Green Dot Labs
Member
Anyone using one of these ovens? Any good/bad experiences with them? I know they are a bit on the expensive side, but is the price justified when you consistently pull shatter?
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Across International
- Thread starter Green Dot Labs
- Start date
mine finally came in, took about 2 weeks extra i had them replace the Torr guage with a Hg In guage.....the guage makes it a lot easier to get accuracy (for example 24 hg in = 609.6 torr). the window makes it easy to examine and take notes over time. compared to a lot of other brands, this one is reasonably priced and very versatile (can have 5 racks vs most others 2)
I had the opportunity to use their 1.9 cu in version this week and was impressed.
According to the pleased owner, it had to "learn" to control the temperature and he added a slab of marble the center shelf, to even out the heat and help it hold closer tolerance, but it works well like he has it set up and I would buy one at the prices.
According to the pleased owner, it had to "learn" to control the temperature and he added a slab of marble the center shelf, to even out the heat and help it hold closer tolerance, but it works well like he has it set up and I would buy one at the prices.
Nothing sits on the "slab of marble," right? I checked a couple of rectangular pyrex dishes, and the gap presented by the uneven outer bottom surface makes getting good conduction contact very difficult, (without something flexible.)
Was this oven set up with a cold trap for alcohol reclaiming?
The slab of marble/granite sits on a wire shelf suspended about two inches above the oven bottom and the product containers sit directly on it.
This oven didn't have a cold trap, so I just changed the pump oil repeatedly.
On that subject, looking for lower temperatures for some of our operations, we've come to appreciate denatured alcohol as a coolant, using dry ice to drop its temperature to subzero temperatures.
This oven didn't have a cold trap, so I just changed the pump oil repeatedly.
On that subject, looking for lower temperatures for some of our operations, we've come to appreciate denatured alcohol as a coolant, using dry ice to drop its temperature to subzero temperatures.
analogcricket
Member
im confused on a few things... first being the cold trap? whats that? and why did you have to change the pump oil repeatedly?
whatd you use the dry ice for? and denatured alcohol for? are you recirculating? or using it for the oven?
A cold trap is a vessel in which the incoming vapor stream is cooled below its vapor point, and turned into a liquid.
Without a cold trap, I change the pump oil repeatedly, because the alcohol vapors condense in the pumps crankcase.
The dry ice drops the temperature of the denatured alcohol, which we pump through the cold trap cooling coils. The cold trap also sits in it.
Here's a picture of a vacuum oven > cold trap > vacuum pump,
http://assets.hightimes.com/cleaner-concentrates-1-8.jpg
(the picture came from this terrible imo article in High Times, http://www.hightimes.com/read/art-and-science-cleaning-concentrates-part-one)
http://assets.hightimes.com/cleaner-concentrates-1-8.jpg
(the picture came from this terrible imo article in High Times, http://www.hightimes.com/read/art-and-science-cleaning-concentrates-part-one)
The vac oven with the cold trap is the way to go if you got the cash to spend. The international seems to be gaining popularity with our crowd. I havent heard any complaints about it yet, except from people who didnt know how to use it...
Hey Sneaky,
TORR is a more accurate gauge than Hg...
Seems it would be more beneficial to just learn the torr measurements.. ?
http://www.vacuforce.com/fluidpowerjournal/29_julyaug_2012.pdf
Hey Sneaky,
TORR is a more accurate gauge than Hg...
Seems it would be more beneficial to just learn the torr measurements.. ?
http://www.vacuforce.com/fluidpowerjournal/29_julyaug_2012.pdf
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furrywall11
Member
Just got mine... only tinkered with it for about 45 mins but so far; I'm annoyed that on a $1900 oven they skimped on the racks and only gave me two--looks like I'll have to order more from New Jersey because they don't look standard. Also....I set the desired temp to 115, it shot up to 145, and now 30 minutes later its gone down to 130. I read somewhere about setting it to 100, waiting, then 105, then 110, then 115... and then it should stay there. At that point I'd probably never turn it off again 
. I'll try that tomorrow. I haven't had a chance to experiment with it yet but a couple posts up something about adding a marble slab to the bottom to help with heat conductivity? Does anyone have any more experience with this? I'm concerned that the heat in the oven won't be even. I'm still looking for a digital thermometer so I can get a second opinion on how hot the oven is in different spots.... And one last gripe; there's no light in the oven. That would've been a cool feature.
