Subject:      Intro to Basics of Fundamental CrankSynth Principals 101
From:         an219881@anon.penet.fi
Date:         1995/09/30
Message-ID:   <000337Z30091995@anon.penet.fi>
Newsgroups:   alt.drugs.chemistry
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My anonymous Net Pal has asked me to post this for information purposes only
                                                        -oLIVEoIL

This information is distributed solely for the purpose of Law Enforsement.
                                                -Dr.Thaddius POPeye, PhD,
                                                 Dir. Ethics Dept, H.K. Univ.

An Introduction to the Basics of Fundamental CrankSynth Principals 101,
                         An Overview for ChemHacks

Let's distill our chemHack principals down to the basics, if possible.
Synthesizing Methamphetamine can be accomplished in more ways than we have
imagined, but I'll try to describe the general idea in a sort of a
universal process.

STEP ONE...you must either acquire or synthesize the precursors for the
reaction you have decided upon.
                HERE, precursors means roughly -> ingredients

STEP TWO...may be more than one step, but for simplicity's sake we shall
call it the production of 'Crank Oil'...it will ALWAYS involve a chemical
REACTION(S) of some sort.

STEP THREE...you must EXTRACT the 'Crank Oil' from the reaction
mixture...aka Freebasing... this will vary from synth to synth but not
radically...

STEP FOUR...PHing or 'acidification' of the crank oil... this is trickier
with METH than it is with other substances, because if a relatively neutral
PH is not achieved, the oil will never crystallize, nor will it get you
high (metabolize within your body's system in the desired fashion)

STEP FIVE... Crystallization and purification... almost, but not quite,
synonomous terms, and, as mentioned, closely related to the last step.

Nearly everything that gets discussed on the chemCrazed alt.druGroups
involve steps ONE and TWO....simply because THREE, FOUR and FIVE are
considered understood, unless special circumstances are foreseen.

For that reason, I will attempt to provide an OUTLINE of these final steps
that will not necessarily be the most efficient, but should work OK
following any reaction.

....................................STEP THREE.................................
                         FREEBASE EXTRACTION FOR CHEMHACKS
Take my word for it...A real sep funnel is mandatory...a bullshit
substitution will just transfer product onto the floor... it makes the
cockroaches psycho.

Have two large glass receptacles for slop... one for acidic, one for basic.
Don't run ANYTHING down the drain until you are DONE...  You can often go
back to your slop and find the missing dope... not true of the city sewer
system.

EXTRACTING CRANK OIL FROM THE REACTION MIXTURE (freebasing)
Sodium Hydroxide, also known as LYE, can be purchased at the grocery store.
RED DEVIL LYE is sold as drain cleaner.  One can of  RED DEVIL LYE in 3/4
gal of distilled H2O is right for our purposes.

Pour out 1 qt of dis. H2O from the gallon, add the lye 1/4 can at a time
cap and shake (quickly), uncap, back off...Alot of heat and gas is
generated so be careful. Repeat till all is dissolved.

Let cool to room temp.

LABEL IT!!!  It still looks just like distilled water, but it tastes
terrible and is more intense than any Mexican food...take my word for it!

 When everything is cool, add approximately half the relative volume of the
lye solution to the reaction mixture, then shake, stir, agitate, whatever.
It is a good idea to take your time to avoid creating vaporStink,
effervecensce, a shitload of heat, general disaster, but adding 'dropwise'
is not necessary.  Take your time, be observant, use common sense.  YOU ARE
ADDING AN EXTREMELY ALKALINE SOLUTION TO A USUALLY ACIDIC MIXTURE.

Now use PH testing strips,  or chemTechno probeMeters: if the PH is not >
12, add more Sodium Hydroxide solution till it is, and keep stirring.

Kick back overnight.... layers will appear and the Crank Oil will be on
top.  Siphon it off. Dont use your mouth...figure something out, turkey
baster, vaccuum aspirator, whatever.  Take a 1/4 of it and set it aside.
Measure the volume of the remaining product. Write it down.

Sucking up some of the reaction mixture layer is OK, we'll get that out
later, just don't pull any solids which will stick in the sep funnel valve.

Approximate the volume of the remaining reaction mixture.   Add 1/4  that
volume of  Toluene, then thoroughly mix once again.  Goodies float to the
top once more..(allow about 3 hours) and siphon again.

