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Author: Subject: Homemade and Repurposed Lab Gear
Zombie
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[*] posted on 16-4-2015 at 13:12


Fiberglass is my "thing"

You can stripe out a square on the table using double sided tape, and stick the cloth to that. This will hold it "true" so you can then use painters tape on the top side to mask off a clean line for your silicone edging.

Let that side cure, and then flip it over, and do the reverse.

Keeping the cloth square while you work will get rid of all the issues.

I'm going to have to make a few of those when I get the chance. I really like the idea




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[*] posted on 17-4-2015 at 07:58


Quote: Originally posted by Zombie  
Fiberglass is my "thing"

You can stripe out a square on the table using double sided tape, and stick the cloth to that. This will hold it "true" so you can then use painters tape on the top side to mask off a clean line for your silicone edging.

Let that side cure, and then flip it over, and do the reverse.

Keeping the cloth square while you work will get rid of all the issues.

I'm going to have to make a few of those when I get the chance. I really like the idea


That is a good idea. I really wish the silicone could be painted on, rather than having to be smeared, since that is where most of my problems came from. This is where my idea of using a volatile solvent to add to a pool of RTV silicone came from, since I figured it would be easier to dip or paint the edges.

I will be making several more of these in various sizes, and will probably try a couple of different techniques. The use of the painters tape to mask the edges is a really good idea.

Thank you, Zombie.
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The Volatile Chemist
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[*] posted on 17-4-2015 at 13:02


Quote: Originally posted by violet sin  
@The Volatile Chemist: yes, I made it so I could use a voltage tripler scavenged from an old tv, with my oil burner transformer. The OBT is centertapped secondary providing AC, the trippler was working @ 1/2 effency at best. Seemed like less. The neg side feeding *into the tripled is also the neg side return of the higher voltage it produces. BIG angry constant arc now instead of a repeating arc from AC as it was. All used for learning and notes on NO2 production. The OBT was More than capable of making an orange cloud in a mason jar in a few sec with platinum electrodes. Tantalum, though high temp resistant, wasn't doing near the same work. Magnets were used to make a disc arc finally. Way down the road I wanted to have it all run on a small solar panel in my back yard for free. Just have to build the frame and start soldering there. Maybe the +100'F summers will be providing HNO3 if I get some more time to work it. Controller, tabbing, 12v batts etc. On hand, time not so much.

@Zombie: thanks, it was a rewarding project.

Cool. Any particular reason you enclosed it that way? (the Bridge).
You're oil burner transformer reminded me of mineral oil cooled computers, though totally unrelated. Anyone tried one of these?




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violet sin
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[*] posted on 18-4-2015 at 04:52


stupid compy dumped my comment twice now after having written several paragraphs each time. using the lap top with out a mouse can be a pain.... ya PVC is cheap, durable, machinable and available... coulda used epoxy.
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[*] posted on 18-4-2015 at 09:50


Quote: Originally posted by Loptr  
Quote: Originally posted by Zombie  
Fiberglass is my "thing"

You can stripe out a square on the table using double sided tape, and stick the cloth to that. This will hold it "true" so you can then use painters tape on the top side to mask off a clean line for your silicone edging.

Let that side cure, and then flip it over, and do the reverse.

Keeping the cloth square while you work will get rid of all the issues.

I'm going to have to make a few of those when I get the chance. I really like the idea


That is a good idea. I really wish the silicone could be painted on, rather than having to be smeared, since that is where most of my problems came from. This is where my idea of using a volatile solvent to add to a pool of RTV silicone came from, since I figured it would be easier to dip or paint the edges.

I will be making several more of these in various sizes, and will probably try a couple of different techniques. The use of the painters tape to mask the edges is a really good idea.

Thank you, Zombie.



There are several versions of liquid silicone available. Most are 2 part mixes.

We use them in the marine industry to coat propellers on large yachts to prevent marine growth such as barnacles, algae, slime, oysters mussels, ect...

http://www.amazon.com/QSil-Clear-Liquid-Silicone-2-Part/dp/B...

31+fKdEFP1L.jpg - 13kB




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[*] posted on 9-7-2015 at 05:47


My go-to source of improptu test tubes is a Chinese brand of street thermometers which is freely sold in my town. These thermometers are encased in glass containers that, essentially, are test tubes.

