r/CannabisExtracts • u/TheDukeOfErrl • May 17 '13

A letter from oilslick - As many have advised, don't blast onto parchment paper, or an oilslick

Hi ________,

I am sure you know, silicone swells in the presence on non-polar solvents. Hexane is actually used as a “swelling agent” for silicone tubing to allow for an easier connection.

The swelling effect is the primary reason why silicone makes a poor compatibility choice when selecting a material to come into prolonged direct contact with non-polars.

As you must also be aware, chemical contamination from “extractables” in silicone materials, (in a procedure such as you are describing) is due almost entirely to the physical release of low molecular weight siloxanes, and other impurities from the manufacturing process.

This is why Tygon 3350, or SaniTech-Ultra, are made with platinum cured silicone rather than the more common peroxide cured variety. This is also why We use platinum catalyzed USP6 silicone in our pads. (rather than peroxide/food grade).

As far as I am aware, we are the ONLY company doing this. The cost of material for a simple “baking mat” would be prohibitive in that industry.

For the record (sometime I feel like a broken record)We do not sell the Pad to spray directly onto. Many (many) folks do, and when we realized it (july of 2012), we switched the silicone we use as our raw material as aprophylactic measure.

We also removed the Logo from our pads, because we feared that immersion in non-polar solvent could act to weaken the bond between that thin layer of logo silicone, and the pad beneath. As concerned as we were about the logo....i cringe when I see folks spraying into parchment.

The matrix of silicone in common parchment paper (non-Quilon / silicone coated) is extremely fragile compared to a pad. I imagine the violence of swelling and shrinking on that scale would be tenfold compared to the effect that prompted our own change of material.

The physical wear of swelling/shrinking/swelling/shrinking along with the various stresses inflicted by the innovative public (razor blades, torches etc...) make any sort of performance warranty unmanageable.

So we make em as pure as it gets, and when people ask us....we tell em that if they insist on using them this way, to please discard them if they notice any physical degradation.

I would refrain from cutting the pad to perform your testing, as this will expose the inner weave. Once cut or torn, the physical consequences of swelling could lead to damage along the exposed area.

Let me know where to send it, and I will get a Pad out to you today. Always happy to hear your thoughts. I redacted about 2 pages of hyper technical diatribe from this email.... because I figured you have likely done your own research regarding Pt cured silicone, and the various plasticizers that are used in food grade silicone. This is understandably a topic quite close to my heart; and I will be vary happy to discuss at length should you have specific questions (or non-specific musings?).

Also, should you require it, you have my explicit permission to share anything we discuss with whichever forums you are involved in.

Regards,

Joshua

49 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

93% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

10

u/NLclothing May 17 '13

Great post, I find it curious they didn't even mention their PTFE slick sheet though, but that probably wasn't the point of the email.

/this is where people with low reading comprehension continue to insist butane 'dissolves' silicone, despite just reading that it swells

2

u/tsoukaholic May 17 '13

Wondering about the sheet too, after reading the article I audibly said "sooooo the rolls?"

1

u/NLclothing May 17 '13

For what its worth.. I have been using the rolls since I became aware of them and I have been totally happy with them. To go from the spray pan directly into the vacuum (after majority of the tane evaporated of course) is a total game changer. I can have a personal run (1-3g) done from start to finish in a couple hours doing it like this.

1

u/tsoukaholic May 17 '13

Thanks!

3

u/NLclothing May 17 '13

One note though; they are not as easy to get the oil off as the oilslick pads. I've found purging as far as you possibly can (preferably to completion) will help A LOT when folding/gathering the oil together. They are also sold as single use but I have gotten I think it was 3 runs out of a single piece, but the tightness of the teflon weave begins to weaken with use.

I have also noticed that with larger batches (when you get a little pool of tane sitting around for 15+ minutes) it does seem that a very small amount begins to seep through the weave, and can make the sheet stick to the glass a little bit. I've remedied this by putting a layer of parchment paper under the sheet while blasting, and have had zero issues so far!

1

u/[deleted] May 17 '13

1

u/NLclothing May 17 '13

Thats really strange, I've gone through 3 rolls of the stuff and never once experienced this. Perhaps they had a defective batch go out.

4

u/OK_now_what May 17 '13

Context to support the legitimacy:

this was a letter from Joshua to Greywolf. GW was nice enough to post it on TokeCity and maybe other locations once he had a firm answer from them.

2

u/[deleted] May 21 '13

Anyone know anything about pouring a QWISO solution onto an oil slick?

This may be a really dumb question but I figured someone here would know...

1

u/highwoodelf Aug 18 '13

i do it , the pads are good with ISO

2

u/Cowankush Nov 14 '13

nah I did a ISO Claim wash and dried and purged it on the slickpad and it left this permanent brown stain.

1

u/highwoodelf Nov 14 '13

Were they the newest version ?

3

u/75_15_10 May 17 '13

Dude THANK YOU. I love r/CB for exactly this. The occasional side of things that really matters, actual fucking science and we'll worded paragraphs. The Pt cured silicone is interesting. Does anyone thing there is a simple test(heck or not) to determine the quality of the silicone matrix?

1

u/duhblow7 May 17 '13

What can you blast on? Or what is commonly used to blast on to help avoid scraping pyrex? Teflon bags? I'm like the worlds worst scraper.

4

u/bolognasilencer May 17 '13

Assuming Butane is your solvent, blast onto glass or Teflon if you don't want to scrape.

If you scrape when the dish is warm with a clean/sharp blade, it will come off a lot easier.

0

u/[deleted] May 17 '13

1

u/NLclothing May 17 '13

I do with fantastic results, just make sure you purge it the most you possibly can before trying to get the oil off it.

3

u/[deleted] May 17 '13

pyrex =D

1

u/[deleted] May 22 '13

Glad I buy their shit. This guy seems top-notch.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 19 '13

Good meaning it won't cause them to swell?

-2

u/glassblower3D May 18 '13

He doesn't say to not blast onto an oil slick sheet, he says the old ones weren't meant for it. He clearly states that the new ones were improved with blasting in mind...

4

u/TheDukeOfErrl May 18 '13

Oilslicks and slick sheets are totally different products, made from different materials

0

u/[deleted] May 17 '13

5

u/[deleted] May 21 '13

Can't echo this enough.