Sciencemadness Discussion Board - Cynmar Scientific Corporation

Cynmar Scientific Corporation

Cyrus - 10-5-2004 at 19:09

Has nobody seen this place before, or am I the one missing something? www.cynmar.com
They have the best prices on most labware that I have seen compared to
Indigo, Flinn, AS&S, home training tools etc... (compared $125 at Cynmar to $270 for same order at Flinn) When I ordered,
the process was easy and the shipment
came fine, nothing broken. They do not have much in the way of ground glass
joints though

Is it trash glassware? It
looks ok to me though.

BromicAcid - 11-5-2004 at 14:00

Yes, yes, I have ordered from them, the glass tubing was dirt cheap and awesome, got a very nice nickel crucible at a rock bottom price and got some other chems too, very fast, got my package in 2 days and the shipping and handling was very reasonable. It was like christmas come early!

Hermes_Trismegistus - 28-10-2004 at 16:41

http://www.sciencelabsupplies.com

Just did an order from these guys to see how everything came out and I found their service to be excellent and I recieved everything in good order.

I particularly liked the reasonable shipping costs to Canada, and it was so fast they must have shot it out of a cannon facing north.

Still, In future I will order any more rubber pipet bulbs from indigo (I don't pay duty on canadian goods) and the mohr's pinchcocks are cheaper from science, art and more.

I do plan to see if I can't get a case price on sciencelabs buchner funnels and order a couple cases of them.

"Science, Art and More's" website is fucky like a 5 dollar whore at a preachers convention, though, I find searching it through google is easier than trying to fight my way through it. After searching for ten minutes I feel like tying the proprietor down with a length of his over-priced rubber tubing and going montreal on his ass. (quebecois are Kinky bastards).

Pinchcocks

I ordered a few cases of glassware (beakers and flasks) from indigo and I'll see how that turns out. I ordered them last week and paid extra for "express" shipping and they still aren't here yet. :mad:

E.Indian lab hardware from SciencelabSupplies.JPG - 120kB

neutrino - 29-10-2004 at 13:58

Quote:

from science, art and more
Beaker 50ml
Griffin form standard style beaker. - For Age 6+Yrs

WTF??? Who are these guys selling to? Their prices are truly a crime, IMHO. $16 for a 2L bomex beaker!? Bomex, for crying out loud. The same thing is $5.50 at Cynmar.

The way I judge how cheap a supplier is is by their prices on 250mL Griffin-style (low form) beakers. If you're over $2.40, you're overpriced. Under that and the place might have decent prices. Under $2 and you have hit the jackpot. That's why I love Cynmar.

Just to share an invaluable resource with all of you, Here is the mother of all links databases for chemists. Many good suppliers and info sites are listed. Enjoy.

Hermes: Who exactly is indigo?

Hermes_Trismegistus - 29-10-2004 at 17:03

Indigo

I've found that it is important to shop around.

It's important to beat the Wal-Mart psych-out shopping strategy. In business courses they sometimes call it the "Vlasic gallon pickle jar trick" or variants of the above.

What you do is to take a common item (in walmart in the 90's it was Vlasic pickles, and put them right near the front door.

The price was as low as 2 bucks for a gallon sized jar of vlasic pickles. They have found that peoples brains are lazy.

If you show someone a good price on a n item early in the shopping experience, a person is more likely to think that any further items that they see the prices of, are good prices.

If a person sees an expensive item early in the shopping trip, they think that ALL further items are overpriced.

The best idea is to actually write down what you need, and then check all prices in all stores.

Eliminating the emotional factor.

What a person is likely to find is that every store has good prices on some things, OK prices on most things, and high prices on some things.

I find myself sometimes ignoring this common sense procedure.

To my later chagrin.

Tips

neutrino - 29-10-2004 at 19:42

Being a very parsimonious person (no matter what anyone tells you, it <i>is</i> hereditary), I always shop around. In fact, I’ve found quite a good deal of companies in my everlasting quest for cheap labware.

I was originally planning on writing a long post in a new thread with buying tips and companies, but I never found time. Now that I’ve found that database mentioned in my previous post, I don’t really need a listing of companies, but I’ll write one up if anyone is interested. Due to the fact that much of the wisdom I’ve gathered has already been displayed or mentioned in this thread, I will just write up the rest here. I apologize in advance for the formatting and layout of this thing.

