Blood Soaked, Cage Match -- .01g vs. .001g Scales!

I’m just laughing out loud (for real). Here we are (well the OTHER thread, and mostly myself) flaming out, about .01, .001, and Woftam’s just like “FUCK IT, give me a 5L beaker, some fucking heat, and goddamn BOAT PROP, I gotta make da j00ce.”

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O/T But i have a few toys to make my life easier.
PG/VG peristaltic pumps (they pump by volume but I like to check using the scales as well

Twin overhead mixers with lab hot plates that I can set the temp of the mix an maintain it

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I use scales for that stuff too.

@woftam I’ve always had a secret crush but now I don’t care who knows!! (partly joking) That is just an awesome setup Mate.

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So I thought to myself “why have I never checked out @woftam recipes” So I went to do just that. Oh, I remember now. He doesn’t really post his recipes. Is that because you sell to local shops and such?

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This is probably why… 99% of my mixes are 60ml and below and all that fits on my precision scale which goes up to 100g. I have the same accuracy for 10ml testers (singles and recipes) as others have for a 100ml bottle with a .01g scale.

Obviously if you’re talking to professional people like Woftam who’s making liters, he’s not going to be anything with a low weight / high accuracy scale (just his empty bottles might max out the scale). I’m talking from the point of DIY people making personal juices and in smaller quantities. Heck, I wouldn’t even have a problem mixing a 250ml bottle on my precision scale. It has enough range for the nic and flavors and I can simply top up with VG or my preferred premix ratio without using any scale or you could take out another scale that is fit for purpose.

You too SD, you mix for a whole lot of people and in higher quantities than the average mixer would do. That’s why I personally think it’s a bit of a disservice to others who take things on a much smaller scale (no pun!) to say that a high precision scale isn’t necessary. The average home mixer is literally playing with the accuracy limitations of the scales that people in general promote. When you’re flirting with those limits, neither the scale nor the user is really in their comfort zone and that’s why I started my thread, just to tell people that there are affordable options out there that work well and take you back into the comfort zone.
I personally think it makes a lot more sense than investing in magnetic stirrers or homogenizers for the average DIY Joe. It is a lot more budget friendly too. If there was a huge difference in price between a 0.01 and 0.001g scale, I’d understand your point of view but even that argument doesn’t hold.

For recipe development as well, it’s a lot easier to make smaller samples and accurately measure them off so that when you go bigger, you can reproduce your tests. If a recipe turns out bad, you don’t have to throw away a whole 30ml or keep messing with it just to make it vapable.

I was just looking at this thread and while CAP and TFA are still high at the top, a lot of people do use concentrates that are very strong and only need “a few drops”. It’s in those instances that people would benefit from accuracy. If all people use is CAP and TPA then sure, but more and more people are using much stronger concentrates where drops start to matter.

And I’ll repeat what I said in the other thread, you don’t know what you’re missing until you try it. I really didn’t think it would have such an effect on my mixing. I spend a lot less time mixing now, a lot less guessing and much more confidence and joy and it doesn’t happen often anymore that I go overboard with a certain flavor in the mix.
When I started mixing, I did 10ml testers but I soon moved to 20-30mls (depending on the strength of concentrates I used), simply because I couldn’t be accurate enough with my 0.01g scale for stronger flavors like INW, FA, FLV. Now I can easily test flavors and recipes in 10ml bottles again and, be even more accurate and have less waste.

But this is just my experience and opinion that I wanted to share. My precision scale made me very happy, more than expected and it’s actually something I had considered putting up in that thread “When I was a n00b, I wish that…”. It made that much of a difference. I’m just talking from my viewpoint, a small home mixer. If your testers are 100ml and up, this is not going to make sense at all.

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Fair enough @anon28032772, I appreciate you coming to the OTHER, other scale thread, and posting the honest info.

And I don’t think anyone can argue with ^^^^^^.

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You gotta admit, the boat prop blender is elite !!! (point well made regardless, but now I MUST have one).

