Tour My Lab

Hello everyone- for those that haven't seen the website- here are the pictures of the Ozonelabs lab, with its new fume hood!

Sigh.. Beautifull! Indeed, it's a cleevr idea the bolts.

I was thinking of using a screw-in bolt in the inner guide, so that the sash can be blocked at any hight with the srews "pushing" it against the other side on the inner guide... Although I'm scared it might damage after a while, or loose it's grip (don't want to get my head choppe doff by my sash one day ).

I take it the hood is entirely home-made? you also did one hell of a job... I envy you guys.

Quote:

Originally posted by KluteAlthough I'm scared it might damage after a while, or loose it's grip (don't want to get my head choppe doff by my sash one day ).

Indeed But on some occasions you do (filling the solvent trap with LN, moving that clamp near the bottom, getting that bloody little stopcock that bouced to the corner of the hood, ..) , and I'm sure that's the moment the sash would coose to fall down

I find myself sticking my head into my hood when setting up equipment, removing equipment, and cleaning.

Finally I got to make some pictures of my lab.
Here below the fumehood.
It is 100cm width and 50cm deep and 100cm high.
There is still going to be a metal tray in the bottom which covers like the whole bottom for spilages.

The sash is 50cmx100cm and is movable up and down (ofcourse) and will stay at its place by the counter weight which can be seen at the back threw the polycarbonate glass.
Another 50x100cm piece of polycarbonate is mounted to the front which is not movable.

Improvment would be to buy a slideable window which can be mounted to the front.

At the moment the fan is unsufficient as it takes 88m3/h but it is sparkless!
More pictures of the rotary evaporator etc will follow.


Here my glassware as far is it fitted on the picture:


[Edited on 11-9-2008 by DNA]

[Edited on 11-9-2008 by DNA]

[Edited on 11-9-2008 by DNA]

He he my time to show off my my latest aquisitions:

40 year old Buchi Rotavap, in perfect condition! 50 euros!




And a 1967 single pan mechanical beam mettler scale! Also in perfect condition, and also for 50euros!


Unfortuanly, these two precious items won't be used right now... but it was such a good occasion that I just couldn't not buy them... I've been dreaming of a rotavap for years, and only expected to get one after several years of savings...

For any frenchies living in the south, there is a second Buchi Rotavap for sale routhly at the same price, but withotu the water bath. A bit dusty, but in excellent conditions and no cracks whatsoever. PM me if you are interested! (No shipment though, that would be risky and very expensive)

Ozonelabs has also recently acquired a Buchi!



[Edited on 1-11-2008 by Ozonelabs]

Can you tell me what Ozonolabs is? Is it a company? Or are you just an individual calling yourself Ozonelabs so you can buy at the big companies ?

Ozonelabs is actually the collective name for a pair of chemists that have been practicing Organic Chemistry for several years Its all detailed on our website!

Why do you think so many reactions have german names?!

Very nice!

How have you acquired all those chemicals?

Is the large plastic bottle on the left in the picture 'caustics' hydrofluoric acid?

although currently building my lab is in progress, i am glad to show my apparatus to everybody.
all apparatus or glasswares i bought are domestic products. because it's good enough for use and more significantly it is not expensive.

my rotary evaporator bought one month ago，easy to use, convenient for shipment as well as high quality.

[Edited on 29-1-2009 by biotech7]

water circulated vacuum pump,corrosion-proof , easy to maintain. it is useful for evaporate low boiling point solvents.

this kind of pump can also reach high vcuum degree which is enough for low boiling point solvents evaporation.

[Edited on 29-1-2009 by biotech7]

i don't like furnace heating. so i designed a special heating apparatus below.
it is composed of Single-phase voltage regulator(contact type, maximum power=3000W, rated current=10A), stainless Steel cookware（plus stainless steel heating cycle） and dimethyl silicone oil( viscosity=500 cs). it can be heated from rt to 300℃.

[Edited on 30-1-2009 by biotech7]

yesterday i bought a refrigerator for chemicals storage. a total of 50L volume---belonging to mini ones.

@stoichiometric_steve: Only one thing in this thread needs the qualification "shitty" and that is your post !

the new deal

watch and freeze.

yes! wood is awesome. as is the wooden fume hood

Unvarnished wood sucks big time for a bench when I get a chance Ill post some pictures to back up what Im saying. My bench was pressed wood so a little spill and it swells up horribly.

