Resources for Soaping Math?

[tricia819]

I am taking a programming course and trying to create my own soap calculator for my final project. I will be able to figure out the programming part after a lot of this... :headbanging: but, I am having trouble finding a resource to explain the actual math behind the calculator... all my searching just brings up more calculators.

Does anyone know of some sources that would tell me how to calculate a recipe by hand? Preferably online sources but, I am not above picking up a book... or thirty! :mrgreen:

Thanks in advance!!

 

[Cellador]

I found this online. Maybe this would help?

https://www.thesoapkitchen.co.uk/acatalog/Guide-To-SAP-Values.html

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

There are many treads on here about it, but as a question have you considered entering a few 100% oil soaps in to a call to see what total lye amount comes out and compare that to the sap number to work out what the calculation is?

It's oil weight x sap number. The units of the oil then applies to the lye

 

[DeeAnna]

Lots of info about soap recipe calculations on the internet:
http://www.pureheartsoaponline.com/calculating-saponification-value-sap-chart-lye-safety.html
http://www.certified-lye.com/lye-soap.html
http://www.soap-making-resource.com/saponification-table.html

For more: Google "saponification calculations"
I hope you're learning about how to create and use arrays.

 

[tricia819]

Thanks all, for your suggestions! Sometimes, it all comes down to the right search terms...

Now to go and try to learn all the mathiness (and keep learning all the programmyness).

 

[BrewerGeorge]

What language?

 

[tricia819]

Response attempt #2 (first one was lost) SIGH!

JavaScript with AngularJS as a framework and Firebase for my database.

I was gonna try to recreate the functionality of Soap Calc but, clean up the site quite a bit but, then I found Soapee and realized that it had already been done.

Essentially, my app will be an expansion on Soapee (with everything decided on before I found Soapee and realized that I had been upstaged!)

I want to allow people to log in, calculate and save a recipe then, go in and update the notes and add photos. I would then like to allow people to pin their recipes to Pinterest.

At this point though, after seeing Soapee, I don't imagine that I will actually release mine since they have so much of what I wanted to do and they already have the name recognition. That said, I might do a psudo-release and let y'all know about it and you can let me know whether you would use it on a regular basis over all the other calculators. That way I know whether I should pay for the domain name and hosting going forward.

Right now, I think I am just planning to use it as a learning exercise and proof of concept for future employers to show them I know my stuff and what I can do.

 

[BrewerGeorge]

I'll tell you what I'd pay for is a stand-alone program that didn't require web access. I know SoapMaker is available, but it's $90. That's more than fair for what it does, but I don't need all the business features, or honestly even the inventory control features for hobby use. I'd pay $20-30 all day long for a stand-alone hobby program, but I don't want to spend the time to program it myself. If anybody else does, let me know. :mrgreen:

 

[DeeAnna]

I have a standalone recipe calc set up as a spreadsheet. I have done some programming in the past, so I suppose I might have gone that route, but I'm very rusty and I don't need a tightly controlled data-entry interface. I can make Excel bark and do other amazing tricks, however, so a spreadsheet calc was an easy choice for me.

 

[BrewerGeorge]

I have a standalone recipe calc set up as a spreadsheet. I have done some programming in the past, so I suppose I might have gone that route, but I'm very rusty and I don't need a tightly controlled data-entry interface. I can make Excel bark and do other amazing tricks, however, so a spreadsheet calc was an easy choice for me.

That sounds like a classic example of mis-using Excel when you should be using Access.

I'm totally teasing, of course because we ALL do that - if only because Excel is included in the basic Office distro and Access isn't. Last year I built a spreadsheet report for another department that was three times more complicated than a database would have been, just because they didn't have any seats for Access and I didn't want to run the report for them every day.

But yeah, if I were going to put one together for myself, I'd probably use Access. Then I think if I'm going to go to all that trouble, I should just use VB and make something salable. But I want to make soap on my off time, not program stuff, so I never get around to it. :think:

 

[tricia819]

I am going through a program called Launch Code which seeks to take people with little to no programming experience and eventually get them trained and placed in a programming job making (generally) much more money than they were before and thereby filling a lot of empty jobs and giving people a way to break into the field with a non-traditional education.

You go through a 6-7 month intensive boot-camp style evening course (so people with day jobs can learn at night) and learn all the basics, then spend another month or two (or sometimes longer, depending on your schedule) creating a program with lots of functionality and learning more on your own.

