Reddit mentions: The best vacuum & pump equipment

Just a vacuum. My chamber is aluminum and is a bit more expensive setup than a food dehydrator, but I bet a small chamber could be printed, which would bring the cost down. Another substantial cost is the pump itself. It MIGHT be possible to do this with a hand operated vacuum pump if most of the void space could be elliminated within the chamber, maybe with rice or a desiccant. Basically you want most of the air out when you start so you don't have to pump much.

In summary, with a printed vacuum chamber (would need to be well engineered to prevent implosion which would not be fun) and a hand pump this could actually be quite a bit cheaper than alternative methods. It's definitely safer for your spool and oven, lol!

Oh, and an interesting thing about the desiccant: It gets quite warm when it's adsorbing moisture, but not nearly warm enough to melt any 3d printer filament that I'm aware of. This warmth should make the filament dry out even faster. It also will keep the pressure in the chamber lower since it will adsorb water vapor surprisingly quickly.

Now if I can get an analytical balance we'll be in business!

I wouldn’t say there’s a lot of debate over decarbing. It’s pretty well agreed upon that if you’re going to put your extract in a cart then you need to decarb so that you 1. have an extract that’s fluid enough to wick on your cart and 2. prevent your extract from crystallizing in the cart.

If you wanna take some of the guess work out of decarbing, don’t do it before your extraction. Once you have your extract you can decarb it at 200f and instead of using a timer you can watch it bubble. As the extract decarb a you can visually see the carbon dioxide bubbling out. So once almost all of the bubbling is gone, your extract is finished decarbing and you should have a less dark concentrate.

Dry ice is what you want. Not liquid nitrogen. Nitrogen will freeze your got damn hand off. So will dry ice, but not if you’re wearing some thick gloves haha it’s like 2 dollars a pound where I live and for something small scale you should use too much.

Vacuum filtration is a MUST. You don’t necessarily need an expensive vacuum pump for this, instead you can get away with a faucet aspirator . They are pretty cheap and let you get enough of a vacuum to filter. You can get away without vacuum filtering on high micron filters without a lot of sediment, but if you want to do low micron like you mentioned or get into carbon filtering gravity filtration can take hours.

Those liquifiers can contain some real garbage in them. Pg, Vg, PEG, mct oil (mineral oil based on some independent testing of True Terpenes supposed “100% natural terpenes blend”) and who knows what else because MOST OF THEM WON’T TELL YOU. It’s a proprietary blend. If you can afford it get a blend of terpenes. Floraplex actually offers msds sheets for their products, so you know what’s in it. Mass terpenes does not do this, but they get a lot of support from the community along with Mr. Extractor. Mass terpenes and floraplex are quite affordable too!

I bought a small vacuum chamber from Amazon.
ABLAZE 1.5 Gallon Gal Vacuum... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A359IU4?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
Also got the vacuum pump they recommend in the "often bought together"; you don't need the adapter that is recommended there though. I use it to degas my silicone for molds and just to pull any big bubbles once I pour resin so I know the mold is full (do not degas resin, it's bad news bears).

And I got the 5gal pressure pot from Harbor Freight which you see recommended a lot. Also got a small, oil-free airbrush compressor there that auto stops at 58psi as the recommended Max for the pot is 60. With it, make sure you get shut off valves and an adapter that will fit the compressor hose. An employee can help! If you don't have a harbor freight locally, I recommend calling their services department instead of trying to navigate their website. Make sure to get good thread sealant to stop air leaks at all the junctions; I used Loctite red and coated both the female and male threads before tightening. I also recommend a couple of small c clamps as the lid doesn't always seal well and you don't know until you're up to 40/50 psi, so they work great to put a little extra pressure on the seal wherever it's letting air out (you'll hear it). Don't over tighten the c clamps as you don't want to warp the lid seal.

PS. Not an expert, just what I've used/learned over the past month of messing with these in my free time.

Long and then short reply lol, I’ll get back at you further when I’m less busy, but here is what I’m talking about for that screen. I def had better luck when I switched from trim/popcorn nugs to “premo” nugs too so hopefully that helps your situation.

