Last night, I was puffing on one of my more creative strains (Acapulco Gold x Tenderheart) x Jungle Spice and I went down the rabbit hole of trying to build a simpler dry sifter.
I’ve been eyeing ultrasonic transducers for some number of years, and I’m ready for a new project. So this seemed like a good time to jump in and try it.
The idea is simple – rather than using a stationary screen and rubbing the bud on it, clamp the screen to an ultrasonic transducer and vibrate the screen itself. Ultrasonic mechanical vibration seems like it has potential to do all of the hard work efficiently.
If you’ve ever had to remove hash from parchment paper, I highly recommend trying putting your Sonicare toothbrush to the back of the paper. All of the hash slides right off.
Here are my list of parts so far:
60W Ultrasonic transducer and generator
120 mesh Zooplankton sieve screen
2-inch Truss Clamp
That’s most of the critical parts. The idea is that I’ll screw the clamp to the transducer. Might need to make some modifications to adapt the screw size. Then I’ll clamp the sieve in the truss clamp. I’ll need to build a heavy stand or something, since I think the backside of the transducer needs to be screwed down to something reasonably stiff and heavy.
After I get it setup, I’ll be ready to experiment. My little USB microscope should do a good job at analyzing the end products. I’ll test out sieving off of wet or dry whole buds, ground herbs and trim.
If all goes according to plan, the next step would be to scale it up a bit. A 2" screen will only take about a grinder worth of material, so ideally I’d like to get up to at least 4". If it’s fast and effortless enough, that should be fine for home use. I’ll just need to source a bigger clamp and screen.
Stay tuned for pictures – this one will probably go a couple months in development. I’ll upload pictures as I receive parts and get them setup.