I have only done a small amount of diy up to this point but with the coming mail ban I see myself doing a lot more. Right now all I have are those plastic pipettes for transferring pg, vg, and nicotine. I have found these to be finicky and so far from accurate it's not even funny. Due to issues with space I ordered 250mg nicotine instead of my usual 100mg and it makes me nervous to use those silly pipettes because they don't dispense things very well.
Are there any good options available for moving liquids from one place to another in small to large amounts more accurately? I thought maybe something from a chemistry supply but I really don't know what to search for. Am hoping some of you might have some ideas...
Hi. Get some 500ml condiment bottles for VG and PG (Dollar store) and use a 30ml for nicotine. No need for syringes, mix straight into the bottle using a scale. You‘d want a scale measuring in 0.01g increments like the AWS LB-501. It comes with calibration weights and an external power supply and has a capacity of 500g. No clean up and perfect accuracy.
https://diyejuice.org/faq/mixing-by-weight Or you could use syringes.
I understand how to do it by weight. The problem I have is when I dispense from these pipettes I will sometimes get larger amounts of liquid coming out than I want. They just aren't accurate which messes things up. I don't know maybe I just need better pipettes or something...??? Syringes might be something to try as well.
I used syringes years ago, and they have their downsides also: cleaning them well isn’t easy, as plastic doesn’t like to dry (syringes are worse than Tupperware, I swear). I also had to make sure I had enough clean ones on hand for each flavor as well as one for nic, PG, VG so as not to cross contaminate. Finding the right size blunt needle was a bit tricky as well, as the bigger you go the bigger your drop is, but you need a bigger needle for VG because it’s thick. I did buy some bottle toppers from Wizard Labs that fit onto most of my bottles but they were about as accurate as the disposable plastic pipettes. I saw someone post about condiment bottles, I did something similar: hair color mixing bottles from Sally Beauty, which I could cut the dispensing tips off of to a small size and can be pretty accurate with. Needle dropper bottles might also be a good option for you.
I will say that, having done DIY for like 7+ years now, these days I just use disposable plastic pipettes for nicotine and flavor, and squeeze bottles (the aforementioned hair color bottles) for PG and VG. I measure by weight with a decent scale, and that’s how I’ve done it for at least 5 years. Your accuracy with a pipette gets better with experience. Occasionally you might overdo it, but log your deviations, as you might find it helps your recipe.
I dispense flavors directly from my BCF bottle(s). Usually no larger than 4oz. Measuring by weight, I've never been off by more than a drip or two which is negligible.
Not sure where your running into issues. Using pipettes isn't advisable. I've had issues over-dispensing using the droppers from Boston rounds as well. So pipettes are a no-go for me.
It's unclear why you aren't dripping or squirting from your flavor bottles and doing the same with your VG and PG from their original plastic bottles (in my case 500ml) with twist tops.
Even with 100mg/ml. nicotine solution, I use the original 125ml plastic bottle with the same twist top. And again, never had an issue over-dispensing more than +/-. 01 or so.
Ditch the pipettes and utilize plastic bottles with twist caps like they sell at LB. These bottles are easy to dispense from when measuring by weight, due to the twist caps. The flow can be easily adjusted with a twist of the cap. This is especially useful with low viscosity liquids such as PG.
You don’t need anything extra if you order from river supply their pg/vg comes in a dripper bottle and all the flavors come in drippers...get yourself a set of scales that go to .00 and your set to use all the recipe site 😎
I will say for VG at least, you can get big plastic jerry cans with 30ml screw on pump caps. I normally fill out VG last so it's just a case of adding everything and then pumping VG straight in to my mixing bottle. I use 250ml condiment bottles for batch mixing, as others have mentioned. If you can get one with snippable ends, its really great for a dispensing bottle in to smaller ones. You can get a nice wide flow but with something narrow nozzled. So I go 250ml condiment Bottle > Add Concentrates/Nic w/ syringes > VG Pump from jerry can > Steep/Shake > Dispense to 30ml unicorns.
I use syringes with blunt needles for measuring concentrates. Can't give you a lead on them though, my ex stole them from work. I'll say I've had shorter needles... Try get long ones. Makes life easier when getting the last drops from concentrate bottles. You can get really accurate with syringes if you use small ones, 5ml seems like a sweetspot for 250ml batches imo. If you do small 10ml/30ml test batches, get a 1ml syringe.
If you can't find stuff online thats local to your region, search for plastic suppliers over vape suppliers. You'd be surprised what kind of bottles and caps you can get. I use iBottles (UK).
I personally use a scale, mine is a Triton T2 its accurate to 0.00 and is werry good.
Edit: The triton t2 where i live goes for 50€. But you can get cheaper scales that are just as good but wont register small weights. They range from 25€-80€ in my country.
The LB501 can't be beat when it comes to price, accuracy and even portability. While there are different scales available, the LB501 has long been proven to have a fantastic cost to benefit ratio for years across thousands of DIYers.
Unless you live outside of the US. Then the Triton is recommended
I use a long syringe to put the nicotine into the bottle since it's such a small amount and a graduated cylinder to pour the vg and flavoring into then dump the cylinder into the bottle with the nicotine in it.
This is unnecessary and utilizes unnecessary materials and makes extra work for the mixer. While your busy cleaning graduated cylinders and syringes I'm dripping directly from the plastic bottles with twist caps with no mess, and no cleanup.
I don't clean them. The same stuff goes in them every time.