ARTESIAN SYSTEMS 20 Micron... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QM2VVYV?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Also, if you don’t have one this may help with heating your vac chamber long term, I love mine:

BACOENG Digital Heating Pad Series (7.5", Fixed) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MCGSF3J/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_t0XyDbXQ08F51

Surprisingly not really unlike Oregon. Where we have hundreds of farms, and ridiculously cheap flower, but so little oversight that they grew so much weed that there’s like literally a million pounds just sitting there waiting to either be sold, turned into oil, or go bad.

I’ve always wanted to come to Israel but my health hasn’t allowed for it. I’m kind of out of town Modern Orthodox. My sister managed to get out of here though. She went to seminary at Neve Yerushalayim when she was 17, moved to Manhattan, and has only come back a few times in the 6 years since. Oregon is too treif for her now lol.

I do know some people there who have made small amounts of their own though. It’s not something I recommend doing if you live in a city, but something that I imagine you could get away with easily by driving off into the desert or something. And everything necessary other than the herb, including the butane is available on Amazon. This is a good starting point.

Ablaze Stainless Steel Open End Tube Kit 45 Gram (No Tripod) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MS0BTGG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_kv2VCb729DWJS

With one of those, all you’d need is butane, which is also available on Amazon.

If you want to take your product a step further, you can add a quality vacuum purger that comes with a pump for right around $150 now. All in all very little expense required to make something very valuable in places where it’s hard to find.

BACOENG 1 1/2 Gallon Vacuum Chamber Kit with 3.6 CFM 1 Stage Vacuum Pump HVAC https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00W8Z1QTE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_6x2VCbY6470FJ

Ammosorb is useless. It's really only useful if you live next to a swamp or abattoir.

You really need to positively ID the NOx, and quantify how much.

A Draegar tube like this will work.

You also need to purchase a hand pump that fits the tubes. You can probably find a cheaper used hand pump on ebay.

Google the Draegar manual and it will explain how to use the pump, how to do the measurement and how to convert the reading into a concentration.

Interesting idea! I went on a hunt and this is the coolest thing I've found:

• https://www.flickr.com/photos/seehere/434844917/?rb=1
  
  It's done with a process called plastination:
  
  > The water and fat are replaced by certain plastics, yielding specimens that can be touched, do not smell or decay, and even retain most properties of the original sample.
  
  
  They're been doing this since 1970s so I figure there's probably a guide online. Next logical step was a search for "DIY plastination":
  
  
• http://www.vhlab.umn.edu/atlas/methodologies/preservation/plastination.shtml
  
  I do not have any evidence that the same procedure would work on mushroom flesh, other than the flickr link above.
  
  EDIT:
  
  Per the plastination patent by Gunther von Hagens:
  
  >EXAMPLE 3
  
  >A globular cactus having a diameter of approximately 15 cm was partly hollowed out from its root end by means of a curette, and it was then immersed sequentially for three hours each in 50% aqueous acetone, pure acetone, and dichloromethane. Thereafter it was immersed in a solution of a commercial epoxy resin prepolymer stable at low temperature, but curing at elevated temperature. The vat holding the prepolymer and the immersed cactus was stored in a vacuum at 10° C. for eight hours, whereby all volatile solvent was extracted. When drained of excess prepolymer and held in an oven at 40° C. for six hours, the cactus hardened, but otherwise retained its original appearance and color.
  
  Just curious how much a DIY setup would cost so I made a shopping list:
  
  
• vacuum chamber
  
  
• dichloromethane
  
  
• acetone
  
  
• epoxy resin
  
  
• vacuum pump
  
  
• vacuum safe container to act as dry ice acetone trap
  
  
• dry ice

Good vacuum, fast, cheap. Pick any two.

To meet your criteria this one linked below is under $50, will pull a better vacuum than most mechanical pumps, but very slow by comparison. Also wastes a lot of water. Probably not suitable for the task.

Lowest priced practical pumps will be Harbor Freight or local equivalent starting at $100 and more like $250 for anything over 4 CFM. I get them over Craigslist for sub-$100 (7CFM in that case). The decision on CFM is a factor of vacuum chamber volume and silicone working time.

Good luck with that search!

