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How do you empty your columns?

BigJohnny

BigJohnny

Member
Does anyone have quick, effective ways to empty out the 4"x36" material columns on a terpenator mk4?

It tends to get tedious when there are multiple tubes and large amounts involved, so has anyone come up with a creative/quick/simple way of dumping the packed, used material out??
 
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Dab Strudel

Active member
get a cap with a fitting on top and a good compressor. Maybe a 4" round piece of wood as an insert for a uniform push. I personally use a long ass drill bit but the finish on my tubes are dinged up on the inside... Not how I would have done it but my old partner started doing it like that and I dont have the need to buy new tubes.
 
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mrmuffin420

Member
on my 3 inch tube I leave the ent on and push it out with a floor broom handle in the trash can
the handle is about 1 1/4 in diameter and it just pushes the wad of coffee filters at the bottom out
do you still use the coffe filter plug on the mk 4
 
BigJohnny

BigJohnny

Member
Dab Strudel said:
get a cap with a fitting on top and a good compressor. Maybe a 4" round piece of wood as an insert for a uniform push. I personally use a long ass drill bit but the finish on my tubes are dinged up on the inside... Not how I would have done it but my old partner started doing it like that and I dont have the need to buy new tubes.
Click to expand...

I get 4Lbs in the 4x36 tube, packed.
I'd be worried that pressure would build up and wouldn't be able to push the entire load out.... then I'm boned.
On top of that I don't exactly have an area where I can blast a 4lb bud cannon lol.

mrmuffin420 said:
on my 3 inch tube I leave the ent on and push it out with a floor broom handle in the trash can
the handle is about 1 1/4 in diameter and it just pushes the wad of coffee filters at the bottom out
do you still use the coffe filter plug on the mk 4
Click to expand...

I don't use coffee filters, I have screen gaskets for one column that are about 15 micron, roughly the same as a coffee filter.
On my other one I have the much larger screen gaskets, 20 mesh maybe? I layer another 15 micron screen between that and the material, within the sealing area of the gasket.

I honestly don't see how you can push the material out through the end unless you don't pack the tube at all, I use a baseball bat for packing and I can't push the material out of a spent column, I'd need a hydraulic ram.

I did conceive an idea tonight where I could maybe make something like a bearing puller with a longer shaft topush the material out that way.
 
D

Dab Strudel

Active member
ok from what your telling me IMO you should think about revising your tek to get the best out of what you have. unless you have something like a 12x24 recovery vessel I dont see why youd do 4 lbs at a time. I have a 3x36 column, a 8x12 recovery vessel, and I use 350-450g (depending on how well the grower is, if I get 8-10% its on the higher side, if I get 10-14% I stick to 350-400.) With that I push 7.30 lbs of tane thru 450g of about 10% yielding material with a butane tank at room temp and injecting thru a IC69 to chill to just above -20f. To pack my column I wad 7 coffee filters in balls, put them on the table and squish them into a 3" circle with my hands to fit in my tubes, I put 2 levels of 7 coffee filters in on the bottom and 3 layers of 4 coffee filters on the top after the tube is packed (not so squished on the top filters so the solvent flows thru the coffee filters evenly and promotes an even top shower.) I dont bottom fill anymore. Its useless if you can pack a tube right and put enough filters on the bottom of your column AND in your reducer leaving your butane to back up as it fills the column. I use a 2" column to pack a 3" in column with a colored cap on the end (it comes with the tube). oh yea, I also BARELY crack my top shower valve so my scale drops .05 lbs per 5-7 seconds. it takes roughly 2:45 til it starts to drip into the collection pot and by 3:30 the column is full of tane. I have to watch the scale tho because something freezes or some BS because it suddenly stops flowing. Just fling the valve open half way for a sec or less then go back to the slow drip. I am sure I leave some behind, my last tek had me leaving behind less than 10% and I dont see too much of a difference when I run it this way. plus I leave behind more waxes (I hope ;) ) I dont have the best tek, but I see myself leaving behind very little goodies. Anyone see a flaw please lmk. I dont freeze my columns btw. I wish I could
 
C

CBDFarm

New member
I used a 2" by 21 inch tube, I get a big wooden dowel break one side off so it's angled/sharp. Then poke at the left over material in the tube, once it starts to free up i flip it over and use the dull side to push out the rest of the material. Takes a good 20 minutes to clean it out. Then alcohol bath.
 
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pbard1

New member
I cut 3/4" plywood disks with the appropriate sized hole saw for a given tube: 3 5/8" for a 4" diameter tube. The disk is screwed to the end of a mop handle with a few fender washers.
I used my ram rod for packing and removing material. Depending on the material density, I might have to help a little out of each end and then use the ram rod to push the material "core" out one end. Simple and effective.
I do like the cannabis cannon though...
 