There are three or four distinctly different types of companies that sell labware, depending on how distinct you want to be:

-The first is comprised of huge companies that only sell things in huge unit sizes. These companies will probably not sell you anything in small quantities.
-The second will sell things to individuals in small quantities (like single flasks, etc) with good prices. These are few and far between, although there are some out there. Cynmar is among the best.
-The third type is comprised of companies which will sell in small quantities at very high unit prices.
-The fourth type is comprised of companies that, like type III sell at high unit prices, but have an entirely different primary focus. For example, United Nuclear mainly sells pyrotechnic supplies, but they also offer a small range of labware at very high prices.

The line between type III and type IV companies is not clear, so they may be considered one type. This last type is unfortunately the most common.

Finding companies it not quick or easy. The best method I’ve come up with is looking for an extremely standard piece of labware (like a 250mL griffin (low-form) beaker) with froogle and wading through the piles of type III and IV companies to find the type II gems. The rule of thumb mentioned in my previous post on these beakers will help greatly. Another approach would be to try the Thomas Register, although this is bound to give you a lot of type I companies.

Typically, any one good company has incredibly good prices on one item or class of items and insane prices on another. One example is United Glass Tech. They have rock-bottom prices on standard vacuum distillation equipment (their prices for vacuum glassware are almost always much lower than other companies’ prices for non-vacuum glassware), but have ludicrous prices on other things. For example, there is no company offering cheaper vacuum flasks that I’ve seen, although their prices on beakers are much higher than Cynmar’s (12 heavy-duty 250mL Kimax beakers are $75 at UGT and $48 at C). Thus you don’t buy beakers from UGT, but you do buy distillation glassware there.

The typical scenario one is faced with on any order is along the lines of the following:

You need items 1, 2, and 3. They are all sold by companies A, B, and C. A, B, and C have the best prices on items 1, 2, and 3, respectively. It may seem straightforward to make a choice for the items, but extra costs have to be factored in. Shipping costs, for instance, have to be weighed against the money saved by buying from a particular company. Some companies have minimum orders, while others have maximum orders (thank the drug wars for this last one). The list of things to consider goes on.

If I remember more, I will post it.

Labware shopping

MadHatter - 30-10-2004 at 08:53

As stated in previous posts, it really does pay to shop around. I don't like the chemical prices
for most compounds on Cynmar. Then again, there are others that are far worse ! One on
eBay, called ChemSavers, used to be reasonable. The last time I checked, most of their
prices had been jacked up. I still buy my KMnO4 from Sears because their price on the
larger quantities is better than most. And as long as I pay in cash, there's no record of the
transaction. As for glassware, Bomex is fine for applications that don't involve high heat.
Cymar's prices are excellent with that glass grade as well as the prices on their Liebig
condensers provided you don't need frosted connectors.

Mendeleev - 2-11-2004 at 11:25

Fuck the glass, have you seen their chemical selection? It's not the best in terms of variety, but it is cheap as hell

. Just some examples:

2.5 kg NH4Cl: $13.30
500 g Acetamide: $24.15
500 mL n-butyl alcohol: $11.77
500 g CaO: $6.15
4 L 37% Formaldehyde: $16.47

(Yeah, I know this one takes the cake, this is the best deal in chemical history!

)
500 g MnO2: $9.15
100g HgCl2: $34.07
4 L Anhydrous MeOH: $22.07
2.5 kg KOH: $24.47
500 g Urea: $5.65

This place has got some of the cheapest chemical prices I have ever seen! The only companies that compare are those that only sell to other companies like VWR, Sigma, Fisher, and Merk

.

Besides United Glass Tech, the other place to get really cheap ground glassware is: http://stores.ebay.com/kantu200-scientific-store

A full ground glass still for $120 is nice, but I already had a still before I discoverd this store. So I am going to buy a 30 cm reflux high efficiency condenser and a 500 mL pressure equalized addition funnel from them, and then maybe a Soxhlet in a month or so.

The cheapest place to get scales is: http://stores.ebay.com/AVOGADROS-LAB-SUPPLY

A 120 X .01 g scale for $30! Damn I wish I'd known about this place before I dished out $100 for a triple beam balance.

[Edited on 2-11-2004 by Mendeleev]

neutrino - 2-11-2004 at 12:07

I have considered buying one of Kantu200’s distilling setups, but I decided that buying a vacuum setup from a more well-known supplier would be the same price. I am talking about UGT, which sells labware under the name ‘labglass’. Buying a 20/40 distilling setup from Kantu200 would have been $160 ($120 glass + $40 shipping), while buying the same thing with a glass stopper and 0-400*C thermometer from UGT through eBay would have been $165 (free shipping on all items :cool:

). It seems, though, that Kantu200 has lowered their prices somewhat since bought that setup, so they may be a cheaper alternative at the moment.