Aspirator vacuum pump

Hello, r/CannabisExtracts! Visitor from r/microgrowery here. I'm wondering if you experts can help me dial in my blasting technique. Here's what I did:

1. Grew a pound of weed.
   
2. Dried it.
   
3. Cured it in jars for two weeks.
   
4. Broke up 56g of mids into pea-sized pieces.
   
5. Stuffed weed into this Ablaze 90g closed column blast tube.
   
6. Put filled blast tube in the freezer for two hours along with 4 cans of 11x butane.
   
7. Evacuated my blast tube.
   
8. Filled my tube with butane and waited 5 minutes.
   
9. Blasted outdoors into a Pyrex dish using 4 cans of 11x butane.
   
10. Let the butane boil off outdoors for 90 minutes on a heating pad set at 120 degrees.
    
11. Scraped resulting goo onto Ablaze silicon mat.
    
12. Placed in this Ablaze vacuum chamber for 20 hours.
    
13. Peeled resulting goo from silicon mat to get 4.83g of this.
    
    How did I do? I haven't tried it yet, but it smells pretty strongly of chlorophyll. I'm afraid that this will be suitable for making edibles, but not so good for dabbing. Please give me your constructive criticism. Thanks, fam!

Yes please be safe and use a Purge to be sure extracts are clean.

Something like 2-3 cfm (55-85 l/m) is a good starting point for smaller vacuum chambers, like this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Bel-Art-420430000-Vacuum-Chamber-Polycarbonate/dp/B002VBW9VO/

...but you're getting a big one, though, so you may want to aim at 6-9 cfm (or get a smaller chamber).

You don't really need a vacuum gauge; a chamber with a transparent lid is a lot more useful, because it lets you diagnose problems and time the process more easily.

you probably need more material and a vacuum chamber.https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00W8ZU5FK/?coliid=IKPZI52V796YI&colid=3HUBTLT676WDO&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

this is one i have on my list for my dice making project for later. You want to put your unpored resin into the chamber for 20 minutes, then put in your dice for 30 minutes. Always put something under your molds. you can leave the dice to cure for 20 some hours in the chamber turned off. If you want my dice amazon list i'll gladly hand it over.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiocf36TFwHWWtyfajz6Aqg

This guy gives lots of good tips.

the vacuum pumpdoes work you just have to get it stable enough so it does take longer to put a vac on it. The hand pump is more about the work you have to put into getting a good vac. Alot of pumping. If it was a 3 gallon chamber it'd be ridiculous. I got the 1.5 quart chamber just for space saving reasons initially. It takes a bit of pumping, but I can get it to a vac and keep it at 27-28 depending on how im feelin'. It works great as small portable gear.

If it's mostly for personal use and you might upgrade in the future to something bigger like a full oven vac ($1000-$3000+). Then it might be worth considering something cheaper
https://www.amazon.com/ABLAZE-Gallon-Stainless-Degassing-Chamber/dp/B071KZXVRR/

Could then save for a bigger system and still get at least a few good runs out of something cheaper. BVV are overpriced in my opinion

You really do need to get all these factors right for light colored oil. The colder the initial wash, the cleaner the material, the fresher the material, the quicker the wash... the less necessary filtration will be. That said, if you need to filter it, pouring through a coffee filter doesn't really do much for color.

Take it easy on the AC, it can color your solution a bit red. Use it sparingly just to remove the green.

Freeze everything. If you can run the filter inside a freezer, do it.

-Bentonite catches water soluble stuff like lipids and waxes.

-Activated Carbon bonds to the chlorophyll

-DE/Celite catches the AC which holds onto the chlorophyll, along with other smallest contaminants

-The filter disk retains all this material in the funnel

Edit: Here

Also this

Depends on how much vacuum you want. You can suck a significant amount of air out of a bottle with your mouth by sealing your lips over the mouth.

With a small handheld vacuum pump you can create even more.

With a home food sealing machine, you can create about the best vacuum you're going to get without a much more expensive pump. Interestingly enough, the "vacuum" these machines produce is very near the atmospheric pressure on Mars.

Vacuum is dangerous if you put anything living into it, or if you try to draw a vacuum on some container that doesn't have the structural integrity to hold it, it will implode.

It will likely all need stabilization; not much is pulled up anymore that's gem-quality hardness. The hardness relates to the dryness of the mineral; the stuff closest to the surface with the most exposure to air will, over millennia dry and become hard. But that's the easy stuff to mine, so there's not much left.

