The Ascent iCell ceramic snap-on cartridge delivers excellent power and flavor, but you only get that if you fill it efficiently and keep the product off heat as much as possible. This is a production guide for filling them at scale. Here’s the whole process, from equipment to capping.
Equipment you’ll need
- 100 iCell ceramic cartridges
- An auto-filling machine or cartridge gun filler
- A heating magnetic stirrer
- A capping machine or a 12mm socket wrench
Setting up the filling machine
Start by getting your filling machine dialed in. All heat pads should be tight and securely fastened, because you don’t want heat escaping through gaps between the heat pad and the material vessels (the lines, reservoir, and fittings). While you homogenize your product, preheat the filling units too.
- Set the line heat pads on the cartridge gun to 175 to 215°F.
- Set the reservoir heat pads to 125 to 175°F.
Let the cartridge gun preheat for 10 to 15 minutes.
Mixing
Total homogenization is essential. The mixed material has to be liquid, with a viscosity similar to olive oil. Use a heating magnetic stirrer to bring distillates and diamonds up to homogenization temperature (194°F):
- Heat your base material to mixing temperature.
- Once it’s liquid, add your pre-weighed batches of terpenes to the starting vessel.
- With the terpenes mixed in, drop in the homogenizer probe and mix. Your homogenizer should be sized to blend the whole batch in under a minute.
Filling
With the product mixed and holding at 176°F, pour it into your reservoir. Then prime the gun before you fill anything:
- Bring the gun to the top of the reservoir and press the plunger to push out all the volume in the dispenser. Keep holding the plunger down, bring the gun below the reservoir, and let it refill. Repeat about 5 to 10 times. Even once the material flows freely, prime it a few more times so everything moving through the lines is at the right temperature.
- Attach your needles and start filling. Point the needle straight down into each cartridge, and never rest it against the glass or the center post, since that stresses the post and surrounding glass.
Capping
You have a five-minute window to cap each cartridge after filling it, so the operator needs to fill a tray in under 3 to 4 minutes. The whole point is getting the product off heat as fast as possible for the best color and flavor, so set the space up for a smooth handoff from filling to capping.
Put the cappers on the opposite side of the filler, with the filler starting closest to the capper and moving left to right. That gives the capper easy access without getting in the filler’s way. The workflow:
- When the filler begins, they call out “FILLING.” The capper starts a clock and marks the first cartridge filled so capping stays on schedule.
- The capper keeps both individual caps and a 100-cap tray on hand, so they can cap whether or not the filler has finished.
- The capper places an individual cap or a full tray, aligns it over the cartridge, and presses down with the capping tool or a 12mm socket wrench.
One nice advantage: Ascent all-ceramic cartridges are the only ones you can flip after filling to offset capping pressure without flooding the coil, which gives you a fuller-looking cartridge.