I made a kief tumbler!

I was browsing etsy and came across someone that was selling diy 3D printed kief tumblers and thought that I could do it better for just a bit more money. So I went and made one using a 28byj stepper motor with a arduino nano driving it. I'm setting it up to change directions every 5 minutes, a nice feature to keep the contents from clumping. I sewed together the 120 micron screen myself, one of only a few projects I've done with my sewing machine.
Originally I was going to use an attiny85 microcontroller instead of the arduino nano and got the pcb made for it. But then I had some unknown issues with it working then not working, which is only to expect because it was too cool for me, the novice. So I plugged in a nano for now.
Also, my work on the other project, the cannaster, has moved forward into its final design stages. I finally, after months of painful attempts, have converted it from the nano to the D1 mini. What this means is I can put as much stuff as I want or need in the program. And I have options to extend the program into wifi and bluetooth. I just had to get a professional pcb made and spend two full nights figuring out the programming! I think the hardest part was being HIGH the entire time.
So this makes my third machine I've made for post-harvesting: the budcure box ( tracks weight loss to estimate moisture content ), the cannaster ( uses a vacuum to dry buds from the inside and will put an end to the stem snap method ), and now the kief tumbler. I think thats probably the end of it, and I might have to jump into mycology this year since I don't have any chance to grow another crop.

Good job man!
Have you run anything through it yet?

DownUnderDog said:

Good job man!
Have you run anything through it yet?

Click to expand...

Yeah, the first one I made I was able to catch the last few plants I harvested. It worked like a charm, about 6 hours and I had about two joints of kief.
I made this one just to sell. It's been up for a good month and nobody is biting, even though it's the only one as big as the 300$ tumblers.

Well it looks bomb man, well done.
I'm a bit if a diy kind of guy myself. I'm setting up a fairly large grow and hope to be into it in a few months. I was thinking what to do with all the trimmings. Might do something similar. Either that or just a solvent based extraction of it all. I do prefer a mechanical separation though.

DownUnderDog said:

Well it looks bomb man, well done.
I'm a bit if a diy kind of guy myself. I'm setting up a fairly large grow and hope to be into it in a few months. I was thinking what to do with all the trimmings. Might do something similar. Either that or just a solvent based extraction of it all. I do prefer a mechanical separation though.

Click to expand...

Yeah man, the other thing I did was build a pollen press. I used two 36v PTC heating elements inside some wood with a cavity to fit them into. Then I cut out two plates of aluminum. Used a bench power supply to adjust the temp, and had it all pressed together using a vise. Didn't get everything, but I got something to smoke. I didn't want to do a solvent extraction cause I'm always paranoid there's residual and I won't take big hits of it.

refriedbeano said:

Yeah man, the other thing I did was build a pollen press. I used two 36v PTC heating elements inside some wood with a cavity to fit them into. Then I cut out two plates of aluminum. Used a bench power supply to adjust the temp, and had it all pressed together using a vise. Didn't get everything, but I got something to smoke. I didn't want to do a solvent extraction cause I'm always paranoid there's residual and I won't take big hits of it.

Click to expand...

Yeah I understand.
You could always make a vacuum purge for the solvent extraction. You seem pretty handy, could probably incorporate a heating element as well. I used to flame purge but also used to melt/manipulate it quite a lot and then let it rest for quite some time. It used to go pretty tacky/hard by then end. I think if it's too sticky, like honey then it's probably still got some stuff in it

DownUnderDog said:

Yeah I understand.
You could always make a vacuum purge for the solvent extraction. You seem pretty handy, could probably incorporate a heating element as well. I used to flame purge but also used to melt/manipulate it quite a lot and then let it rest for quite some time. It used to go pretty tacky/hard by then end. I think if it's too sticky, like honey then it's probably still got some stuff in it

Click to expand...

I've made some solvent extract before, did butane inside a thermos and also went for hexane hash. This was like 10 years ago. But the rosin i got off the press had that same chemical taste after a big hit, so I guess it was all in my head. Still though, i wouldn't go that route unless I could vacuum purge with heat.

refriedbeano said:

Yeah, the first one I made I was able to catch the last few plants I harvested. It worked like a charm, about 6 hours and I had about two joints of kief.
I made this one just to sell. It's been up for a good month and nobody is biting, even though it's the only one as big as the 300$ tumblers.

Click to expand...

I did the dry sift process to my trim I got 3 oz from the process it took about three hours of time.
The drying of the trim was done in shed where I dry the buds.
The trim is handled in 3 gallon buckets and seafood containers. My observation is much of the kief collects on the walls of the container used, have brushes I use to collect the kief.

My suggestion in side the unit is to put cement mixing stlyed arms inside. Think that would be a better way of breaking it up

formularacer said:

My suggestion in side the unit is to put cement mixing stlyed arms inside. Think that would be a better way of breaking it up

Click to expand...

The trim has to be pretty dry or else it clumps up under the wood slats. But since i'm using a stepper motor i can reverse direction and that would probably help. Also thought of making the slats into cement mixing style. But I don't have a grow anymore so i can't r&d anything ATM. Gonna get into mushrooms and build stuff for them next!

refriedbeano said:

The trim has to be pretty dry or else it clumps up under the wood slats. But since i'm using a stepper motor i can reverse direction and that would probably help. Also thought of making the slats into cement mixing style. But I don't have a grow anymore so i can't r&d anything ATM. Gonna get into mushrooms and build stuff for them next!

Click to expand...

You do much better if you let it dry the tumble time is less. I find drying the trim in the same location with the buds helps on the humidity front.