You can stabilize yourself; it's not difficult but does require a small vacuum system like this, along with a stabilizing agent like Opticon. Depending on the rough, you'd likely stabilize twice - the first time for cutting slabs, and then each cut slab as well. I use a 5-gallon vacuum chamber and can easily get a dozen slabs in it.

My 2 cents.
For the bubbles:
ARKSEN Degassing Vacuum Chamber Epoxy Silicone Resin, 3Gallon, 250mm https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00T6ZRSX2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_hiCaCbM8TMGHC

Autoclave vs. disposable alternatives: like plastic covering?

This is really intereating. I have never made my own media but use several at work. I'd like to know what u are growing on which media?

Often, when I don't recover an organism I wonder if my media is the limiting factor.

Worrd thanks for the info bro, now I'm considering getting a chamber too just to be safe. What you think bout this?


https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B06XPSKLC7/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?th=1&psc=1

Hard to tell if it's closed or open cell foam. But it's not just the foam itself, if the surface is rough you're likely to get some leakage. If a dog hair or something happens to be across the surface, you'll get leakage. Normally these things are insignificant but with a tiny pump it can become a factor.

You mentioned drawers and doors, but actually I'm not convinced you need the foam edges for that. They are relatively smooth surfaces unless there is some sort of raised or embossed pattern that needs to be conformed around - that's what the foam is great for. Plus drawers/doors are usually painted or lacquered so it cuts down on the surface roughness a bit.

That said, I'm starting to get the picture with the info you added. It would be hard to stick an air compressor on most RC vehicles! So the venturi is probably out. The diaphragm pump will do what you need, as long as you don't need it to be fast and you have a decent seal. Also I did some quick googling, there are a number of pumps like this and this as well. Higher pressure than your diaphragm pump but a little less flowrate. You can always double up on the pumps too.

This one claims ~-12psi @ 0.7 CFM, which should be more than enough to accomplish what you need.

Although the total tubing length will probably be pretty short on an RC vehicle, keep the tube as large as you can. The lower the pressure gets, the larger your tubing needs to be to effectively move air. If you use a tiny tube - even a short one - you can have massive losses of vacuum pressure. So -12psi at the pump becomes -5 psi at the cup. If you only have one cup and there is no leakage this won't be a big issue but it will still take longer to achieve a seal.

At work we use cups from Piab, Festo, SMC, etc... but they're not always easy to source if you have to work through a distributor. Here are a couple sources I found though:

Vacmotion


Piab No idea where you're located, you can find a distributor with easy online ordering if you look for a bit.

Purging flammable butane out of your extracts in your gas stove is a great way to blow up your house.


Get one of these and a pump.

ABLAZE 1 Gallon Gal Vacuum Chamber Stainless Steel Degassing Urethanes Silicone Epoxies Lid Kit https://www.amazon.com/dp/B019RZNYPG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_zJiPDbQ384QMZ

https://www.amazon.com/Nalgene-6140-0010-Aspirator-Polypropylene-Threading/dp/B003OBYNBO

cost me 10$ in adapters from home depot to get it to hook up to my sink. works great pulls down to -25hg

I know it ain’t cheap, but why not use a vacuum chamber?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N11WMX2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_0myFDbPDB9AT9

You would effectively increase the pressure in your cans without changing temperature and messing with seal compound.

FWIW, this is a method used for other containers.

Hey guys as a heads up. In the lab if we make silicone we always degas the mixture before pouring. To degas just put the silicone after mixing into a closed container and pull vacuum. I think even a cheap aspirator will pull enough vacuum to work. Pull until the bubbles stop than you're good to go.

https://www.amazon.com/Dynalon-312635-Faucet-Aspirator-Vacuum/dp/B004AHL77E

https://www.amazon.com/Nalgene-6140-0010-Aspirator-Polypropylene-Threading/dp/B003OBYNBO

Both look promising. Google degassing silicone for more it's a common technique in soft litho.

