actually dipping sheet in liquid makes more error. all tabs wouldn't be laid even if you're not pro. and you wouldn't want to lay rc tabs uneven.
QFT: here the elaborate version of that...
I recently tried something exactly like this but with another substance, the solvent being 96% ethanol. I
failed, even though I have extensive chemistry experience (all practical parts completed for BSc, plus of course all the home experimenting, consisting of extractions, making hash oil etc.). Although I failed, here is some theory meant to prevent you from attempting it before you have it all figured out.
You always have to measure the absorbancy of the paper by first saturating the blotter with your solvent of choice, meaning to the point where it is completely wet but is not dripping or sweating anything whatsoever. This is done by first weighing exactly how many milligrams the dry blotter weighs and subtracting that number from the wet/saturated weight. This gives you the weight of the maximum amount of solvent your paper can take.
How to proceed depends on whether you plan on measuring that calculated amount of solvent using equipment that can measure weight or volume very accurately. I have a 50 microliter syringe at my disposal myself (which by the way I used successfully to prepare melatonin blotter with an acceptable error margin).
If you go by volume you need the density of the solvent of choice. If you can't figure out how that works without me telling you, that is
warning one just not to even try this. That is a general warning about this being entirely unsuited for novices.
Personally I'd say water is a poor choice of solvent. It is very cohesive meaning it clings to itself, making it relatively sticky and messy to work with. Also it doesn't evaporate quite as nicely as alcohols. If you cannot get high grade ethanol, then find isopropanol. If you are too lazy or unresourceful to find it I'd probably call
warning number two.
Indeed do not use denatured alcohol which is denatured by making it bitter. Other denatured alcohol containes MEK, still I would never do that. I would also not use methanol unless I knew exactly what else was in there, and it is still very risky considering all the challenges I am setting out in this post.
I'm not sure about acetone, I've wondered about it.
If you want to dissolve a lot of compound, the volume of your solution changes. It is pretty complex to account for that. Experimenting with it can cost a lot of compound, although you can always extract your compound back again from the blotter - which is what I did, and went for the volumetric measurement instead, not trusting the method until I have it all figured out myself - and evaporate to achieve a meaningful weight (weight of drug + some exact weight of solvent, but this time adjusted). There is another warning to be prepared for that pain in the ass shit. I don't know myself how significant this volume change is. I can't really calculate it using partial molars and it is unique for every combination of compound (solute) and solvent.
The part where I went wrong: applying the solution evenly and cleanly to the paper. I added a coloring agent to track what I was doing better. I tried a normal syringe, did not work: it wetted the paper very unevenly and there was just no chance in hell that I could fix it by trying to get the paper to just suck it up. It is not incredibly absorbant like toilet paper, the application has to be very even. If you can't figure out how to overcome this, that is
warning three, a huge one. I've actually heard of some professionally made blotter which gets applied in a small chamber where the solution is basically vaporized iirc. Another type used a micropipette array which I think is normally used for biochemistry.
Another challenge, and the final one, is the evaporation of the solvent. If you do this incorrectly I think convection / air currents can influence where the solvent evaporates mostly and everything in the paper might be getting blotted to those parts. I have some ideas about how to overcome that, but I'm just gonna say for now that is
warning four. My whole point is that you should never try making blotter yourself if you can't be a one-man inventor / online researcher who has the capabilities of overcoming all obstacles and complexities perfectly.
If you are laying a compound that is not dangerous like melatonin (although still not ideal if you get a huge dose), I guess you can experiment like I did. But, I tried a different method that time, bringing me to the point: if you have the means to dose every hit individually without it spilling over, that could work BUT even with a microliter syringe you make small mistakes and - again - that is not something you can afford to do with a potent and potentially dangerous psychedelic.
conclusion for your case, unless you can solve it all:
JUST MAKE A VOLUMETRIC SOLUTION, DON'T TRY TO BE A HERO IT IS ENTIRELY UNNECESSARY - YOU COULD VERY WELL HURT OR KILL YOURSELF. That is, unless you have extensive experience and knowledge (doesn't sound like it sorry) and know when to start over. Also I'd like to add that the substance I was laying has a much bigger therapeutic index than something like DOC, and even if I thought I was successful I would titrate my dose with each section, being very careful.
I aborted for the time being, although I am interested in the answers. I double dare you to lay it out for us before you actually 'lay' it yourself.
Honestly liquid measurement is not that messy, are you kidding? Why would it be? If it is messy that doesn't really make me feel very confident about how exactly you are arranging it. Feel free to expand on that.
Seriously? 100 blotters individually dosed from a dropper? Inaccurate & very time consuming. Fine for two, 3 or 4 blotter, but for 100 my method might seem a bit more complicated but it'd save an awful lot of time compared to the individual drop-per-tab method & I would thought would also be more likely to produce tabs that are evenly dosed.
But sure, for very, very smal runs, fine. But doing 100 individually leaves too much room for error & would be laborious. Strictly in my opinion.
Trust me, its not that time consuming AT ALL using a microliter syringe, and I did multiple rounds when I make the melatonin blotter. Yes and it was 100. But you are too right about the errors.
regular droppers might drop so much that might be too much for a single 1/4"1/4" square, they hold about 5ug of liquid.
It was indeed slightly less than 5 microliters per square: 50 / 12.
Actually if you are okay sacrificing your blotter 'sheet' intactness, you might do single drops on single squares each separated from the other... it would require a test to confirm that it is indeed as error-free as I'd imagine it to be but yeah... that could work.