. I'll try that tomorrow. I haven't had a chance to experiment with it yet but a couple posts up something about adding a marble slab to the bottom to help with heat conductivity? Does anyone have any more experience with this? I'm concerned that the heat in the oven won't be even. I'm still looking for a digital thermometer so I can get a second opinion on how hot the oven is in different spots.... And one last gripe; there's no light in the oven. That would've been a cool feature.
Just got mine... only tinkered with it for about 45 mins but so far; I'm annoyed that on a $1900 oven they skimped on the racks and only gave me two--looks like I'll have to order more from New Jersey because they don't look standard. Also....I set the desired temp to 115, it shot up to 145, and now 30 minutes later its gone down to 130. I read somewhere about setting it to 100, waiting, then 105, then 110, then 115... and then it should stay there. At that point I'd probably never turn it off again
My associiate put in the granite slab on the bottom shelf and it works well. He only uses the one shelf.
analogcricket
Member
what do you set your torr gauge too?
analogcricket
Member
not to impressed with the ai vac oven... for 1400$ the temp gauges should be more accurate.
furrywall11
Member
big agree... i put my temp at 125, leave the oil in for an hour, pull it out real fast- laser temp says 106. a bit wtf.
analogcricket
Member
you been making budder or shatter? any tips you could share?
furrywall11
Member
i'm going with shatter... wax takes too long. there's a protocol from skunkpharm that's supposed to make wax in hours but i haven't been able to get it to work (160F/23HG for a few minutes and then 115F/29HG until it's dry). could just be my material. i have a quarter pound patty of dj shorts blueberry that i've had in my vac chamber and vac oven for a solid five days and it's started to wax but it's still pretty far from a solid wax patty.. anyways. still trying to feel this oven out... i'm thinking the temps diff quite a bit from rack to rack.... and according to my digital thermometer the temps inside the oven aren't accurate either. i know a lot of people are kicking ass with this thing so it's just a matter of time..
furrywall11
Member
alright... so, I just checked the five sheets of thinly spread out blue dream I had in the AI overnight. There were different levels of waxing starting from the top rack at a quarter sized piece in the center of the sheet to the lowest rack being a completely waxed up sheet of blue dream. what do you think that means? higher higher temps at the top and lower temps at the bottom?
on a good note, I did get wax in under 8 hours
on a good note, I did get wax in under 8 hours
furrywall11
Member
I'm pretty sure what everyone on this thread is looking for is a predictable result with this vacuum oven. Personally, I want to make shatter every time on all five racks. No fizzle. Both low n slow and fast n easy. Possible? Anyone want to share their hard earned information? 
analogcricket
Member
im trying to figure out how to dial in the actual temp. so when PV says 115 its actually 115 inside.
FE, the reason i had it swapped is because all of my other instruments are in Hg In, and the torr conversion with the measurement units of the torr guage provided with the AI oven were just annoying to do, for example 28 hg in = 711.2, torr which is difficult to get perfect when the dial reads in increments of 20. although torr may be more accurate overall, for this instance i wanted to keep the measurment unit constant and consistant throughout the process.
although conversions can be done, to me its like having a car with only a mph guage and the speed limits are in kmph, annoying at first but it can be learned and easily done. however accidents also happen this way even to the smartest and most careful of people, remember the nasa accident where they forgot to convert from meters to feet? i just went with simplicity and had the guage put in and havent had a single complaint about it.
finally got this oven dialed in, the marble slabs were a great addition and helped stabilize the temps. i went to a local store and got a 12" x 12" tile of marble for $7, and its most certainly helped keep temps stable.
read the instruction manual and itll show you the diff functions that help keep the oven from overshooting and heating too fast. its a bit of trial and error affected slightly by ambient room temp and altitude. start with your I setting of 1000 and your D setting of 200-250 and adjust accordingly, remember your I value should be 20-25% of the D value. also add a piece of granite/marble to your oven. the SCH1 and SCH2 values are to calibrate the heat sensor, so the center of the oven actually is the same temp as the PV readout, mine was about 2˚ off (PV said 115, the thermometer on center rack said 113) till i added the slab and adjusted the SCH1 and SCH2.
Furry, adjust your SCH1 and SCH2 settings to get the temp to read accurately. try a "less is more" approach and make thinner pattys.
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