Repeat the last step.


Combine your 'siphonings', minus the 1/4 you've set aside, in a sep funnel
after assuring that the VALVE is closed!

At this point you have a sep funnel containing freebase crank oil
(PH13to14) in solution and some reaction gunk.

        + FYI-The freebase crank oil is NOT water soluble...unless you let
the PH slip down too far, then you begin throwing it out in the wash.
Keep it above PH12.

Add H2O to the sep funnel, stopper, shake...end to end... for about 2
minutes... periodically releasing pressure...situate  sep funnel in upright
position...let seperate...about an hour... the unwanted gunk goes into the
lower aqueous layer, drain it off the bottom...it's slop.

        +FYI-This is called 'washing it'
            -The layers are referred to as the lower aqueous layer and the
organic layer (on top)

Check PH again to make sure it's still above PH12.  If it has slid below
12, add more Lye solution and shake to bring it up.

Repeat wash step.

Set your nice clean, organic layer aside,  in a dark place.

        NOW

Go back to that 1/4 portion you set aside earlier and go through the same
washing steps.... It's more concentrated and may have a tendency to gunk up
(and form a middle layer)  To avoid this, use salt water to wash,  about a
TBSP per 12 ozs H20.  If it is still a problem:
-see 'dildo's and sep funnels'
-allow more time to seperate
-If you still have a middle layer sludge problem, add an equal volume of
toluene  to dilute and hang in there,  but don't leave any sludge in your
organic layer.    Don't forget, keep PH>12.

...................................STEP FOUR...................................
                                 ACIDIFICATION
OBJECTIVE: To bring the PH back down to between 5.5 and 7.0.  Roughly
'neutral'  The closer you are to 6.0, the better.  Here the Meth will
crystallize or 'salt out'.  It's not really a drug outside of these PH
parameters, at least there's no way to get high on it that I am aware of.

OVERVIEW: The freebase crank oil will eat about 1/3 by volume concentrated
HCl acid to approach neutral. Because of the log scale, which is not very
intuitive, it is easy to go wayAcid ooops, which will result in starting
over and lower yields noDoubtAboutIt.  You will be adding a bunch of acid..
but then as you near the neutral point, things begin to get very
sensitive...it will want to make a run for 1... you have to prevent this by
being COOL as in 'patience is not a Virtue it is the STARTING POINT in
chemHacking'...No patience,No dope... the 1/4 you have set aside, is to
bring the PH back up in the event of a run.  The lye solution is no longer
a preferred method for this, take my word for it.. '...scuse me, could you
pass the salt?'     exPENsive seasoning.
The solution is plunged into freezing acetone to 'set' the PH or put the
brakes on the PH, which tends to gain it's own momentum in either
direction.

If you do not have the benefit of a fume hood, you HAVE to rig some sort of
ventillation for this step...if blowing air directly accross the top of
your work bench is the best you can do...it works okay...but you have to
remove all your tools,  firearms, your car or scooter, boomBox....don't
even think about having a laptop or computer stuff around.  The HCl acid
fumes are fixin' to fly, and they will immediately rust and corrode
everything around you.  Even when your eyes aren't watering, your pipe
wrench is turning red 20 feet away.  It will amaze you if you haven't seen
this before, and explains why all that used lab equipment you bought looks
like something found on the beach in Newark.  I.e. you can really fuck some
shit up...take my word for it.

Muriatic acid is dilute Hydrochloric acid (32%) and is sold at ACE hardware
stores, you usually have to ask for it.  While you're there, pick up about
12 feet of flex tubing, the cheap vinyl stuff is okay.  The flex tubing is
to be fitted onto the spout of the sep funnel... size accordingly.

PH strips work best, so put your flashy chemTech probeMeter back in it's
nifty case.

Jam one end of the tubing down the nearest drain  and work it through the
trap.

