Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Bought my first lot of glassware on Ebay

Hockeydemon - 26-2-2013 at 00:18

Hey everyone, a buddy and I just bought our first lot of glassware for our first lab (not a meth lab lol). We're just bored curious undergraduates.. We bought two lots of glassware online because they seemed decently enough priced. I only have pictures of the first lot because the second lot doesn't arrive for two days :).

The first lot was $130 (+45 shipping), but as you can see in the imgur album attached the sep funnel, and a few other misc. items were broken during shipping so the seller refunded us the $45.


I bought the two lots (I'll post the other lot later) hoping to part out the things I don't need to make some of my money back because I know (hope) the P1000 air displacement pipette is at least $60 ect.. I'm unfamiliar with some of this stuff too. I have no idea what a reagent sprayer is aside from the name's implication..


I attached a picture of the entire lot, and included a link to an imgur album with close up pictures of everything after it arrived.

http://imgur.com/a/t9WDW#0



[Edited on 26-2-2013 by Hockeydemon]

Hockeydemon - 7-3-2013 at 00:52

It's all finally starting to come together :). My heating mantle will be here tomorrow I hope, along with the last few pieces of glassware I need to have everything up and running.

I have a question about ventilation.. In the picture showing the desk about 1" above where the top of the picture ends is a window roughly the size of that entire desk. How far do you think a cheap $15 square house fan in the window would go if I built a cheap little wood box to focus the air flow?

Would it be better you think to entirely enclose the back of the fan and have a move-able air duct that would lead through to the window? As in enclose the back of the fan and bring the diameter down to something smaller that I can place over apparatus I construct.

There is also another window to the left of the desk, and a sliding glass door to the right of the desk should anything be to much for the fan..

I still haven't even gotten my largest lot of glassware yet :D

Doc B - 7-3-2013 at 02:19

Nice score, who was the EBay seller or is that a secret?

While its good you knocked $45 of the price, you might be cutting yourself a little short though if that's the end of the restorations. While $130 is a good price for all that glass, even including breakages, it will cost at least the $45 saved to replace the sep funnel alone. Being pretty critical to the work you will need one too. From what I can see of its remains it may still function as an open sep funnel if you tidy it up a little.

What are the other broken bits?

Regarding ventilation, definitely go with a hood. If you put retractable or removable curtains, of a suitable material, on it that can seal the desk you'd have a decent fumehood.

All in all looking very nice!

Hockeydemon - 7-3-2013 at 03:10

Quote: Originally posted by Doc B  
Nice score, who was the EBay seller or is that a secret?

While its good you knocked $45 of the price, you might be cutting yourself a little short though if that's the end of the restorations. While $130 is a good price for all that glass, even including breakages, it will cost at least the $45 saved to replace the sep funnel alone. Being pretty critical to the work you will need one too. From what I can see of its remains it may still function as an open sep funnel if you tidy it up a little.

What are the other broken bits?

Regarding ventilation, definitely go with a hood. If you put retractable or removable curtains, of a suitable material, on it that can seal the desk you'd have a decent fumehood.

All in all looking very nice!



I'm sure I am cutting myself a bit short by taking the $45, but I felt bad pressuring the guy to get me actual values from the insurance company because he sold the lot at it's reserve (I was the only bidder). He was nice enough about it, and I have another large lot of gear coming. The guy that sold it was psargent92, but he isn't a frequent seller on Ebay.

The sep funnel was the only thing worthwhile that broke, the other things were small, and I probably would never have used them..

I also have my second lot of glassware coming that was supposed to be here 2 weeks ago.. I really hope it is here by the end of the week. I paid $200 for this lot of things, and unfortunately the person selling really didn't know what the things were so I don't know everything that is in this lot..There are several sep funnels, in this lot so I didn't fret about losing the one in the first lot.. Here are the pictures of that auction though:

http://imgur.com/a/VytpM#4




I like the idea of retractable curtains for around the desk.. Any suggestions on what to make them out of/where to buy? Would I have anything to worry about if I used plexiglass for the front shield? A square house fan should suffice for the fan though? They're just WAY cheaper than fans designed for things like fumehoods..

radagast - 7-3-2013 at 10:03

That's a great set of glassware, probably worth much more than you paid for it. I see a lot of top-notch brands in there (Kimax, Kontes, etc.).

With respect to your questions re: fans, a regular box fan would probably be fine if you're doing small experiments without lots of solvent vapors, and if you're working with relatively harmless materials. A box fan moves a surprising amount of air, and I used one in my early days when I didn't have a proper fumehood.

The problem with box fans is that they don't shield the motor from any fumes (to my knowledge, at least), so if you have a high concentration of flammable vapors, you run the risk of starting a fire or explosion originating from the motor. For that reason, fumehoods sometimes use "squirrel fans", which run anywhere from $40-400 or higher.

With respect to a plexiglass front shield, that's probably fine, too, subject to the same disclaimers about toxic/flammable chems. Some of the small fumehoods used in biochem or forensic labs actually are completely constructed from plexiglass. My feeling is that these are more intended for weighing or mixing chemicals rather than heavy-duty synthesis, but it should work until you find something more suitable.

It always pays to have a Plan B if your fumehood stops working. I keep a gas mask around and always make sure the door is working. Plan C for me, at least, is to sprint out the door!

Hockeydemon - 7-3-2013 at 10:32

I went ahead and put together a scale version of what I'm working with in sketch-up. I attached a 2d image of it along with a link to the actual sketch-up file, and I exported it to whatever file format Google Earth uses so you can open it in that too!

