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Shedworld Reloaded

aga - 10-5-2016 at 09:18

Today i simply had to use my still unfinished new fume hood.

It's an absolute Joy !

Proper storage for everything, all easy to access, easy peasy setup of apparatus, and, best of all, excellent lighting !

Need Water, gas, vacuum ? Plug in a pipe, flick a switch or twist a valve.

Need a reagent or a bit of glassware ? Pull out a drawer and there it is ! (unless it's on the shelf to your left).

Today a simple acetone extraction with the soxhlet.

Nobody locally seems able to the make the double counter-weighted sash front doors, so i'll have to do that myself tomorrow.

crystal grower - 10-5-2016 at 09:45

Home, sweet home

.
Really good job man, I wish to have something similiar at home too...

Eosin Y - 10-5-2016 at 10:10

You are very lucky... Is this all home made?

aga - 10-5-2016 at 10:57

Yep.

The majority of the framework is 3~4 IKEA 'Albert' book shelves (€9.99 each)

The 'drawers' are the upside-down shelves from another IKEA metal shelving unit, also around a tenner. .

The Oven i got from Lidl for about €40 (doubles as a heater in winter).

The fridge was a broken wine cooler in the bins, so that was free.

The Vac gaugue was on the vac pump - i just moved it to somewhere visible.

Hegi - 10-5-2016 at 11:13

Nice one man, enjoy working in your new fume hood! :cool:

I like the idea to have vacuum under the control with gauge... Wish I had such a fume hood at home once.

blogfast25 - 10-5-2016 at 11:30

@aga:

Wow. Could you build one for me?

What provides ventilation?

Curious to see how 'the double counter-weighted sash front doors' will fit in?

Eosin Y - 10-5-2016 at 11:37

Is the butane for the Bunsen connection stored in a tank, or do you have an external supply?
Can you put me on your client list

aga - 10-5-2016 at 11:59

Quote: Originally posted by blogfast25

Wow. Could you build one for me?

What provides ventilation?

Curious to see how 'the double counter-weighted sash front doors' will fit in?

Sure. Just send a cheque made out to Chemistry Aga Safety Hoods (or C.A.S.H for short).

Ventilation is an extractor fan at the back. You can't see it in the photos because there's also a baffle system to make it suck from the top and bottom of the back of the hood.

The 'doors' will be two vertically sliding glass panes.
There is not enough height to have one pane of glass opening all the way, so two panes that can slide over each other is a solution, same as a sash window.

A surprise was that Pb at the scrapyard is really cheap : 5 euros for about 10 kilos.

Eosin Y - 10-5-2016 at 12:07

What are you using as piping from the extractor fan to the outside world? I am 14 and starting a home laboratory, mostly for organic chemistry but with a bit of energetic materials. I wouldn't want perchlorates (for the sake of example) building up in a tube like that. My chemistry teacher has already had a nasty shock from a desk soaked with perchlorates ages ago.

aga - 10-5-2016 at 12:07

Quote: Originally posted by Eosin Y

Is the butane for the Bunsen connection stored in a tank, or do you have an external supply?

This is a Shed in the middle of no-where, so it's a Gas Bottle.

Quote: Originally posted by Eosin Y

Can you put me on your client list

Sorry, but No. My days as a male prostitute are finished (i just don't have the good looks for it anymore).

aga - 10-5-2016 at 12:13

Quote: Originally posted by Eosin Y

What are you using as piping from the extractor fan to the outside world?

The Shed basically IS in the outside world, so i just have a 100mm PVC elbow at the back of the fume hood.

100mm is big enough to get your hand in, also big enough so you can see anything building up.

My own chemistry has not included anything nastier than chlorine gas so far, for which PVC is fine.

If you go down the perchlorate path, then you'll be looking at a lot of $ and plenty of teflon.

Edit:

The elbow is standard drainpipe fitting and i have some 3m lengths of straight pipe i can attach if i feel that any fumes might get really frisky, although i'd also being wearing a gas mask in that case.

