# rosin press



## mojoganjaman (Mar 16, 2018)

I have seen many vids on press'...I dony want to smash a couple  buds...would take weeks...I want to do ounces minimum at one time....any  ideas????



mojo


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## Hackerman (Mar 16, 2018)

There is a pretty harsh learning curve to pressing large amounts like that but if I were going to do anything larger than personal use, I would search Instagram for Sunfire (user) and Elysian Research. I think they have the top in technique and support.


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## Rosebud (Mar 16, 2018)

We have ordered all the parts to make it. woohoo, i will let you know when we get it all.


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## Hackerman (Mar 16, 2018)

Cool, what did you order?


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## Rosebud (Mar 16, 2018)

Aluminum plates and heaters and the 10 ton press, Waiting on the press.


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## The Hemp Goddess (Mar 17, 2018)

What kind of press did you get?  I have all the parts to make one, but ran into a snag drilling the aluminum plates and haven't gotten back to it.


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## Rosebud (Mar 17, 2018)

a hydrolic press?  Strongway ten ton hydrolic press from Northern Tool.


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## The Hemp Goddess (Mar 17, 2018)

I am thinking of ordering this:  https://www.ebay.com/itm/Rosin-Pres...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649

Has all the drilling and wiring already done.  All I'd have to do would be to put it on the press.


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## Rosebud (Mar 17, 2018)

Cool, thg, i am laughing at us. Us old hippies getting a rosen press. We are pretty cool, ya gotta admit.


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## Hackerman (Mar 17, 2018)

Yeah, well you'll be laughing real soon when you're smoking beautiful golden rosin like this.

I pressed this earlier from some Lemon OG. 

I am to the point where I smoke mostly rosin. I set up a rig with my bong and a G9 enail and I am really happy with it. Just bought a "Pied Piper" portable rosin pen. We'll see how it works soon. 

I love my rosin press. I just pressed some Med Tree Continuum tonight and I am going to make some CBD caps tomorrow.

Rosin is the best thing to happen to pot since the bong. LOL

Also, for those who would like rosin but can't hassle with the press, you can still use a hair straightener and get great results. 

View attachment tar-2.jpg


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## Hackerman (Mar 17, 2018)

Then there's this......

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Rosin-Pres...618502?hash=item33e46c0cc6:g:~NoAAOSwxrlaoz5b

LMAO

Great idea but I think those plates would be way too small.


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## Rosebud (Mar 18, 2018)

That is pretty darn beautiful up there Hackerman.  I bet there will be a learning curve, like temperature and pressure... We need Ston-loc to come in here and inform me.


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## Trump (Mar 18, 2018)

Squishing an ounce I would use 10x10x1 plates.  I use a 3x5x1 for 4 gram squishes.  yes it is a learning curve when first start out.  like growing weed.  you need to just jump in and screw up so you get better in time. I made mine and love it.  a lot easier to make vape juice with rosen than any other method for me.


LMTSGA


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## Hackerman (Mar 18, 2018)

The color seems to be very strain specific. My Cindy99 was always dark. No mater how I pressed it. This Lemon OG is just that color. 

Pressure and temp are pretty easy. Temp is almost always going to be between 210F and 240F.

Pressure is a little more variable. For flowers, it's a harder press. For dry sift, you have to go with less pressure or the filters rupture.

The size of the plates will usually decide how big of a puck you press. My plates are very small (4") so I can only press about 2 grams at a time. Any more than that and the flower just squishes out the sides.

Pressure is all about the plate size as well. Since we are talking PSI, the size of the plates and the press are related. Harder presses don't mean more yield. There is a sweet spot for pressing and if you press too hard, undesirable things can happen. Like filter rupture and pass-through on the parchment and burning and over shattery results.

So, the size of the press is really dependent on the size of the plates. My plates are small so a 10 ton press would just be a waste. If my plates were 8" x 8", I would need a much larger press to get the same PSI that I am getting from my small press and small plates.. Get it?

Also, press real slowly. Once the heated plates make contact with the material, I go real real slow to give the flowers a chance to heat up. Than after about 10 seconds, I press fully and let the river flow. LOL

While you're waiting for your parts, you might look for something to make "pucks".

Pucks are nice for a number of reasons. Mostly, it helps prevent little pieces of pot from getting mixed in with the rosin. This leaves ash in your nail and tastes like ****.