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Yeah, don’t we all wish we could mix that much, have proper equipment and earn a little with it too :crazy_face:
I’m not living in the right country to even think about that…

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I don’t know. Sometimes I’m talking to co-workers who want to order some juice, and they think that THEY are the only one I’m mixing for, and I have to reply, “Text me the order, I’ll add you to the que”. LOL. I sometimes miss just mixing for myself, not always, but sometimes. I’m not moving product like @woftam, but still, sometimes, I miss the smaller scale of just mixing for myself. Wouldn’t have to order quantity of VG/PG/NIC, DELVE into the whole 0.001g thing to see what’s what (I could still do that, I’m not limited in that way), etc. I’m not saying it’s like a ball and chain (but sometimes it feels like it).

:slight_smile:

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But you do have juices that are recurring right? Why don’t you make big bottles that are steeping (without nic), just fill a juice bottle from it and add the appropriate nic content when an order comes in? Would make life a lot easier I’d think… Or do things like increasing you bottle sizes so you don’t get as many small orders.

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Well even as a first mix I do mix bigger than most but there is method in the madness of mixing a 120 of a new recipe especially if I am using strong concentrates.
30 ml is my control and gets left as is (and used to compare small changes I make)
The other 90 I use to tweak the levels of various concentrates.
My first mixes are generally very light flavour wise so I can fiddle with the balance.

It is kind of a weird way to do it but as with everything you find a way that works for you and you use it.

Not in anyway saying don’t get a .001 scale if you feel that will work for you - I would suggest that people who are just starting out will not need that level of accuracy and many will not ever need it.

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Ya, there is a lot of that going around lately. I have people that want a profile and I tell them it will be ready in two weeks. “two weeks”!! they say. Yep, two weeks at the minimum. I stopped making for most people because I will make something for them and when I tell them it’s ready I get no response. Then I have a liquid I don’t want and neither does anybody else. I do have a few I mix for but they vape the same thing and I make enough for them to come back every two weeks or so.

That’s how I do it.

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@anon28032772 LOL, I WISH that was what was holding me back, I have 18 base mixes pre-steeped from 60-240ml always on deck.

I try and keep it between 30-240ml, BUT, the customer’s always right, so they want what they want.

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Thinking like a true capitalist :rofl:
But you’re right, if you want to have a proper business that’s what you gotta do…

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What propelled me was price, just starting out I mixed only one recipe with syringes (disaster) ordered a 50 x 0.001 scale and couldn’t be happier. Mix most all my test at 20ml in a 30ml bottle, if I need 0.20 concentrate and hit 0.199, I know one more drop put me over .21.
I voted 0.001 scale but in fairness I do have an LB501, just don’t use it (yet). For 60ml I just top off the vg like @anon28032772 does. At some point I will need the 501 for sure, but I’ll probably still do the flavors on the 0.001 until I get much better at mixing. Then I now know what I can do with all those boat props I been saving out in the garage :sunglasses:

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I was so inspired by this thread that I done bought me a brand new .01 scale to replace the LB501. Gots a stainless platter, ac power supply and everything. 600mg capacity that I will never us as I mix 120ml max. It’s a beaut and will look mighty fine next to my Chinese homogenizer and my 2L ultrasonic cleaner. 15 Minute mix as easy as 1,2,3!

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Pics or it never happened @SmilingOgre !!!

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You’re a pain. Pic coming Thursday. I work today and tomorrow.

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This is slightly off-topic so my apologies. But lately it seems like when I start reading a topic like this, and think that I might be able to contribute something, I discover a certain ‘deepness’ (if that makes sense) to the content within. And then as I read more I start to feel…intimidated. Like I’ve led a sheltered existence or something.
First there was the coffee maker thread. I had no idea some of those machines even existed! I was kind of content with my crappy Kuerig until I saw what some of you use.
Then there was the cast-iron skillet/pans thread. Was almost ready to add that I had not heard of seasoning those things, but stopped short. Man I wasn’t even gonna try commenting after reading about all the passion and knowledge some members have. I didn’t want to appear like I’m some doofus.
And now with scales. I’ve used a dilapidated LB-501 for the last 5 or so years. It’s never seen more than 60ml on it’s platter because I pretty much mix for myself and I’ve only calibrated it twice. But after reading some of the other comments here I can’t help but feel like I’m just out of touch with so many different things. Not even sure why I decided to divulge this as it would have been way easier just to say LB-501!

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