[Edited on 2-11-2004 by neutrino]

Cynmar

atombum - 3-11-2004 at 08:55

I had not checked Cynmar in a while as their selection was (at the time) a bit small, but after reading this thread about rock-bottom prices, I decided to see what they had. I found out a very simple reason why they have such low prices. There is a notation of *hazardous* next to most chemicals. They state there is a $13 fee added to any item with that designation, since UPS imposes this on them. However, although these items are hazardous materials in larger amounts, these containers fall under (often way under) the quantity threshold for hazmat! Every other online supplier I've dealt with does not put their own hazmat notation next to the items until a much higher quantity, and it's always the same amount- the ORM-D limited quantity exemption. And besides, the UPS hazmat fee is $20!????
All of the internet and ebay chemical suppliers I've seen charge in the $7 to $11 dollar range for one item, and that's out the door, with packaging and handling. Not that figure...plus $13! It seems like things are so often 'too good to be true', as they say.

neutrino - 3-11-2004 at 14:25

Are you sure that it isn't just a $13 fee added to any order with 1 or more hazardous items? That's the impression I got from their shipping policy.

rift valley - 11-11-2004 at 09:02

I have made a few orders from Cynmar, and I have only great things to say about it! I once ordered some chemicals but I was too stupid to realize the 15 dollar charge but I was only charged a total of 10 bucks for shipping. I really like this company.

PainKilla - 12-11-2004 at 05:27

I love Cynmar. They don't really have suspicions or anything, and have awesome prices and shipping. I ordered a XXXXXX of XXXXXXXXX without any problems at all, and speedy shipping too. They have excellent glass and prices. Cynmar kicks ass

.

EDIT: Chemical sources? Huh?

[Edited on 14-11-2004 by PainKilla]

S.C. Wack - 12-11-2004 at 09:23

Is discussion of chemical sources really necessary?

rift valley - 13-11-2004 at 07:14

Wow I might have to ask for this for christmas
http://www.cynmar.com/product_info.php?cPath=122_257&pro...

Why Not?

chloric1 - 13-11-2004 at 14:21

Quote:

Originally posted by S.C. Wack
Is discussion of chemical sources really necessary?

I would have not known of Cynmar hadn't someone mentioned them. Surely, I woul d have accidently stumbled on it sooner or later but once the news spreads, greed will take control and prices will go up. Nice that I didn't have to wait until I ran into all by myself.

Oh yea one more note, I realize their is paranoid feelings about suppliers being shutdown and whatnot but Cynmar has enough educational stuff that I think they will be fine. Hell, I have a daughter on the way and I see a lot of cool physics stuff I want to buy to teach her with. :cool:

[Edited on 11/13/2004 by chloric1]

S.C. Wack - 13-11-2004 at 14:39

You should use google or froogle more often, then. All of the US sources mentioned at this site can be found with them, and ebay.

Keep in mind that people who mention where they get their chems may also have prior or future posts telling what they use them for. And this is ammunition against said suppliers.

Also keep in mind supply and demand. It may just be coincidence that when a source is mentioned in a forum, prices go up, every time.

Mendeleev - 23-11-2004 at 19:11

I've never encountered prices going up after posting sources on the forum. Furthermore you will always be able to find things dirt cheap on ebay. BromicAcid, I have a question about your nickel crucible, will it withstand KNO3 at 500 C?

BromicAcid - 23-11-2004 at 19:20

I used mine once for a high temperature oxidation with NaNO3/NaOH somewhere past molten but I don't know how hot it got, in the end there were little black spots on the bottom inside of the crucible, shiny and even with the metal, I assume it was very minor oxidation, but there was nothing eaten into the metal, just like the surface took on the color. So I guess nickel should stand up to KNO3 at 500 C.

Cynmar

MadHatter - 24-11-2004 at 00:36

Cynmar looks good on some of their chemical prices but not all. Still the glassware is a
bargain depending on what you're looking for. I've found cheaper prices locally on some
compounds(like the pottery shop in another post). It really does pay to shop around !

