Extraction 6 Ton DIY Rosin Press

[Mañ'O'Green]

Just to verify...are those temps in C?

Really nice looking press. Knew there had to be bits and pieces to make these cheaper.

For what it's worth, if you find yourself wishing you had a little more clearance between the plates with the collar bumping into the guide cross bar, there's a trick where you can flip that cross bar guide over and get another 3/4 inch or so clearance. Doesn't look like a problem with yours like it was with mine using a kit with the same 6-ton press, but thought I'd toss it out anywho. :smoking:

Hi Ozone:

Yes celsius, the cheap PIDs I bought only work in C°. No problem with clearance as I can remove one of the cast iron plates and gain 3/4 inch if needed not counting moving the whole deck up to 4 more inches down.

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

Well here is a bonus value. I slid the bottom plate out a couple of inches and it worked perfectly as a hot plate with precise temperature control to decarb some rosin mixed with some coco butter to make a medicated chocolate bar.

I am sure that I can also use it to mix up some rosin & EJmix to vape on the go

 

[Mañ'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?

 

[Son of Hobbes]

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.

We have run literally a quarter pound plus through my 8 ton Rosin Tech press in the past few weeks and we're finding certain things seems to work better than others. We've tried some pretty warm temps, our BEST temp, at least with the bud we're pressing, has been 185. Gets the oil to flow, but it's still very light and makes a nice, nice clear golden color on 1st press or two. We squeeze til there's no oil, so we can get some pretty dark stuff if keep going with it. We're doing a very long press though which I don't know if that helps or hinders (with the pneumatic we can hold the pressure for the duration so I'm not sitting there pumping one bicep lol.) We've been finding too much flower just prevents the oil from flowing properly (we made a 21 gram disc, it just didn't do what we though it was going to do lol!) Watching your progress man, very cool setup!

 

[Ozone69]

One thought...if you've got another set of the metal plates for the press around, or even just one, you could try tossing it in the freezer overnight and then using as a kind of cold press for the packets. I've seen at least one rosin press plate company that sells a cold press as well, but can't remember who. I use a cast iron tortilla press for it with my setup. I keep it in the freezer so it's ready to go and it helps with getting the oilier rosin cooled down to handle easier. Works better in the winter when the room is cooler and things don't warm up so fast, but that's another story. :smoking:

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

I pre puck mine, its easier to work with, Im not sure if you'll get better results or not.

Hey Pepe you stoned? I just said I prepress two sizes working on a new prepress for a third size!

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

We have run literally a quarter pound plus through my 8 ton Rosin Tech press in the past few weeks and we're finding certain things seems to work better than others. We've tried some pretty warm temps, our BEST temp, at least with the bud we're pressing, has been 185. Gets the oil to flow, but it's still very light and makes a nice, nice clear golden color on 1st press or two. We squeeze til there's no oil, so we can get some pretty dark stuff if keep going with it. We're doing a very long press though which I don't know if that helps or hinders (with the pneumatic we can hold the pressure for the duration so I'm not sitting there pumping one bicep lol.) We've been finding too much flower just prevents the oil from flowing properly (we made a 21 gram disc, it just didn't do what we though it was going to do lol!) Watching your progress man, very cool setup!

Right now everything I am pressing is over 6 months cured so I am only getting fairly dark rosin. Although I did a small sample run 7g of my Incredible Bulk LARF before it went into the jars for curing. Very light and very clear but low yield. The bud will be ready in a couple of weeks.

Why is light and clear a goal? The rosin I pressed from my 6 month old Green Crack is dark, tasty and strong - why should I care what it looks like?

 

[Son of Hobbes]

Right now everything I am pressing is over 6 months cured so I am only getting fairly dark rosin. Although I did a small sample run 7g of my Incredible Bulk LARF before it went into the jars for curing. Very light and very clear but low yield. The bud will be ready in a couple of weeks.

Why is light and clear a goal? The rosin I pressed from my 6 month old Green Crack is dark, tasty and strong - why should I care what it looks like?

We haven't been pressing very long, but found the less heat, the lighter/more clear and more flavor we've found in it personally (just in our findings of pressing, maybe certain strains press dark?) The darker the rosin that we've pressed, the less flavor and a bit more harsh it seems to be. Do you notice any personal difference between the temps when you're pressing?

 

[Son of Hobbes]

One thought...if you've got another set of the metal plates for the press around, or even just one, you could try tossing it in the freezer overnight and then using as a kind of cold press for the packets. I've seen at least one rosin press plate company that sells a cold press as well, but can't remember who. I use a cast iron tortilla press for it with my setup. I keep it in the freezer so it's ready to go and it helps with getting the oilier rosin cooled down to handle easier. Works better in the winter when the room is cooler and things don't warm up so fast, but that's another story. :smoking:

I've heard of guys pressing in refrigerated rooms and have way different experiences vs pressing at room temp. Think there's merit to that?

 

[Ozone69]

I've heard of guys pressing in refrigerated rooms and have way different experiences vs pressing at room temp. Think there's merit to that?

My gut instinct is that it would depend on which part of the process it was. For the actual pressing, the temp between those plates when the pressure is on if the controller is working right is not going to change much with the room temp, so I dunno that it would change that much. On the other hand, the plant material itself at room temp before pressing would be probably 20-30 degrees cooler than in a non-refrigerated room, so the change to the temp in between the plates is a little more drastic. But upping the temp on the plates 10-20 degrees could have the same effect.

If you were doing the phase of the process where you're collecting the rosin off the parchment, I absolutely believe it would make a difference. Just the difference between the mid to high 60's and mid 70's I can see in my little office between winter and summer makes a difference in how easy it is to work with collecting it up.