Would you consider weighing instead of measuring.

[Papillon61]

I find measuring a little fiddly, especially when dealing with small quantities. Would weighing be a better idea since my juice ends up in a beaker anyway before it is stirred and aired.

And if so do you think these scales are a good buy?

 

[mhertz]

Yes, mixing by weight is awesome. More precise, faster, cleaner and just great in general

I don't have that specific weight, but I do own 2 other china-bought weights, which works fine to me. The generally recommended AW LB-501 was either sold out, or to expensive with shipping from where I live, so I just got a 500*0.01 (and a 2000*0.1 for larger batches nicbase), which i'm very happy with.

There's 3 things in general to consider when choosing an appropriate weight for DIY: You need a good precision(generally 0.01g), and the max-weight needs to match your mixing style, and then finally, the auto-cutoff should be either non-existant or 1min or above(I could also live with 30secs, though, but not any less).

 

[sketchness]

Mixing by weight has been so much easier for me. I bought a scale from Amazon for around 20 including shipping. Even if a scale is a little off as long as it is consistently off you will be fine.

 

[Papillon61]

These ones do seem to fit the bill. Maximum weight is 300gm which is ample for my purposes - the largest batch I ever mixed was a 100ml. The scaling up by 0.01gm also seems awesome, plus it has the tariff function which is very convenient and which I use regularly in cooking. According to one of the reviews the cut-off function kicks in after 90 seconds. I'm seriously considering it.

 

[Papillon61]

LOL I love this review - especially the hello bit!

+ Came with batteries and two trays
+ Says hello to me every time i switch them on
+ Precise
+ 90 second shut-off
+ Good for diy juice making
+ Has calibration option
+ Metal body (kind of)

 

[puffon]

Don't know if I could get a complex recipe mixed in 90 seconds.

 

[Capt.shay]

I find measuring a little fiddly, especially when dealing with small quantities. Would weighing be a better idea since my juice ends up in a beaker anyway before it is stirred and aired.

And if so do you think these scales are a good buy?

Weighing rocks!
This scale worked for me Electronic Pocket Digital Scale 0 01g 300g Weight Precision Jewelry Scale US | eBay

This one works well (no cut off, plug in, big letters, etc) 500g x 0 01g High Precision Digital Scale SF 400D2 Counting w USB Wall Adapter | eBay

Don't know if I could get a complex recipe mixed in 90 seconds.

You tare between each ingredient so cut off isn't that much of a hassle. You just can't walk away in the middle of weighing one ingredient.

 

[Papillon61]

Thanks @Capt.shay . Those both look very good. However the first one does not ship to Malta. The second one does but shipping is $64! Sadly that is why I never buy anything from the US. I would love to because I know quality is good and prices in themselves are normally reasonable but the shipping costs... man!! .. they leave me breathless.

 

[ArgusMcJohnsten]

I'm definitely considering it. Did my first diy tonight, I don't know if I want to do another until I get a scale.

I assume percentages carry over to weight perfectly fine. No need to find specific gravity and all that scientific stuff for each flavor is there?

 

[Cowboy192]

Mixing by weight is so much quicker cleaner and easier, just remember that vg weighs more per ml than pg

 

[Girod]

I'm definitely considering it. Did my first diy tonight, I don't know if I want to do another until I get a scale.

I assume percentages carry over to weight perfectly fine. No need to find specific gravity and all that scientific stuff for each flavor is there?

Just remember that your percentages are still based on volume. For a 30 ml bottle at 80/20 vg/pg, you want 24 ml of VG. But instead of measuring 24ml, you weigh out 29.976 grams. The recipe does not change, use a calculator that has weight, and there is no math involved. Just weigh out what the calculator tells you to.

And yes, you do need to know the specific g/ml of each ingredient. I don't bother with each individual flavor weight (I use 1.036g/ml, which is what I got from TFA for one of my flavors), they are pretty close to/same as pg , but I do get the exact g/ml of my pg, vg and nic.

 

[ArgusMcJohnsten]

The vg would be okay, but if I had to for say 8 flavors. So far I've been vaping max vg, don't even have any pg, other than flavors [emoji32]

I tapped to talk

 

[Girod]

Don't know if I could get a complex recipe mixed in 90 seconds.