Moral of the story if wood is the way to go make sure liquids are not going to make it thought

Time for some update now.

This was the setup in June 2008, as seen in my previous post on this topic:


http://www.elisanet.fi/vili/labra/labra1.jpg

http://www.elisanet.fi/vili/labra/labra2.jpg

http://www.elisanet.fi/vili/labra/labra3.jpg

Now the evolution has led to this point (it's a bit messy here, my apologies):


http://www.elisanet.fi/vili/labra/alakerta32.jpg

http://www.elisanet.fi/vili/labra/alakerta33.jpg

http://www.elisanet.fi/vili/labra/alakerta34.jpg

http://www.elisanet.fi/vili/labra/alakerta35.jpg

Magpie: Thanks. The lab is almost an underground one, being 2 ft (60 cm) above the ground level, just enough to have a small window to let some sunshine in.

The room is originally habitable. A single-room flat which is now a part of my mother's apartment. Located in the basement next to bathroom and sauna. (Labs usually got emergency showers, but having an emergency sauna for relaxation during massive series of syntheses...?)

The hood is commercially made. Cost 100 EUR. I did some modifications to the original plumbing and renewed the electrical installations.

HC: Thanks. I haven't actually worked there a lot until now. We've worked on some organic syntheses with a pair of friends who got a patent on isoquinoline derivatives. I have made some basic syntheses for fun and practice, supporting my chemistry studies.

I decided not to start doing chemistry until I've got the lab in an adequate condition for working. It took almost two years.

stateofhack: Thanks. This is an experiment of building a home lab. A project which kind of got out of hand.

Still a lot work to do. A stand for various distillation column assemblies, house vacuum (I'm fed up with separate noisy pumps), finishing of the pure water system (Elga reverse osmosis, 100 L pure water reservoir and ion exchange apparatus) which is now installed in the bathroom.

Well, maybe I should show a picture which goes back to year '97, when I was 12 years old and playing around with chemistry. Can you recognize the place?



http://www.elisanet.fi/vili/labra/nurkka.jpg

[Edited on 5-4-2009 by domaani]

Quote: Originally posted by domaani

Magpie: Thanks. The lab is almost an underground one, being 2 ft (60 cm) above the ground level, just enough to have a small window to let some sunshine in. The room is originally habitable. A single-room flat which is now a part of my mother's apartment. Located in the basement next to bathroom and sauna. (Labs usually got emergency showers, but having an emergency sauna for relaxation during massive series of syntheses...?) The hood is commercially made. Cost 100 EUR. I did some modifications to the original plumbing and renewed the electrical installations. HC: Thanks. I haven't actually worked there a lot until now. We've worked on some organic syntheses with a pair of friends who got a patent on isoquinoline derivatives. I have made some basic syntheses for fun and practice, supporting my chemistry studies. I decided not to start doing chemistry until I've got the lab in an adequate condition for working. It took almost two years. stateofhack: Thanks. This is an experiment of building a home lab. A project which kind of got out of hand. Still a lot work to do. A stand for various distillation column assemblies, house vacuum (I'm fed up with separate noisy pumps), finishing of the pure water system (Elga reverse osmosis, 100 L pure water reservoir and ion exchange apparatus) which is now installed in the bathroom. Well, maybe I should show a picture which goes back to year '97, when I was 12 years old and playing around with chemistry. Can you recognize the place? http://www.elisanet.fi/vili/labra/nurkka.jpg [Edited on 5-4-2009 by domaani]

Either ways very impressive! Hats of to you! This has got to be once of the nicest home labs i have ever seen!

I am jealous

Quote: Originally posted by domaani

Magpie: Thanks. Well, maybe I should show a picture which goes back to year '97, when I was 12 years old and playing around with chemistry. Can you recognize the place?

Quote: Originally posted by watson.fawkes

I have to say I find it amusing in a wry sort of way that you have this nice fume hood but haven't upgraded the sink. That is, unless you count the quick disconnect on the nozzle. Which I don't.

That's something I'll just have to cope with. If the place was mine, I would have ripped the original cabinets off. There's no point in that now, the whole lab is moving to another location within a scope of two years. Then you'll see

You were still very lucky to have that space when 12. many people still cant have that..

You are totally right about that undead--I don't even have an official "lab" space and I'm well over 12.

