Where is your 'laboratory'?

[glasseye]

Where do you mix up your juice? I just got some DIY goodies today and mixed up a batch. Before I develop bad habits, I was wondering what you all do. I have experience with chemicals that can be explosive, cause silicosis, mayhem and mass destruction (ok, maybe not that last one) so I'm not so much worried about my ability to contain the nic accordingly.
Little tips would be nice. Do you have a dedicated space or not so much?

What I have for sure right now is a locking case with all the flavors, nic, PG and VG in it along with the pipettes and syringes.

 

[Moonstruck]

We have no children in the house, so I mix right at my desk. I'm fairly new to DIY, so my supplies are pretty small at this point: 1 60ml bottle of 36mg nic solution, 1 60ml bottle of PG & (so far) 40 8ml bottles of flavoring. Of course I have other vaping stuff, too.

I just today received my Stanley deep-bin organizer box, so now I have all my supplies in that, again right on my desk. My "desk" is really a home-made L-shaped workstation that wraps around 2 walls of the room, so it's pretty big. My mixing station is at one end of this; so I guess you could say that I do have a dedicated space.

So far I've only mixed a few 5ml bottles at a time. I keep a wet washcloth next to me so I can wipe up any drops or spills. My 8ml flavors from WL came in these tallish glass vials. With my shaky hands I knew I would end up spilling those, so I transferred them to 10ml plastic dripper bottles. I pre-mixed some 20mg nic base using my 36mg nic & PG so I wouldn't have to open & close my nic bottle so often; that seems to be working for me since my target nic is around 18mg.

I say do whatever works best for you, keeping in mind certain safety precautions for not only yourself but children and/or pets if you have those. I have both a dog and a cat -- the cat can be really nosy. So I shut the door to my office when I'm making juice just to keep her away from any dangers -- or from spilling my precious juice!

I use a serving tray to mix on (just in case I spill anything). I do wear plastic gloves, but I'm not too worried about the nic exposure.

 

[patkin]

I learned my lesson cutting nic juice down by adding unflavored plain vg seated at my computer. I forgot to put the drip tip, because I set it where I didn't see it, back on the bottle and capped it. Next time I used it (a 36ml bottle) poured out into my lap. No biggie because the resulting mix was only 12mgs but what a mess running to wash myself and change clothes. It could have been worse and spilled on the furniture and I have pets. So now even doing something like that is done on the kitchen island or the glass top stove with everything laid out in plain sight. Just makes sense to do the work where there's water/sink and covered trash can.

 

[glasseye]

Thanks! I really like the idea of transferring the flavorings to drip bottles. Very smart!

 

[purelyscientific]

I mix at my kitchen table. I wipe it down before and after. We have no children in the house.
Once my daughter starts to walk and get into stuff I'll do it in the spare room- padlocked, with a number keypad and laser alarms.

 

[tencentcat]

I have a cabinet in my kitchen with several shelves dedicated to my DIY, and I also have a 16 month old who's gonna figure that out soon. I'm interested to see what everybody uses for workspace.

 

[SupplyDaddy]

At my deployment home, I have a 2 set sterlite storage drawer system where everything is kept and basically mix at my desk right next to it. I'm fairly organized when working with chemicals.. I have mixed chemicals of mass destruction.. .. Pull out, open, use, close, put away..

Now, at my regular home, which I happen to be at right now.. I have the master bedroom cluttered with USPS boxes and 2 folding tables covered with DIY fluids, empty bottles, pipettes and syringes (as well as my tattooing gear)... I only mix in the bathroom and follow my normal rules... My children do not normally enter, but when they do, they keep their hands to them selves.. They may be monsters, but they are my well behaved monsters

 

[glasseye]

Thanks for the replies! My 3 boys are all grown but I can see how they would be a concern considering what they used to get up to...
The 2 dogs don't really get into things (I'm still locking the DIY up) but spillage could be disastrous. I'm thinking a nice tray like Moonstruck wrote would be a good plan.

 

[yzer]

I keep all of the vaping stuff including DIY equipment on one shelf in a kitchen cabinet. I just move things out to a kitchen counter for mixing. Liquids are stored in the refrigerator. I don't keep more than a few months liquid supply so I'm not using freezer space yet.

 

[Jellyfish]

Since the kids are grown and out of the house, my wife and I have our own bathrooms. That has turned out to be a real advantage with my DIY mixing supplies and the load of crap (AKA cosmetics) that she has. My flavorings are stored in this (found from another thread somewhere on ECF):

Amazon.com: Art Bin Super Satchel Removable Divider Box: Arts, Crafts & Sewing

This, and most of my other supplies, are kept in the top shelf of the bathroom closet. The larger glassware (graduated cylinders, flasks and a couple of canning jars) and larger supply bottles are on a wall shelf right next to the sink cabinet.