As Shay noted, the 90 second timeout is 90 seconds of NO activity. So if you are weighing one ingredient, stop halfway through and don't do anything for 90 seconds, it will go off. You have as much time as you need as long as you don't wait more than 90 seconds while in the middle of one ingredient. But you can stop after one ingredient, go binge-watch Netflix for 18 hours, come back, turn the scale back on, hit the tare button and add your next ingredient.

 

[Girod]

The vg would be okay, but if I had to for say 8 flavors. So far I've been vaping max vg, don't even have any pg, other than flavors [emoji32]

I tapped to talk

It is no harder (easier IMHO) than measuring out the volume. From what I saw looking through the TFA docs, most of their flavors are pretty close in g/ml. If you are off .006 grams... well one drop from my pipette is .04 grams so it just doesn't matter. If you have a VG flavor, by all means change the g/ml. But I've been as much as .1g off on my flavors in a 30 ml bottle when I am careless, and did not notice a difference. It was like the difference between 3% and 3.3% of a flavor. I've been off by even more (as much as .5g for 30ml) with VG, again due to carelessness. Again I did not notice a difference.

Most of the time I am less than .04g off my target.

But I am always careful with the nic.

If you are making smaller amounts, you have to be more careful.

 

[ArgusMcJohnsten]

I have a scale with a timeout, forget how long, I was using it for scale model airbrushing. I always felt so rushed using it. So the wife ended up with a new kitchen scale.
I'll be in the market for a new scale in a couple weeks, after I get back from vacation.

I tapped to talk

 

[cheech226]

I find measuring a little fiddly, especially when dealing with small quantities. Would weighing be a better idea since my juice ends up in a beaker anyway before it is stirred and aired.

And if so do you think these scales are a good buy?

i just have to comment on the thread title. you are measuring when you weigh, just in grams or such and not ml. yeah i'm a physics geek.

 

[Papillon61]

i just have to comment on the thread title. you are measuring when you weigh, just in grams or such and not ml. yeah i'm a physics geek.

I know what you mean - of course it is just a different kind of measurement. But when you are using 10ml bottle of flavours it means taking off the top cap, breaking your nails to take off the tiny dropper and fiddling around with a small syringe, a different one for each ingredient/flavour. If I am weighing I avoid all that jazz - just squeeze the bottle till I get the right weight. That is what I really meant by fiddly.

 

[mhertz]

For flavors, then after reading Botboy141's 'DIY mixing by weight guide', then I just used his approach of using simply "1" for all flavors:

When it comes to flavors, there are a couple of thoughts/theories surrounding mixing by weight when dealing with flavors. Many people enter the specific gravity as indicated on an MSDS for every flavor that they have. I feel this is a complete waste of time. After searching hundreds of MSDS sheets for flavors, all flavors fall into a range of .93g per ml to 1.07g per ml.
In order to achieve personal consistency for your juices though, all that is relevant is that you use the SAME value, every time for any given flavor. I simply use a value of 1. This means that whether or not my flavors actually weigh 1 gram per ml, I always pretend they do. Percentages in any given recipe of mine will always be the exact same for me, however, if I am trying to recreate someone elses recipe, or they are mixing mine, there's a chance I'll be off a little bit (no more than 7% which is about the margin of error most people get when mixing by volume).

 

[chopdoc]

I was measuring everything out in a 10 ml glass cylinder and at times it was very hard to see and many errors was induced from this. After reading on ECF from those who used scales to measure I decided to give it a try and now my recipes are pretty much spot on. I find it so much easier mixing by weight versus volume. e-liquid-recipes website will automatically convert everything for you into grams and from what I was told, it is spot on.
I just whipped up a recipe and this is how easy it it. Turn on my scale, place the bottle on it and hit tare to zero it out. Add nicotine to the desired weight. Hit Tare, zero it out then add the amount of PG needed. Zero it out, hit tare and add the amount of VG needed. Hit tare, zero it out and start adding flavors, hitting tare after each one. In no time at all I am done and i didnt have to squint one single time to try to read the glass cylinder graduates. I love this method!

 

[Raztax]

Ive done both syringes and mixing by weight. Do yourself a favour and get a scale.