Also, it helps contain the flower so it presses in a consistent pattern.

Mine are round but since your plates are square, you might want to go with square or rectangle.

A puck press simply presses the flower into a block so it is solid when you place it in the rosin press.

Search "Puck Press" on Ebay or Amazon for a picture of one. Mine makes a 1" diameter puck for 4" round plates.

Here is a pic of mine. 

View attachment press-2.jpg


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## Hackerman (Mar 18, 2018)

political name said:


> A lot easier to make vape juice with rosin than any other method for me.
> 
> LMTSGA



That's the truth. In fact, it's easier to do most everything with rosin as a starting base. I use it for all my edibles.

Last night I took 2 Jolly Rancher candies and put it in a 10ml beaker on my hotplate. In a few minutes when they melted, I dropped a .25 gram of rosin in it and stirred a moment before pouring it into candy molds.

Jolly Rancher meds in 3 minutes. Doesn't get any easier than that. And, I didn't have to make 50 of them. I just made enough for right then and there.


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## Hackerman (Mar 18, 2018)

HG, that looks like a pretty nice setup for a pretty reasonable price.

However, since you have everything already and are just waiting for someone to drill the holes, why not just drill them yourself. If you mess up, buy the ones you linked. If you don't mess up, you have your plates and don't need to buy those.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.


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## Rosebud (Mar 18, 2018)

Very good information, thank you hackerman and 4u.


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## Trump (Mar 18, 2018)

Good point Hackman on the "pucks"  this allow us to put more Product in bag. Google "Keef" press.  I purchased mine from Head shop 

I also would like to say that temps are dependent on size of press and plates.  I like 160-180. anything over 200 for me burns the Goo.  I get that golden color on a lower temp and faster press.  Im still playing with mine and am still learning.


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## The Hemp Goddess (Mar 18, 2018)

The snafu is my tools.  My drill press will not drill deep enough holes for the heating rods...but it is more than drilling and tapping.  There is the makeup and wiring of the control box.  And my buddy will go in halfsies on this with me.   And truly, I have enough work on my To Do List that I don't need any extra things to do.  Hope to start tiling the bathroom this week.  

I also like making vape liquids and edibles with concentrates and have been visiting the dispensary for mine.  I still really like to smoke bud and I don't think that will ever change.  I find that smoking BHO (and other concentrates) makes me cough.   I'm anxious to try rosin.  I froze a baggie of fresh bud when I harvested for the express purpose of making rosin from it.  I also have a harvest of CBD strains coming up.

Do you use bags or just parchment paper?  I'll start thinking about a puck press.  Looks like something that could be made with a piece of pipe and a dowel.


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## Hackerman (Mar 18, 2018)

I didn't know you had a controller and everything to wire. I just connected mine to a standard plug and I use a fan dimmer to control the temps.

I just use parchment. And, I usually only press flowers. I have tried dry sift in filter bags but the bags seem to absorb all the rosin. I have much better luck with plain parchment and pucks.

Fresh frozen buds will make a watery mess if you try to press them. Fresh frozen (live rosin) is made by taking that fresh frozen bud and sifting it to make dry sift. Then, pressing the sift.

I misunderstood this and pressed some fresh frozen buds... LMAO.... you should see the mess. Lesson learned.

Yeah, puck maker is just a hole and a plug. Lots of ways to do that. If your plates are square, you might want a square puck maker. It will be considerably smaller than your plates.

@ political name, check the actual temp of your plates with the readout on your controller. They are often different. 160-180 just sounds way too low. I get almost zero yield at that temp. I start at 190F.


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## Trump (Mar 20, 2018)

the controller will very in readings And I did check thermal reading and was closer to 200*

I like to use the Bags too keep plant materials out the product. and yes some is lost in the mesh.  as for square versus round pucks..I got better results with round ones.  square ones seem to leave Goo behind.

When I first was building mine I wired the box as Youtube said and fried two boxes..  a friend helped with wire diagram and BAM!!!!  Squish is On..

Good Discussion :48:


LMTSGA


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## Trump (Mar 20, 2018)

sorry was gonna post a pic of my wiring but would not allow


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## The Hemp Goddess (Mar 22, 2018)

I am thinking that the plates and controller I ordered might be in tomorrow and I could be pressing rosin by this weekend.  Thanks for the tip on the fresh frozen bud--I also misunderstood the method.  Can we press fresh bud that hasn't been frozen?  

