Sciencemadness Discussion Board - Shutdown Research Lab Equipment

Shutdown Research Lab Equipment

coalminecanary - 30-6-2016 at 07:37

Hello SM.

I'm new to this hobby (well relatively, I've been studying chemistry for 2 years, but just this last year I've decided I wanted to start to do some at-home chemistry).

I recently stumbled upon an ad on a flea market website that mentioned that she had some stuff from a shut down research lab. So I told her to send some pictures of what she had.

Turns out it's pretty great stuff (no distillation or anything like that though sadly). But as far as I'm aware pyrex and Schott Duran are the cream of the crop.

Question is: on a daily basis - what amount of beakers, erlenmeyer flasks, crystalizing dishes and media bottles is pratical to have? I'm not going to buy them all, I just need a practical amount that you may need for any organic synthesis.

I have an idea, but I'd like to hear your input.

RX8xZJQ.jpg - 248kB

Praxichys - 30-6-2016 at 08:07

In my opinion, you'd do better just buying them all. I find that if I buy one thing, I'll find a reason to need another eventually. You can get bulk discounts if you purchase used glass in lots rather than individually. If you buy a bunch of stuff in bulk and realize you don't need some pieces from it, you can often sell a couple of them to members here on SM or eBay for a decent profit.

If you're short on cash, try mentally walking yourself through a couple of experiments that you plan on doing. Are you OK with washing/drying glass in the middle as necessary, or would you rather have enough glass to complete the experiment? If you break something in the middle of an experiment, will you be unable to complete it? If you get something so crusted up with gunk that it has to soak for a week, will it cause you to postpone other experiments? If you need to store something in the fridge, or crystallize three things at once, will you have the capability?

Trust me: even if you have to dig for couch coins to buy them cheaply, you will not regret it later.

aga - 30-6-2016 at 08:34

You can never have enough glass.

I have around 10 glass beakers and they are permanently either Full or in the wash.

1 each of the measuring cylinders would be ok.

coalminecanary - 30-6-2016 at 08:59

Thanks these are all great advice.
Turns out she only wants 1.35$ per Schott Duran beaker/Erlenmeyer flask (and Pyrex too..)

I read in the book by BromicAcid that Schott Duran is by far the best.

If someone can confirm that 1.35$ for a beaker/erlenmeyer flask is an okay deal, I'll get it all. :-)
She wants like 3-9$ per crystalizing dish.

Praxichys - 30-6-2016 at 09:02

Those are excellent prices. If you're not sure, check out equivalent products on eBay, Amazon, Carolina Biological, Cynmar, Edmund, Sciplus, SEOH, etc.

Dr.Bob - 30-6-2016 at 11:02

Anything less than $3 per item is good for pyrex/Duran of almost any size, the bigger it is, the better the deal. $1/ item is great. Crystallizing dishes sell use for about $1 per 10 mm of diameter, so a 100 mm dish would normally be about $10. I would offer to buy the entire lot for less than she wants, and see where she heads. Or if you are not able to buy much, please let the people here know where the sale is, and how to contact the seller.

violet sin - 30-6-2016 at 16:26

If the pics shown are all of it, that would be under 40$, CAN'T go wrong with that price. Not much of a need to fish for lower prices unless there is a big arse pile of it, and they want it all gone at once for the space. Just figure if the price is good, and your going to be happy, make them happy as well. Good karma always comes back around, and the nagging feeling of digging penny's out of an unwitting sellers purse will linger.

When I was first collecting beakers and what not, Id buy at least 3 of each size I wanted. Get home and they were full almost immediately. Had to go buy more... The crystalizing dishes are really pretty, as petri dishes are in use now in my work space. Kinda wondering if youd be interested in shipping some to california

but I could always wait for a deal near me so no need to do things harder than they need be done. Nice score!

coalminecanary - 30-6-2016 at 22:27

Hey. :-)

Turns out this was just a random sample of what she had. She had a huge box filled with Duran and Pyrex glassware like sampled in the picture. So maybe 1/4th or 1/5th of what she actually had is shown in the picture.

She also had an entire box of media bottles (duran/pyrex with caps). Which she also wanted between 1-3$ for each (some were 5L bottles, but she had almost all varities). I'm gonna pick that one up aswell.

