I’m glad you posted this as we are searching for something also. However we are truly jandfilling with basic syringes. What are u guys using currently? Have u looked into the filling machines in China?
Bro don’t use syringes. We have 2 of these which cost around $800-1100 each Legit will save you so much time its insane. Make sure its the electronic version though. We are just looking into auto fillers and cappers because it still takes a ton of time doing all this lol Plus hand filling sucks, I dont really want a china auto filler as there is no real customer support and I hear auto fillers have a lot of issues thats why I’m posting in here to see if anyone has been using one without any issues.
That’s cool man thanks I’ll def be ordering one of hesrnto see if it will get us going. I knw a lot of people said the one from China aren’t the way to go but I’m leaning that way. And also I’m pretty sure they do have someone in San Fran (the bay) to help if something goes wrong. Before we buy we are planning to go see if our oil will work in there system. I’ll upload the guys information this weekend that’s in the bay.
After testing ALL filling options available local and overseas, here is my 2 cents.
If time is a priority…I can say that the time achieved filling by hand is very hard to beat. Units like the 710 shark and other similar 100 syringe units made in china do come close but have their pitfalls. Most people have to top of the cartridges to finish the fill. The Shark works great for heavily diluted oils, and I do like it for filling capsules, for cartridges using a more thicker oil its been hard to really dial it in for consistency in filling.
If exact volume is a priority…Single shot units like the ACF1 can guarantee that each item is filled exactly to what you set. These units are heated and make the filling process relatively easy, they are though time consuming. 117 carts, (which is their tray size) will take roughly 5 mins to fill .5ml. It will take 9 mins to fill that many in 1ml since at times they require a double pass. The ACF1 does work great with thicker oils, although I’ve found for undiluted oils you have to crank the temperature up to 150f. This is not ideal for my material since its starts converting the THC at 157f but is the best solution I’ve found currently.
Stay away from air timed units if volume is a priority, they are unreliable, if you’ve used any you will know what I mean.
If your looking for both volume and speed, semi automatic/single shot units seem to be the best solution. Units like the MCF1(thompson duke) and A1(cool jarz), delivers consistent volumes at a speed determined by the operator. Another great thing about Semi auto/singe shot units is that they are more versatile and can fill items like syringes and vials easier since they are not bound to the restrictions of having a predetermined filling area.
No matter what unit you choose it is important to make sure that parts are available readily if anything goes wrong. Any filling machine will increase your production, having it not work for a few days can be very damaging to a business. I’ve had a hard time getting support/parts for machines built overseas. Personally I’ve opted to deal only with companies that manufacture in the US, this has dramatically reduced my stress when dealing with machine issues.
For capping, we have tested the versions from Transpring and Thompson duke, both work pretty similar we decided to go with the Thompson Duke since it was US made. The capping unit more so then the filling machine has been the most prized unit at our filling lab. Our employees thank us daily for not having to twist caps any more.
I have not tested the 710 Shark capping solution so please share more info as you have it.
@lefties.cannabis I don’t believe I can post a link. If you google Thompson Duke ACF1 it will for sure come up. I’d go to them direct for the best pricing.
if you ended up going with this unit let me know. I have a few tricks I’ve learned in using it daily that make the process easier depending on the cart being filled
The thing with the shark 710 is you need to use their cartridges to use the center post on top and presses down on them. It’s different but I have used them when they were hand filled and pressed but they didn’t do the whole machine fill and cap which I wanted to see in person.
Check out ATG Pharma based out of Toronto. I have seen their unit in person and it works really well with distillate due to their heated vessel that holds the distillate. I have used the A-10 filler from CoolJarz and this works really well but it is still semi-automatic, as where the ATG Pharma is fully automatic.
I do like the ATG unit, I believe it is an upgraded version of units that where released to the market about 4 years ago. I had issues with keeping the material warm as it was feeding through the system from the heated vessel. Although it should work great for 70/30 ratio material.
I do believe they have made heat shields to wrap around the lines to help with that.
Anyone got a good budget solution for people starting out? Something maybe a little more advanced than just a syringe. Maybe some easy micropipettes or something?