Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Chinese stirplate/hotplate bargain?

Gearhead_Shem_Tov - 1-4-2012 at 20:40

I just came across this:

Cheap Chinese Striplate

Looks a bit dodgy to me, but the price is certainly right -- if it works. The Chinese writing doesn't bother me (I've got a dictionary), but I only see one dial control on the front, plus the two ON/OFF switches. Anybody ever seen one of these?

-Bobby

stirplate.jpg - 25kB

Organikum - 1-4-2012 at 23:11

I have a US buildt one which looks exactly the same except having a numeric display for adjustment of temperature. Stirrer speed is done by feeling using the same dial as for temp.

Why don´t ask the seller, would be interesting for me too. How this works and if a thermoprobe is included?
The price sounds right to me , this stuff is usually just completely overpriced.

regards
/ORG

Gearhead_Shem_Tov - 3-4-2012 at 04:55

Quote: Originally posted by Organikum  
I have a US buildt one which looks exactly the same except having a numeric display for adjustment of temperature. Stirrer speed is done by feeling using the same dial as for temp.

Why don´t ask the seller, would be interesting for me too. How this works and if a thermoprobe is included?
The price sounds right to me , this stuff is usually just completely overpriced.

regards
/ORG


I got a reply from the seller. The knob is for the stirring speed only, so there is no temperature control, just the ON/OFF switch. I 'spose I could buy it with the notion of building my own temperature controller, but that sorta takes the charm out of the low price. Plus I'm not inspired by the measley 200W heater.

-B

Organikum - 3-4-2012 at 07:09

Funny is they try to sell the same item on german Ebay for 150.- € ! Scandalous! :mad:

You are right no thermocouple and no temp-control take the fun out of this.

But the 200W on the hotplate are enough, you won´t need more as you may not forget that the temp. is limited as the magnets don´t take to much heat. 200W are also much better to control and adjust then 800W or more. For a plain heating unit is is actually desirable to have two separate heating circuits, one with say 1000W and a second with 200W max. The big one is on/off only and used for heating up quickly whilst the smaller one allows to hold a certain temperature much more exactly then the big one. Hysteresis and such....

/ORG

solo - 3-4-2012 at 13:03

......all you need is a heavy duty rheostat to control temp as the power control knob.....solo

bob800 - 3-4-2012 at 14:39

With enough patience, you could probably find a quality Corning hotplate for the same price—I got a PC-320 for 40 USD on eBay. At 500 watts, it boils water in a reasonable amount of time, but I wouldn't go for any less.

Mailinmypocket - 3-4-2012 at 14:51

Agreed! Just this week on ebay I found/bought a Corning PC-420D hotplate stirrer, it was a little more expensive than 40$ but but because it has a slightly cracked screen it was only 249 instead of the 549 that I was almost going to pay from my lab supplier! :O ! I've yet to receive it tomorrow and see if it all works as it should though. It should be great

Nothing is better than a good hotplate/stirrer combo, well worth the investment and if well taken care of, lasts forvever.



[Edited on 3-4-2012 by Mailinmypocket]

chemrox - 3-4-2012 at 20:46

For $45 you get quite a bit. If you can recrystallize from water, toluene, alcohol, acetone, all the hardware store solvents, for a year you're doing well from it. I've got the three I use, used off various surplus outlets. All are US made. Not one has failed yet and mine do double duty as I have no stirrers per se except for an overhead I use for viscous or heterogeneous mixtures. I believe a lot of Chinese stuff is well made. I'm old enough to recall, "made in Japan," as a quality aspersion. If you're starting to do lab work in your own facility I'd say go for it. Do you need a variac (heavy duty rheostat)? I have 3 or 4 I'll let go for $50 US plus shipping.

tom_servo - 5-4-2012 at 14:28

I have one on ebay for a steal :)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/110855199686?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:...