I did my first DIY! + Questions about Proper Syringe use + Math

[SnusAndSnuff]

I got an ultimate kit from the DIY Flavorshack, and made an order for all the mint/menthol flavors from TPA (after I discovered from this forum that the large order I made from LA is mostly bunk).


The kit came with 60mg/mL nicotine. I decided to do mint candy for my first flavor.

My eRoll has .4mL carts.

Proper Srying Use

1) Please look at the picture. If I fill up to the .2mL line, but there is still liquid in the needle portion, is the total liquid I push out equal to or greater than .2mL? Visually, I understood it to be more than .2 mL. So I carefully pushed up and down until there was no liquid in the needle portion, and then injected out. Afterwords, I wondered why they wouldn't manufacture the .1mL line to be closer to the needle portion if my hypothesis was correct. Now I am thinking that I was wrong, that I shouldn't have toyed with it and just sat it at the line even if liquid was in the needle portion. Which is correct?

2) Cross contamination. A small bit of liquid will always remain inside of that syringe. Even if I pull the top off and blow through it really hard, I get a lot out, but an infinitive divisible mount of liquid will always remain. As DIYers, do we simply pretend this doesn't happen and cross contaminate everything, or do we purchase a separate sryinge for each and every flavor, or is there a way to actually remove all liquid from the syringe?


Math

I figured to get 25mg/mL, I had to solve the following equation:
x + 2.4x = 0.5;
where x is the mL of 60mg/mL solution
2.4x is the mL of extra PG and flavoring combined.
Solving for x, I get 0.15mL of 60mg/ml nicotine solution.

Is this right?


This was awesomeAlthough I can't say I particularly liked this percentage of mint candy, I'm still impressed with the potential of DIY.Now on to Creme de Menth

 

[hammerfly]

The amount in the syringe will vary with the size of the needle and personally, I think if you are consistent then all is good. The amount in the needle, for most needles, is minute enough not to make enough difference to me. As for cross-contamination, if you keep a shot glass full of Everclear handy, you can rinse your syringe out after using it. I have a large enough collection of syringes now that I don't have to worry about that. I just use a different syringe for each step. They are cheap enough that it just makes it too easy not to do that. Now on to the math part. I have been using the ejuice Me Up program and love it. It takes all of the math out of it. I learned as a cabinet-maker, if you can eliminate the potential for a math mistake, you come out cheaper in the long run. In this case, a lot safer on your health risks with the nicotine. There are a lot of people on here with a lot more experience than I have, as I am sort of new to this and have only been doing it for a little over a month now, and they will be glad to help you out with more advice on how to be successful with the DIY.

 

[jazon1]

you can also go to any pharmacy and ask for 5/10 ml syringes they will give them out for free usually with no needle but a small plastic removable tube they use for giving med's to babys/kids.
i went to five different pharmacy's in my town looking to buy like 10 of them at each place they told me they could not sell them because they didnt have a SCU because they give them for free with meds so they would just give me a couple after a few stops i had 10 of them and never had to buy anything

as far as the needle tip goes i ignore it because after you use the needle to measure once you squirt it out that extra will still be in the needle tip so your measurement will be accurate.

 

[eikon]

for the first part, Proper Syringe Use.

1) When a 1cc syringe is totally discharged there is about .05cc(ml) of liquid left in the tip & needle, but the amount that is discharged will be accurate, the measurement starts where the plunger is touching the base.


discharged 1cc syringe shaken down for measurement. sorry for the quality.

2) you can rinse the syringe with water and dry it to minimize cross contamination, though some flavors do absorb into plastic.

MATH
I can be of no help here, I have had way to much vodka tonight even look at the word MATH, sorry.

hope that helps a little

 

[Hoosier]

Math!

Since the amount of nicotine is in mg/ml of total volume, we want to have our final total volume first so we avoid a quadratic equation. Since I don't experiment at less than 5ml amounts, I'll use 5ml as the total volume in my example and go through it step by step.
If we want 25mg/ml in 5ml we need 25mg/ml * 5ml = 125mg total nicotine.
If we have 60mg/ml it takes 125mg / 60mg/ml = 2.08ml. (2.08ml * 60mg/ml = 124.8mg, amount checks out)
If we are shooting for 10% flavoring then the amount of flavoring is 5ml * 10% = 0.5ml. (0.5ml / 5ml = .10 = 10%, amount checks)
So the rest of the mix is 5ml -(2.08ml + 0.5ml) = 2.42ml of non-nic PG and/or VG. (2.08ml + 0.5ml + 2.42ml = 5ml, total checks)

I use Scubabatdan's calculator in the sticky's, but always double check the nicotine amounts and then triple check after mixing.

 

[BakuPeg]

I'm not touching the math. As for the syringe, I keep a coffee cup filled with warm water next to me when I mix. When I switch flavors I suck up water a few times and expell it out thru the syringe. After that I expell some air through it to get any remaining water out. After a few flavors I change the water in the cup.

 

[SnusAndSnuff]

Math!