BigJohnny

BigJohnny

Member
Dab Strudel said:
ok from what your telling me IMO you should think about revising your tek to get the best out of what you have. unless you have something like a 12x24 recovery vessel I dont see why youd do 4 lbs at a time. I have a 3x36 column, a 8x12 recovery vessel, and I use 350-450g (depending on how well the grower is, if I get 8-10% its on the higher side, if I get 10-14% I stick to 350-400.) With that I push 7.30 lbs of tane thru 450g of about 10% yielding material with a butane tank at room temp and injecting thru a IC69 to chill to just above -20f. To pack my column I wad 7 coffee filters in balls, put them on the table and squish them into a 3" circle with my hands to fit in my tubes, I put 2 levels of 7 coffee filters in on the bottom and 3 layers of 4 coffee filters on the top after the tube is packed (not so squished on the top filters so the solvent flows thru the coffee filters evenly and promotes an even top shower.) I dont bottom fill anymore. Its useless if you can pack a tube right and put enough filters on the bottom of your column AND in your reducer leaving your butane to back up as it fills the column. I use a 2" column to pack a 3" in column with a colored cap on the end (it comes with the tube). oh yea, I also BARELY crack my top shower valve so my scale drops .05 lbs per 5-7 seconds. it takes roughly 2:45 til it starts to drip into the collection pot and by 3:30 the column is full of tane. I have to watch the scale tho because something freezes or some BS because it suddenly stops flowing. Just fling the valve open half way for a sec or less then go back to the slow drip. I am sure I leave some behind, my last tek had me leaving behind less than 10% and I dont see too much of a difference when I run it this way. plus I leave behind more waxes (I hope ;) ) I dont have the best tek, but I see myself leaving behind very little goodies. Anyone see a flaw please lmk. I dont freeze my columns btw. I wish I could
Click to expand...

My material comes from a third party, and there is a LOT of it, they expect it to be processed as quickly as possible, so why wouldn't I run 4lbs?
When my new equipment and parts arrive I'll be back to running 8lbs, when one column is finished I close off the valves and put the next tube on and keep going.

Right now I'm getting 20-22% returns.


as for freezing the columns, I'm starting to think that was the cause of our previous clouding up issue.
Everything I produced ended up getting cloudy spots in it or just turning into budder during the purge.

I stopped freezing the columns and now everything that comes out is crystal clear.
I don't know that it really was the cause of the problem, but what I do know is that I don't freeze my columns now and everything is coming out clear.
 
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Dab Strudel

Active member
(sorry for not quoting, internet is too slow tonight). Im impressed with your results, I have yet to come across such quality. As for the cloudyness, did you cover the ends of your tubes with gaskets and metal caps or plastic wrap and rubberbands by chance? thats my take at it if I do such things. But I need to get the high pressure clamps so I can do reallllly cold runs and then Ill see if its worth it or not.
 
BigJohnny

BigJohnny

Member
Dab Strudel said:
(sorry for not quoting, internet is too slow tonight). Im impressed with your results, I have yet to come across such quality. As for the cloudyness, did you cover the ends of your tubes with gaskets and metal caps or plastic wrap and rubberbands by chance? thats my take at it if I do such things. But I need to get the high pressure clamps so I can do reallllly cold runs and then Ill see if its worth it or not.
Click to expand...

yup, the ends were sealed up and the tubes were frozen for 12 hours minimum @ -10F

Previously we were taking precautions to prevent waxing up, such as using 5 micron screens, the freezing of the tubes etc.

I simplified shit now and I basically just pack the column with the 15-or-whatever micron screen gaskets, and run it right away.

I've also started busting the material up in a food processor which so far has increased the return by another 1-2%, this may vary depending on material though.

I only wish I had a larger food processor or something to handle a much larger volume.
 
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Dab Strudel

Active member
haha my buddy was telling me he went to a bros farm and the guys making the oil were sitting with food processor(s) busting up nugs and shit. I run it as is. I dont want to chance Any chlorophyll coming for the ride. but then again my packing weight is my limit so I never fill a tube.

You say you have a MK4, What size collection pot do you have and how much solvent do you dump into your 4lb of trim? Do you use room temp solvent or do you pre chill the tane. I am trying to imagine how to get 363 grams from one run (let alone 700+ in 2 runs) in anything shy of 12+" or maybe have multi collection pots, but all that is above a MK4.

Also, Have you run any given tube a second time to see how much you leave behind?
 
BigJohnny

BigJohnny

Member
The pot on my unit is a 10"x12" pot, I don't know by weight how much tane I run through it because my tank is in a freezer entombed in foodsaver bags of ice.

I do the initial flood until I see the tane just start to come into the sightglass then close it off and recover it down to -10, then I flood for twice the amount of time it took to do the initial flood. So if it took 2 mins to do the initial flood, the second flood will last for 4 mins.

But I haven't even been doing that now, I time the initial flood and then just flood it until the tane is running pretty much clear through the glass. Usually this happens before the full amount of time has passed. (IE if I'm flooding for 4 mins, it tends to run clear after about 3 mins)

As long as your material is dry you shouldn't have to worry about chlorophyll, I only just started busting and I haven't seen any issues yet, everything is coming out really nice looking.

What do you mean by your "packing weight is my limit"? The 4"x36" columns hold 4 lbs, so I load it up with 4lbs. It's the material that determines return and I've just been lucky so far. I load up 1792g and I've been getting around 375g out.

and no, I haven't re-run a tube to see what might be left behind. In my case that would be nothing but a waste of time. A lot of work/time for a pointless result.
 
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