[Edited on 10-5-2016 by aga]

Eosin Y - 10-5-2016 at 12:13

Is there still a water supply out there? Just by the way, what kinds of chemicals do you have there.

aga - 10-5-2016 at 12:19

Quote: Originally posted by Eosin Y

Is there still a water supply out there? Just by the way, what kinds of chemicals do you have there.

Nope. (pump switch controls a submersible pump in a bucket).
Quite a few.

In that order.

Edit:

Why do you say 'still' ? That would suggest pre-knowledge.

Please think up a great answer or Bert will be really annoyed that i won the bet already.

Probably be good for his back though.

[Edited on 10-5-2016 by aga]

Chemist_Cup_Noodles - 10-5-2016 at 13:22

Wow, that's something to behold. It really makes a lot of sense too, much easier and cost effective to make and install a fumehood at the same time in a shed. You should take a panoramic of it, give a full tour. I saw that minifridge too, nice touch. Did any of your neighbors ask if you were making a meth lab though?

Eosin Y - 10-5-2016 at 13:32

I've been lurking for a while. I assumed that no gas = no water.
What do you mean about a bet?

[Edited on 10-5-2016 by Eosin Y]

aga - 10-5-2016 at 13:39

Quote: Originally posted by Chemist_Cup_Noodles

Did any of your neighbors ask if you were making a meth lab though?

It really is not like that here.

My neighbours on on the next hill, around 400m line-of-sight. Around 900m to go from my house to theirs.

We (almost) all live out here because we do not want other people interferring, so we say Hi etc, when we meet in the village or on the road, but do not visit each other unless there is a life-threatening emergency, which is rare.

Meth labs are not such a huge industry in this part of Spain.

Cannabis is a far bigger political problem as it really does grow like a Weed in this kind of climate.

aga - 10-5-2016 at 13:49

No idea.

I have not lived in the UK for over a decade.

The question does not relate to this thread either, which is very faulty etiquette.

Eton has obviously let the standards slip

Eosin Y - 10-5-2016 at 13:52

Sorry about that. I'll remove the question.

blogfast25 - 10-5-2016 at 13:55

Quote: Originally posted by Eosin Y

Do you think that my ordering of distillation apparatus of Ebay and also my ordering of a lot of strange chemicals will get the police to pay me a visit? Just thinking that it might be a place to bring this up.
These chemicals:
NaOH - NaOCl - Urea - Trichloroisocyanuric acid - Sodium dichloroisocyanurate - Lantern batteries - Aluminium powder - Ferrocerium - Magnesium - Potassium perchlorate - Sodium perchlorate - H2SO4 - Potassium nitrate - Antifreeze - Hydrogen peroxide - Calcium oxide

[Edited on 10-5-2016 by Eosin Y]

If you stick to stuff that doesn't require a license, then definitely NO.

Restricted stuff is gradually being phased out by eBay but I can see they aren't on top of all the regulations just yet.

Eosin Y - 10-5-2016 at 13:56

Ah. Thanks Blogfast: I heard Brits being investigated for a suspected meth lab after some orders like this.

blogfast25 - 10-5-2016 at 14:08

Quote: Originally posted by Eosin Y

Ah. Thanks Blogfast: I heard Brits being investigated for a suspected meth lab after some orders like this.

It's still very rare in the UK to be investigated by the Met for possession of chemicals, within reason of course.

Should they request an interview, cooperate and be clear about your purposes.

As a seller I have dealt with them a few times and can't in the slightest complain about their treatment.

[Edited on 10-5-2016 by blogfast25]

NedsHead - 10-5-2016 at 15:25

Looks great aga, I like the PVC storage on the right side of the fume cupboard, perfect for those long items like condenser and frac columns, if I decide to build a fume cupboard I'll be stealing that idea from you

CharlieA - 10-5-2016 at 16:49

Coming soon to a laboratory supply house near you...the agahood!

KodasLab - 11-5-2016 at 11:10

Sweet hood! I used dumbbell weights as counter-weights for the sash, which worked out really well. Although it is a little heavy to close, it's still very smooth and the window stays in place.

