soap making machine

Exactly! Absolutely defeats the purpose of handmade.
Frankly, if people want machine made detergent soap just direct them to the detergent isle at the shops.

Once you have heaps of experience it is possible to make a lot of cp soap quickly - make large batches, but its not for the feint hearted.

OK, after looking at the choices of machines they offer, I think that particular machine takes milled soap and presses it into bars. It contains a "worm" that moves material from one end to the other, and I am pretty sure I see a portion that could be where soap shavings could be pressed, possibly through a die of some sort, then cut behind it. I could be wrong, but they offer mixing machines and other things, so I don't think this is the "pour ingredients in one end and get soap out the other" machine the OP was hoping for. I think this is one portion of a factory set up.

kylie_au said:

Exactly! Absolutely defeats the purpose of handmade.
Frankly, if people want machine made detergent soap just direct them to the detergent isle at the shops.

Click to expand...

If you are putting in soap ingredients, you won't get detergent coming out the other side.

I think what needs to be said is simply, and without outrage or slurs: "This forum deals with handmade soap, not machine-produced, so your questions will best be answered in other places." With lots of smiley faced good cheer, because in no way does someone producing machine made soap elsewhere have an effect on your small hand-made market, which is a totally different client base.

I think the best bet would be the call the company that makes the machine. There is probably some kind of manual available, and perhaps it contains recipes?

businesswise - you may want to consider some kind of contract or something. If you make this large outlay and this person decides not to buy your soap, what happens then?

I would like to point out that one person gave advice to make your soap from the cheapest oils you can find (or something to that extent). I would say that you need to consider your goals. First, is your goal to have fun (hobby) or to eventually start a business? If it's the latter, then you will want to find practice making soaps that fit your niche. Why make soaps with a particular ingredient that would never be acceptable with your ideal customer? However, finding your niche in business is a whole other aspect. Right now it sounds like you need to experiment. When I started, I browsed the Internet for other people's top ten selling soaps and looked at which ones interested me. That helped me learn what types of soaps that appeal to me and then give me a start on the research of how to make a soap with, say, goats milk. I have also found that it's better to find as much info as you can through articles, than through a forum because articles won't attack you should you unknowingly offend someone with your questions. Only when you can't find an article written about it, come here.

As far as *I* am aware, there are no machines that allow you to put ingredients in one end, and finished bars come out the other. There ARE different types of milling and extruding machines that cost a great deal. But you will have to have a great deal of "raw", un-milled soap material on hand to feed into those machines, and they seem wasteful to me.

If your benefactor is looking at large scale production, he needs to know that you must start small, and build your way up. Very few things work well going all out first. He may be better off investing that money in mixers, drying racks and molds. But you won't know until you get started, what will work best for you.

Depending on your location, you may need to inform your benefactor that starting small is in HIS best interests -- if HE sells it, HE bears the liability if someone is harmed. Besides, starting small gives him a chance to build up anticipation and interest in your soap! I suspect he is looking at machinery so he can immediately have volume -- and he needs a reliably quality product before he can up the volume. As we say here in the US, "he is putting his cart in front of his horse". (He has things in the wrong order of operation.)

fuzz-juzz, I had to laugh at your comment about English usage. I have a friend from the UK, and I discovered quickly that in the UK, US, Canada, & Oz, we may all speak "English", but we are NOT all speaking the same language! All y'all would laugh at my Texas drawl.

Dory, I speak German, too. I bet your Viennese is different from the Tyrolese I heard in Salzburg! And trust me, only the Swiss speak Schweitzer Deutsch! I spoke in my reasonably fluent Hoch Deutsch, and they answered in English. :wink: Ganz genau!

Good Luck, waisbrod! Keep us posted.
~Honey Lady~

well, as i researched more about those machines, i found out that its not even close to what i had in mind.. i just wanted to make handmade soaps with some sort of machine that would reduce human error. turns out there is none, maybe should invent
for now my plan is making CP in very large batches, i looked up for all the things i need and with some time and effort, it can be done. until than im just trying out many recipes by my budget. who is quite low actually. so that means many of palm oil, less on olive and coconut.
im going to build my self a big mold, soap cutters and more.
i already told my benefactor that i will also need a budget for experimenting and having fun with new things.
he is due to come to meet with me next month, so i will already have many samples for him.
thank you everyone for your willingness to help me, warms my heart to find good people that will help and ask nothing in return.
will keep you guys posted

I want to comment so bad. But it would not help.

