Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Homemade heating mantle-

ScienceHideout - 17-6-2011 at 17:30

Does anyone know of a type of heating mantle I can put on my hotplate? I hate using sand or oil (bad experiences) and I don't have skill to make an aluminum block. I have all sorts of flask sizes from 25mL-500mL (I don't heat my 50mL because of a star chip). Thanks in advance.

bob800 - 17-6-2011 at 18:37

Quote: Originally posted by ScienceHideout  
I hate using sand or oil (bad experiences) and I don't have skill to make an aluminum block. I have all sorts of flask sizes from 25mL-500mL (I don't heat my 50mL because of a star chip). Thanks in advance.


You can also use an "air bath". Just suspend your flask a few cm above your hotplate and wrap a piece of foil around it to keep in the hot air.

ScienceHideout - 18-6-2011 at 07:04

That's a good idea... Will it get hot enough? I guess it's worth a try! Thanks.

Arthur Dent - 18-6-2011 at 07:11

Check out Smuv's thread on stitching his own heating mantle by hand, using fiberglass fabric, it's very ingenious:

http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=15844#...

The way he describes it, you can literally "custom make" a heating mantle for any flask of any size if you have a lot of time, patience and stitching skills. I'll probably take up knitting so I can make little tuques for my boiling flasks, LOL ;)

Robert


ScienceHideout - 18-6-2011 at 07:23

Lol, funny story about knitting... Yes, I can knit! I doubt I can use my skills to make a heating mantle...

"Grandma, will you crochet this fiberglass into a hemisphere to fit my 500mL round bottom flask?"