How do you Short Path?

Which short path manufacturer do you use in your lab?

  • Lab Society
  • Summit
  • XTractor Depot
  • Built My Own

0 voters

Tell us why below!

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Based on the current results I’m curious why some go with one company over the other? Is it mostly price? Liter/hr time? I’m trying to really get a grasp and make a decision on a short path system and any “civil/constructive” feedback would be extremely helpful. I’m not interested in company bashing simply sound feedback on experiences and results. Cheers!

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I find the glassware of Lab Society and Summit to be equivalent in quality and performance. However, the ability to semiautomate the LS short path makes it the preferred choice in my book

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I went with summit after looking at several options based on the treasure chest on the web site and American made glass. The wealth of info I found there allowed me to learn a lot of short path by studying the treasure chest and no formal training.

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Good ol’ pseudo science elliot! Someone should rewrite the treasure chest that uses real terminology. It is a frustrating read , more confusing than any transcendentalist literature I’ve read. Also full of bad advice, like to remove your cold trap to get a "deeper " vacuum. If you watch his new video you see that he uses two pumps for his process. The reason he does this is because he can’t seem to trap all the volitiles from his shortpath. He obviously needs a series of cold traps, or one with a higher surface area. That will protect the pump and allow the oil to last the longest. Don’t waste your time with summit when you can go to rocco and order the same product without the markup. This is the company that makes all his stuff.

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Thanks for the insight. I know about Rocco but when you are starting out and have little knowledge in the field this helped me piece together my needs. Didn’t know about lab society then but I do know and have ordered stuff. I did get lucky with summit and won an identical system to the one I purchased minus pump and chiller. Can’t knock 2 sets of glass at that price! I have seen and used other glass helping some out and found summit/Rocco to have superior joints and shape to Chinese glass. I am however still limited in my field time and knowledge.

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They way I learned vacuum fractional distalation was with solvents, I did this work before I ever distilled thc. The best way to learn at a faster rate is to live the chemistry, take some classes at the local college. You will learn the mechanisms and the how and why. When you gain that knolage you can develop new processes for yourself.

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i totally agree. when i was eighteen and making bho i needed high proof ethanol which is crazy expensive here in cali and i already had a powerful vacuum for purging so i ordered a vacuum still of amazon for 200$. best training ive ever gotten for short path cause once u internalize how vacuum distillation works the only real difference between it and short path is the level u hav to be anal about vacuum. it also teaches u how sol u can be if u fuck up

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Yeah, it also gives you a good feel for when a product wants to bump and how far you can push it. How we’re you cold trapping back in them’ archaic days? I used to use these cheap Chinese ice absorbers and two dewars inside a Styrofoam icechest. Worked, but sucked. Now a days I don’t even have dry ice at my locations. We run all mechanical cold traps. Just flip em’ on and give em’ an hour to cool down or so.

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Summit and lab have the nicest equipment on the high end side but what about on the cheap end of things? What is the cheapest set up that can be put together that isn’t garbage?

For a cheaper diy build that is still quality these are my suggestions.

You can order all of your glass from chemglass, ace glass and Roccoscietific. eBay even has some dewar cold traps that are decent.

Pumps and vac fittings from @cacejenvacuum.

Heat mantles can be found on Alibaba(cheap but requires you to vet companies), ebay or @touchscience

Don’t cheap out too much on a mantle though. I’ve heard of them catching on fire or being to weak. If you’re trying to save money go with the ones with the build in temp controller and you won’t have to buy one.
Obviously don’t buy the cheapest glass either. Shit can crack and implode.

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Is there a difference in price between chemglass ( what I see most basic set ups with) and Rocco scientific? ( looks little nicer like lab and summit)

What are the best things to cheap out on? Good mantle and glass definitely not.

Ebay, Ali abba, and amazon all have products for cheap that pertain to our industry. Personally I have seen a difference in manufacturers that make the same products. It would be really nice if we could start a thread that listed all the direct links to cheap and reliable products we need from both China and the US (roto vapes, cartridges, Glass, pumps, etc.)

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Your entire SPD setup should be decent quality. That said i think glass is the most important because an implosion can be very costly and can harm you vs a cheap mantle might catch on fire which might not be a huge problem if you have proper ventilation and a fire extinguisher next to your station.

I would call Rocco up. He’s really friendly and will usually give you a quote same day. It really all depends on what size system you need.

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Yea spending the money on glass looks like the way to go for quality, safety, and production.

Thank you very much for your knowledge and responses!

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In the same vein, vacuum depth is crucial. Cheap glass can be a struggle to get to seal properly, although ChemGlass makes nice PTFE sleeves to help.

Going direct to the glass blower won’t get you the latest and greatest designs, but is a step beyond rolling the cheap Amazon glass dice.

Rocco and Southeastern Lab Apparatus are two that I have had good experiences with.

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Yes, that’s a really good point!
If your glass leaks you’ll have a bad day and you’ll end up having to spend more to buy better glass anyways.

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i mostly did the usual ghetto dry ice in iso or acetone in a diy cold finger thing but i also tinker with electronics and i experimented with stacked peltier cooling which is the directional i like to go.

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in the vein of diy can we talk about some people buy an expensive chiller that they always use to heat water. keeping water at a specific temp isnt hard at all. ive taken those chillers apart before and besides the refrigeration system, they r not special. learn what a pid is or arduino or get a sous vi which hav better temp accuracy and Maintenant these days anyway. im not saying ur not gonna need a chiller at some point but not for heating water.
I hav also found manufacturers from china that were good and it was pretty easy to tell talking to them thru alilbaba after a week or two, that being said shipping the main glass components from china isnt worth it just cause of the shipping aspect. micro scratches or cracks from shipping r common even if the glass is “good” quality. they will replace obviously but that means waiting longer. but i do get alot of nonessential glass from china. and the idea to get a thread about them is smart.
also the fiberglass insolated high temperature heating band’s r good it u cant find spherical heating mantle

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i thing i should mention about alibaba is if ur not an insomniac lik me then ur prob not gonna hav as much luck cause 90% of the actual conversations ive had thru alibaba where between 12-5 am. and actually talking to them in real time is essential to not pull ur hair out waiting a day per message. its something u gotta learn to do cause they will just say shit cause they dont know exactly what it means so u hav to be very specific and clear. conversation ive had basicaly word for word “do u hav any wickless options? yes this one. but ur website says organic cotton? yes clean organic cotton.”
but thats how u can tell the good manufacturers from the bad ones lol
the good ones also usually have pretty Asian girls that speak pretty good English whose pictures u can see lol so transparent but obviously, it works.

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I have found a few places for decent glass prices on a few bits, like rbf, or teflon thermo adaptors.

The latest good deal i got with fast shipping was prism research glass in the US. Give them a look

Amazon got me a decent deal on a bullseye, being in Canada myself, i am always looking for deals as the exchange kills me.

Wilmad lab glass also comes to mind. Some stuff is a good deal, some stuff a bit overpriced. But its another one to bookmark for your price hunting destinations.

Short path heads i usually get from known suppliers, i’ve been using Goldleaf Labs 2L heads, they seem to be decent. A bit larger than the summit spd1 head i started with, but i have had good results.

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