Drugstore bottles are another source of glassware I use. Especially the fanfura vials. "Fanfura" is a cheap, over-the-counter form of ethanol or ethanol-based tinctures which are sold in my country with no questions asked. They are, in fact, vodka concentrate sold to the population without paying the vodka tax. I'm no stranger to using the fanfura for its intended purpose, as a recreational beverage, but the vials and jars in which it is sold are perfectly good containers for chemicals.

Another easily repurposable container is the plastic bottle in which lamp kerosene is sold in my region. It is the best container for strong mineral acids or alkaline solutions. It could be even used to store hydrofluoric acid, if it wasn't in my category of "stuff I'll never work with".

A small electric stove is a good substitute for a hotplate. The traditional Russian brick wood stove is surprisingly easy to repurpose as a fume hood: it already has a built-in fume hood, only without the fan, because it's for removing hot smoke that's already lighter than air. A low-tech, medieval fume hood made of brick, clay and stone, but it's still a fume hood :) To use it for removing room-temperature fumes, you just put an electric fan into the "vyushka" lid-box, turn it on and close the lid-box door.

[Edited on 9-7-2015 by ave369]

[Edited on 9-7-2015 by ave369]
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[*] posted on 9-7-2015 at 05:52


Quote: Originally posted by violet sin  
stupid compy dumped my comment twice now after having written several paragraphs each time. using the lap top with out a mouse can be a pain....

Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C. Backup text to clipboard regularly. Even better, write the reply in notepad, then paste to SM when done.

Also, if you go back and hit the refresh button when it says "confirm form resubmission" you'll get most of it back.




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[*] posted on 10-7-2015 at 10:50


Hah, you should try typing any long email on a Nokia N800 2008 internet tablet. THing mistakes the 'delete' button for a navigate backwards due to some random bug...but it runs OS2, so I can ssh to the SDF(Super Dimension Fortress)!



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[*] posted on 10-7-2015 at 11:54
Your mileage may vary


Quote: Originally posted by The Volatile Chemist  
Interesting. Modern textbooks describe it as death incarnate. Vogel appears to have used it a lot. I'm pretty sure he lasted a long time.


I had a good friend who played in a basement as a child in which asbestos firebrick was used around the furnace. He died of Mesothelioma in his 40's.

Asbestos which is shredding or fraying is potentially deadly, but not for every person every time.

Had his father simply painted the bricks - or left them at the shipyard - perhaps I'd still have my friend.
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[*] posted on 24-8-2015 at 21:36


I've constructed a lab jack.

dYlSZEK.jpg - 1.6MB

And fixed a vacuum pump that hadn't worked for >15 years.

DlEm78O.jpg - 2MB




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[*] posted on 25-8-2015 at 00:28


Im using coffee glass because thats heat proof.
Also I'm using a 100ml sirenge instead of a sep. funnel.
And I have a complete gas stove instead of a hot plate.
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[*] posted on 25-8-2015 at 02:03


Just took a look around and I found some 20 and 50 mL glass bottles,some IDK what kind of plastic bottles(some round,some square shaped,maybe they are good for storing things),a lot of glass jars,two big lightbulbs(I'm thinking about using them as round bottom ballons.I think they have a volume of about 400mL),some...thing made out of glass which looks like a long neck,flat bottom baloon(Idk if this is the right name...I don't know how to translate it in english but I think you know what I'm talking about) and another jar which looks like a very large neck erlenmeyer flask.I also find some hoses(I don't know what they are made out of).Another thing was a gas lamp.
Maybe I should search the attic too.
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[*] posted on 26-8-2015 at 06:31


Maybe flask, not balloon? Balloon is a bright-colored, inflatable rubber thing popular at parties.



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[*] posted on 26-8-2015 at 11:24


Quote: Originally posted by ave369  
Maybe flask, not balloon? Balloon is a bright-colored, inflatable rubber thing popular at parties.

Or yes,flask.We call "balloons" whatever has this form here and "flask" the other things like berzelius and erlenmeyer but it seems like they are all flasks in english...
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[*] posted on 26-8-2015 at 11:46


Quote: Originally posted by violet sin  
stupid compy dumped my comment twice now after having written several paragraphs each time. using the lap top with out a mouse can be a pain.... ya PVC is cheap, durable, machinable and available... coulda used epoxy.