This arrangement is handy because I can wash everything up without transporting them since the sink and my work area are right next to one another (it's a double sink cabinet/counter with only 1 sink basin).

 

[glasseye]

This is the case I got. Amazon.com: Caboodles 13" Black Ultimate Organizer: Beauty
Anything with 5 seconds to spare and opposable thumbs could open the locks but there is a ton of room in there. They're cheaper at Walmart than that link.

 

[Levitas]

I mix at my desk, though I have a 5 year old who frequents the desk to play on my computer. The desk has a hutch, and I keep it locked whenever I'm away from it, all of my supplies are within. Though, I'm accumulating so much, it might be time to consider an alternate storage bin of sorts.

When I mix, I layer it with paper towels, or, a paper plate. I wear gloves when handling my nic, and I'm very VERY careful not to spill. But, if I ever do, it will be on layers of paper towels or a paper plate

After I'm done, towels, plate, gloves all go in the trash. Wipe down the desk, shake and vape.

 

[Bosco]

I have a 2 year old so it's very important for me to be cautious. I mix in my garage and keep all my supplies in a really high cabinet (over my head) in the garage. The garage is pretty much a mess - mostly filled with boxes and such - and we never let her in there.

 

[TroyHoot]

going to start mixing soon. Once I figure out what nic level and pg/vg im going to like. Learning I dont really like flavors I thought I would. So still working up my shopping list.

But I have a little lock box(cash box) I got at walmart for my juices. And plan to store my larger bottles in the gun safe. 5yo that doesnt need to get ahold of any of it. I have a platic tub for my syringes/glassware ect.

 

[GrimmTech]

I have a small home hobby business. I do electronic repairs for fun. It was easy to steal a small section of my bench to mix. My bench is L shaped and 10' one way and 12' the other and comes about 2.5' out from the wall. Formica topped so I dont worry about spills. Just wipe with a wet rag before and after. Im pretty new to this but it seems mixing is rather simple. Added bonus I already have an ultrasonic cleaner right there. Cleans the crap out my tanks and atomizers and I hear is has good steeping benefits too. (untested as of yet)

 

[echofinder]

Ten miles West of a small Appalachian town, there lie a series caves unknown to all except the local grey-haired hillbillies and a crack team of former CIA biochemists... deep within the bowels of the mountain my state-of-the-art lab houses some of the finest and most exquisite liquids ever produced, though none are made available to the likes of you common plebeians. It is here that the future of vaping is being born even as we speak.

 

[GrannyM]

Too funny!!! Thanks for the laughs this morning.

 

[BikerBob]

I do my sample testing without nic. I have a 30ml dropper bottle filled with 70PG/30VG, some small 1.5ml 'capped centrifuge vials' for my sample batches. I use 1 drop flavor in 1ml of PG/VG, shake and typically mix these samples at my desk. After letting them steep for a while (15-20 minutes at least) I taste a few drops in my atty and take notes. See Str8V8ping's blog http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/blogs/str8v8ping/2705-diy-tips-str8.html

Next, I do a 3ml batch. I have another 30ml dropper bottle with pre-mixed PG/VG/nic, at 20mg/ml nic, and I mix into a 3, 5 or 10ml bottle plastic dropper bottle (whichever is handy). Using above example, I'll use 18 drops of flavor , and fill to 3 ml, and have a sample at around 14-18mg nic. Again, I do this at my desk, where I fill my tanks/clearos.

Counting drops is easy (can count to 20 if I take off my shoes), but tedious. So for the larger batches, I'll count how many drops to get 1ml, do the math to convert my 'drops' to 'ml', and use a syringe/graduated cylinder for the measuring. I'll set up on the kitchen table, using a serving tray as my work surface, to contain any potential spills. I think my trays came from the $1 store, and are the kind for kids who don't like one food to touch the other food (multiple sections). I'll also fill up my PG/VG dropper bottles using this tray.

 

[glasseye]

Great tip Bob. Thank you! I'm wasting a bit of nic realizing I'm not the mad scientist I thought I was. Stinky Sweat Sock and Zombie Toe Jam will probably never make into the real world of e-juice.
Thanks to the rest of you as well! I guess there is no wrong place as long as safety comes first.

 

[sanman969]

I have a small vape station setup in the corner of a room. I have all my DIY and rebuildable supplies in plastic bins on the shelves and a workspace for mixing juice/building wicks on the bottom.