KUDOS to you @Guitarzan - pulled the trigger myself [call the 800#]
anyone looking should eyeball this press
getting the dabpress plates to finish the kit.
Btw, forgot to mention, I got my Yocan mini a couple days ago, looks pretty straightforward. Which is good, since I’m fucking clueless. @schmarmpit this is probably a stupid question, but how do you get water in the bubbler? The hole’s tiny. Do you just pour water in the hole where your mouth goes and let the rest run all over the bubbler or do you pour the water in the other way, through the silver part that attaches to the pen itself?
All right man. I bit the bullet. I ordered that press, a set of New Vape 5x7 plates, a 3x5 press mold, and some 90 and 37 micron bags. With shipping, the entire thing was a hair over $900. I probably could’ve found cheaper plates, but New Vape has a good rep and I had the cash.
This whole thing came about because @Fluffhead420 got me doing dabs, and now I love that shit. 
There’s not enough room on my back for both dabs, and the giant seed monkey, so I must make my own dabs 
It’s all supposed to be here within a week, so we’ll see how it goes. 
From what ihave read, the 37u should give the highest quality press but lower yield.
what are you squishing [e.g., bubble hash, flower] and
what result are you after [highest quality flavor & terp profile] ?-
I think bubble hash is the way to go, but freeze dryers are expensive. A small Harvest Right is $2200, and I saw some on E-Bay being sold for parts only that were several thousand, so I’m gonna be pressing flowers. I’m definitely after quality before anything else, but a decent yield would be sweet too. 
what do you think of this chart, good starting point for 1st timers ?
found this info on newvape.co
First thing on that Dive Mini is to start with the lowest heat setting which is white. 3 clicks to cycle between the other 2 settings, but they are way too hot for my liking and taste like burning.
The bubbler bulb only needs a little water or else you’ll be inhaling it. Fill it up through the silver part on the bottom. And when you want the water cleared just blow through the top and it will blast the water out the bottom.
I think that chart is pretty good. I usually press a few small buds without a bag to check how that strain presses at different temps. If you have a new press, verify the actual temp of the plates after they heat up. I found mine to be off by 15 degrees at low temps, but more accurate at higher temps; so I keep a cheat sheet that tells me the real plate temp for different displayed temps.
I usually start at about 175-180 F and work my way up, as needed. I press flower twice and use a higher temp for the second press. The second press is not necessarily lower quality than the first. It depends on the strain and the moisture content. After that, there is still plenty in the “pucks,” so use I use them to make tincture and edibles. Some press flower three or more times, but I don’t personally find it worth the effort due to the lower yield and quality.
I’ve used both 90 and 120 microns for flower. I prefer the 90 because if I’m going to go to the effort and expense of using bags, I want the best rosin I can make from it. Return is a bit lower with 90. I’ve read recommendations for higher micron bags when your flower is older/dryer, but I have not played around with that myself.
Most of the time, I don’t bother with bags! If you use a pre-press mold and are ok with a small amount of “contaminate,” you can skip the bags with flower.
Yeaaaahhhhhh, so, fuck all this shit haha! Put together my press this morning and it’s fucking janky. That’s the only way to describe it. There’s no way I’d feel comfortable putting any significant amount of pressure on it at all. Tightened up everything as tight as it would go (which seemed pretty damn tight) and it just seemed… I dunno. Janky. And even though I realize I don’t need it, the crushing housing was broken, one of the hinges was snapped off. Made me feel a little uncomfortable about using it. I was already irritated with FedEx for how long it took to show up, then showing up in a box with holes and tears all over it. Opened up the box today and everything was loose, all the bolts and washers and shit were scattered everywhere… I dunno. Put a bad taste in my mouth.
So I ordered a Dulytek press a little bit ago, gonna take the 20 ton back to Harbor Freight today or tomorrow and return the plates I ordered, too. What a hassle…
All this for a little bit of dab! Haha!
Okay, cool, good to know. I was planning on starting with the medium setting, but I’ll go with the low setting to start.
Thanks for explaining the “getting the water into the bubbler” process, too haha. I figured you put the water in through the silver part, but I was worried some of the water would flow back into the pen and fry the battery or something.
I typically press dry ice hash. I think 25 micron is on the small size, but 37 is what I like to use. I’ve even tried 45um and liked that size too, but that’s an odd mesh size that’s harder to find. Depending on how things are flowing, I’d say I rarely go below 170F. Sometimes I’ll go up as much as 210F.
well not quite yet dabbing - i called it - FEDEX was pissed - driver older than myself
oh cool love the pump type super slick.
Duuuuude, that sucks. Your box actually showed up in a little better condition than mine. Is that a Harbor Freight press? Mine (Harbor Freight) was actually pretty easy to put together, I probably could’ve done it without the directions, although it would’ve taken a lot longer. You could probably also find a pdf of the directions somewhere online.
this box is the 100 lb - ten ton press from JEGS…
fedex guy literally picked up a bolt that fell out and stuffed it into my pocket as he handed off the beast to me…
@Guitarzan gotta love it… it will be worth it once the the thing is squishing…
Yeah, I dunno what the deal is with shipped items lately. We just got our dog food delivered by UPS a few minutes ago and the box is basically completely open. Eighty pound bag (two boxers, they like to eat), but still…
Mine’s supposed to be here today but I’m thinking it’ll most likely be tomorrow. New Vape is telling me that the 3x5 pre-press the website says is designed for the 3x5 plate set, won’t work with the 3x5 plate set, so I’m not sure when those will get here.
I really hate waiting.
My 3x5 dabpress plates showed up today as well - currently 50% off
Sorry to tell you that Dulytek plates and electronics are also from China. I have had both and the Dabpress plates and controller are beyond compare…especially for the price. If you are not gonna move plates from one press to another…I suggest not getting caged plates as they are a PIA to work around.
I have had both the 2x5 and now the 4x7 (sold the 3x5 for more capacity) Dabpress models and they are both superb.
I did some testing for Dulytek and TBH…just fair quality wise (and I told them so). Two of the units burned out the controller and the 7 ton press’s Jack leaked hydrolic fluid.
Just my 3 cents.
