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Advice on handling and capping extremely small doses?

B

BrutalRollar

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Joined
Nov 19, 2009
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Saskatchewan,Canada
I have a half gram of 2c-I that I would like to put into 15mg capsules but i have such a hard time measuring it and putting it into the capsule. Like for example I weigh 15mg out onto my scale, move it off and now weigh the capsule then I "tare" the weigh of capsule and transfer the 2c-I into the capsule but now when I weigh the capsule with the 2c-I in it which should in threoy come up to 15mg. The problem is that sometimes the weight is off by like 5-10mgs which would prove to be uncomfortable for me.

I do use a calibrated .000 scale which wasnt cheap at all. And I find this to be a very tedious thing to do with dosages this small. So how would I accurately measure out my proper dosages out? To a degree were I'm not off by like 5mgs.
 
Personally I have no prob capping it with my scale, so I could be misunderstanding your issue, but if this happened to me, here's what I'd do...if you are getting it to weigh accurately initiately, but not when capping, I'd just throw the powder on a rolling paper and parachute it.
 
^ Parachuting the powder wouldn't change the fact that the initial weight may be off to begin with since he is getting a different weight when he reweighs it. Try reweighing the pile of powder without the gel cap to see if you get the same weight; I always do that. What scale are you using by the way. Also have you tried changing the batteries to see if it is more accurate.
 
so.. what happens when you weigh the same pile of powder more than once? do you get different readings for the same amount? (without capping?)

if you do have a 0.001 scale thats properly calibrated, id rather suspect a technique fault somewhere along the line.

when i try to put powders in caps, i usually measure the empty capsule (3 times), average out the weight, then put the powder in the cap, measure it out like that until its in the desired weight range and measure it out 3 times for the final weight. im not a believer in the "tare" function for some reason.

seriously though, you shouldnt be getting 5mg errors with such a precise scale...
 
I use a piece of rolling paper. Place the rolling paper on the scale, then add your dose of your drug, fold up the paper and consume. If you're wedded to gelcaps, either use a small piece of paper in the same way and then pour the powder into the gelcap, or use the gelcap itself as a weighing boat. I reckon your scale is fine, it's dodgy tekkers, but if you're worried then weigh the weight the scale came with, or a coin (look up what it weighs). kingme, I don't like or trust the tare button either, it feels wrong, and I think it might fuck with the accuracy, but I don't know if that's because I half-remember knowing this to be true, or if it's a hunch.
 
kingme said:
when i try to put powders in caps, i usually measure the empty capsule (3 times), average out the weight, then put the powder in the cap, measure it out like that until its in the desired weight range and measure it out 3 times for the final weight. im not a believer in the "tare" function for some reason.
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I second this. I'll usually weigh the cap empty 5 or so times until it kind of zeroes in on a weight, i.e. averages, like say 20mg. Then I use a straw that I've cut half of an end off to make a scoop (make sure the straw's diameter is around the same diameter or smaller than your gel caps) to scoop the powder in to the cap. If the straw's the right size you should be able to get the end with the powder inside the cap and then tap it out into the cap. Then I'll weigh it 5 or so times until it zeroes in on a weight (no taring) again, like say 35mg, and voila, 15mg weighed. Not taring is definitely key as even accurate 0.001g scales are more accurate higher in their range than lower. It's easier for the scale to detect the difference between 30mg and 35mg than it is for 10mg and 15mg, for example. I wouldn't recommend this for weights under 10mg though, you'd probably want to go with liquid measurement for that.
 
One of the many reasons I prefer paper is that it's so much more consistent. Gelcaps are all over the place, so you have to weigh each one multiple times. Half a rolling paper weighs the same every time, variance of a milligram either side sometimes.
 
babylonboy said:
One of the many reasons I prefer paper is that it's so much more consistent. Gelcaps are all over the place, so you have to weigh each one multiple times. Half a rolling paper weighs the same every time, variance of a milligram either side sometimes.
Click to expand...

Really? Assuming that you're eyeballing where half a rolling paper is and then ripping or cutting it, I would think there's plenty of room for variance there. In my experience gel caps from the same batch/size tend to differ only by a mg or two at most. That being said, papers are damn easy to work with and if you've got them lying around anyway for rolling joints then you can kill two birds with one stone by going that route. I guess I was just always afraid of a little arm twitch or the paper folding funny sending my precious powder flying off. Also, if you're weighing for later, a gel cap stores better than a folded bit of paper.
 
You fold the paper in half, lick and tear. I've done it hundreds of times, and there's hardly any variation. I have pretty big gelcaps, 00 I think (you can pack 400mg of mescaline HCl into one), and they are all over the place, 5mg range at least IIRC, but I don't use them much. They also store fine if you fold them right, fold the paper over and stick the gum to the other side, then fold in three horizontally, then in three vertically. Bish bash bosh, had trips wrapped up like that for years and they're fine. They are also less bulky, can't be crushed, are my choice all round. Practice makes perfect, whatever technique you choose.
 
Yeah guess I misunderstood... With my scale, very cheap, I'll put my 10g weight on it, then add my powder. Definitely works better than without. Man, I'm surprised to hear how many times y'all weigh, I usually only do it once, especially with 2Cs...if I am off by up to 5mg, I'll either trip hard or take more.
 
Change your batteries, my scale does a similar thing when my battery gets low but then again I have a cheap AWS gemini. Just measure the powder without the cap, keep re weighing just the powder until it zeros in on a number then dump it in a cap. IMO 2c-i is a pretty forgiving substance so a few mgs off wouldn't do much difference. If your scale is really as good as you say(which I doubt) then the fault must be in your hands. Weigh three 15mg piles and compare, 2c-i is a really fluffy substance so a 10mg difference would most definately be noticeable.
 
I have an excellent scale but I still find that it's more accurate at weighing out amounts over 20mg and up. Instead of tareing the weight back to zero after weighing out the cap just add up how much the gel cap weighs and the amount of material you want in it (gel cap weighs 90mg hypothetically and you want 15 mg of material in it so your target is a final weighed out cap plus material of 105 mg or whatever). If you do it in this manner your scale will be extremely accurate especially if you are using a good mg scale.
 
Put the cap on the scale dish , weigh the cap and it could weight 80mg for example. Then add your compound and add to the total. These scales might not be as sensitive to the initial 5mg weight, but with a cap and the powder, now you are up to around 85mg. Calibration is a must, but if you still have issies try several tests like I outlined and see if you get consistency. A .0001 mg scale is a bit costly - can buy a lot of chems with the difference;)

I have had this issue as well. What I do for capping is as above. For dilutions I put the vial on the dish instead of the cap, then dilute accordingly. Would be nice to have the .0001 scale, but see above %)

Tolerance is good in times where scales aren't but without tolerance, it is good HR to find a way to get consistent readings.
 
I think you mean 0.000 or 0.001. I can't imagine you'd see a 4-point scale outside a lab, and yeah, it would be prohibitively expensive.
 
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