No 2nd Needle for Venting Pen Cartridges - a different method
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One transfer needle per product, no cross contamination, no pushing unconditioned air into your vials, very little purging necessary once you load your pen. This is my method for loading pen cartridges. I think it's less wasteful and more sterile than the "second needle for venting/breather" method.
My process:
Disinfect all the vial tops, pen vial filling station block thingy and whatnot that are involved in my current project
Use 3 ml transfer syringe to draw 3 ml of sterile air from empty pen vial (now it's under vacuum)
Use 3 ml transfer syringe to push 3 ml of sterile air into bac water vial
*DO NOT REMOVE NEEDLE
Draw desired amount of bac water out and remove needle from vial
Fill lyophilized product vial with bac water slowly down side of vial
While product is resting and rehydrating, use same transfer syringe to draw another 1-2 ml of sterile air from pen vial (stop if the rubber bottom plug starts to get sucked up the vial)
Once product is dissolved and gently swished for mixing, push the sterile air from your transfer syringe into product vial
*DO NOT REMOVE NEEDLE
Draw reconstituted product into transfer syringe
*If there's still too much vacuum in vial to draw out all of the product, invert vial and syringe, then:
Allow the air pocket in the syringe to be drawn back into the pep vial
Draw remainder of product out
Push the product into the pen vial gently down the side (be sure to have it on a flat surface in case it overpressures and tries to push the rubber bottom plug out of the pen vial)
Pull needle out until it's at the very top of the interior of the pen vial
*Start to draw air pocket out of pen vial with syringe
Once you feel a lot of resistance as you are pulling the syringe plunger, transfer pen vial to the bottom plug pusher part of the filling station block tool thingy
*Push the rubber bottom plug up as you are drawing the last of the air pocket form the top of the pen vial
*Pull needle out of rubber stopper as soon as it looks like the air pocket is gone, but before product starts going up into transfer syringe
*You're almost done, now purge your pen vial of air
*Put your pen vial into your pen
*Disinfect the top of the pen vial
*Put a pen needle on it
Cycle your pen plunger until it is touching the bottom rubber plug of the vial
*With your pen tip pointed skyward, "inject" 3 units at a time into the air until it shoots a stream up
*Now you really are done, try your concoction. -
If you are pushing the plunger up you are exposing the cartridge to contaminants and then adding your peptide this is not a good idea. You basically are taking a sanitized cartridge and making it unsanitary.
@Stevepep I might end up with egg on my face, but I'm here to learn.
I'm not sure I'm following you. Are you talking about the syringe plunger or the cartridge plunger? I never push the cartridge plunger up until I'm purging the cartridge..
If you're talking about the syringe plunger, please explain how what I'm doing is different than drawing up a syringe full of bac water and pushing it into your viral of lyophilized peptide?Edit:I reread your reply and see that you're referring to the cartridge plunger. I need to reread my original post because I must not have been clear. At no point do I push the cartridge plunger up until I'm purging the cartridge. Once the plunger goes up it doesn't go back down.
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@Stevepep I might end up with egg on my face, but I'm here to learn.
I'm not sure I'm following you. Are you talking about the syringe plunger or the cartridge plunger? I never push the cartridge plunger up until I'm purging the cartridge..
If you're talking about the syringe plunger, please explain how what I'm doing is different than drawing up a syringe full of bac water and pushing it into your viral of lyophilized peptide?Edit:I reread your reply and see that you're referring to the cartridge plunger. I need to reread my original post because I must not have been clear. At no point do I push the cartridge plunger up until I'm purging the cartridge. Once the plunger goes up it doesn't go back down.
@randallchampion I don’t follow if you are filling a cartridge without a vent you will blow the plunger out. If you are sucking the air out of the cartridge that will force the plunger up exposing the internals. It then would go down as you fill it. Unless I am missing something. Not sure if it was you but someone posted the use a device to free the plunger as well. Maybe you can get lucky and draw air out without the plunger moving and then add your peptide without blowing it out but you will get burned with this method if that’s what you are doing. Many of us have tried and you end up wasting a peptide on the floor
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Also this whole process is so convoluted and needless. Use a breather.