Our new CO2(l) cylinder for in house dry-ice production. Next to it is our O2 cylinder.



Our H2 cylinder next to our N2 cylinder. The N2 cylinder has been rigged so that Nitrogen is available on the main work bench and in the fume hood.

O3: You guys just love warning signs, don't you? Nice pics by the way - makes me jealous.

I'm considering investing in a cylinder of argon or nitrogen when I build my lab. Unfortunately Yara basically has monopoly on bottled gas in Norway, and their prices for the rent of the cylinder are just outrageous!

[Edited on 18-4-2009 by Lambda-Eyde]

If Ozonelabs ever gets inspected by the "authorities" those placards will probably be the most important item on their list.

I'm curious to know if Ozonelabs had any difficulty in buying a cylinder of hydrogen?

Quote: Originally posted by Magpie

those placards will probably be the most important item on their list.

A new addition: A flammables storage cabinet:

Quote: Originally posted by Mossydie

Is it basically a metal cabinet with holes in it that has been painted yellow with fire retardent paint? If so, wouldn't it be cheaper to make one?

Thanks for the info...there's always more behind such things that there seems to be

I've not set up my lab either. Its a project for the summer. But I have a nice stainless steel table that I got for free so I'm happy about that. So far I suspect I've probably spent about 1200 GBP - this has got me a buchi rotovap, ohaus milligram balance, a 1L heating mantle, a 250ml heating mantle, lots of glassware and my only chemical so far... 40g of lithium

I think I have spent quite a lot of money. For the fume hood, flammables safety cabinet and working bench (including tap water) together maybe 1000 EUR. But I recieved these as presents for high school graduation and 3x holiday present (didnt recieve a present for 3 years, as I didnt need anything). I know I am lucky on these

I have spend maybe 200 EURO on glasware, 100 EUR on a hotplate+stirrer and a 250mL mantle, and quite a lot on chemicals, I'm not sure how much.

Last half year I have hardly bought chemicals at all and mainly foccused on equipment, glasware and other things you need in a lab like disposables.
However, this weeks I will recieve my first large chem order again, wich incluses CCl4, As2O3, ethanol, ethyl acetate, and small amounts of other chemicals including lead acetate, sodium nitroprusside, acetonitril and some others.

Here you go everyone: a guided tour of my "lab"



Here's my bookshelf. From left to right: n-heptane, caclium hypochlorite, meths, methylbenzene, HCl, Na2Cr2O7, propanone, NaHCO3. There are some horrible histories magazines on the bottom shelf from when i read them 5 years ago, and havent bothered clearing them out yet



The upper shelf of my bookshelf. A test tube of ferricyanide in a glass, a beaker of FeCl3 with an empty test tube in it and some phenolphthalein



My bedside table. From front to back: a lot of spills, FeCl3, potassium ferricyanide, sulfuric acid and KOH



My cupboard. Lots of KNO3 and lots of GAA



The garden table. From left to right, 5M NH3, NaCl, an empty jar, a beaker of Ag2O, a lighter, H2SO4 and NaOH in a cereal pourer.




A random bottle of HNO3 sitting on the lawn




The shed. 25l of MeOH, some formic acid (40% and 100%) and some benzyl alcohol


More shed. Acetic acid 30% and NaHCO3


Random distillation still, also sitting on the lawn

[Edited on 5-6-2009 by pHzero]

Nice.

But really, do something about your storage. Bottles standing horizontally in the garden, lots of flammables and mess all over the place. Try to clean up a little and buy or pick up a cabinet from waste sites in wich you can nicely put your bottles away.

To be honest, even though I know your are not running a drug lab and you are really interested in science, it does LOOK like a meth lab. You should clean up and make sure you have a clean place.

By the way, that's a nice 3Kg of sodium dichromate You bought that from eBay right?

