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Weighing accurately with milligram scales Options
 
Baboon1000
#1 Posted : 1/8/2017 2:16:01 PM

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I did a search on this and nothing seemed to come up regarding this technique. It's very good practice especially when milligrams can mean the difference between good time / bad time. It's not my idea, it's just a set of guidlines I've seen posted from reliable sources elsewhere, in communities concerned with milligram accuracy regarding other things that need weighing carefully.

So apologies if this is teaching people to suck eggs but it seemed worth reiterating even if it has been posted before. So here are things to consider about your 000 scales:

I) Even though your scales are advertised as accurate to the milligram they probably aren't unless you spent hundreds on them. So things in the very low 10mg range are unlikely to produce accurate readings. This could be a massive issue for something like 5-meo-DMT.

II) Always set your scales on a flat surface away from draughts and air currents.

III) Make sure the scales are set to the correct unit of measurement, i.e. Grams. My scales have about seven other units of measure and I've often inadvertently switched without realising. Luckily I've spotted the error due to following this checklist.

IV) recalibrate before each use with the weights they provide.

V) It's best not to rely on the tarre function. It's better to weigh the pan and then subtract that weight from your final reading.

VI) These cheap scales are more accurate at higher weights so either use the pan weighing method above or if using the tarre function then placing a calibration weight in and subtracting that from your final result is also effective.

VII) Never add a compound to the pan while it's on the scale. It often doesn't register properly or sometimes not at all leading to a risk of a higher dose than intended. Always take the pan off the scales add the compound. Place back on the pan, subtract weights if using those methods and see how much compound you have. Rinse and repeat until you get the measurement your after.

VIII) always double check your result by repeating the process above at leat once.

Again, apologies if this has been covered before. The steps aren't set in stone but they are wise guidlines to follow for anything with a steep dose response curve. Especially if active in the 1-2mg range.

Hopefully that helps someone out, I thought it may be useful for new users who may not be familiar with weighing procedures for the compounds discussed on this site.

Cheers,
B
 

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ducdevil
#2 Posted : 1/8/2017 3:35:41 PM

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great advice - especially the part about not taring the scale and trying to weigh out small mg increments.

ever since i started this practice and just subtracting from total, doses have been much more accurate and i haven't had any surprises lately.

thanks for this - valuable info...

cheers
 
Baboon1000
#3 Posted : 1/8/2017 6:40:41 PM

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I'm glad it was of some use. I agree that something like 5-Meo-DMT would be risky. It can be done with the higher end versions of this type of scale and subtracting. They are quite accurate with more weight.

Use the dust cover as well while getting the reading. That way air currents won't effect it and the reading should stabilise. I've done this with other things that needed to be mg precision. I halved the dose after doing all the above steps, even divide into four with a razor and a mirror. It should put you safely in the right range and you can up the dose if needed after the first test.

Volumetric is probably a better bet though with low mg range compounds. Liquid titration can be a much safer bet with dangerous materials.
 
RUAware
#4 Posted : 1/15/2017 9:52:09 AM

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Great post. I'll definitely use these tips
 
Baboon1000
#5 Posted : 1/15/2017 12:28:01 PM

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RUAware wrote:
Great post. I'll definitely use these tips


Thank you, I'm glad you found them useful Thumbs up
 
downwardsfromzero
#6 Posted : 1/15/2017 10:52:33 PM

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For more accurate weighing, try this.
pitubo wrote:
A trick is to weigh 10 (or 100) times the amount you need and to dissolve this into an amount of solvent that you can accurately measure. Then measure and evaporate a calculated amount of solvent containing the otherwise hard to weigh payload.

Say you need dmt in 5 mg quantities and you can weigh 100 mg with 10% accuracy (10 mg deviation) and that you can measure 1 ml of liquid volume with 10% accuracy. Weigh 100 mg dmt and measure 20 ml ethanol. Dissolve dmt in ethanol. Measure 1 ml of ethanol with 10% accuracy and it will contain 5 mg dmt with 10% accuracy. Now instead of 5 mg +/- 10 mg dmt that straight weighing on the 10 mg deviation scale would give you, you have 5 mg +/- 0.5 mg dmt - a twentyfold increase in accuracy.

