soapmaker 3?

Soapmaking Forum

Help Support Soapmaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Jun 18, 2013
Messages
10,928
Reaction score
9,589
Location
Idaho, USA
Is anyone using soapmaker 3? I need to start keeping track of costs so I finally got it up and running. One thing I noticed a quite a big difference in lye amounts between it and soapcal, has this been a issue for anyone?
 
I do and it is the most useful software I ever had, I use it few times a day, You even have option to export recipe in different format for labels....... I could not survive without it
FB have a support group for the software where Crawford Woodman, the creator gives advice and help
 
I use Soapmaker3 pro and love it. There is a difference in the lye amounts from SoapCalc. I usually go with the lye amounts from SoapCalc. I use the Soapcalc lye amount to adjust the lye percentage in Soapmaker. I love Soapmaker for keeping track of my supplies, costs and for storing recipes.
 
I downloaded it a few weeks ago and am still getting it set up. I'm hoping to have everything ready for the start of the new year.

My biggest issue has to do with lye amounts. Right now I calculate everything in a spreadsheet with the SAP values provided by my suppliers. As a result, I've had to do like lsg; I tweak the SF in SM3 until the amounts match my files. This gets complicated because I also test my NaOH for purity, and I can't set a purity % for NaOH in SM3 (like you can for KOH).

And then comes the issue with duel-lye bars. I have to use the Cream Soap settings, but again, I can't set the NaOH purity. It's taking a lot of fiddling to enter my bar soap recipe so that the amounts come out close to what I'm used to.
 
the only time I use different calculator is when I use double lye. ie 95 Naoh 5 KOH in SM3 it will be 94 parts Naoh to 6 parts KOH in cream soap. So right now I use only SM3. I have very consistent results using SM
 
Last edited:
I've used it since approximately the first week it came out as a beta test, and at the time was Soapmaker 2.1
I never really used soapcalc, so never really noticed a huge difference in lye amounts, but it is something some people have brought up.
If you use Facebook, there is a support group run by the man who created the software and it's very helpful troubleshooting any problems you may have.
 
I have soapmaker 3 and love it.
It is SAP values for lye are different to soapcalc.
I compared the two and just use the percentage lye concentration in SM3 that matches my soapcalc preferences rounded up. You get used to the change eventually.

I don't worry about changing the purity of NaOH. The slight difference doesn't seem to make a difference to the final soap. Dual lye in SM3 uses a different amount of KOH than soapee but it makes a nice soap so I stick with it.

It is so very easy to work out how much each bar costs!

There is a fantastic support group on facebook where you can ask questions and get almost instant responses and also responses from the maker of SM3.
PM me you need a reference.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/SM3Support/
 
I downloaded it a few weeks ago and am still getting it set up. I'm hoping to have everything ready for the start of the new year.

My biggest issue has to do with lye amounts. Right now I calculate everything in a spreadsheet with the SAP values provided by my suppliers. As a result, I've had to do like lsg; I tweak the SF in SM3 until the amounts match my files. This gets complicated because I also test my NaOH for purity, and I can't set a purity % for NaOH in SM3 (like you can for KOH).

And then comes the issue with duel-lye bars. I have to use the Cream Soap settings, but again, I can't set the NaOH purity. It's taking a lot of fiddling to enter my bar soap recipe so that the amounts come out close to what I'm used to.
I was wondering if you could elaborate on that going from a spreadsheet to a program. I don't really know the difference because I got it to calculate everything from recipe percentages to calculating price of all goods. The only thing it doesn't do is print labels like another comment said about the program. Everything is going smooth with me too doing it that way, I was just wondering if I was missing out on something?
 
SoapCalc calls for a little more lye than SoapMaker3. I always fiddle with the lye percentages in SoapMaker until I get the same amount as in SoapCalc. Once the recipe is saved in SoapMaker there is no problem, just print it out and make the soap.
 
One of the things that's confusing me in SM3 is water discount... what is it?? I'm used to SoapCalc and it uses different terminology.

Just use the Lye Solution strength. That's the equivalent to Lye concentration in soap calc.
I think the water discount is like using water as a % of oils in soap calc.

Lye discount is equivalent to Super Fat.
 
Back
Top