[Edited on 5-6-2009 by Jor]

[Edited on 5-6-2009 by Jor]

Quote: Originally posted by Jor

Nice. But really, do something about your storage. Bottles standing horizontally in the garden, lots of flammables and mess all over the place. Try to clean up a little and buy or pick up a cabinet from waste sites in wich you can nicely put your bottles away. To be honest, even though I know your are not running a drug lab and you are really interested in science, it does LOOK like a meth lab. You should clean up and make sure you have a clean place. By the way, that's a nice 3Kg of sodium dichromate You bought that from eBay right? [Edited on 5-6-2009 by Jor] [Edited on 5-6-2009 by Jor]

Quote: Originally posted by Ozonelabs

Ferricyanide and Sulphuric Acid on your BEDSIDE table? For the sake of your own health move them somewhere! Of all of the chemical combinations I wouldn't want next to me- that's gotta be up there. A winchester of Nitric Acid stored lying down, in the middle of your garden next to a brick. Sounds like an accident waiting to happen. Flammables next to acids... Please, keep all of your chemicals more safely. Wear goggles, gloves etc... We all have to start somewhere, but with everything around like that it could be that you aren't around for long enough to learn from your mistakes.

Quote: Originally posted by Ozonelabs

We all have to start somewhere, but with everything around like that it could be that you aren't around for long enough to learn from your mistakes.

looks like the garden table already learned a few lessons

nice collection, but definitely separate your chemicals. i'd be terrified if i left chemicals and lab glass out on the lawn i'd be raided in 24 hours tops and locked away for having a "meth lab". all it takes is suspicion, chemicals, and a half box of sudafed somewhere in your house and that's all they need. they don't care what's really going on, if you're interested in chemistry you're automatically a meth cook in LEO's eyes. be careful, f'ed up but true

Quote: Originally posted by panziandi

pHzero - I am shocked and amazed. The nitric acid sideways on the lawn is what jumped out at me, most idiotic and dangerous. As is a large bottle of concentrated sulphuric acid by the bed. I used to keep a few chemicals in my bedroom but they certainly were not chemicals that when accidentally dropped onto the floor would spew out HCN! Please Please Please do SOMETHING. Get a filing cupboard, plastic storage boxes with lids etc. Store your chemicals, download MSDS read and familiarise yourself with where each should be stored. Just because acetic acid is corrosive, as is nitric acid, do not store them on the same shelf together in a corrosives cabinet, etc. And store them preferably in your garage or outhouse, shed or garden tool cabinet (can get them in Argos etc would make a nice outside storage facility) I expect DJF90 will attack soon, like vicious 68% HF or something....

My mum's said I can have the garage to turn into a lab, so they'll probably end up there in my weekend tidy-up. Just need some light (i was thinking of some low bay metal halides off ebay), a desk and some plug sockets and I've got a lab

Oh and the H2SO4's moved now. I'm surprised I didn't notice the risk there, with the ferricyanide.

[Edited on 5-6-2009 by pHzero]

Most covered has been covered, but the very important notes are don't store bottles on their side, and don't leave things on the lawn. The first has been explained, and the latter because that attracts unneeded legal attention. Especially when you have a pile of unlabeled baggies of white powder

Storage in living quarters is often unavoidable as a amateur chemist, but those where you sleep should be nonvolatile, and preferably of the type that do not produce instant death upon mixing


On the note of how much the lab costs, when I had mine it was about 2000 total over the years I had it.


[Edited on 5-6-09 by The_Davster]

This time I really have to agree with the other members! You MUST change things.

Point 1: Don't store chemicals in a place where you live many hours a day (bedroom, kitchen, living room). Even if you have good containers, there will be vapors and/or dust. You are exposed to chemicals in small quantities, which do not pose an immediate risk, but what is the effect in the long run? It is just as with smoking cigarettes. From one, or even a few cigarettes you will not get ill, but what if you smoke every day? Your exposure to chemicals builds up over the days, weeks, months, years. Avoid this! Put them in a garage, or in an attic room, but not where you are many hours a day.

Point 2: Don't experiment in a place where you live. This probably is even worse than storing things in a place where you live. Experiments always introduce vapor and dust, no matter how clean you are working.

Point 3: Some of your chemicals can be accessed by animals and who knows also by children. The stuff in the lawn can be picked up by anyone. Keep chemicals in a safe place where only you and your parents can access them.

If you care for your long term health change points 1 and 2 and if you care for other's health and safety also change point 3.

You are fortunate that I don't see really toxic stuff in your list, just the more common acids and ferricyanide. So, you are not yet exposed to bad vapors or cumulative poisons. But I know that in due time you tend to collect more and more chemicals, including the more toxic/cumulative stuff, such as metals salts (e.g. nickel, cobalt, lead) or organic solvents other than the simple alcohols and acetic acid, and then the long-term low-level exposure REALLY becomes a problem.

