Sciencemadness Discussion Board

How should I set up my lab, and what equipment should I get?

chemist0612 - 26-11-2019 at 05:41

I will soon be able to buy a lot of glassware, so I was wondering what I should get.

Ubya - 26-11-2019 at 06:05

always the same question, always the same answer: it depends on what you want to do.

are you into organic chemistry? inorganic? explosives? etc etc etc
i could tell you to buy a an essential oil extractor setup, but if you don't do essential oil extractions what's the point?

without any information about your intentions apart from "buying stuff" we can't give you any useful advise.

buy some beakers and flasks, dimensions? type? dunno it depends what you need them for.

if you are just beginning go for general purpose stuff, like a distillation setup from ebay for 30$, it can serve you for many things. buy a heating source, a mantle or a hotplate, i suggest a hotplate as it can be used for more things (a stirring hotplate*).
test tubes are good to try a reaction before going to "big" scale.
if you are going to use volatiles often build/buy a fume hood, working outside is ok but can't be always done.
give us more information on what you would lime to perform first

vibbzlab - 26-11-2019 at 06:11

http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=154325...

For chemicals you can check out my homelab stocklist. I will be getting new supplies by next February. I am Saving now for hotplate and other stuff

chemist0612 - 26-11-2019 at 06:24

Quote: Originally posted by Ubya  
always the same question, always the same answer: it depends on what you want to do.

are you into organic chemistry? inorganic? explosives? etc etc etc
i could tell you to buy a an essential oil extractor setup, but if you don't do essential oil extractions what's the point?

without any information about your intentions apart from "buying stuff" we can't give you any useful advise.

buy some beakers and flasks, dimensions? type? dunno it depends what you need them for.

if you are just beginning go for general purpose stuff, like a distillation setup from ebay for 30$, it can serve you for many things. buy a heating source, a mantle or a hotplate, i suggest a hotplate as it can be used for more things (a stirring hotplate*).
test tubes are good to try a reaction before going to "big" scale.
if you are going to use volatiles often build/buy a fume hood, working outside is ok but can't be always done.
give us more information on what you would lime to perform first


I wanted to be able to eventually make explosives but I also want to work on organic and inorganic chemistry at first. Most likely glass beakers and flasks, and also the dimensions would be 24/40.
Edit: Also, I am actually just beginning, sorry if I do or say something wrong.

[Edited on 26-11-2019 by chemist0612]

Ubya - 26-11-2019 at 06:33

get small glassware then, if you want to play with explosives, you want to make them in small scale, less than a gram scale.
5ml to 250ml beakers and flasks should be ok. get a good thermometer and learn to use it.
use appropriate vessels to store your chemicals, glass is optimum, but for explosives go with plastics, if they detonate they wont create deadly shrapnel.

http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=22554 take a look at this and be safe

chemist0612 - 26-11-2019 at 06:35

Alright, thank you.

chemist1243 - 27-11-2019 at 19:38

assuming you want organic chemistry equipment and chems, heres some essentail materials that youll need to carry out alot of reactions. ill provide links.

as for glassware, start with this, assuming you have the money:

https://www.amazon.com/New-Organic-Laboratory-Glassware-Unit...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5 500ml beakers

4 1000ml beakers

5 250ml beakers

5 100ml beakers

5 100ml erlynmier flasks

4 250ml erlynmier flasks

15 glass stoppers

2 glass thermometers

hotplate

stirbar

5 universal chemistry clamps

3 A-frame stands(for the clamps)

250ml seperatory funnel
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
as for chemicals?

well, i can only really give you some catylists and reagents to choose because the main reactants depend entirely on what your trying to do.

any ways, get:

HCl(muriatic aicd)

H2SO4(aka sulfuric acid, found in drain cleaners. get the right one. do your research)

NaOH(also found as drain cleaner)

acetone(paint thinner, again, research.)

toluene(paint thinner)

naphtha(painter thinner)

KNO3(found in spectracide stump remover, if you wanna make HNO3 for energetic material production)

KOH(this shit is dirt cheap, its like NaOH but works a better for some things. youll need it at some point. buy it online)

ethanol(buy this online, usually you need either 100% ethanol or 95.6%. either way your not gonna find that anywhere else)

urea(buy online, you can use this to make hydrazine sulfate which is extremely useful for making azide intermediates and azides as well as many other things)

baking soda(useful for neutralizing acids. always have a backup)

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as you get a feel for things, youll start to know how much of each material you need, depending on how much you usually use. again, for most reactions you need at least one of these as a catylist, but for most reactions you need specific precursers, which youll have to find out how to get when the time comes. have fun.




chemist0612 - 28-11-2019 at 12:32

Chemist1243, thanks for the information. I should be able to get most of the items you mentioned. If you would be willing to help me out, you can U2U me and I will surely respond.