I use a track ball with my laptop The little pads are usually too problematic. I write on RTV with a sharpie




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[*] posted on 26-8-2015 at 12:51


Quote: Originally posted by Tabun  
Quote: Originally posted by ave369  
Maybe flask, not balloon? Balloon is a bright-colored, inflatable rubber thing popular at parties.

Or yes,flask.We call "balloons" whatever has this form here and "flask" the other things like berzelius and erlenmeyer but it seems like they are all flasks in english...

Same thing here... never got why balloon but wtv I guess.
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[*] posted on 26-8-2015 at 14:07


Havnt read whole thread yet but found this
http://www.teralab.co.uk/Glass_Blowing/Glass_Blowing_Menu.ht...

It has helped me alot with doing glass work and avoiding stressing the glass, it recommends putting any glass your cooling into a layer of vermiculite to help it cool much slower, anyway I found it helpful so thought I would post it, it also has a method of building a simple device to see if your new formed glass joint is stressed or not




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[*] posted on 26-8-2015 at 14:14


Quote: Originally posted by Loptr  
Quote: Originally posted by Magpie  
Quote: Originally posted by Zombie  
Where did you finr that regulator for the Gas bottle Magpie?
Is that a camp stove Reg.?


I found it in the BBQ section of a Ranch & Home store. I haven't seen one since. Avogadro's Lab Supply sells one like it (at an outrageous price.)

Yes, I think its intended purpose is likely for a camp stove. Mine was about $15 ten years ago.

[Edited on 15-3-2015 by Magpie]


Yeah, I have been trying to find one as well. I tried to see where Avogrado purchased theirs, but there was no getting around them.

For now, when I need a burner I just attach the burner's latex gas feed tube to the end of a propane torch, turn on the gas, and then light the burner. It works, for now.



http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bunsen-Burner-LPG-Propane-with-Reg...

might help or
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PROPANE-BUTANE-BURNER-TORCH-ADJUST...




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[*] posted on 26-8-2015 at 16:41


You know those rubber bulbs on dropper bottles? They can be used as test-tube stoppers in a pinch.



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[*] posted on 27-8-2015 at 09:12


I salute everyone who pursues improvisation, truly it all began with this ,that and insatiable curiosity. I credit the lessons learned in struggling to prevail upon myself how infinitely rewarding my learning could be by striving to make and see things differently. I've only just recently found a perfect substitute for a pestal. The rounded end of a fire poke.
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[*] posted on 30-8-2015 at 13:51


Nice work pinkhippo!
Recently, when adjusting the height of a Bunsen burner and trying to write notes at school simultaneously, a lab partner told me to turn the adjuster the other way, thinking it wasn't making the flame any shorter. after a few turns in this direction, the methane jetted out onto my hand and into the air. I quickly put the adjustment 'dial' back into the burner, but in a second, the methane ignited, and burned in a quick rush along my hand. Didn't hurt much - it was just hot. But my hand smelled like burnt flesh the entire day.
Lesson learned: When you know you're the smartest at the table, don't take advice absentmindedly... :/




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[*] posted on 30-8-2015 at 15:27


Although I work with fiberglass, making laminates, and like working with it, I think a better choice for insulating flasks is to use mineral wool or mineral paper insulation used with kilns.

Seattle Pottery for example:
http://www.seattlepotterysupply.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?S...
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[*] posted on 30-8-2015 at 19:57


I have this thing that I do. whenever I am washing up glassware I break another beaker. They are not real expensive but the shipping kills. Typically I pay more for delivery than I do for the item.
Yesterday at the cheap store I saw coffee plungers going cheap -- the french press type. For minimal dollars I got two 800mL tallform beakers, two useful plastic scoops and some stainless steel gauze that I am sure to find a use for one day.
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[*] posted on 31-8-2015 at 14:01


Wash carefully young jsum, or the Force will break 'em.

I need more beakers and test tubes for the exact same reason.

Lobbing them into the bucket of water with the rest of of the dirty glassware cannot be a Best Practice either.




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[*] posted on 4-9-2015 at 12:28


Quote: Originally posted by aga  
Wash carefully young jsum, or the Force will break 'em.

I need more beakers and test tubes for the exact same reason.

Lobbing them into the bucket of water with the rest of of the dirty glassware cannot be a Best Practice either.

Naa...I broke the bottom out of my nicest beaker (I still have the one with the etched labeling :)) tapping crystals out of it. My dreams have been filled with rediculous situations in which I acquire new, nice glassware. :P




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