Now is the time to take action

Quote: Originally posted by woelen

This time I really have to agree with the other members! You MUST change things. Point 1: Don't store chemicals in a place where you live many hours a day (bedroom, kitchen, living room). Even if you have good containers, there will be vapors and/or dust. You are exposed to chemicals in small quantities, which do not pose an immediate risk, but what is the effect in the long run? It is just as with smoking cigarettes. From one, or even a few cigarettes you will not get ill, but what if you smoke every day? Your exposure to chemicals builds up over the days, weeks, months, years. Avoid this! Put them in a garage, or in an attic room, but not where you are many hours a day. Point 2: Don't experiment in a place where you live. This probably is even worse than storing things in a place where you live. Experiments always introduce vapor and dust, no matter how clean you are working. Point 3: Some of your chemicals can be accessed by animals and who knows also by children. The stuff in the lawn can be picked up by anyone. Keep chemicals in a safe place where only you and your parents can access them. If you care for your long term health change points 1 and 2 and if you care for other's health and safety also change point 3. You are fortunate that I don't see really toxic stuff in your list, just the more common acids and ferricyanide. So, you are not yet exposed to bad vapors or cumulative poisons. But I know that in due time you tend to collect more and more chemicals, including the more toxic/cumulative stuff, such as metals salts (e.g. nickel, cobalt, lead) or organic solvents other than the simple alcohols and acetic acid, and then the long-term low-level exposure REALLY becomes a problem. Now is the time to take action

We are looking at the reason that chemicals are no longer available to all of us down at the corner drug store or even from Fisher.

Those of us who grew up in the 1950's with chemistry sets learned how to handle chemicals. By the time we were old enough to talk the pharmacist into selling us nitric acid and chloroform we had learned how to store and use chemicals, and we usually didn't get into trouble.

Unfortunately this is an unintended consequence of isolating school age people from chemicals: they have no clue!

pHzero, I have to echo the comments of the others, and I would add another caution: please don't buy such large quantities of chemicals. What would have been a minor accident with 100 mL will be a catastrophe with 5 liters!

If a suspicious meter reader or an unfriendly neighbor calls the police, there is a very real chance that you will end up in prison. These days, if it looks like a meth lab a prosecutor can convince the average chemophobic jury that it is a meth lab.

Time to get your act together.

A 25 kg sack of NaOH? It will probably turn in a soggy mass of sodium carbonate before you can use it all. It absorbs both CO2 and moisture if exposed to air.

[Edited on 5-6-2009 by entropy51]

[Edited on 5-6-2009 by entropy51]

[Edited on 6-6-2009 by entropy51]

pHzero, get down to homebase B&Q Argos etc, get the lights and storage sorted out. Safely store your chemicals first, then get a bag of mixed bungs off eBay and some safety equipment etc then you can handle your chemicals safely. Then I think you should grab a camera and start snapping some piccies of some chemistry!

P.S.

1) I think I see Dichromate in his photos so woelen... he has a nice large plastic bag or cat II carcinogen.
2) Only Sauron and Hector should buy in bulk

[Edited on 5-6-2009 by panziandi]

Quote: Originally posted by panziandi

pHzero, get down to homebase B&Q Argos etc, get the lights and storage sorted out. Safely store your chemicals first, then get a bag of mixed bungs off eBay and some safety equipment etc then you can handle your chemicals safely. Then I think you should grab a camera and start snapping some piccies of some chemistry! P.S. 1) I think I see Dichromate in his photos so woelen... he has a nice large plastic bag or cat II carcinogen. 2) Only Sauron and Hector should buy in bulk [Edited on 5-6-2009 by panziandi]

Haha, yep, will do And yeah, I got the dichromate to measure the % ethanol in a solution. I don't really need 3kg, but you could get 3kg for 20 quid or 1kg for 15, so i went for 3kg

And len1, I know exactly what you mean. Dichromate and KCN are both given the same health warning. Although it wouldnt be at all advisable, you could probably eat a few grams of dichromate fairly safely. And then ferric chloride - its classified as corrosive, but i know from my own personal experience that all it does is make your skin feel dry. And its classified the same way as sulfuric acid, or even peroxymonosulfuric acid.