The cross-sectional area of your plates and the 5 x 3 I am getting is not that much different, so, I am thinking of going with a 2 gram press, like you do.  I have parchment paper, so will use that.  I think that pressing pucks would help keep green material out of your rosin.


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## Hackerman (Mar 22, 2018)

Cool, you're going to love making rosin.

Don't use the kind of parchment with foil on one side. I tried that once and it over-cooked everything.

I also hear there are different results from different kinds of parchment. All I have tried are Reynolds and Kirkland. I don't recall there being much difference. I don't like the organic stuff because it's brown color makes it harder to see the rosin. I use white for that reason.

You had the right idea making the puck-maker out of a PVC pipe and a ram rod. I was going to use a broomstick. I just happened to have this buddy who set me up with the one I have. If you have trouble with the pot sticking to whatever you use for the plunger , use a piece of scrap parchment in between. I went to the craft store and bought a 1" diameter punch and I punch little circles and drop them in with the pot to make it so it won't stick to the plunger.

I have pressed fresh picked and it is a little runny and hard to collect. You will find that the amount of moisture in the pot makes a huge difference in yield. I am still experimenting but it seems like the drier the better.

You'll find your sweet spot for temp and pressure on the press and humidity in your pot.

I found a huge difference in yield when I moved my press from the basement (wet) to my room upstairs (dry).

Yeah, pressing pucks helps keep the greenies out but using a filter is the primo way to do it. I just can't seem to get the hang of using filter bags. I always rupture the bag or over-cook the package. Something bad happens every time I try. LOL Trying to press dry sift in a filter was even more disastrous.

Also, a glass swizzle stick works great for collecting the rosin off the parchment.

If it's runny, turn up the temp. If it's shattery and flakes off the parchment, turn down the temp or press for less time.

I like mine nice and sticky so it sticks right to the glass swizzle stick and to itself.

Let me know if you have problems on startup.


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## Locked (Mar 22, 2018)

The RosinBomb Rocket press is on sale now. 

https://www.namastevaporizers.com/c...280095041&mc_cid=1a583786fc&mc_eid=073c8f3516


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## The Hemp Goddess (Mar 22, 2018)

UPS tracking shows that my package is out for delivery!  Because we are out in the country, we usually get our deliveries late in the day.  I'm excited to do this.  So, it will be a project for tomorrow.  I have white parchment paper.  I'll have to see if I can find a glass swizzle stick.   LOL--you can be sure to hear from me if I have problems.  I am re-reading posts and re-watching videos (but , boy, there is a lot of garbage out there, isn't there? 

Hamster, I mentioned this in the other thread, but I am surprised by how little pressure the RosinBomb exerts.  If we can really produce rosin with 167 psi, it gives us way more options on making our own rosin presses (and for a lot less than $600).  Pressing pressure was one of those things that I had a hard time finding any kind of definitive information on.


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## Hackerman (Mar 22, 2018)

Total available pressure really means nothing to us. For large presses over the few grams that we are pressing, total available pressure becomes an issue.

I only have an 8 ton table top model and if I press it all the way, the rosin bleeds right though the parchment. I almost never use the full pressure.

It's all about PSI.

For those peeps that are pressing ounces at a time, to get the PSI that we are getting on our tiny presses, they need the larger 30 ton style presses.

I'll try to go back and find what the ideal PSI was but after a while, you'll get a feel for what's right.

What would really be cool is a pressure gauge.


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## Hackerman (Mar 22, 2018)

The Hemp Goddess said:


> If we can really produce rosin with 167 psi, it gives us way more options on making our own rosin presses (and for a lot less than $600).  Pressing pressure was one of those things that I had a hard time finding any kind of definitive information on.



The first few times I did this, I used a hair straightener and my old arthritic hands. Later, we figured the clamps and vices. I stood on mine and it worked great.

My next couple experiments were using a 1 ton arbor press. Again, results were just as good in these little quantities but you had to hold it down and my arm got tired. LOL

Only then, did I finally upgrade to the HF tabletop press.

167 PSI sounds a little light but I'll try to sift though that thread at ICMag and see if I can find it. Sundown or sunflower or whatever his name was and a few other of them figured out the optimum PSI


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## Hackerman (Mar 22, 2018)

Here's one man's opinion. For his part, 600PSI is best for flowers.