Now that we know what I'm working with how would you suggest I implement a fan? I don't mind spending around $60 on a fan, or making one if I can.. I wonder how hard it would be to make a fan that oscillate a current to a couple magnets causing a fan to spin?

Anyways here is the picture:




Google Sketchup file:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2Ne9ObNwUIqNFhMNVJieTRqRHM/...

Google Earth file:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2Ne9ObNwUIqX2N5Qk93VVpPZmM/...

radagast - 7-3-2013 at 10:42

In my view, making a fan would be interesting but probably more trouble than it's worth, unless you have a really special application for it.

There are plenty of ways to implement a fan here, but this is just the way I'd approach it:

I'd build a box out of steel unistrut (or angled slots, if you're on a budget) with dimensions that fit the window, or at least enough of the window such that it covers the entire fan. You can use the stuff used for making shelves. They're durable, infinitely adjustable, and can hold a lot of weight.

If you just want a tiny fume hood for refluxing on microscale, you could make that box the size of the fan, and position the box as if it were an air-conditioner. (I assume that you don't have nearby neighbors). Or, if you want a larger hood that can contain a distillation apparatus, you could build a box the size of the window itself, and then seal off the back of the box such that only the fan is exposed to the outside air.

BTW, I love how all the Google sketch diagrams come with a woman striking a pose.

[Edited on 7-3-2013 by radagast]

Hockeydemon - 7-3-2013 at 12:11

Okay I took it a step further using your strut idea. I have two struts attached to the front and back sides of the desk, and a third strut against the wall..

I also have a couple of guide brackets (if thats what you want to call them) in front that allows me to slide a piece of plexiglass in if I'm doing something more dangerous..

Forgive the guide lines I forgot to delete them.

radagast - 7-3-2013 at 12:38

Looks like a good start to me.

You may want to look into surfacing the table with some ceramic tile or other inert surface, to contain any spills. All you have to do is chuck down a few pieces of 1/2" or 1/4" ceramic backing board onto a piece of plywood (or directly on the table, if you want), slap on some mortar, paste the tiles in place, and add some grout.

I'm a bit leery of using so much wood in a fumehood, given the potential for a fire, but you may be able to make it fire-resistant by adding on some cement backing board.

[Edited on 7-3-2013 by radagast]

Hockeydemon - 7-3-2013 at 16:32

What if I ditched the wood entirely and just used Fiberglass Reinforced Polyester panels? Or do you think I'd need to use an adhesive to apply it to the wood?

The stuff isn't expensive, seems to be commonly used..

Hockeydemon - 18-6-2013 at 03:11

When I started collecting gear a few months ago I had what was depicted in the pictures above. Since March I've grown my gear quite a bit, and moved into a MUCH more appropriate house for science, and now have an appropriate area to set up my lab. I figured I'd share it since I just unpacked all of my stuff yesterday (since moving into my new house).



Under the tables are going to be shelves for all of my gear. It is just on top because I just unpacked everything, and the shelves haven't been installed yet. There is some other misc stuff that I couldn't fit on the table, but you still get the to see how far my little hobbyist laboratory has come :)

plante1999 - 18-6-2013 at 03:35

The picture is broken.

Hockeydemon - 18-6-2013 at 03:46

Quote: Originally posted by plante1999  
The picture is broken.


Imgur is just fucking up. Their website keeps dropping in and out of service when I was trying to hop on to see why.

Here is the direct link if you still are unable to see it.

[Edited on 18-6-2013 by Hockeydemon]

Fantasma4500 - 18-6-2013 at 04:45

sa youre new i suggest you test the differences between paper and cloth filter as in filter time and efficiency
best thing i ever did was to start using cloth filters
runs straight through instead of 1 drop every 5 seconds
really nice set tho
you might wanna get some storage containers aswell
for powders a simple way is to cut a plastic bag into a triangle then fill in whatever powder you want to store, cut the top off a plastic bottle and then put it in there, then you can stack the plastic bags wrapped right pretty much without air
much cheaper than getting vials and all for each little compound you might wanna save

also for the table you might want to add some layer of plastic so its easier to clean up
metal oxides on wood is nearly impossible to remove

Hockeydemon - 18-6-2013 at 05:03

Quote: Originally posted by Antiswat  
sa youre new i suggest you test the differences between paper and cloth filter as in filter time and efficiency
best thing i ever did was to start using cloth filters
runs straight through instead of 1 drop every 5 seconds
really nice set tho
you might wanna get some storage containers aswell
for powders a simple way is to cut a plastic bag into a triangle then fill in whatever powder you want to store, cut the top off a plastic bottle and then put it in there, then you can stack the plastic bags wrapped right pretty much without air
much cheaper than getting vials and all for each little compound you might wanna save

also for the table you might want to add some layer of plastic so its easier to clean up
metal oxides on wood is nearly impossible to remove


It is actually an aluminum table top - though that is significantly worse haha. I was actually thinking about coating it in that new NeverWet material that I posted about under Whimsy. I will also look into getting some cloth filters.

As for reagent bottles I have quite a few - they just aren't in frame. I bought a huge log from Dr.Bob

Leetage - 20-6-2013 at 21:46

looks great!

how much did that set you back by?

Hockeydemon - 20-6-2013 at 22:30

Quote: Originally posted by Leetage  
looks great!

how much did that set you back by?


Roughly $800 including many things not in frame. I paid $200 for my heating mantle, $200 for most of my glassware, $200 to misc reagent bottles, and a bunch of connectors ect from Dr . Bob and $200 for misc random things like my respirator/lab coat. Though honestly I'm well over 1k if i factor everything in.