We can help with that =) I know you don’t believe in batch manufacturing, but planned correctly it can still be an advantage in assembly line style operations, you just need to plan production orders out a bit in advance to ensure a small 50-100 cart buffer.
The post-fill photo inspection could be a good replacement for one of those!
Interesting, this is with 90% disty?
Yes, although that would be a slower dispense process at those temps. You would need to pull a 10h shift instead of an 8h to get to the 4000 number. The pump is operated using a stepper motor and an encoder. When the stepper and encoder values mis-match, that indicates that the oil is too thick to pump at the current speed and it internally slows down to maintain accuracy.
If running 90% disty at only 50c, you would have a syringe charge equalization time of ~8 seconds @ 25psi. With something that thick, I would recommend bumping the temps to 55 in the reservoir, 55 on the lines, and 65 at the needle. That would result in a syringe charge equalization time of ~4.5 seconds.
Definitely need another machine to cap to keep up with this unit. This is more suited for a distro LIC than the guys doing 1-5k a week. If you factor in the the “caper” job and time it definitely changes the ROI.
That is the idea… We do have a solution for press-fit CCEL style carts from a 3rd party that does 100 at a time. I personally have no interest in designing a 20 Ton press so have been focusing on making a press for snap-fits, such as the new ceramics.
We generally custom-design and consult for capping, as it is entirely hardware dependent.
Agreed, although as you approach and start to go over that 5k/wk range you start to get under 12M ROI.
I tend to avoid leaving carts filled but uncapped for any significant duration due to fluid leakage through the coil apertures. You end up with carts that do not look full and/or leakage through the bottom in extreme cases.
What’s the suggested solution for this issue?
My guess smaller apertures (ones that suit the fluid’s viscosity) but that may not do the trick. It would be helpful to have an option to chill the mixture for filling.
Cold carts?
With some recipes which are thinner than a pure distillate and terps you run into these problems… this includes non-cannabis cartridges.
I’ve seen many very thick recipes suffer from the same issue though. I cant imagine the level of complacency required though. @BG305
Thinner requires even less heat, if any at all.
This thread goes into more discussion about issues, where they are seen, and what causes them: tldr; heat
As with any high capacity operation, SOPs and controls need to be put in place. The idea of automation is to reduce overall human labor input into a system, not replace the exact methods human use to achieve a task.
Finding the right combo of cartridge, oil, temps, and SOPs are all as important as the machine used in successfully implementing fill automation. This is the reason why we throw in a full day of process consulting with each install.
This would be a special application, but something we could accommodate extremely easily without additional mark-up if requested in that configuration.
We would replace the cartridge heater assembly with a peltier cooler and change a ‘<’ to a ‘>’ in the code.
FYI Just sold out of the current batch. Current lead time is ~2/3 weeks.
Just did an install for a F4200 forum member this week so should have some feedback soon!
We are working on a semi-auto version now, which would be a stripped out version of our fluid handling system without the machine vision and X/Y table. We are receiving a large number of requests for this system as it has been shown to be able to accurately pump thick distillates with minimal temps.
Question: Wand style or fixed-needle?
I see you used some of my ideas 
. Wand style is better for carts fixed is better for filling other things.
Yeah, I explored using the air flow type system you proposed, but couldn’t get the repeatability down below an acceptable level, and trying to find a MFG that would use aromatic hydrocarbon safe seals was turning into a nightmare.
I did decide to rip out our existing fluid path system, and create a semi-auto system from it without many modifications. As stated, the build costs of that system are higher than the retail on most hand-shooters, so while I don’t have an exact price yet it should be about the same as other high-end semi-autos. It will not include any machine vision QA system, as that will be reserved for our fully-auto platform.
The initial version will still use all U.S. Made components, U.S. welded and mfg stainless (N.B. Oler), and Swagelok fittings. It will be N2 pressurized and have three PID zones. (Tank, Lines, Dispenser)
Accuracy is NIST calibration traceable to <.07% and repeatability is clocking in at <.05%.
Still deciding if I want to pursue more budget focused customers, but that niche is pretty well filled by QMA at the moment so there doesn’t seem to be a need.
I love it. I’d love to get my hand on one of these when they’re available
Does anyone here have an idea how much it costs to fill, cap, and package 510’s these days? Seems like there are a lot of options for filling, a few options for capping, and no options for packaging. My buddy in Oregon told me it’s like $0.50 per cart in labor.
Currently, I am focused fairly narrowly on just the filling aspect, but starting to tackle capping. The majority of the data I have collected is related only to filling costs.
I know there are plenty of people on this forum doing carts at scale, what are your cost breakdowns? I’ve also sent out a survey to our customers to try and get some first hand data back.
We have one Vape-Jet 3.0 in stock with no lead time due to a sale that fell through because COVID.
Currently asking 24k, which includes delivery, setup, calibration, and first year service.
Because we were counting on this sale for operations cashflow, I will sweeten the deal by throwing in the first “Jet-Fueler” with purchase as soon as it is completed. (1-2 months)
The Jet-Fueler is a N2 pressurized manual filler, which uses the same Stainless Steel from N.B.Oler, the same pharmaceutical pump from Hamilton, and our custom milled heater plates. Syringe charging speed, dispensing speed, dwell times, and temps are all controlled through a touch-screen interface. Dispensing action is operated via foot-pedal. As with the Vape-Jet, you still have individual PID control over 3 heating zones (Pump/Chamber, Needle, Reservoir)
I have the prototype on my desk 
The mechanical is all done and tested, I am just finishing up the touchscreen interface / GUI now.
I would estimate about 1 month before the first production model is completed. It is just a stripped down version of the Vape-Jet so development has been fairly quick. Because it is a much simpler device we opted to go with an onboard user interface this time instead of requiring a laptop.
If you are open to one of the first production units, I would be more than willing to work out a deal for feedback. Aiming for 8k MSRP on these, but the first 5 units will be severely discounted.
I’m in. Give me a call today and we can arrange that.
Software version 3.2 was just released to all 3.0 model machines.
3.2 Changelog