Magpie
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university surplus sales
I recently visited my local university's surplus sales facility. Their labware was displayed on shelves for customers' inspection prior to
purchase. I picked up the items shown in the picture below for $32. It was a cash sale with no questions asked.
The large evaporating dish is 6" in diameter and the smaller ones are 5" in diameter. The Erlenmeyer flask is 1000mL, and the stoppered bottles are
250mL. The chromed rod is extra long and the Humbolt base is also extra long.
[Edited on 2-9-2012 by Magpie]
The single most important condition for a successful synthesis is good mixing - Nicodem
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Hexavalent
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Very nice! Were the items new? Can you purchase big-ticket items, such as ovens etc.?
Do all departments sell off excess equipment, e.g. the biology and physics schools?
"Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." Winston Churchill
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Magpie
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The corks, pH paper, and the stoppered bottles are new, the rest used. I cleaned up the glassware this morning as it had some masking tape labels,
marking pen writing, and chemical residue in the 6" dish. Hot soapy water + acetone + 8% HCl took care of all that. I need to sand the Humbolt base
in places and repaint it.
Yes, they had a ton of small microscopes. There was even a Kewaunee 3' (1m) hood that went on auction. I wasn't there during the bidding so don't
know what it sold for. There was a pallet of vacuum pumps including a huge Edwards. Again, I wasn't there for the bidding. But I assume that those
would need rebuilds which can be quite expensive (~$2000). They have about anything you can think of at one time or another. Last year I saw an
electron microscope. 
The single most important condition for a successful synthesis is good mixing - Nicodem
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S.C. Wack
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It all depended on what your local programs were doing or used to do, until ebay. Some of the better buys on ebay I assume are still from schools.
Some have sold some of their chemistry journals too, this may become more common.
The several chemistry programs, and their schools in general here have been very stingy, or they're throwing things in the trash, or they're
secretive, except sort of for one. It seems to depend on how much public funding they get. You could have gotten boxes of porcelain for $10-15 each at
the last auction.
Of all lab equipment, pumps attract the most competitive buyers; microscopes the highest number of bidders. I've noticed that pumps are very
competitive at live auctions in general.
My advice to everyone is to buy new from Cynmar or Laboy or whoever and stay away from auctions or other school sales. OK?
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smaerd
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How would I go about finding out which local universities are having these surplus sales/auctions?
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Fossil
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google.com > [name of university] surplus sale > [enter]
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watson.fawkes
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Many
universities, in addition, have standing surplus departments to dispose of semi-valuable equipment and materials. One university local to me has a
retail surplus store, even. There's some very odd stuff that passes through there, including what appeared to be a full 1960's era electroshock
machine.
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S.C. Wack
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Call them. Don't forget county, state, and federal surplus. What schools mostly have a lot of is IME chairs, monitors, old tvs, file cabinets, and
rows of cheap Dells. I was the only bidder for a decent box furnace at an estate sale.
Show up on time, I was late for an unexpected Parr one day. Also made it to within 20' of a quality and good-sized SS autoclave as it sold for less
than scrap value. I'm not sure I could have taken it off the table.
But those 4 tube furnaces (2 with matching controllers) were what, under $100 all together? Why does Lindberg make them so damn heavy? Those were
pre-pocket-internet days. People had to call someone at home to check ebay before that.
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phlogiston
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If you happen to be at the right place at the right time and ask kindly you can occasionally even get really nice equipment for free, especially if
you can repair broken&discarded things yourself. I now have a decent spectrophotometer and HPLC system, (although I still lack software for the
latter and need to fix the 80's PC in the spectrophotometer to make use of its automatic scanning etc).
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"If a rocket goes up, who cares where it comes down, that's not my concern said Wernher von Braun" - Tom Lehrer |
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Magpie
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Here's a picture of my latest haul - not much but cost me only $4.50.
There was a whole box of 125mL Fisher Erlenmeyer flasks like the 2 in the picture. I also picked up a micro-burner - useful for qualitative analysis
work. There was a whole box of those too. Also for sale were 2ea 1000mL separatory funnels. But I couldn't justify buying one.
The sale location is about 150 miles from my house so I only visit when it is on my way to some other location. Glassware and small items are on sale
to the public every Friday but I only make it about twice a year. I think the best time to go is in late summer just before classes begin. My theory
is that then is when the chemistry instructors get around to clearing out their labs.
[Edited on 13-9-2016 by Magpie]
The single most important condition for a successful synthesis is good mixing - Nicodem
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rocketsurgeon
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At my local surplus I was able to grab a Coring microchem kit for only 12 bucks.
Pretty good deals if you have a bit of time to look!
"there just a pile of idiots" rocket surgeon
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Sulaiman
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I enquired about 'surplus sales' at my local uni chem school today and got a swift reply
"Unfortunately due to regulations we are not able to sell equipment"
CAUTION : Hobby Chemist, not Professional or even Amateur
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Texium
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None of the major universities in Texas have public surplus stores, but now that I go to one, I might be able to buy some stuff. All of the websites
are very unclear and disorganized, unlike universities in other states which sometimes even list items for sale. It's like they don't want people to
buy their surplus.
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chemrox
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it's shame the U's got wise to selling their surplus. I got some lab items free from two years ago. Including an IR. Of course the IR uses paper and
pens but it was free.
"When you let the dumbasses vote you end up with populism followed by autocracy and getting back is a bitch." Plato (sort of)
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phlogiston
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@zts16 You may not even need to buy anything. Keep your eyes open and when you find the opportunity just let people know you are interested in old
equipment. The cost of very old equipment is not significant to research labs. The few hundred bucks they might get from by selling old equipment is
completely dwarved by the cost of new state-of-the-art replacement equipment. It is not worth the bother and certainly does not outweigh the joy they
get from seeing your happiness. The disadvantage is that you can't pick what you need, but if you are a little patient you may be able to get a few
very nice pieces of equipment for free.
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"If a rocket goes up, who cares where it comes down, that's not my concern said Wernher von Braun" - Tom Lehrer |
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Heavy Walter
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Fellows
I will visit New York city by middle of October.
Somebody can suggest me for places to get used/surplus scientific / lab equipment?
All is welcome: University surplus stores; flea markets; used equipment dealers; etc.
I know is not the best area for hunting but...I will be there!
Thanks
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