 ml liquid. This is still thicker than syrup but flows enough for the cartomizer. I have ordered some different cartridges that are wickless with ceramic heaters and batteries with a preheat mode that are purported to work better with better flavor - I will let you know the results. They are coming from Florida so they could be delayed?

 

[Man'O'Green]

This worked like a charm. Two ice packs tucked into a cake pan inside a cake pan and frozen. Then I placed a couple of towels under the ice packs to hold the them tight against the pan's working surface. I worked for about 30 minutes but probably would last hours. Working with the parchment right on the pan oily-sticky resin just picked right up. Then other better consistency rosin I just cooled the tool against the pan.

This is the new Pre Press I made. The interior dimensions are 1.25" x 1.75" x 3" tall. it comfortably holds 3.25g flower before pressing. I had good yield with this size puck on my 3" x 4" plates.