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I don't use pens but did try the method without a vent, following a Peptidetest vid. I managed to get it filtered without blowing out but that pressure is something else uffda,
“Not a guru, not a chemist-just here trying to keep my receptors AND my sanity responsive.”
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I don't use pens but did try the method without a vent, following a Peptidetest vid. I managed to get it filtered without blowing out but that pressure is something else uffda,
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I don't use pens but did try the method without a vent, following a Peptidetest vid. I managed to get it filtered without blowing out but that pressure is something else uffda,
@WisGal64 I've blown one out luckily it was a cheap bottle or Tirz becuase I didn't have the breather pushed far enough in the Vial,
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@mikemiranda I did the same thing when I first started. I was so frustrated that I didn't choose a pep that I could afford to lose for my first go at it.
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@mydogdaryl423 haha at some point I will, I have about 1000 syringes(no joke, grabbed them early on from a sale I couldn't resist) before I do lol
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@WisGal64 I've blown one out luckily it was a cheap bottle or Tirz becuase I didn't have the breather pushed far enough in the Vial,
@WisGal64 I've blown one out luckily it was a cheap bottle or Tirz becuase I didn't have the breather pushed far enough in the Vial,
I once had a bad breather needle, I guess. It was in and I could feel the resistance, but I ignored it and it blew out. It was GHK-cu. Thankfully, I hadn’t paid much for it. I now NEVER ignore the feeling.
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@mydogdaryl423 haha at some point I will, I have about 1000 syringes(no joke, grabbed them early on from a sale I couldn't resist) before I do lol
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@randallchampion I don’t follow if you are filling a cartridge without a vent you will blow the plunger out. If you are sucking the air out of the cartridge that will force the plunger up exposing the internals. It then would go down as you fill it. Unless I am missing something. Not sure if it was you but someone posted the use a device to free the plunger as well. Maybe you can get lucky and draw air out without the plunger moving and then add your peptide without blowing it out but you will get burned with this method if that’s what you are doing. Many of us have tried and you end up wasting a peptide on the floor
@Stevepep air expands and contracts A LOT. It all depends on temperature differentials and what state a cartridge is in when you start it (is it under vacuum or pressure? Neutral?).
You would be very surprised by how much air you can draw from the cartridges before the plunger budges.
Humor me and give the method a try with something cheap. When people blow the plungers out it's because they didn't prepare it by putting it under vacuum before filling it.
I use a cartridge filling station. It has 4 holes for holding cartridges with flat bottoms. The flat bottom prevents the plunger from being able to get pushed out, but it's unnecessary if you're doing it right. The center hole has a dowel in it that you use for pushing the plunger up to purge your cartridge once it's filled. You don't have to purge it that way, but it's faster than using the pen itself to purge the cartridge once you load it.
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@Stevepep air expands and contracts A LOT. It all depends on temperature differentials and what state a cartridge is in when you start it (is it under vacuum or pressure? Neutral?).
You would be very surprised by how much air you can draw from the cartridges before the plunger budges.
Humor me and give the method a try with something cheap. When people blow the plungers out it's because they didn't prepare it by putting it under vacuum before filling it.
I use a cartridge filling station. It has 4 holes for holding cartridges with flat bottoms. The flat bottom prevents the plunger from being able to get pushed out, but it's unnecessary if you're doing it right. The center hole has a dowel in it that you use for pushing the plunger up to purge your cartridge once it's filled. You don't have to purge it that way, but it's faster than using the pen itself to purge the cartridge once you load it.
