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?
