Keep getting pieces of the rubber stopper in my vial

[Bigbadwolf250]

Drives me nuts. About halfway through my vial I notice little bits of the rubber stopper floating around the vial then have to open a new vial and waste that one. What can I do to fix it or prevent this ? Use 18 g to withdraw

[xxblazenlowxx]

You could draw with a smaller needle, I use 21g.

Preloading syringes is also an option.

[Octaneforce]

Yep try a smaller needle. That 18g is also likely a blunt tip, so its really chewing up the stopper. Most oils will pull into needles as small as 23g. If you have a hard time, you can run the vial under warm water to get the viscosity down. This also helps when injecting.

[jstone]

If you havent tossed the old vials you can save the gear. If you still have it let me know. I will get you a list of what you need, and how to save it. Its very simple.

Stoppers also shouldn't break down that easy. Most doctors, and nurses will use 18g needles to draw up thick solutions. A stopper should be able to withstand quite a few punctures with an 18g needle. The stoppers might be slightly degraded if this is happening regularly. All sources should use silicone stoppers, but lots of labs use cheap rubber.

[< <Samson> >]

I always had this prob about 5 years ago - when all the UGL’s used those hard as a rock stoppers

[clarky.]

Rubber stoppers are crap, like already said use a smaller pin to draw, no need for a 18g. Nothing you can do about the rubber stoppers now so just use a smaller pin.

[Beetlegeuse]

There's an insertion technique that might prevent that. I think there's a video demonstrating it somewhere on this site but my google-fu is weak.

You know how the opening in the needle is beveled, right? Touch the needle to the rubber septum at a slight angle so the side with the opening is facing up. Closed side, down. Open side up.

Press down against the septum with just enough pressure to keep the tip from sliding, simultaneously pushing the needle sideways away from the opening. The needle should bend slightly without sticking any further into the septum. With the needle still bent, press through the septum. You can stop pressing sideways as soon as the tip is through the septum.



Excuse the crappy drawing. First, the tip of the needle opens a slit in the septum, which is relatively straight. Then the sideways pressure stretches the slit to form a wider hole, plus (because it's being bent) the tip of the needle will be sliding in slightly closed side first. The result is the slit opens wider and the needle has less a tendency to punch a round hole. Any bore larger than a slin pin should withstand a fair amount of bending before snapping.

EDIT:
Now that I've thought about it for a minute, the correct technique is to hold the needle horizontal to the vial with the opening facing up. Press the back side of the opening against the septum (opening facing up) to bend the needle. Keeping the needle bent, stand it up while pressing in. Should slide through without cutting a plug.

[Ashop]

Drives me nuts. About halfway through my vial I notice little bits of the rubber stopper floating around the vial then have to open a new vial and waste that one. What can I do to fix it or prevent this ? Use 18 g to withdraw

18-20G will ruin those stoppers fast. Use a fine pin to draw with.

[JohnnyBreeze]

If you wanted to try a smaller needle, I use BD Precisionglide 23g needles. They are thin walled so the inner diameter of the needle is larger. This allows more fluid to flow through while still maintaining the 23g outer diameter. I takes about 10 seconds for my Rx Test to draw 1/2ml with a 1ml syringe and a lot less for other brands that use less viscous oils. I’ve punctured Pharmacom’s Test Cyp bottle 40 times with them and had no damage to the stopper.

[i_SLAM_cougars]

Drives me nuts. About halfway through my vial I notice little bits of the rubber stopper floating around the vial then have to open a new vial and waste that one. What can I do to fix it or prevent this ? Use 18 g to withdraw

How many times are you stabbing that vial? It’s time to up the dose!!!

Seriously though, they must be using some shitty stoppers, because I draw with 18 & 20 gauge needles all the time and this doesn’t happen. Find a lab that uses silicone