Sciencemadness Discussion Board - College discards pile yields hotplate/stirrer

College discards pile yields hotplate/stirrer

mayko - 21-2-2013 at 10:21

I'm taking a molecular biology lab class at Durham Tech, and in the back of the classroom there was a small pile of equipment that was being thrown out. I asked around and ultimately was able to score a hotplate/stirrer. It was being discarded because the stirrer wouldn't regulate, but I honestly couldn't tell. Sweet!

The only bittersweet angle is that I am retiring my world-famous DIY hotplate. I guess you could say I have ... mixed emotions.

Any other protips for getting surplus/broken equipment from colleges and the like?

radagast - 21-2-2013 at 10:33

I actually LOL'd at your DIY hotplate.

Nice score on the equipment being thrown out. I can't emphasize how great it is to be on friendly terms with university research labs. I'm a perpetual volunteer at a biochem lab and they've given me countless pieces of glassware, clamps, hotplate-stirrers, vac pumps, HPLC pumps and columns . . . after a while, my home lab has started to strongly resemble an outdated version of their real laboratories.

EDIT: You mentioned that you found your hotplate in a pile of junk. At our university, we actually had a universal "dumping place" for junk that nobody wanted. So long as you secured permission, you could walk out with anything in that pile for free. I got thousands of new test-tubes, numerous glass syringes with luer-locks, vortexers, etc. from that pile. Might want to check if your university has the same universal junk heap.

[Edited on 21-2-2013 by radagast]

Endimion17 - 21-2-2013 at 21:56

Quote: Originally posted by mayko

........... my world-famous DIY hotplate.............

Wizzard - 22-2-2013 at 05:39

I have that same hotplate

It jsut died, however... I dont recommend leaving it on it's highest setting for more than a few hours.

jock88 - 22-2-2013 at 15:41

I cannot get the picture of the hotplate (the ROFL one) to download.

mayko - 22-2-2013 at 20:28

try here?

crazyboy - 22-2-2013 at 20:57

I wasn't going to brag but since you're asking, University e-waste is a goldmine. This is what my friend and I got over the course of a year and a half. Not pictured is the countless other little doodads and little things that we dismantled or trashed or whatever.

Immersion circulator 1 "Suzzane"

Immersion circualtor 2

HPLC pump

Vacuum oven

Hydrogen lamp power supply

The labware closet. The glass and rotovap I picked up as mentioned in another thread. The ultrasonic cleaner is also from e-waste

benzylchloride1 - 24-2-2013 at 18:44

Nice Haul! I am glad that a few people have caught on to this, it is an absolute goldmine! I buy equipment almost weekly at the surplus store at my university. The HP 5890 GC, integrator, and the Parr hydrogenator pictured at the bottom were all obtained for under $150. The GC will soon be interfaced with a HP 5989 MS engine once I have the money to buy the proper computer with Chemstation software and the santovac diffusion pump fluid for the two massive diffusion pumps which is extremely expensive, $300 to fill both pumps. Made a huge haul of chemicals last week as well, along with a bunch of flask columns, and Schlenk Manifolds.

[Edited on 25-2-2013 by benzylchloride1]

[Edited on 25-2-2013 by benzylchloride1]

radagast - 24-2-2013 at 19:36

Quote: Originally posted by benzylchloride1

Nice Haul! I am glad that a few people have caught on to this, it is an absolute goldmine! I buy equipment almost weekly at the surplus store at my university. The HP 5890 GC, integrator, and the Parr hydrogenator pictured at the bottom were all obtained for under $150. The GC will soon be interfaced with a HP 5989 MS engine once I have the money to buy the proper computer with Chemstation software and the santovac diffusion pump fluid for the two massive diffusion pumps which is extremely expensive, $300 to fill both pumps. Made a huge haul of chemicals last week as well, along with a bunch of flask columns, and Schlenk Manifolds.

[Edited on 25-2-2013 by benzylchloride1]

[Edited on 25-2-2013 by benzylchloride1]

Benzylchloride1 --

I'm very interested in your GC/MS project, and hope you'll post details as you make progress. I had begun restoring an old LCQ MS with the hope of feeding the output from Gilson HPLC setup into it, but had to return from sabbatical to my "real job" before I got that project off the ground.

I see a Perkin Elmer 3B UV/Vis in that picture. I have two of these, and strangely enough, one is substantially wider than the other. Both of them were purchased off Ebay -- one for exactly $1.00 -- and came in perfect working condition, with the exception that there was a foul smell coming from within. After further investigation, I discovered that the remains of a mummified mouse (!) who had built his nest under the keyboard circuitry.

As I recall, you were working on a total synthesis of taxol at home. If you don't mind me asking, how did that turn out? I'm fascinated that anyone could work on such a sophisticated synthesis at home.

[Edited on 25-2-2013 by radagast]

benzylchloride1 - 25-2-2013 at 20:12

Quote:

I see a Perkin Elmer 3B UV/Vis in that picture

I purchased mine several years ago off of Ebay for about $300 with shipping, I ended up having to replace the tungsten lamp after one use, but the instrument has been working quite well, I don't know how much more life the D2 lamp has though.

Quote:

As I recall, you were working on a total synthesis of taxol at home. If you don't mind me asking, how did that turn out? I'm fascinated that anyone could work on such a sophisticated synthesis at home.

My original plans were to synthesize a simplified ring scaffold of taxol that was produced by the Wender group in their studies toward the total synthesis of taxol. I have several advanced stage intermediates that need to be coupled together via enolate alkylation, I plan on doing this when I have the time and money to buy a large gas-tight syringe for the syringe pump addition of one of the reactants, since high dilution conditions are required. I am also working on a small scale total synthesis of the amaryllis alkaloid, galanthamine via the route in an Organic Process Research and Development Paper. Organic Process Research & Development 1999, 3, 425-431. I have intentions to synthesize the antibiotic chloramphenicol since I have all of the chemicals required in large quantities.

radagast - 26-2-2013 at 12:09

@BenzylChloride1

That's incredible, and I look forward to hearing more details about your route to taxol, galanthamine, and chloramphenicol. Do you ever do custom complex synthesis for individuals and companies for a fee? I think some people (including me) would be very interested in this type of service.

Re: the UV/VIS specs -- I paid $1 for one, and $250 for the other, collectively adding up to $301 when you factor in shipping. Given that only one of mine works, you still came out ahead.

@crazyboy:

Now that's a dream come true. I'm particularly envious of your vacuum oven, which would be terrific to prepare for grignards and organometallic reactions.

@mayko:

Everytime I think of that DIY hotplate, I start laughing again. I really think we should adopt it as the official madsci logo . . .

Finnnicus - 9-4-2013 at 22:30

I think the DIY Hotplate needs a thread of its own (LOL). You could remove the hot part of the Hotplate, and reposition it on top of a DIY Mag stirrer. Yay? (I'm not sure if this would work as I'm not educated on Clothes Iron engineering/architecture.)

hafnium - 10-4-2013 at 00:11

If you're patient, you could just keep your eyes peeled on ebay auctions and wait for a good deal. I've seen functional (used) hot plate stirrers sell for less than $50