We just had a similar thread about soaping / selling too soon. Good luck people.

Waisbrod, I don't know how large you intend your batches to be, but you may be interested in seeing what's involved. Here are a couple of videos of a young woman who makes larger batches.

http://youtu.be/q6fjQDgpiy8?list=UUMsQ78CkU5UtkA73jGcom3A

http://youtu.be/PS8HEAUaNwg?list=UUMsQ78CkU5UtkA73jGcom3A

To add a couple more videos about large-scale production to Navigator's list:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_aYS3jOPe8[/ame]
and
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIP4Ml1VeeE[/ame]

Speaking from an engineering point of view, the process to make CP soap is far too complicated to do in a single machine. The videos of medum-scale soap making are proof of this.

I do soap for fun, but sometimes it comes out not as supposed, though it looks very fancy. as from engineer's point of view(I am an engineer) I would like to see "the machine" if anyone can provide a photo/link/video. it is interesting for me to understand what was meant by an equipment for 1000$, it may seem big money but I cannot think of a real equipment for so little money. So maybe it is still a device to make the hand soap making somewhat easier or productive...

I believe he was referring to machines like below. These are not $1000 machines these are tens of thousands.

The OP said in Post 67 that after some research, the machine is not what he/she thought it was.

You'll not find an all-in-one machine that takes oils and lye in one end and finished soap out the other. It's just not practical from a materials engineering and process engineering point of view. It is the rough equivalent of mashing your refrigerator, oven, mixer, stove, and kitchen sink into a single gadget. Sure, it might be possible, but is it practical?

The "all in one" machines I've read about do something quite different -- you pour ready-made soap noodles or flakes into a hopper at one end and the machine spits finished bars out the other, sometimes even wrapped. That's much more practical to do in a single machine.

edit: Susie's pics show examples of what I'm talking about -- these look like they are machines to mix the soap with fragrance, etc. followed by extruding the soap into a ribbon or other shape. The process can be extended by bolting on yet more machinery to cut bars from the extruded ribbon and packaging the bars.

I'm new to making soap, but not to learning about it. I've spent every spare moment I've had for the past four years learning about soap. I've read four books (more than once),read countless blogs and forums, and logged more time on YouTube than I'll ever admit! Haha! I can understand why you all get offended at someone trying to make money quickly off soap. Soap making is an art. It's something from the heart, something you all do been with monetary loss. My two cents on this thread is this....if you're looking to mass produce, then consistency should be a consideration. A machine an make a consistent product only if given consistent ingredients. Without using your chosen ingredients on a snake scale many times, you cannot be sure you will have consistency in the final product. The same oils from different suppliers behave differently, same for fragrance oils and even lye. It won't be to your advantage to start big. You must find consistent and trusted sources for ingredients first. That requires starting small, or your losses will be big. Good luck in your endeavors! Don't be discouraged! Soap makers have a deep love and respect for their art, and don't want to see anyone consider it as a get rich path. After all, it's the goal of making money that eradicated the homemade soap, in favor of mass produced detergent bars, anyway!


Sent from my iPhone using Soap Making App....love this app!

Oh my goodness! The typos in my post! Small scale, not snake scale! Haha


Sent from my iPhone using Soap Making App....love this app!

judymoody said:

Canola oil has a relatively short shelf life so I'd reduce that to 10-15% of the recipe and use olive oil for the balance. To check for lye heaviness you can do the zap test (wet your finger, run it along the soap, have a taste). If it tastes like soap and doesn't zap your tongue, it's good to go. Obviously check for even consistency with no lye pockets, crystals, or oozing oils. For new recipes, reserve at least one bar or a scrap end and label it so you can check its condition at 1 month, 2 months, 6 months, a year, to make sure your soap is not going to become rancid and to determine scent longevity.

Click to expand...

I haven't made soap yet (have had fun shopping though). Just last night I printed a chart of oil-shelf life-SAP-usage-oil properties-and attributes and I must say it felt good to read your post and recognize your canola post LOL (don't take much to thrill me) and
good idea to reserve a bar and take notes...thanks for that..