This is a sale in scandinavia, a find like this is SUPER rare up here, as all science equipment costs an arm and a leg. I'd love to share this find with some members here on SM, but I think shipping to the US would immediately make it unviable.

violet sin - 30-6-2016 at 23:59

no problem there, would be one heck of an expensive way to share a bargain.

Like I said, the waiting game is my favorite way to not overpay. On the plus side, wages go up over the years. Congrats again on the nice find.

Tsjerk - 1-7-2016 at 02:49

For 1-3$ a piece I would definitely pick up everything with a question asked!

If it turns out it is of no use you can still sell it / give it away to friends.

Texium - 1-7-2016 at 12:13

Buy buy buy! You won't regret it one bit later, even if it's a bit more overhead up front than you feel comfortable with. In the long term, having a lot of high quality glassware will save you money, especially considering that it's hard to even get cheap glassware at these prices sometimes. Those media bottles you mention are especially worth it. You can never have enough of them.

coalminecanary - 1-7-2016 at 18:15

Quote: Originally posted by zts16

Buy buy buy! You won't regret it one bit later, even if it's a bit more overhead up front than you feel comfortable with. In the long term, having a lot of high quality glassware will save you money, especially considering that it's hard to even get cheap glassware at these prices sometimes. Those media bottles you mention are especially worth it. You can never have enough of them.

I bought it. :-) I'll take a picture once it arrives.

Meanwhile: does anyone know why warning stickers on eBay cost so much? The country I'm in requires it as law to put stickers on chemical.

coalminecanary - 5-7-2016 at 00:53

As an update: It arrived
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnzF837vzcY

A lot more than expected though....

Orenousername - 5-7-2016 at 01:08

Nice! I'm jealous. Have been working with 4 beakers and some ground glass

Edit: also recently broke one of my 250mL RBFs

[Edited on 7-5-2016 by Orenousername]

coalminecanary - 5-7-2016 at 01:26

Quote: Originally posted by Orenousername

Nice! I'm jealous. Have been working with 4 beakers and some ground glass

Edit: also recently broke one of my 250mL RBFs

[Edited on 7-5-2016 by Orenousername]

Auch... RIP RBF, you useful devils! Sadly because of their roundness they tend to roll and break a lot.

I had a bunch of money saved up from some programming freelance work and decided to go all in. =) Also, I don't think 200$ was a bad deal, but I'm still looking for someone to confirm that it wasn't, or the opposite of course.

Texium - 5-7-2016 at 06:35

Quote: Originally posted by coalminecanary

Meanwhile: does anyone know why warning stickers on eBay cost so much? The country I'm in requires it as law to put stickers on chemical.

Well, you can always print your own. Try this site: http://www.mysafetylabels.com

Oh, and $200 is a great deal for all of that. If you were in the US I'd happily buy like 10 of those media bottles... they are so useful. I bet you could make most of your money back by selling off some of them to other members.

[Edited on 7-5-2016 by zts16]

chemplayer... - 5-7-2016 at 08:34

Even in the dodgy place that we inhabit where things fall off the back of lorries and PCl3 can be bought cash in hand, 100ml Duran media bottles with the blue screwcaps go for about $7 each. And they're worth it.

In other words, back up the truck...

coalminecanary - 5-7-2016 at 08:41

Quote: Originally posted by chemplayer...

Even in the dodgy place that we inhabit where things fall off the back of lorries and PCl3 can be bought cash in hand, 100ml Duran media bottles with the blue screwcaps go for about $7 each. And they're worth it.

In other words, back up the truck...

Don't know if you saw the (after getting around 6 hours of sleep retrospectively cringeworthy) video, but the truck was backed up this morning and it's all here!

When ChemPlayer season 2 kicks off, please, do U2U me and I'll happily send some of these you way. I'm a HUGE fan of your videos (the only other video on my channel... that transition video was an attempt to start something off like ChemPlayer, although with my limited experience I'd fail horribly).

HHLODny.png - 30kB

Edit: Woops gotta tweak those label alignments a little.

[Edited on 5-7-2016 by coalminecanary]

[Edited on 5-7-2016 by coalminecanary]