I'm a tightwad

Advanced Techniques
#1

I want to try rosin on the cheap, has anyone used a regular clothes iron to hand press? I think if a hair straightener will work why not an iron?

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#2

I think you would need two irons so you have heat and pressure top and bottom; sounds like a recipe for some second degree burns.

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#3

Hair straightener + C clamps … profit??

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#4

1.3 million views and counting

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#5

I used to use a hair straightener until I got my press. You need to find one that heats really good. I used to let mine heat up good and Put in the weed in a parchment paper and close it and put it on the floor and stand on it with all my weight and it worked ok. Nothing like the press but for the cost yes.

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#6

the tinkerer in me is wondering how I can use my 8 ton press in the garage, in conjunction with heat blocks from a 3d printer. I can control the temps of the heat blocks easily enough, from 23c to 230c so I think that would work. I have spare heater elements here, spare main boards, might even have a spare control panel. Plus a huge sheet of 1/4" aluminum I can dice up (because the heater elements are small, like 1"x2" max). Hmmmmm…

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#7

Would those elements be able to heat a larger and thicker area and hold the heat long enough?
If so then I would say give it a shot. If you could laminate the aluminum somehow to make a couple plates.

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#8

Since I have never pressed before, whats optimal temp? I can’t imagine over 60c if they use a hair press…

I have one printer that has a 400mm x 400mm bed that it easily keeps at 60c for hours, and hotends at 210c-220c for the same amount of time. A bed is a bit flexible though (even a 220x220 bed would flex a lot) but the hotend assembly is a chunk of aluminum. And control is down to a single degree :smiley:

Damnit, why does this place always give me ideas?

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#9

I broke my sister’s hair straightener. I used a mini C clamp.

It sorta made a little rosin (maybe.)

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#10

230 would work. I’ve pressed from 180 to 240 are about the highest and lowest depending on what and how I’m pressing but probably use 190 the most.

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#11

dude, you were supposed to say “no, you need 400c” so I wouldn’t pursue this. LOL

Ok. sigh… now I’m thinking of the local metal yard, and their scrap bins. Bet I could find a piece of aluminum the right size as a cut-off, then I just need to drill a 15mm or so hole for the heat element. Make my own heat block, just bigger…

Great, now I’m gonna wanna design / 3D print something to house the control panel / mainboard / power supply…

I really think I can make this work :smiley:

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#12

Beautiful! :heart_eyes:

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#13

I was going through this thread a few days ago. Enough info in here to tempt me to try the hair straitener and c clamp method on my next harvest.

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#14

Thanks for the info guys, I was just wondering if I could get something from what I already have, but it doesn’t look like I can I only have 1 iron, so heat only on 1 side… so next best is a hair iron

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#15

I’ve tried the hair straightener method. It works…
Not very efficiently in my opinion, but it does work.

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#16

This is the one I used to use.

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#17

Wow that’s way more heavy duty than the flimsy one i broke.

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#18

lol, yeah, that looks like it was made for stoner husbands, ha.

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#19

Thrift shop find😂

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#20

I tried a hair straightener, have bad hands and it didnt yield hardly at all, finally got a press and was amazed at the yield diff, same strains same batch’

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