Edit: For a chamber just get a plastic dessicator. They aren't that expensive : https://www.amazon.com/United-Scientific-55204-Polypropylene-Polycarbonate/dp/B00ES3GPMM

Edit2: Cus degassing silicone just looks so pretty : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbSvzD8g_S0

Edit3: Decent part combo for degassing

https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Chamber-Urethanes-Silicones-Epoxies/dp/B00KSWL29I/

https://www.amazon.com/Single-Stage-Rotary-Economy-Vacuum-Refrigerant/dp/B012CFTYX4/ref=pd_bxgy_236_img_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1N0WKYM5MHVXTF9FVB8K

Remember keep the vacuum so that it slowly degasses you do not want it to bubble over and all into your chamber.

If there is running water these pull a strong vacuum, and cost nearly nothing.

https://www.amazon.com/Nalgene-6140-0010-Aspirator-Polypropylene-Threading/dp/B003OBYNBO

Oils are nonpolar, so you would probably get the best extraction with a nonpolar solvent (i.e. not water). The easiest starting point would be to use Everclear (95% ethanol) to extract from some chopped up hops, filter it, then slowly evaporate the alcohol.

You also might try some other high fat food products (milk, plant oils, butter, meat fat) to do the extraction, but it will be impossible to separate your solvent from the hop oil.

It probably wouldn't hurt you to read that info about THC (or even caffeine) extraction. A lot of the same principles will apply.

If you want to go further, look into converting your kitchen sink to a water aspirator pump or making a CO2 extractor yourself.

Lastly, I have no idea if this would work, but maybe you could make a "hop espresso/tea" with a moka pot? Also try with everclear.

Starting us off, one of the first piece of equipment I need to get is a pressure pot. From what I've read they are useful for mold making as well as dice.

ABLAZE 1 Gallon Gal Vacuum Chamber Stainless Steel Degassing Urethanes Silicone Epoxies Lid Kit https://www.amazon.com/dp/B019RZNYPG/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apa_i_t0ETDbFVMHRGS

I'm currently looking at the Ablaze 1 gallon pot, currently $68 on Amazon. Is one gallon enough to make dice? Harbor Freight has a larger one but Costa more.

Get one of those faucet asperators

14$ http://www.amazon.com/Nalgene-6140-0010-Aspirator-Polypropylene-Threading/dp/B003OBYNBO

Just make sure your hose water isn't going down the drain - because you don't want your butane down there :P

For the mold: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00LU4YFK6?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_image

For the toy: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00CA5VY3U

For the vacuum pump: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B071KZXVRR

Other supplies you'll need: vinyl gloves, cardboard and hot glue gun to make the mold box, paint mixing sticks, graduated measuring cups, disposable coffee cups, silicone or mica pigments, release agent (smooth on universal release agent), and a whatever you want as a model

Edit: if you have any other questions feel free to pm me

https://www.amazon.com/Chamber-Stainless-Degassing-Urethanes-Silicone/dp/B01AO0P5NW/ref=sr_1_6?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1465841919&sr=1-6

Vacuum chamber and vacuum pump. They sell them separately or as a kit. Expensive, but a game changer with bubbles.

Here's my setup:

Vacuum Chamber: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I3Q8D2K
$117

Pump:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B012CFTYX4

$52


That pot will hold a lot of wood, but you also need a couple gallons of Catus Juice to fill it. Grab a cheap toaster oven from Salvation Army to cure.

Listen to /u/Glock19mos. I don't typically dye (I purchase mine dyed) and his pictures speak volumes about his capabilities with the process.

Vac systems are getting shockingly Cheap. Vac Purge Kit

I use this vacuum chamber
BACOENG 3 Gallon Vacuum Chamber Kit with 3.6 CFM 1 Stage Vacuum Pump HVAC https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00W8ZU5FK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_OfvSxxeU3FZKP

And I use this pressure pot
California Air Tools 365B 5-Gallon Pressure Pot https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008FQEC6Y/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_GIVbOaA1tAb1O

I also had to get some fittings and modifications for the pressure pot but I can't recall exactly what. I like quick disconnect hoses and fittings and the pressure pot didn't come with anything.
To be honest you don't really need a vacuum chamber, depending on the application. Smooth-on Smooth Cast 325, 326, or 327 are all low viscosity and don't seem to bubble as much. You can get by with just a pressure pot and an air compressor.
For the love of all that is holy, though: PLEASE WEAR GOGGLES. I can't stress it enough. Resin in your eye will ruin your vision. Also, when dealing with pressure you're always running the risk of a breach and even dust at 50PSI can ruin your vision.