        +FYI-Running concentrated fumeStench into the local sewer system is
one of the chemHack's mainstays, struggle with your enviornmental
conscience if you will,  but  alkaline pollutants are the real problem on
Gaia, you're saving your local sewage treatment plant the expense of just
that much acid they don't have to titrate in, unless you are dumping
solvents, which is realFukinStupid if you have ABS or PVC pipes. You should
learn to recycle and clean your solvents through
distillation/filtration/saturation... It keeps your chops sharp,  saves you
money, gives you near-reagent grade, when you get it right... and buying
gallons of di-ether is a redFlag as everyone knows... Besides, this is the
90's, get with it!
           -When running fumes through your stenchTube, you also need to
have the water running as a carrier, otherwise, vapors just run out the
plumbing vents on the top of your building.  It doesn't need to run full
throttle, but more than a drizzle.  It even draws a slight vaccuum, like an
ass pirater.
           -The exhaust from your vaccuum pump is ALWAYS run into a stenchTube.
           -One last note, then back to work.  SpeedLore has it that
Konspiracy Agents have actually tracked down speedLabs by 'sniffing' the
sewer lines and tracing.  This is TRUE.  However, the K's hiredHelp already
had a good idea where to start sniffing, and we're talking about Labs
running MULTIPLE 60L reactions, monster stills with  Leybold Trivac Pumps,
in boobyTrapped warehouses where the locals have been paid off, but don't
know the FEDs are in town, and the automatic weapons have BELTS.  Not
smallTime KiloBatch or 1/2 ouncer chemHacks.  Not to my knowlege...
Free-Air Pollution is the most common source of Labusts next to snitches,
I'll betcha third is large Mini-thin orders.


Retrieve the freebase solution and put it in the sep funnel.

You don't want the sep funnel to be more than half full (vol) at this
point.  If it is more than half full,  you will have to take some out and
do this in steps,  and a bit of algebra will be necessary from this point
on.

Find that number you wrote down earlier
- measure that amount (vol) of H2O
- twice that amt of Acetone: tech grade OK, reagent better, anhy. not
necessary.
- that amount of Muriatic Acid and stopper it

Add the H2O to the sep funnel.

Put the acetone in a beaker... it can only be 1/3 full,  2/3 empty if you
are a pessimist.  Place the beaker in ice and add salt (to the ice),  cover
with a towel to insulate and  keep it iced down  from here on.

ALSO ON THE BENCH:
-Another, empty beaker, same size as above. If you have a stir plate,  cooool,
 I love those things.... put your beaker on it and chuck in a stir bar.  If
not, you need a glass stir, or a stainless steel teaspoon (the kind for
tea)
-The 1/4 portion of clean freebase oil.
-The stopper for the sep funnel

Start running the water in the sink... now you're READY.

Fill your hand with sep funnel

Attach the stenchTube to the spout

Add roughly 1/4 of the Muriatic,  stopper, and quickly upend the sep funnel
and open the stopcock to release the pressure.  When it settles down, close
the stopcock and shake, release pressure, shake....until no more fumes are
produced.

Repeat until Muriatic is used up.

Drain the lower agueous layer into the empty beaker and crank up stir
plate, or stir manually throughout process.  Now check the PH, if it is
low, add the freebase oil, if high, add more Muriatic, dropwise aint a bad
idea, and keep checking PH.  You're shooting for 6.0 so stop at 6.2 and it
cruises down to 6.0 by itself, usually.

When you reach 6.2, could take an hour or more,  immediately pour the
acidified  solution into the freezing acetone, and relax.

The best thing to do here, is to transfer the acetone/Crank oil into a
bottle, stopper, and put it in the freezer and wait till tomorrow...

Otherwise, clean up your mess, then watch a movie or make love or something
to kill a few hours.

Check PH again.

You can settle for the 5.5 to 7.0 range at this point.

Hopefully it held, if not, you have to do some more drip and dribble.  If
you have to do more PH work,  you will also have to 'set' it again... more
cold acetone and downTime.

..................................STEP FIVE.................................
                               CRYSTALLIZATION
Even though you now have METH.. you don't want to just start slamming the
oil,  or using it as coffeeCreamer or Nose Drops... it's still full of
undesireable chemicals,  crystallization is a purifying process in itself,
it's not 'product'in the sciChem or drugCrime sense until it's
crystallized.  Nor is it safe to injest.
        FYI: Crystallizing is kind of an art form, you have to get a feel
for it,  METH is difficult to crystallize, you have to kiss it's ass.


Slosh and Burn, ChemSlob, go for it Method.
  (Stinks bad and smells like drugs):
 Have about twice as much Acetone, and 8 times as much Di-ether as that
number you wrote down, combined in a glass jug, choose a jug that will be
FULL.. numbers are just ballPark here.

