Last night I mixed up 6 different recipes in just a matter of minutes with little clean up and no hassle!
I'm relatively new to DIY and have up until now been using the syringe method of measuring and mixing. I liked it, but it was a bit of a pain in the ass!
I recently bought a 0.01g scale and last night tried my hand at mixing by weight. It was so much faster and easier I couldn't believe it.
Thanks to those who have been recommending it!
im fucking buying one! convinced
Amazon has a .01 reading scale for 9.25 and its prime! Just got one there, thought I'd tell you cause they're normally so much more expensive
Do you know by any chance how to keep the scale on while using the batteries? I bought that one, but my vape station doesn't have a wall outlet nearby to plug my scale into, so it turns off in the middle of measurements :/
I bought this scale: LB-501
I took the batteries out and only use the AC adapter to power it. I too had a problem with a nearby outlet as the supplied cord is pretty short. I just got a household extension cord and ran to the outlet on the adjoining wall. Gave me the flexibility to get the scale in the most convenient spot for me.
It is my understanding that this scale has a 10-minute auto shut-off when using battery mode, but it is disabled when using AC power. I didn't verify that... but mine didn't shut off while I was mixing.
Edit: Gotta' give credit where credit is due... It was the recommendation of /U/Botboy141 that caused me to purchase the above scale specifically because of the longer / nonexistent auto shut-off feature.
THIS! i dont have prime but a $10 .01 digi is still worth an extra 3 or 4 bucks in shipping to me. Thank you sir!
Was thinking about this, do you just pour straight out of the bottles? Cause that always seemed imprecise to me.
I made my first batches by weight yesterday, that's what I was doing.
Still used syringes for Nicotine, PG and VG though because I didn't want to balls that bit up and put too much in!
My flavours are all in 10ml dropper bottles so I was just dropping bits at a time, but I had to be careful because it had a habit of stopping short of the desired weight, then I'd add one or two more drops carefully then it would shoot up a few hundredths of a gram and sometimes ended up a bit over.
All in all though, I know I have a bit of refinement to do but it was much better than having to keep popping dropper caps off flavour bottles with a knife, and I didn't have to keep rinsing my syringes out in between uses (I don't have that many, and I'm certainly not getting into the territory of having one dedicated syringe for each different bottle!) it was much faster overall, and much cleaner too.
Nope... Got a condiment squeeze bottle for the VG... Like a ketchup or mustard bottle you see in some diners or BBQ joints.
For the PG and flavors, TFA sent me a bunch of mini pipettes with my last order. (I just rinsed them with soapy water afterwards.)
I keep my nicotine in 30ml bottles in the freezer. I pull one out every two-weeks and let it get to room temp. I use a dropper for that that I clean after I'm done.
My clean up consisted of rinsing about 8 mini pipettes and one glass dropper. Took about 3-minutes and I was done!
I usually buy my flavors in 4oz bottles. When I started mixing by weight, I bought a bunch of these 4Oz Amber Boston Round Glass Bottle w/Dropper. I'd also recommend a label maker to identify your flavors. It makes for a nice, clean setup. No more pipettes. For smaller flavor amounts, like 30ml, they usually come in their own dropper-style bottle anyways. A word of warning on the glass bottles. I've bought 30 or so thusfar and I think about 4 had broken droppers, so my suggestion would be to buy a few more than you need.
Edit: If you go this route, also invest in a small funnel for bottle filling. I also found that some companies (like FlavourArt and some TFA) occasionally ship bottles that hold a little more than 4oz which leads to annoyingly overfilling the bottles when you're transferring if you aren't paying attention.
4 Oz (120 ml) AMBER Boston Round Glass Bottle w/ Dropper - Pack of 6
|||| --:|:--|:-- Current|$10.99|Amazon (3rd Party New) High|$15.74|Amazon (3rd Party New) Low|$7.81|Amazon (3rd Party New) |Average|$8.81|30 Day
The 30 ml and smaller bottles from BCV and ECX all come with dripper tops. For everything else, I use disposable pipettes. Less than 3 cents each in bulk from amazon.
What size pipettes do you use for your flavors? I'm getting back into DIY, and I had a horrible first experience with syringes and flavor concentrates. I'm thinking so pipettes and mixing by weight might be a better rout for me. I think the common size I've had before was 3ml ones.... But some smaller ones would be pretty cool.
I just use these 1 ml pipettes.
I finally gave in and bought myself a scale this morning. I'm pretty excited after watching a few videos. I think this is going to be one of the times that I wonder why I waited so long.
I've not been mixing very long... only a month or two. I still purchase a good amount of vendor liquid as I'm working to get better at mixing.
About once a week I would sit down, get out all my shit (ingredients, multiple syringes, bottles, etc.), pick a few recipes to try... then meticulously measure all the stuff out... Took a long time and was... tedious to say the least.
I liked messing with it, but damn!
Yesterday was a totally different experience. 6 recipes (About 5 or 6 flavors each.)... put the bottle on the scale... dripped in the PG and flavors... squirted in the VG... DONE!
6 bottles - 20 min from start to complete cleanup!
If you like DIY, this will change your life!
I just read a post about this method two weeks ago and ordered an AWS scale from Amazon for under $30. Plug it in and the scale stays set for as long as you want.
It's perfect! Mixed up a few recipes and had no doubt about the percentages, and hell, if I'm off by 0.02g it's no big deal. A lot more accurate than guessing 1/4ml with pipettes. Best money I've spent for DIY. Get on board, you won't regret it.
Got a link to the scale? I'm looking for a nice accurate one that stays on while I'm working. Does your work and stay on with batteries, or just plugged in? Does the scale weight displayed change quickly with any liquid additions, or does it jump around like some have mentioned?
Ebay or Amazon search "aws lb-501". Best one to use. No auto shutoff, measures to .00, up to 500 grams. (Dont exceed or it may damage)
Again... I can't take the credit for this specific scale. That goes to u/Botboy141. He recommended this specific unit because of the longer auto-shutoff feature that helps when you're mixing.
Looks like the LB-3000 is even cheaper than the 500. 500 grams is a little over a pound. Does that mean you shouldn't be weighting things over a pound? Or is the bowl just smaller than the 1000 and 3000?
I'm thinking of just getting the 3000 since it's cheaper and can weigh more.... Maybe I'm missing something (don't have much scale knowledge).
I'm right there with you. I've had my scale for a week and I cannot wait to use up all the flavors that I have in glass from RTS and reorder from BCV or MamaJ's.
I have found that dropping from the flavor bottle isn't as precise as an 18ga needle (bigger drops) but I'd rather make a dilution than keep messing with the syringe.
My scale was delivered today, cant wait to get home and throw away my syringes!
you may still want those syringes in case you buy flavors from like wizard labs that dont have droppers
I'm saving some, but I bought a bunch of 3ml pipettes for that very reason. Plus I threw away my 30ml dropper caps so I'll need the pipettes until I reorder flavors.
Tip: I reuse my pipettes for many flavors. I keep a jar of water on my desk while I'm mixing, and when I'm done I give them a few rinses and shakes, let 'em dry, and use them again.
I don't do that for LA Banana Cream or any other very strong flavors, though. I just toss those.
I know they're cheap but I hate throwing away a perfectly good anything.
just ordered.....thanks btw are you converting from mL to grams by multiplication or what program are you using for calculating weight?
Just download the "Juice Calculator" from the link in the sidebar on this sub!
It's the most comprehensive one and has a fairly short learning curve. It gives you ml, grams, percentages, tracks your inventory levels... it's a neat program.
Not that I'm an expert... but that program is the most all-inclusive calculator I've seen.