He is also using a filter bag.

https://gopurepressure.com/blogs/rosin-education/the-physics-behind-rosin-heat-pressure

So, for my size plates, we're talking a 3 to 4 ton press being optimal. Mine is 8 tons so, like I said, I seldom use full pressure.

I'll see if I can find someone else's opinion.


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## Hackerman (Mar 22, 2018)

Actually, that site had a couple other neat pages. I pretty much have found everything on this page to be true.

https://gopurepressure.com/blogs/rosin-education/top-5-flower-rosin-tips-tricks


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## The Hemp Goddess (Mar 23, 2018)

Thanks for the links.  Actually though it seems that the size of the plates is not the determining factor--it is the size of the puck (or bag) that is being pressed.  This, of course, makes sense.  I agree that an air gauge would be nice, but the cost for a press with an air gauge was more than I wanted to spend.  

I got the plates and control unit last evening.  They look to be very well made--I am excited to try them out.  If these work out, you could put together a rosin press with an inexpensive bench or floor press from HF for around $300.


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## Hackerman (Mar 23, 2018)

Here's my glass swizzle stick collector and that little tiny beaker I was telling you about. This is so great for tiny batches of rosin in the oven. 

View attachment parrott.jpg


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## Hackerman (Mar 31, 2018)

Couple things that I found out lately.

I have had zero luck with filters and bags up 'til now. 

I had some polyester silkscreen cloth laying around from the days when we used to make bubble bags out of them (before you could buy them online everywhere).

I made a bag out of a small piece and tested it... wow, , works great. I did about a half ounce that way and the rosin was beautiful. I still got the same yield so the filter/cloth didn't eat much (which has always been a problem for me) and.... the stuff is dirt cheap. As I recall, a few bucks a square yard. Way cheaper than those premade filters.


The other thing is decarb'ing rosin. I have always decarb'd everything (including rosin) in the oven. 240F for 40 min. Always seemed to be OK.

In recent conversations with Gray Wolf from SkunkPharm and The Alchemist I noticed he always decabs his rosin on the stovetop/hot plate. I started doing it that way and it is so much better in so many ways.

His explanation makes total sense, in short, explaining how the carbon is dropped via O2, etc..... just watch the bubbles. LOL

I put 1 to 2 grams in my tiny beaker and put it on my hotplate. This small of a beaker is hard to control temps but I keep it between 220 and 280 or so. Mostly, like GW says, watching the bubbles. As the large bubbles stop and the tiny bubble gather on the edge, the rosin is decarb'd just right. All the C is gone via the O2 bubbles and the acids have converted.

I have done it this way the past 3 times I made stuff and each time I tested the potency and it always seems to come out just perfect.

Also, while I am heating the rosin, I stir it with a digital thermometer to watch the temps. Then, when all the bubbles stop, I lower the temp to 180F and add whatever I want to add (coconut oil or whatever) and I can just keep it "on the stove" while I add my ingredients.

Plus, it takes me about 10 minutes to completely decarb 1 gram of rosin.

You may want to try it this way once you get up and running.


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## Alasgun (Aug 2, 2018)

Im getting closer, here are the raw materials before a couple days of machine work and some welding transforms this pile of material into the press. Hoping to make time for this pretty soon, got that one auto comeing due in a couple weeks.


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## Hackerman (Aug 2, 2018)

DabPress just released another version if this helps to give you any ideas for your design....


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## Alasgun (Aug 2, 2018)

Thanks Hackerman, this appears to be a well thought out unit. Most of them look quite cumbersom, to me anyway.

Mine will be a simple, no bells or whistles manual 10 ton press.


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## Hackerman (Aug 2, 2018)

Unless your picture is weird, that looks like a little 'stubby' bottle jack. Pretty cool, if it is.


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## Alasgun (Aug 2, 2018)

Yea, i looked at a lot of them before finding this one. 10 ton, 1 5/8 stroke, 12 lb, 6 5/8 extended!
Amazon of course.


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## zem (Aug 3, 2018)

Nice thread! I always find myself reading about this rosin press thing with great interest. Rose I want to see that 1oz press! I agree that you and THG are cool indeed to be getting this type of tool. This site, the MP family has many of cool people imo. Kraven built a couple nice ones. I need one of those things...


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