Pour solution into a Beaker, put it on a hot plate, turn on the fan, boil
off the  Acetone and water, dump the oil in the Ether-Acetone Bath, stick
it in an ice chest and keep it cold, as crystals form filter them out by
pouring through a funnel with coffee filter.  Periodically 'scratch' the
inside of the jug with a glass stir rod.  Crystals will form rightNow,
tomorrow, or the next day, come all at once or form for up to three weeks,
depending on a bunch of stuff that nobody understands, but purity of the
oil is a big factor, and that's why this method ain't great.


ChemHack Method:
  Set up glass for simple distillation,  use methanol over dry ice in a
one-hole stoppered bottle with tubing running to the lower condenser
coolant  hose barb, upper open to the air.  Distill off the acetone and
water, then proceed like last step.


Smart, well-equipped, polished chemHack AnumberOne method:
 Set up glass for vaccuum distilation...  Throw a dozen boiling stones and
a small wad of glass wool into the boiling flask to minimize bump damage.
Use one of those dimpled fractionating columns, too. If you don't have one,
you can fashion one by carefully filling the crooked arm of a claison
adapter with shards of broken glass. Thermometer through stopper in the
straight arm, then joints accordingly.

Run tap water throught the condensor.  Vaccuum off the acetone then the
water. The acetone prob'ly won't condense and will run through the pump
down the drain, fuck it, it's getting late.

Standard distillation common sense applies...  after the water and acetone
go, the temperature will start to rise dramatically and will not plateau
for any considerable length of time until you get to the dope.  So until
you get there, keep throwing everything aside, cleaning and drying, or
swapping your receiving flask(s).  You don't really know your boiling
points, cuz of the vaccuum... just let the temp rise awhile and pull
vaccuum occasionally to see if anything'll come over.  When you get to the
crank oil, you'll know it. When you've got it all, you should know it, cuz
the temp will go higher yet and the boiling flask residues are decomposing,
burnt, nasty, polymerized low-life compounds.

These leftovers are what furnish the lesser chemHack's crystallization
headaches and dope discoloration as well as giving crankster's and their
DOC a bad name.

Your clean, clear, syrupy crank oil should be starting to set up now so you
have to move it.

You'll need the freezing ether-acetone solution mentioned above,  and some
of those pyrex cake dishes.

First disassemble your still, then use about 25mls of Methanol to clean the
Meth residue which has glazed the inside of your condensor.  Stopper the
female, turn it upside down, pour the methanol into the male end then cover
with your palm and shake end to end, pour the methanol into the crank oil
containing flask. Heat the flask a bit, swirling, but not enough to boil
the alchohol, perhaps add a bit more methanol,  you are just trying to make
the oil 'mobile'.  When it will pour easily, transfer a small amount to a
dish, you need enough so when you roll it around you've covered the entire
bottom of the dish.  Evaporate the methanol off with a hair dryer.  Pour
enough of the cold E-A solution onto the crank glaze in the dish so that
it's  about 1/4 inch deep, then scratch the glaze with a glass rod and
watch the crystalMagic.

SUDDENLY, it was all worth it.  {:-D>

Filter crystals out with funnel and coffee filter or buchner and vaccuum if
you're equipped.

The leftover E-A solvent is always crank-containing, so put it in a
stoppered bottle and ice chest, it should produce. Later, distill to
recycle solvents and 'work' the residue, it's high octane guarenteed.
Volatile solvents should be simple distilled, they'll never condense under
vaccuum.

As you may have guessed the cake dish method reeks of ether.

A less pungent method which should also yield immediate flake from pure
oil, is to have just enough methanol in the oil so that it can be handled
with a pipette or eyedropper.  Add dropwise to freezing E-A solution and it
should salt right out.  Filter as before.

The cake-dish method works with less pure oil, but not as well.

The only method I can think of for filtration, that does not create an
incarceratingly odiferous fumology, is the vaccuum flask set-up, the vapors
go down the stench tube through the  vaccuumPump.

 Never put E-A medium in the freezer because fumes can be ignited by
sparking relay or compressor motor which will result in rapid
dekitchenation.

It is now 'safe' to go back and work the remaining freebase oil.  You're
working without a 'net' though, so go easy.

If you go 'ooops, wayAcid' during the process and you've used up all your
freebase oil,  go all the way back to PH > 12, (step one), and start over.
 {:-(>

                                        -POPeye

It seems like all this life,
                Was just a dream


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