Launch Code then uses their connections to place "talent" into a 3 month apprenticeship with a company. The apprentice makes ~$15 per hour for the three month of the internship and then the company has the opportunity to hire an employee at a reasonable salary for them but a GREAT salary for most of us (~ $45-$50 thousand a year). And the company knows that we know the program, they know how we work and that we have been through a hell of a lot over the last year going from 0-60 at breakneck speed and that we are tenacious and vetted.

It is a great program. Hard as hell but, if you can stick with it and not give up and keep learning the whole time, it is a potentially life changing thing!!

Oh, and did I mention that the whole thing is free! It is a Not-For-Profit and students pay NOTHING!

 

[BrewerGeorge]

I am going through a program called Launch Code which seeks to take people with little to no programming experience and eventually get them trained and placed in a programming job making (generally) much more money than they were before and thereby filling a lot of empty jobs and giving people a way to break into the field with a non-traditional education.

You go through a 6-7 month intensive boot-camp style evening course (so people with day jobs can learn at night) and learn all the basics, then spend another month or two (or sometimes longer, depending on your schedule) creating a program with lots of functionality and learning more on your own.

The program then uses their connections to place "talent" into a 3 month apprenticeship with a company. The apprentice makes ~$15 per hour for the three month of the internship and then the company has the opportunity to hire an employee at a reasonable salary for them but a GREAT salary for most of us (~ $45-$50 thousand a year). And the company knows that we know the program, they know how we work and that we have been through a hell of a lot over the last year going from 0-60 at breakneck speed and that we are tenacious and vetted.

It is a great program. Hard as hell but, if you can stick with it and not give up and keep learning the whole time, it is a potentially life changing thing!!

That sounds awesome!

 

[DeeAnna]

"...I'm totally teasing...."

I have Access installed and can use it if need be, so your point (and your teasing) is well taken! :mrgreen: But I'm more comfortable with Excel since I use it a lot. I use one worksheet for the sap value database, another for the recipe calculations, and a third for the data entry form. I suppose I could also translate the spreadsheet into Visual Basic as well -- I used to teach VB, Access, and Excel to college freshman/sophomores, so I have a bit of a clue -- but I'm rusty and I don't have a lot of incentive to refresh my VB (or Access) skills for a one-off project.

So .... I'll just mosey along with my lil podunk spreadsheet, knowing full well I'm driving a Model T in the slow lane. But I get where I want to go just fine.

 

[cmzaha]

Lots of info about soap recipe calculations on the internet:
http://www.pureheartsoaponline.com/calculating-saponification-value-sap-chart-lye-safety.html

She mentions that a stronger lye concentration is more caustic and using vinegar to rinse splashes

 

[Susie]

Not to mention not knowing what soda ash is and that using distilled water will not eliminate it.

Also, it is a bad idea to mix your NaOH and water outside, as the chance of spilling is greater than the issue of the fumes. Just lean your head back and stir the NaOH in without being right over it. Also known as not breathing in the fumes.

Folks, there is a lot of bad info about soaping out there. The site linked above is no worse than others, but it is not better than others. If you just only read the part about the SAP values and the math needed, you will be fine. If you have questions about other things it says, come ask here. We will give you the truth.

 

[DeeAnna]

Urrrg. Thanks for pointing out these problems, Carolyn and Susie. I should have read her writing more carefully before suggesting it as a resource -- I was focusing on her calculations and didn't review the rest.

Seems like I'm eating crow a lot today. <...slinking off in embarrassment...>

 

[tricia819]

Urrrg. Thanks for pointing out these problems, Carolyn and Susie. I should have read her writing more carefully before suggesting it as a resource -- I was focusing on her calculations and didn't review the rest.

Seems like I'm eating crow a lot today. <...slinking off in embarrassment...>

No problem DeeAnna. I know enough to have picked out the problems they talked about and I am focused on the math here too. All is good! No need for embarrassment here.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I also made a lye calc in excel. I think for a pure "calc" with no saving features, a spreadsheet with drop down and lookups for the oils and sap values is much better than access. If you wanted it to do a lot more then access would be the better choice

 

[BrewerGeorge]

I also made a lye calc in excel. I think for a pure "calc" with no saving features, a spreadsheet with drop down and lookups for the oils and sap values is much better than access. If you wanted it to do a lot more then access would be the better choice

Agreed. I was thinking of saving recipes and individual batches with notes and such.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

At college we had to make a catering control system for a hospital with inventory control, patient meal selection and so on.......IN EXCEL! Now that is misuse of Excel - but it was just to prove that we could. Or that our lecturer hated us