Entropy1, I got a 25kg sack of NaOH because:
It was cheap, £28 delivered.
Its useful as a general purpose base
You can use it to make hydrogen by adding aluminium foil
It only contains Na+ ions, oxygen and hydrogen, so there's no environmental problem with it


[Edited on 5-6-2009 by pHzero]

Quote: Originally posted by entropy51

"Haha, yep...You could probably eat a few grams of dichromate fairly safely." Well, if you ignore the fact that it ulcerates mucous membranes, and is probably a carcinogen.

No dichromate has high acute toxicity. The mentioned lethal doses very between sources but it is between 1 and 10 grams. The result of poisoning is liver failure (or was it kidney?). I read a medical report where someone attempted suicide with dichromate. His liver (or kidney's, dont remember) was failing, and they were ready to give him a new healthy organ, but waited on purpose to let the organ absorb as much chromium as possible, so that the new organ would suffer little damage. Without treatment the person would have died. And he ingested only a few grams! Sorry I'm going offtopic.

So with the chemicals you have now, you could experiment in your room, but I would not advice it at all. However, dichromate is an unacceptable risk to use in a living quarters. It is a cat 1 known human carcinogen by inhalation, and probably carcinogenic by other routes although this has not been proven. It causes lung cancer.

Because it is cheap don't just buy it! If I want I can buy 10 liters of chloroform for 60 EUR, 25L of 65% nitric acid for 40 EUR or 5kg of sodium dichromate for 30 EUR. But having these materials at home at such quantities, is not responsible, and you will ask for trouble. Instead stay with 100g-250g quantities, and if possible even less. Only the common chemicals like acids, common solvents and standard chems like NaOH should be present is larger quantities, but no more than 2,5L. I have no single chemicals present in my lab in larger quantities that 1L, except for NaOH (1,5Kg), sulfuric acid (3L), nitric acid (1,5L) and hydrochloric acid (6L ). I also have a liter of all these acids stored in a house far away from me in the countryside, as I dont need it for a long time.
But remember I store these in a lab wich is a much more safe environment than yours, I think. See some pics here:
http://amateurchemie.nl/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=54

Some things have changed. All acids are in containment trays and ALL flammables and toxins are stored in a flammables cabinet, wich is lockable.

Oh, and ofcourse NaHCO3 you can store as much as you want. It probably less hazardous than table salt. Keep it small to keep it safe !

Quote: Originally posted by panziandi

pHzero: I think you are grossly underestimating dichromates: "Lowest Published Lethal Dose: LDL [Man] - Route: Oral; Dose: 143 mg/kg LDL [Child] - Route: Oral; Dose 26 mg/kg (Potassium dichromate)" Lethal doses are usually listed as LD50 since its an average because toxicity of a compound depends on the metabolism of the individuals, however 143mg/kg assuming a weight of 55kg would be 7865mg (7.87g) of potassium dichromate. That would lead to acute poisoning. Dichromate is carcinogenic (whilst you are cycling to homebase, call into blockbuster and rent Erin Brochovich) so ok you consume "a few grams" your clever body will recognise Cr(VI) as sulphur... it will get around to killing you a few years later no doubt.

I think that pHzero has gotten the point.

He was wrong and he will hopefully be rectifying his mistakes.

Back on topic, here is a new item of glassware we have recently acquired-


Designed to be attached to the vacuum port of a Rotovap at the top port and to the vacuum source on the bottom one. The reservoir is to be filled with Dry Ice/Acetone in order that any vapors not condensed by the condenser don't get into the vacuum pump.

Also, it can be used to conveniently liquify gases. Demonstrations of this use will be posted up soon!

The miscellaneous bottles behind the main piece of glass are for shipping out chemicals to the members of this site that have placed orders with us!

Thanks,

Ozonelabs

@pHzero

Don't hurry and go clean your yard for the folks here,
Don't go and store them bottles the way the people here want you to either.

Do it for your self. You enjoy chemistry and I think that being able to look at nice collection of chemicals stored where they can be seen and is safe will make you feel more like a chemist then all the glassware and chemicals in the world. A good clean work area is something that will make you feel as though you have stepped up from lowly splish splash experimenter to an amuture chemist... Even if you keep with the splish splash chemistry. My work area is crap ... Just a bench and a bunch of homemade equipment and seeing equipment like ozones above me make me hate some of you(.....in a good way ). But let me tell you the cleaner and more organized your work area becomes the more confidence you will gain to tackle more daunting projects that you would not have even dreamed of before.

