I have been doing my Whole operation in a 600 sq. ft. room with four pieces of equipment (Vac Oven, Homogenizer, manual crank liquid dispensing machine and my Thompson &Duke ACF1). I am looking to upgrade to a bigger facility and I am looking to upgrade my machinery so I don’t feel like my own damn Serf doing everything by the muscle.
I am in Indianapolis so I am only allowed to work with CBD/Low THC related products, I have only been able to small scale make tinctures, vapes and edibles. I want to focused on making Liquids (Tinctures + Drinks), Vapes (Carts/Disposables) and Edibles (Gummies/Hard/ Candies/Maybe Chocolates in the future).
I have about 30-50k to play around with and maybe more if needed, I don’t know anyone that has really taken it that seriously in Indianapolis and I want to run a proper lab not some fucking nasty/dingy/contaminated filled environment like I have been seeing in my area. I know a few companies pushing heavy weight around that their customers would be disgusted if they saw the faculties, I desire something beautiful like @MillerliteRN has, that is scalable for the future when Medical Cannabis is allowed.
Right now I am looking at buy a new Homogenizer, Liquid Dispensing Machine and a automatic Edible making machine as well as little things in between. I just want the G’s opinion on this if possible.
I really do appreciate all the knowledge bestowed on here, this website has been a huge help with my business. Sooner than Later I will be doing what I can to help everyone how you all have helped me.
I haven’t used these specific machines. For liquid dispensing - I’ve found the manual crank ones to be better than the cheap automated ones, easier to tear-down/clean and just as precise. I’ve used the VEVOR manual and automatic, and I prefer the manual - both still take a person standing at the until the batch is finished, the manual is MUCH easier to clean when done. -shrug- I think one with a foot pedal that turns the handle of the manual unit would be much better than the automated ones, just from cleanliness and wearing parts alone.
I’ve used basically the same homogenizer and found it to work well - I assume for mixing carts or something? It you were doing it for edibles, I’d go with a standard commercial kitchen emulsion wand - they are cheaper, easier to clean, and most of what you are mixing doesn’t need things to be quite as powerful as the 1000D.
For edible machine - I went with a truffly. They have a manual version, semi-automated, and fully automated. I’ve seen different versions out there, and if you have a small space (which is what you have said) they don’t take up really any space and they work consistently. They also work for gelatin, hard candies, and chocolate - but I haven’t tried them for pectin… maybe they would work, but I think a scrap method instead of a pour method is better because pectin starts setting a bit faster, but I haven’t tried them so I’m not sure.
You should be able to do all of that for the 30-50k you are interested in investing. The real deal will be deciding on the molds for the candies - because they don’t all fit the same machines based on number of rows/columns. And I’ve found those to be the 2nd most expensive part of everything - especially if you want lots of different shapes and sizes. -shrug-
Anyway - good luck! And please let us know what you decide and how the adventure goes.