[Edited on 24-11-2004 by MadHatter]

web ordered glassware

oxydiser - 2-12-2004 at 09:27

I was just thinking about expanding my glassware collection that I *accumulated* piecewise over the course of my BSc...still need more filtering apparatus and sep funnels. Does ordering lab equipment via the net/phoning supplier raise any eyebrows with the feds? Any ozzies had any luck with this?

rift valley - 18-1-2005 at 12:35

D'oh starting Janurary 1st Cynmar stopped selling chemicals to individuals.

S.C. Wack - 18-1-2005 at 13:04

Congratulations.

EDIT/RANT: I doubt Cynmar took this action because they were making too much profit. And the assumption that other sources will always be there is naive. You don't need a weatherman... Everyone should be spending as much as they can, while they can.

Uncle Fester said that his goal is to make every chemical illegal, with the end result being that none of them is (de facto) illegal. A nice idea that will probably not work in practice. The sway of LE, the reactionary-ness of legislators, sheepishness of the people, lapdog-ness of the media, and the possible dimensions of bureaucracy seem to be unlimited until the eventual fiscal collapse.

Another obvious reason not to tell morons where to order chems is that when these people blow themselves up/get arrested, the source of the chemicals is of course investigated. Cynmar put a label with their name and address on it on everything.

The turn that this forum has taken since the loss of the Hive makes source discussion even more unwise, IMHO. Maybe the word cocaine comes up regularly here, I don't know. Hopefully no ones concerned parents or LEOs are peeking in.

[Edited on 18-1-2005 by S.C. Wack]

budullewraagh - 18-1-2005 at 13:33

damn that really blows. they had some great chems there. oh well, i guess i'll have to hope unitednuclear will expand

Unexpected blow

chloric1 - 19-1-2005 at 03:53

Oh man I just put an order in for a nickel crucible and ringstand with one bottle of strontium chloride December 29!!

It wasn't 4 days after I received the order, I discovered the news. I still have a few suppliers to rely on but the obscure stuff is getting harder to get. A particular auction is still good source but it varies greatly from week to week.

I think when I get tax check I need to buy at least a few essentials in 5 pound or more sizes. When those run out I will forget the hobby and do glass or pottery.

[Edited on 1/19/2005 by chloric1]

Magpie - 19-1-2005 at 09:31

Too bad about Cynmar. Other sellers have a way of popping up, however. It's hard to keep capitalism down, especially in the US. Asians are also avid businessmen.

I haven't been too worried about chemicals because I think that when things get tough we (MSDB) are creative enough to make just about any chemical we need. There should always be a substantial base of starting material available as "Readily Available Chemicals" as shown in Mr I am a Fish's most comphrehensive list. Some suppliers are getting more creative about using adulterants, however.

I have been concerned about getting equipment more than chemicals so have been on a buying binge for about a year, mostly just being patient until a bargain comes up on ebay. But I have also learned that most equipment suppliers are eager to do business. You just have to act professionally - and use a credit card.

Question on Kit

Mickhael - 19-1-2005 at 10:22

Ok, I've been doing some research of distilling nitric acid among other things.

What is the best group of equipment to buy for this purpose, to also be used for purifying as well. I need the vaccum pump as well as all connections - stands etc. What and where would anyone recamend buying this? Thankyou.

neutrino - 19-1-2005 at 16:15

I’ve looked high and low for cheap jointed glassware and the cheapest I could find (by a good margin) was UGT. To save a few bucks on shipping, buy through one of their eBay auctions.

chloric1 - 19-1-2005 at 17:36

Quote:

I need the vaccum pump as well as all connections - stands etc. What and where would anyone recamend buying this? Thankyou.

Hey there, well I just wanted to point out that an aspirator would be byu far a better source of vacuum for you. One, you can get one for less thatn $30 on ebay(Stainless stell mind you) and Secondly for most chemical operations at reduced pressure you only need a weak vacuum anyways. So, if you have access to an outside water spiggot and you can read up on laboratory techniques, I am sure you willl agree that this would be your best choice. Do it while its winter and the water is cold and you should see amazing vacuums!

Mickhael - 20-1-2005 at 23:58

Ah i see, thanks chloric1...I'll look into that for sure!

Chris The Great - 22-1-2005 at 01:15

UGT definatly looks great, however, I saw a cheaper (by $50) source for a 24/40 vacuum distillation apparatus on Ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=38660... This was on the first page of an ebay store originally posted by Mendeleev ( http://stores.ebay.com/kantu200-scientific-store )

So, is there a catch? The seller seems to be a very reliable one.

