What are the properties of a good extraction tube?

TheBFA

Member
I've been making bubble hash with my trim, but wanted to try my hand at some shatter. I know I can buy glass tubes, but I'm a welder/fabricator by day and wanted to make my own. I've seen plenty of diy ones, and came across a thread here about trying to use a butane can, and someone mentioning it wasn't efficient because of the large diameter.

So I'm not looking for a diy write up on how to build a makeshift one, I'm just looking for any important details that should be considered when making one. I have access to small valves for stainless instrumentation tubing at work, and was considering using a stainless thermos for the body. I can weld any portion that would need it, like welding the stainless part of the thermos cap directly to the body portion after gutting it all, or weld fittings to any part.

I guess my biggest concern with the design is if it it noticeably better to run a valve at both ends and use a vacuum pump with the butane as opposed to the open ended style like the glass tubes.

Another question I have is why does everyone use oven mitts instead of putting insulation on the tube itself? Are they lazy, unimaginative, or do you want the tube to warm up during the process? Everything I'm reading is about keeping everything cold during the extraction process. A strategically altered beer coozie, or couple of them, could easily be cut to size and slid over the tube to hold them. I would think that's much better than slippery, non-tactile oven mitts.

And if some of you want to link me to your favorite BHO method, I would appreciate it.
 

757growin

Well-Known Member
I like to see what's going on in the tube as the tane passes through. I used to use whatever glass is cheapest when I did it and I bought stands that hold the glass in place and the tane can in place also
 

TheBFA

Member
I like to see what's going on in the tube as the tane passes through. I used to use whatever glass is cheapest when I did it and I bought stands that hold the glass in place and the tane can in place also
I thought about that, but most of the professional ones I've seen were stainless, so I figured seeing the process wasn't that important.
 

Fadedawg

Well-Known Member
I'm also wondering about diameter vs length, and if that makes a big difference.
The liquid tends to flow through he center of the tube, due to flow resistance at the border of the flow, so we've found about 1" in diameter and about 36" of length, the outer limits of open blasting efficiently.
 

rshackleferd

Well-Known Member
I went cheap and went with pvc, it works awesome. However i would choose glass because i would like to see the process going on.
 
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