Since the amount of nicotine is in mg/ml of total volume, we want to have our final total volume first so we avoid a quadratic equation. Since I don't experiment at less than 5ml amounts, I'll use 5ml as the total volume in my example and go through it step by step.
If we want 25mg/ml in 5ml we need 25mg/ml * 5ml = 125mg total nicotine.
If we have 60mg/ml it takes 125mg / 60mg/ml = 2.08ml. (2.08ml * 60mg/ml = 124.8mg, amount checks out)
If we are shooting for 10% flavoring then the amount of flavoring is 5ml * 10% = 0.5ml. (0.5ml / 5ml = .10 = 10%, amount checks)
So the rest of the mix is 5ml -(2.08ml + 0.5ml) = 2.42ml of non-nic PG and/or VG. (2.08ml + 0.5ml + 2.42ml = 5ml, total checks)

I use Scubabatdan's calculator in the sticky's, but always double check the nicotine amounts and then triple check after mixing.

Crap, are you serious! I'm an idiot.

So, if total is 5mL, and the nicotine concentrate is 60mg/mL, at the following flavor percentage:

5% requires 2.67mL PG, 0.25mL flavor, 2.08mL nicotine concentrate
15% requires 2.17mL PG, 0.75mL flavor, 2.08mL nicotine concentrate
20% requires 1.92mL PG, 1.00mL flavor, 2.08mL nicotine concentrate

and, if total is 5mL, and the nicotine concentrate is 100mg/mL at the following flavor percentage:

5% requires 3.5mL PG, 0.25mL flavor, 1.25mL nicotine concentrate
10% requires 3.25mL PG, 0.50mL flavor, 1.25mL nicotine concentrate
15% requires 3mL, 0.75mL flavor, 1.25mL nicotine concentrate
20% requires 2.75mL PG, 1.00mL flavor, 1.25mL nicotine concentrate

Without asking you to calculate everyone, does it look correct by spot?

Thank you Hoosier.


Thanks to the other posts on the syringe questions and the cross-contamination questions.

 

[Hoosier]

Without asking you to calculate everyone, does it look correct by spot?

Yes, that looks right.

 

[Clovery]

To accurately fill a syringe, fill it slowly to avoid air bubbles and check the amount by inverting the syringe (so the numbers are right-side up) and reading it at eye level. If you have air spaces in the syringe, tap the bubbles up to the top, then carefully plunge out the air. This could get messy, though, and probably isn't totally necessary, but it is the most accurate way.

The amount of liquid in the tip of the syringe is compensated by the volume of space the tip of the plunger takes up, and you will still have a bit of liquid remaining once you push the plunger all the way down. If you pull the plunger all the way out of out the tube, then you will get an extra amount of liquid in your bottle. When using 1 mL syringes it probably matters very little, but if you are making large batches the amount remaining in the tip of larger syringes could make a difference.

I used to do what BakuPeg mentioned - keep a cup full of water to rinse between flavors. But I bought a box of 1 mL syringes from Amazon, so now I just use one per flavor and wash them all when I'm done. If it's a flavor that I know I will use again that session, I mark the syringe.

Here's a box of 100 1mL syringes on Amazon for $15 and free shipping Amazon.com: 1 ML TB slip-tip disposable syringe MVI 100/bx (without needle): Health & Personal Care

 

[xbassman]

I am new at this so take it for what it's worth.....

I made up a few bottles of juice a couple of days ago and was wanting to make sure of my measurements.
After fiddling, trying to get air bubbles out of my syringes, I wound up using syringe + graduated cylinder.
I found that if I drew the syringe to the appropriate ml marking, then transferred it, I was making an accurate measurement.
It didn't matter that there was air in the syringe because it corresponded to the airspace of the needle.

 

[SnusAndSnuff]

To accurately fill a syringe, fill it slowly to avoid air bubbles and check the amount by inverting the syringe (so the numbers are right-side up) and reading it at eye level. If you have air spaces in the syringe, tap the bubbles up to the top, then carefully plunge out the air. This could get messy, though, and probably isn't totally necessary, but it is the most accurate way. The amount of liquid in the tip of the syringe is compensated by the volume of space the tip of the plunger takes up, and you will still have a bit of liquid remaining once you push the plunger all the way down. If you pull the plunger all the way out of out the tube, then you will get an extra amount of liquid in your bottle. When using 1 mL syringes it probably matters very little, but if you are making large batches the amount remaining in the tip of larger syringes could make a difference. I used to do what BakuPeg mentioned - keep a cup full of water to rinse between flavors. But I bought a box of 1 mL syringes from Amazon, so now I just use one per flavor and wash them all when I'm done. If it's a flavor that I know I will use again that session, I mark the syringe. Here's a box of 100 1mL syringes on Amazon for $15 and free shipping Amazon.com: 1 ML TB slip-tip disposable syringe MVI 100/bx (without needle): Health & Personal Care

Thank you for the link!!! The ink on my 1mL has just worn through.

 

[RobertNC]

Thank you for the link!!! The ink on my 1mL has just worn through.

Get some clear nail polish and put a good coat over a new syringe and you will not lose the graduations.

 

[ianferrell]

Packing tape keeps the ink from coming off too. As for the math, I always use my calculator, Its on the web, it works from my android phone or my laptop, and it remembers my ingredients and recipes... and anyone else can use it too If you add a recipe, it won't become public unless you publish it, so you can play around with a recipe, then tweak the recipe later... lather, rinse, repeat.

www.diyrecipebook.com