Do it for your self Phzero not for us at all.

Quote: Originally posted by Mossydie

People with badly arranged labs are not the reason it's no longer possible to easily buy chemicals, rather, terrorism, drugs, and media promoted fear of science are to blame.

Quote: Originally posted by Mossydie

People with badly arranged labs are not the reason it's no longer possible to easily buy chemicals, rather, terrorism, drugs, and media promoted fear of science are to blame.

Bingo, but rather it is the media and politicians almost entirely. I do not blame drugs or terrorism, it is when the media, which is largely people with no science background, attempt to report on the things that they could not understand in highschool or university. And the politicians for creating the useless laws by which someone doing nothing causing harm can be arrested for.

The average sheep does not know what white phosphorus is. When their TV tells them that its used to make drugs or in incendiary munitions (that burn THE CHILDREN!!!) we then get the laws regarding simple possession that can be applied against those with no malicious intent.

But perhaps it would be best to get back to the topic of lab pictures, I am sure he understands what would be a good idea to do with his chemicals now.

[Edited on 6-6-09 by The_Davster]

Yes, it wasn't so long ago that people were being burned at the stake for being a witch, in the US.

Quote: Originally posted by Rich_Insane

I'm just wondering how much of a lab I could set up with $350? That's all I have, and my parents just won't buy labware/chems. Provided I have two 100 mL Round (round) bottom flasks, 1 beaker (250 mL), 1 reflux condenser, one 100 mL graduated cylinder, polypropylene I believe, one 10 mL glass graduated cylinder, a funnel, somehow some 100 um paper filters that take quite a while to work, and 10 test tubes. I'm just starting out, doing this whole operation in the summer.

Well, are you more interested in organic, inorganic, microscale stuff? Those paper filters are probably meant to be used with a proper buchner funnel, through which the liquid moves fairly quickly.

I would put an aspirator and buchner funnel/filtering flask high up on your list as they save a lot of frustration. Also, it's just about pointless to try much preparative work without a scale. I've tried.

I've spent about $1000 on equipment so far and know there is at least another couple hundred before I'm completely settled. (for now). I have a complete 24/40 ground glass distillation/fractionating/etc. setup (with a large selection of boiling/reaction and recieving flasks) running off a Corning PC-351 hot plate stirrer. I have beakers, crucibles, watch glasses, graduated cylinders, a buret, 250x test tubes, evaporating dishes, a vacuum filtration setup, a full set of volumetric flasks from 1L down to 10mL, seperatory funnels, and a good lab scale (two decimal places with glass windscreens. After my $30 "pocket scale" kicked the bucket, I splurged on a much higher quality one) Hell, I probably have $100 of containers for various chemicals, including 3 dozen 1L amber glass reagent bottles.

Soon to come: fume hood and a good grid to hang my nice castaloy clamps off of. Right now, I have two questionable upright rod stands which let me distill just fine, but are pretty seriously lacking.

[Edited on 6-7-09 by UnintentionalChaos]

I discussed a micro organic chemistry set here:http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=11665

I felt it was a fair price at around $350 or so but others here felt that it may or maynot be. Ebay has really cheep stuff but I am a little leary of it because atlest I know what I get from Ace has a warrenty with it. Sadly money situation went south real quick as I was writing that threed so I never got a chance to purchase the articals I wanted

I'm more into organic/inorganic. Microscale kind of.... idk.... offs me.


Corrections. I checked my inventory: I have four 250 mL Florence flasks (2 flat, 2 round), and one 100 mL beaker (these are corrections.

They are all (except the plastic graduated cylinder) made by a company called Borosil, which is probably based in India (where I bought these). Ebay seems OK to me for pure reagents, but sometimes the prices are too much. I've only got $350, and I already see a Pyrex kit for $530..... already over my budget. I did however find a nice distillation kit for $199, but that's already more than 1/3 of my budget.... Is it worth it? I would need to buy a heating device, which would already be another 1/3 of my budget.

Is there any way to measure what size my two flasks are? (Like 24/40 etc). When I bought them from a dusty old surplus store they made no mention of it.

What really bothers me is that glassware/labware already costs more than 2/3 of my budget . That means I'll have very little for chemicals.

[Edited on 7-6-2009 by Rich_Insane]