[Edited on 11-5-2016 by KodasLab]

aga - 11-5-2016 at 11:42

That looks really Cool !

Is the front door glass ?

Guess it must be to need counter-weighting.

[Edited on 12-5-2016 by aga]

DFliyerz - 12-5-2016 at 07:38

So, so jealous! It's like watching porn for a chemist. But now I know what I want my work space to look like, once I move out in a few years and get my own place.

aga - 20-5-2016 at 09:08

Quote: Originally posted by DFliyerz

So, so jealous! It's like watching porn for a chemist.

The absorbent towel is behind you next to the door

Finally i got the front doors/windows done.

It is basically a sash window, with each pane sliding independently.

Just the lead counter-weights to melt & cast and it's basically done.

The photo below shows the proper way to calculate the precise required mass of the lead counter-weights.

(fold some bits of lead pipe in half and hang it on the wire).

With the front closed, it is apparent that the extractor fan i bought is crap. The cheaper old one was better.

Definitely going to replace that, which will be easy as the fan unit was designed to make it easily replaceable

Magpie - 20-5-2016 at 10:01

Quote: Originally posted by aga

With the front closed, it is apparent that the extractor fan i bought is crap.

What do you mean here? With the front closed is there any way for air to enter the hood?

How wide is your hood?

aga - 20-5-2016 at 11:12

The front control-panel bit is the 'airfoil' part, although not really designed as such, just built in that general shape.

The front door/window is in no way air-tight, allowing air in throught the bottom part (at least) at all times.

The hood is 1040mm wide by 860 high by 600 deep.

The idea with the baffle & ducting was that air would be sucked strongly at the top and bottom of the back of the hood, and it is not.

A puff of cigarette smoke under the bottom of the front door just hangs about, then gradually makes it's way to the exit ...

[Edited on 20-5-2016 by aga]

aga - 20-5-2016 at 13:11

Been a long time since i melted and poured Pb - lotsa fun !

The mould for the counterweights was just some slightly damp sand in a big pan, with a silicone sealant tube as the 'form'.

All i need is a rough hole in the middle, so a bundle of welding rods wrapped in Al foil serve well. As they are individual sticks, it's much easier to pull them out one-by-one than it is to pull 1 big metal bar out of there.

Just pour in the lead ...

... and tadaaaa ! A Lead counterweight for my fume hood sash door/window thing.

They are a bit too wide, and catch on other things, so i'll melt them all down again tomorrow and make thinner, longer ones.

Woohoo !

Edit:

One-finger to the sash door/window.whatever it's called (and there's no lube !) :

Attachment: action.wmv (810kB)
This file has been downloaded 385 times

[Edited on 20-5-2016 by aga]

Happiness

aga - 21-5-2016 at 12:50

Re-melted/cast thinner counterweights and they work really well : even better now they have some grease-lube.

The extractor actually does quite well with light fume production when the doors are shut (still a gap at the bottom).

First thing was to try distilling the 250ml bottle labelled 'Failed EtOH/Cl2' from the first step in the TCA attempt a good few months ago.

I did have a sense of being slightly drunk and some euphoriah, although that was very likely due to beer and happiness rather than chloral hydrate fumes.

glymes - 21-5-2016 at 13:02

Oh wow.

By the way, did you not notice the way you mentioned lubricant, an absorbent towel and pornography all on the same page?

aga - 21-5-2016 at 13:06

Quote: Originally posted by glymes

Oh wow.

By the way, did you not notice the way you mentioned lubricant, an absorbent towel and pornography all on the same page?

I did not notice.

Surprised you used no LaTex in that comment

[Edited on 21-5-2016 by aga]

glymes - 22-5-2016 at 10:04

Oh dear.

Sadness

aga - 22-5-2016 at 11:58

Distilled the failed EtOH chlorination stuff twice today.

Each time the B.P. of the fractions are miles away from chloral hydrate etc.

Messed for a while by adding conc sulphuric to it, then gave it up as a bad job.

Then properly disposed of it all (set fire to it).

Better to start again with Known reagents and keep the water out.

[Edited on 22-5-2016 by aga]