Credit goes to starway6, who is the champion of this method for dosing spice. He says it has the added benefit that a bottle of liquid is a lot less questionable to keep in the fridge than a vial of white powder. Same for a dropper or measuring syringe vs. a milligram scale.




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benzyme
#7 Posted : 1/16/2017 5:30:50 AM

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I) if you're going to spend hundreds on a scale, you might as well get an analytical balance, rather than a mg scale. It will accurately weigh a single mg. Denver Instruments and US Solid have reliable analytical balances for less than $500.

II) If you have a mg scale, you can test its resolution using a micropipette and DI or distilled water.

III) a spectrophotometer can be used to create standard doses, using the beer-lambert law.
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Baboon1000
#8 Posted : 1/16/2017 6:03:07 AM

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downwardsfromzero wrote:
For more accurate weighing, try this.
pitubo wrote:
A trick is to weigh 10 (or 100) times the amount you need and to dissolve this into an amount of solvent that you can accurately measure. Then measure and evaporate a calculated amount of solvent containing the otherwise hard to weigh payload.

Say you need dmt in 5 mg quantities and you can weigh 100 mg with 10% accuracy (10 mg deviation) and that you can measure 1 ml of liquid volume with 10% accuracy. Weigh 100 mg dmt and measure 20 ml ethanol. Dissolve dmt in ethanol. Measure 1 ml of ethanol with 10% accuracy and it will contain 5 mg dmt with 10% accuracy. Now instead of 5 mg +/- 10 mg dmt that straight weighing on the 10 mg deviation scale would give you, you have 5 mg +/- 0.5 mg dmt - a twentyfold increase in accuracy.

Credit goes to starway6, who is the champion of this method for dosing spice. He says it has the added benefit that a bottle of liquid is a lot less questionable to keep in the fridge than a vial of white powder. Same for a dropper or measuring syringe vs. a milligram scale.


That's clever, I like it. I still think it would be wise to follow the steps about calibrating, subtracting pan weight rather than tarre and adding the compound to the pan off the scale rather than on it.

Still a nice method to use though, cheers! I might nick that and use it myself Smile
 
Baboon1000
#9 Posted : 1/16/2017 6:07:57 AM

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benzyme wrote:
I) if you're going to spend hundreds on a scale, you might as well get an analytical balance, rather than a mg scale. It will accurately weigh a single mg. Denver Instruments and US Solid have reliable analytical balances for less than $500.

II) If you have a mg scale, you can test its resolution using a micropipette and DI or distilled water.

III) a spectrophotometer can be used to create standard doses, using the beer-lambert law.



All valid points I'm sure but this was really just a procedure aimed at people who have low end mg scales and getting them working more accurately. I'm not sure where the spending hundreds on measuring equipment came from. If I'm ever in a position to spend that sort of cash on this then I'll heed your advice.
 
benzyme
#10 Posted : 1/16/2017 6:14:18 AM

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Baboon1000 wrote:
benzyme wrote:
I) if you're going to spend hundreds on a scale, you might as well get an analytical balance, rather than a mg scale. It will accurately weigh a single mg. Denver Instruments and US Solid have reliable analytical balances for less than $500.

II) If you have a mg scale, you can test its resolution using a micropipette and DI or distilled water.

III) a spectrophotometer can be used to create standard doses, using the beer-lambert law.



All valid points I'm sure but this was really just a procedure aimed at people who have low end mg scales and getting them working more accurately. I'm not sure where the spending hundreds on measuring equipment came from. If I'm ever in a position to spend that sort of cash on this then I'll heed your advice.


Quote:
I) Even though your scales are advertised as accurate to the milligram they probably aren't unless you spent hundreds on them. So things in the very low 10mg range are unlikely to produce accurate readings. This could be a massive issue for something like 5-meo-DMT.


I've found the AMW DIA-20 starts registering around 6 mg. this was tested using a gilson pipetteman and di water.

if one is going to blow money on a cache of potent rc's, one may as well cough up the coin for a decent balance. it's still going to be more accurate than 10%. granted, it is a bit of an investment.
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Ufostrahlen
#11 Posted : 1/16/2017 11:28:18 AM

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