@DarkStar why? The center is for removing the plunger to sanitize the cartridge. Not for what you are using it for. You push it up to free it and then use a syringe to push air in the cartridge to remove the plunger and sanitize it in an autoclave. You don’t us it like you are because uneven pressure can cause the plunger to get off center which causes other problems. I appreciate the fact you are trying to find a new way or even a better way but this isn’t it IMO. But if it works for you it’s fine
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@DarkStar why? The center is for removing the plunger to sanitize the cartridge. Not for what you are using it for. You push it up to free it and then use a syringe to push air in the cartridge to remove the plunger and sanitize it in an autoclave. You don’t us it like you are because uneven pressure can cause the plunger to get off center which causes other problems. I appreciate the fact you are trying to find a new way or even a better way but this isn’t it IMO. But if it works for you it’s fine
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Um… what?! Can I just use a breather + filter?
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Um… what?! Can I just use a breather + filter?
@boogiescoffer Lol. You can do whatever you want. It just makes me cringe every time I watch somebody pull in a syringe of room air and inject it into their sterile vial.
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@boogiescoffer Lol. You can do whatever you want. It just makes me cringe every time I watch somebody pull in a syringe of room air and inject it into their sterile vial.
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@randallchampion ummm your pushing the air out of the vial to let liquid fill the void. You're searching for a solution without a problem
@Stevepep Not sure why you're so hellbent on peeing in my Cheerios, but try to open your mind enough to actually read the procedure. Everything you have said to criticize it has been based on your misunderstanding, not the method itself.
"If you are pushing the plunger up you are exposing the cartridge to contaminants and then adding your peptide this is not a good idea. You basically are taking a sanitized cartridge and making it unsanitary."
Nope. I never said to push the plunger up until you are actually purging the cartridge."I don’t follow if you are filling a cartridge without a vent you will blow the plunger out. If you are sucking the air out of the cartridge that will force the plunger up exposing the internals. It then would go down as you fill it. Unless I am missing something. Not sure if it was you but someone posted the use a device to free the plunger as well. Maybe you can get lucky and draw air out without the plunger moving and then add your peptide without blowing it out but you will get burned with this method if that’s what you are doing. Many of us have tried and you end up wasting a peptide on the floor"
Obviously pure conjecture on your part because I do it several times a week this way and have never blown the plunger out of a cartridge.
Basic understanding of how gases compress and liquids don't should keep you out of trouble here.
The device I use to "free" the plunger is called a purging station. It's designed for (you guessed it) purging a cartridge. The center hole in it has a dowel with an OD slightly smaller than the ID of the cartridge. Nice tight fit perfect for (yep, gonna do it again here) pushing the plunger up to purge the cartridge. I don't know how it's possible to apply uneven pressure to a plunger when you are putting the cartridge down a hole that keeps it completely straight on to a dowel with a perfectly flat top. It's literally no different that what your pen does every time you push that button.
Why do you need to "free" the plunger on a cartridge to get it out for sterilizing? I'm not sure how your pens work, but mine push the plunger all the way to the narrowed neck at the top of the cartridge. There's no way to use the dowel on a purging block to free it up at that point. It's bottomed out in the neck of the cartridge and the purging dowel certainly won't fit through the neck of the cartridge."ummm your pushing the air out of the vial to let liquid fill the void. You're searching for a solution without a problem"
Nobody thought leaded gas, thalidomide, DDT, Radium makeup, or poor hygiene during surgery were problems, either, until they knew better.Look at every video out there of somebody reconning a vial, including Randy's. The first thing everybody does is draws a syringe full of the same air that we all just breathed, burped, and farted out and pushes it into their vial of bac water. You gotta' make a deposit before you can make a withdrawal.
The air we breathe is full of mold spores, bacteria, and all manner of things I just don't feel inclined to inject into my bloodstream in any quantities larger than necessary. I don't know about you, but I don't usually intentionally contaminate things.I apologize if my effort to make the process of reconning a vial and filling a pen cartridge more sanitary offends you.
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