Scale to measure ingredients..

[mendnwngs]

Hello, hello all..

New to vaping, newer still to DIY, but I also reload ammunition for my guns, and think I may be able to offer an idea.

High precision scales are usually expensive, but I have been using a digital scale for my reloading that is cheap, and pretty darn accurate.

Offhand, i dont know its precision in grams, but in grains.

1/10 of a gram is roughly 1.5 grains.
This scale measures down to 1/10 of a grain.

It will measure in grams, ounces, and cwt (Karat weight?)

I think I got it on sale for roughly $20

Its a Frankford Arsenal brand (house brand for a major shooting / reloading store) so its kinda generic, but whenever I challenge it by weighing a charge it weighed on my precision (expensive) balance scale, its been dead on.

Dunno if this helps anyone, but it might be nice to weigh ingredients for DIY mixing, especially in the small quantities needed when mixing up a 3ml "test" batch.

Weight = uniformity = repeatability. Plus, I dont know about the ingredients specific gravity, but with water 1 gram = 1 ml. Nice and easy volume / weight conversion.

Just a thought that I had.

If interested in links (can I post them here?) Let me know.

-Jason

 

[kris h]

To my thinking, this would be waaaay easier than the syringe method. Partly because my eyes can't focus on those marks anymore I have a digital kitchen scale which measures in grams and ounces so that would work great. I guess I could measure and weigh the nic liquid, pg and vg and go from there, but before I decide to have that much fun I wonder if anyone else has already done it? Would there be much of a difference in different brands?

 

[AlexTM]

Gramms are not accurate enough, I'd say; plus, you'd better weight the ingredients at least once before, because you cannot assume that one gramm always equals one ml. In fact, PG is 1.04gr/ml, IIRC. And of course volume can chance with temperature, but I don't think we use anything where that would be very significant.

 

[mendnwngs]

Gramms are not accurate enough, I'd say; plus, you'd better weight the ingredients at least once before, because you cannot assume that one gramm always equals one ml. In fact, PG is 1.04gr/ml, IIRC. And of course volume can chance with temperature, but I don't think we use anything where that would be very significant.

Sure, densities will vary depending on what manner of fluid you're weighing.. Alcohol is lighter, water is heavier, its just a scale offers repeatable, and quantitative results.. eg; .33 grams of vg for me, is the exact same as .33 grams of vg for you.

And yes, whole grams is too coarse of a measurement in this case, but the scale I'm talking about measures to the hundredth of a gram.



-Jason

 

[Switched]

Gramms are not accurate enough, I'd say; plus, you'd better weight the ingredients at least once before, because you cannot assume that one gramm always equals one ml. In fact, PG is 1.04gr/ml, IIRC. And of course volume can chance with temperature, but I don't think we use anything where that would be very significant.

Volume will but I don't believe weight does, it will either occupy more or less space. Does it not?

I left this thread alone because although it has merit at lower concentrations eg test samples. It is irrelevant in larger batches e.g 30ml, because it is the larger batch that is fine tuned, not the test sample. You cannot merely triple or dble a test sample and expect it to be the same. Once a recipe is created, providing you replicate it, a scale becomes a moot point IMHO. Some of my recipes would call for a 1/3-1/5 of a drop, even a scale cannot produce that. A drop is a drop.

What would be more accurate, is calculators that could take in fraction of percentages, vice whole numbers.

 

[Switched]

Sure, densities will vary depending on what manner of fluid you're weighing.. Alcohol is lighter, water is heavier, its just a scale offers repeatable, and quantitative results.. eg; .33 grams of vg for me, is the exact same as .33 grams of vg for you.

And yes, whole grams is too coarse of a measurement in this case, but the scale I'm talking about measures to the hundredth of a gram.



-Jason

It has it's uses and although I don't reload I am an Archer and know how important a grains scale is. Weight is important in ballistics etc... but a square wheel for liquid measurement IMHO. All my measurement equipment I use, with the exception of a 1/4 tsp, have a ratio of 22 drops/ml. It is my recipe. Providing I repeat everything I done last time, it will be the same. Where it will differ, is someone else replicating my recipe, and that is as moot as taste is subejctive.

 

[Kurt]

Virtually all recipes for DIYs are in terms of volume %, not weight %. Densities are not always 1.00g/mL. I'm with AlexTM, a syringe is far and away the most accurate, easiest and safest way to make DIYs. And the cheapest. I just got 10 good syringes with needles for 84 cents, including shipping.

Unless you know the densities of all ingredients, and are very good with algebra, you will be hard-pressed to duplicate a recipe posted online with even an accurate scale. that said, I can think of a bunch of other applications for the scale, so you are lucky to have one!!

 

[Safira]

I have to admit I've thought about using a scale too. When I want something exact I'll use a scale, (like making soaps, lotions, candles) so it has always crossed my mind that when diluting nic liquid I should probably change over to a scale. (something like a jewelers scale) I've always been of the thinking that weight is more exact than volume, but I still end up using volume for my measurements. I'm in IL. and with the exception of my DH's insulin syringes I can't really get my hands on them.

 

[AlexTM]

You can't really say one is more exact than the others, they simply measure different things - like lenght and weight. And when you want to measure volumes, well, you use ml. Of course, nicotine strenght, for example, is a mixed measurement - weight in volume.

You probably can use a precise scale just as well, only you will have the problem that you will have to develop really every recipee yourself, because nobody else uses it, and mg=ml will be only quite roughly true. But I have just ordered a precise scale myself; EM and menthol crystals, for examle, obviously suck when you have to measure them by volume. Plus, I always wanted to have one of those

 

[Rocketman]

Plus, I always wanted to have one of those

That's enough reason in itself Alex.
One thought, accuracy, resolution and repeatability.
Use the same syringe over and over, get repeatability if you have resolution.
(don't try 0.1 ml from a 10ml syringe and expect to do that twice).
I believe standard medical syringes are about +/-2% of full value.
A class A graduated cylinder about +/-1% (or is it 1/2%?).

Most of our mixes don't matter that much anyway.

What happens to PG (weight and volume) when you leave it open and it absorbs water from the air?

 

[mendnwngs]

Wait.. Pg (mixed as we us it) is hydrophilic?

I did not know that..

-Jason