I also see my birthday present (with a 300mm condenser instead of the 200mm, and a 300mm Vigreux column).

neutrino - 22-1-2005 at 07:01

I’m a little skeptic about that source. Glassware sold on eBay is not always first-choice and might be somewhat sub-standard quality, but I can’t speak for that seller. I guess that I just trust UGT more because they specialize in glassware and sell a lot of glassware outside of eBay, while Kantu200 only seems to sell on eBay.

The prices come to about the same no matter which seller you buy from. UGT’s ‘Distilling Distillation Kit’ has the standard glassware, a wide-range thermometer, hollow stopper, and free shipping for $155. Kantu200 sells the standard glassware for $110 + $7.50 for the stopper + $20 for shipping = $140, but it doesn’t come with a thermometer. What you buy from depends on whether you need vacuum glassware or not.

[Edited on 22-1-2005 by neutrino]

BromicAcid - 22-1-2005 at 07:16

You could ask some of the people that have bought from them in the past how their products are working out, send emails to 25 of them and you usually get back three or four. I bought my first distillation kit off eBay, it was great. I wish that seller still sold on eBay, 5 years later and nothing from the set is broke.

[Edited on 1/22/2005 by BromicAcid]

Cyrus - 22-1-2005 at 23:07

Hmm, I was just about to place another order with Cynmar! :mad:

(for my school!

because the other source they use is Flinn, which is a lot more expensive for some stuff.)

[Edited on 23-1-2005 by Cyrus]

mycoguy - 7-2-2005 at 02:38

I just purchased a 24/40 dist. setup from Kantu Scientific, on Ebay.

Paid only about $100. Was kinda bummed to find out that it was Bomex, but I'm not complaining for the price I paid.

Packaging and Shipping were superb.
Avagadro's Lab is a good ebay seller too, however, his prices are a bit higher for the same stuff.

Quince - 7-2-2005 at 07:55

Any reasonably priced Canadian suppliers? I spent a couple of hours searching and gave up. Looks like it's going to be cheaper for me to import from the US and pay customs and mucho shipping charges...

S.C. Wack - 7-2-2005 at 11:59

labx often has Canadian sellers. The prices there are usually higher though. I've said it before, buy from the auctions and you'll pay less for more. You don't need it right now, take your time. But not too long, no law saying that ebay has to sell glassware and chems.

On topic, being a past customer of Cynmar means that I got their 334 page 2005 catalog a week or 2 ago. Its pretty cool, nicer than wading through the site. Some stuff is, um, "competitive". Other stuff is reasonable, a few useful things are cheap. A science geek could be led to spend a lot of money if he had it.

No elaboration on the chemical policy though, says the same thing as on their site. Subject to a $15 hazard charge: CuSO4, lactic acid, KHSO4, NaHSO4, and ZnCl2! Yes, even the hydrates.

rift valley - 11-2-2005 at 18:59

I also just recieved their big catalogue and it does say no chemical sales to individuals, its on the first page where the chemicals are listed, this blows. Now i only have one option, al-chymist I hope they stick around

ChemicallyImbalanced - 19-2-2005 at 14:43

Yeah... Cynmar is just a chemical middle man. It was the decision of their supplier to stop selling chemicals to individuals. I always felt that they charged a hazmat fee on too many chemicals and although the $13 fee is low compared to most places some suppliers charge even less. No matter what chemical you are after if you look hard enough you'll find a company that sends it as ORM-D. Cynmar is great for equipment purchases, but for chemical acquisition there are suppliers that are more cost effective etc.

[Edited on 19-2-2005 by ChemicallyImbalanced]

Cynmar scientific...

kazaa81 - 20-2-2005 at 08:29

Hi,

how anyone has seen, cynmar no longer sell chemicals and/or equipment to individuals since 1st January 2005.....that's a problem for me....there is any other chem. supplier cheap as cynmar which sells to individuals in europe?

Thanks for help!

Maja - 15-4-2006 at 09:38

Look at UGT this kit : http://www.unitedglasstech.com/distillingKIT3.htm cost 240$ + 25$ for shipping in my case = 265$. The first organic kit at : http://www.organicglassware.com/ cost 250$ + ~25$ for shipping... It's Pyrex ! "All pieces are interchangeable with Pyrex" From their site. There are more pieces, 3 neck RBF , addition funnel ,etc.... VERY useful tools... So why anyone should buy from UGT ... ? It's much better at www.organicglassware.com and you are getting many more pieces... And you can replace or add more glassware to that KIT !!! fantastic ...

[Edited on 15-4-2006 by Maja]