Jo Ann Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 I have been using soapcalc 9 for bringing together my recipes. today i tried soapsheet cuz i finally got office. my question is this...the lye and water don't match up between the two.for 3 pounds: water ... lye (in ounces)soapcalc .......18.24 .... 6.693soapsheet ... 20.4 ...... 6.1and i can't tell what the superfatted is on soapsheet, its 6% on soapcalc (at my choosing) I like the idea of soapsheet, but it has a few confusing features.another one is that the percent of other ingredients stays at 0 cuz i can't see how you would add other ingredients to change it.any opinions on the two or which is better? or maybe you know what I don't understand that makes soapsheet a bit confusing for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CareBear Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 You will see that to a degree with all lye calculators.There's a lot of leeway on the water, so that doesn't concern me. As for the lye, well the actual SAPs for the oils is a RANGE and different calculators use a different number within the range for their calculations. But without knowing what the superfat is I cannot tell what is going on - it could be as simple as soapsheet using a higher level. If it helps, I use soapcalc.com all the time and trust it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo Ann Posted January 21, 2008 Author Share Posted January 21, 2008 yeah, i really like soapcalc, except it doen't save everything on the soap, and you can only save 4 recipes at a time. but i just found a newer version of the soapsheet and will check it out. i just wish there was a way to be able to save soapcalc better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo Ann Posted January 21, 2008 Author Share Posted January 21, 2008 hmmmm....the newer one is nice EXCEPT the water amount is way off. instead of around 18.2 oz, its 9 oz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo Ann Posted January 21, 2008 Author Share Posted January 21, 2008 i think i will just have to make an excel sheet just to keep track of my recipes....i will stick with soapcalc and copy my info in to excel for saving.also soapcalc allows you to go by percentages.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo Ann Posted January 21, 2008 Author Share Posted January 21, 2008 well for the new soapsheet3 to come close to soap calc, you have to make the DWCP% at 27%i am not sure what to do with the superfatted oil section, cuz if you put oils in there it changes everything...so i ignored it and put all oils under the regular oil list. i am not sure if its supposed to be in both places. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CareBear Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 Don't know squat about soapsheet 3, but don't mess around with superfatting oils. Just include ALL your oils in the mix and calculate a superfat % on the whole recipe. NO point in calculating it separately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo Ann Posted January 21, 2008 Author Share Posted January 21, 2008 well i messed with it a bit and i think that the section for superfatting was for fyi. it didn't really change anything. i pretty much have it set up to come to the same results as soapcalc i think i will try a few more of my other recipes in it to see how close they come out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TAS Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 yeah, i really like soapcalc, except it doen't save everything on the soap, and you can only save 4 recipes at a time. but i just found a newer version of the soapsheet and will check it out. i just wish there was a way to be able to save soapcalc better.Jo AnnI agree about the saving bit and Soap Calc. If you want to save a recipe on your desktop this is what I do. With your Soap Calc window open, and your recipe all figured out, I select the Print command, but instead of printing I find the PDF button in the dialog box and select it. Your recipe will be saved in PDF or Jpg format. You will not be able to change it, but you will have a record of it for reference.TAS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swamp_deb Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 TAS you are much smarter that I am, I wouldn't have thought of saving my recipes that way. I use soapmaker program http://soapmaker.ca/ there is a thirty day free trial and I thought it worth the price to be able to calculate the costs of each recipe. I do still check out some recipes in soapcalc, I just don't save them there. The spreadsheet, I haven't tried at all and I'm sure that I would be totally lost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faye_SC Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 Go here and download the soap making program, I use this and it is way cool.http://www.soapmaker.ca/index.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TAS Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 DebI got Soapmaker and love the features that it has. Since I started with Soap Calc I am really comfortable with it and use it to generate my recipes, then transfer them to Soapmaker. Since I am on a Mac I have to switch between the Mac side :tiptoe: over to the PC side - Soapmaker only works in the PC universe. I find everything easier on the Mac side....TAS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo Ann Posted January 21, 2008 Author Share Posted January 21, 2008 thanx Taz...my next puter (when i can actually afford it) will be a mac. I hate Vista...and my puter only came with the bare bone vista and i am not paying a hundred bucks to upgrade it to the home version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TAS Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 Macs aren't perfect but they sure are easy. I keep telling my PC friends that I'm not smart enough to use a PC. I do have a duel core Mac - which lets me into the PC Universe. I got it because I wanted to use Soapmaker. I have to say I struggle in that universe. Just my inability to understand the hoops necessary. :lipsrseal Am a point and click girl..:rolleyes2 TAS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo Ann Posted January 21, 2008 Author Share Posted January 21, 2008 i am very puter savy, been messing with them since 1978 in college. and only moved to windows out of necessity...software. i prefered OS2 from IBM and Linus...but all the programs i liked where windows compatible..sighbut i am definitly gonna try the print and save thing. soapsheet 3 calculates cost and you can add oils. which is nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo Ann Posted January 21, 2008 Author Share Posted January 21, 2008 drats, i am not able to send the file to pdf via printer, only vista supplied one note that i have to buy. sheese. try to add something to the printer but it didn't work. sigh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topofmurrayhill Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 There's something to be said for making things work just the way you want. It took me only a few hours to create a lye calculator in Excel. That included importing Columbus Foods SAP values to create a lookup table and making everything pretty.The next day I had it figuring the cost of making a batch, plus added a calculator to help with Select Shades. It's formatted so I can bring the entire plan to the soaping bench and have everything at my fingertips, including colors and swirl portions.SoapCalc may seem mysterious, but it's super-simple arithmetic that's a snap to put into a spreadsheet. I haven't duplicated the soap qualities yet, but even that part is simple. Those numbers are just percentages of certain fatty acids in the recipe.So if you feel comfortable with Excel, you might want to try your hand at a lye calculator. Over time you can add things according to how you work. I've been doing this for a long time for my candlemaking and I wouldn't trade those spreadsheet for any software on the market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo Ann Posted January 22, 2008 Author Share Posted January 22, 2008 So if you feel comfortable with Excel, you might want to try your hand at a lye calculator. Over time you can add things according to how you work. I've been doing this for a long time for my candlemaking and I wouldn't trade those spreadsheet for any software on the market.i was thinking of it...set it up and have my husband do the calc's i am no good at math whats so ever and i can never get calcs in excel right sigh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruina Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 With your Soap Calc window open, and your recipe all figured out, I select the Print command, but instead of printing I find the PDF button in the dialog box and select it. Your recipe will be saved in PDF or Jpg format. You will not be able to change it, but you will have a record of it for reference.TASTAS you're a genius! That worked great. Thanks for the tip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo Ann Posted January 22, 2008 Author Share Posted January 22, 2008 what i am doing right now is using my graphics program to capture soapcalc in two pix and then putting them together as one pix and then saving them as a jpg. so far so good. they print out nice and clear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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