Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Thai Scientific Glassblower!

Sauron - 27-4-2008 at 10:27

There's now a professional glassblower scientific glassware manufacturing company in Bangkok, with a website, and they are even in my part of town.

http://www.sp-glass.com/index.htm

I will visit them soon and report back.

They are probably useless for most of you, as transportation costs and import formalities would work against you. I have the opposite problem buying from US and shipping to Thailand. So I am utterly delighted to find these folks.

For years I have been getting repairs and modifications done through a couple of my suppliers here, who seemed to know where to access a glassblower with professional equipment, annealing ovens etc. Most likely these are the ones.

I see they make Buchi rotavap glassware, so that ought to give you some notion of their capabilities. Buchi condensers are a bitch, and one of the most overpriced pieces of glass I know of.

Their online product pages indicate that they standardized on ISO medium length standard taper joints, however I am sure they can grind full length US style joints as well. They also do SJ (ball/socket) joints and stopcocks.

[Edited on 28-4-2008 by Sauron]

woelen - 27-4-2008 at 11:29

I envy you with having such a shop in your own town. If possible, go and visit them and look around. That would be really great. I only can buy standard glassware, and good glassware is expensive, but worth the money, just as anything which has to do with our hobby.

The_Davster - 27-4-2008 at 12:14

I have had tours of my university's scientific glassblowing shop, it is just amazing the stuff they can do. Other than the main scientific work they do, with bureaucratic forms and everything, they also work on the side making ornate glass objects(such as flowers) for cash from anyone who asks.

JustMe - 27-4-2008 at 15:58

Just for the fun of it (excuse the momentary hijack)...

If you ever need a zero-volume bottle...

http://www.kleinbottle.com/

http://www.kleinbottle.com/erlenklein.htm

I know, not chemistry glassware related, but I still think kind of cool!

[Edited on by JustMe]

-jeffB - 27-4-2008 at 17:27

Quote:
Originally posted by JustMe
Just for the fun of it (excuse the momentary hijack)...

If you ever need a zero-volume bottle...

http://www.kleinbottle.com/

http://www.kleinbottle.com/erlenklein.htm

I know, not chemistry glassware related, but I still think kind of cool!


When I first saw their site several years ago, I was just about unable to resist. I'm thinking about emailing them and asking them if they can supply a vessel with thicker walls for high-pressure work. ;)

chemrox - 27-4-2008 at 20:07

High pressure zero volume? That would be an interesting trick. Are they true "Klein bottles" or does the intersection in 3 space make two surfaces and a containment volume? It appears thus from the photos. Any topologists here?

12AX7 - 27-4-2008 at 20:30

Any three-dimensional portrayal of a true Klein bottle is, of course, only an approximation. As a Mobius strip requires twisting through a third dimension, so too the Klein bottle requires twisting through a fourth dimension. As any two-dimensional portrayal of a Mobius strip requires an ambiguous intersection of lines, so also the Klein bottle has an ambiguous intersection of surfaces.

Tim

Sauron - 27-4-2008 at 21:24

Come on, guys, you want to have a Klein-bottle thread, go start one. Don't derail this thread.

I looked their website over more thoroughly.

They make Dimroth, Allihn, and spiral condensers as well as Leibig and I assume West. Also air condensers.

Soxhlet extraction apparatus.

Gas washing bottles to 1000 L.

Ground flanged lids to 200 mm diameter, one supposes they make matching RB or cylindrical reaction vessels. They also sell the required clamps. One to five necks,.

A decent selection of distillation glassware.

Looks pretty good.

I have requested price list.

DJF90 - 30-4-2008 at 14:46

5 necks... that reminds me, I have a 5 neck 250 ml flask coming my way in the post any day now... 1x24/29, 2x19/26, and 2x14/23... thing is... I have NO idea what I'm going to do with it. I only bought it because it was cheap :P

Anyhow back to topic... That glassblower sounds like a truely amazing find, and I am very envious of you. At the moment I'm still sorting myself out a jointed glass setup, still need a condenser of some sort and a receiver adapter (preferably vacuum) :(.

[Edited on 30-4-2008 by DJF90]

Sauron - 30-4-2008 at 20:58

For the better part of a decade my local chemical suppliers have been telling me there is a glassblower operating here, and selling me glassware made by him, modified by him for me or repaired by him at my request. I am reasonably sure this SP Glass & Chemical is the same one. If so, then I have a lot of comfort factor in their craftsmanship and quality.

I'll visit them next Tuesday morning.

I asked for quotes on the following:

Four immersion wells, 48mm OD, 31mm ID for Hg lamps. Two quartz and two borosilicate, all with modified cooling jacket. 290 mm and 450 mm lengths.

Spherical flasks, 5 neck, 3 L and 5 L with #50 threaded center neck, 2 x 24/40 and 2 x #7 threaded side necks. For photochemical reactions with immersion well.

10 L round bottom cylindrical reaction vessel, 200 mm Schott flange, w/matching lid equipped as above.

5 L jacketed Kriel flask, this is like an upside down Erlenmeyer with neck removed and closed up with a 150mm flat bottom for 100mm magnetic stirrer. The 5 necks (as above) are mounted in what would be the bottom of the Erlenmeyer, which is about 12 inches across. The height of this flask is about 450 mm. The cooling jacket is cylindrical, flat bottommed, the overall assembly is similar to the "European style" jacketed flasks in Ace catalog, except for the #50 center neck.

It'll be interesting to find out whether they can make the threaded joints, if not I have to buy those from Ace for $45 each (#50). And to see how their prices compare with Ace's. Big differential in labor cost between Bangkok and Vineland NJ.

Sauron - 5-5-2008 at 22:00

I visited SP Glass & Chemical today.

They will quote tomorrow on some photochemical equipment I want, immersion wells and reactors to take them.

They sell 3 L 3 neck 24/40 flasks for $100 and 5 L $125.

They do not grind their own joints, they buy them locally from the Thai factory that supplies Scott Duran for export.

They have one of the two sizes of quartz tube I need, I will buy the other in USA and also the #50 and other ace-threds I require. I will supply these to SP for my work. Fortunately the quartz tube they lack is the smaller inner size. They have the 48mm OD tube in stock.

woelen - 5-5-2008 at 22:35

That equipment you are planning to make must cost you a lot of $$$$. What kind of reactions are you peforming in these?

I also have a mecury 254 nm lamp, and would like to put this in a reaction mix, but till now I did not find a suitable tube, in which it can be immersed. A simple quartz tube, which is closed on one end, and open on the other end would do, I simply could stick in the lamp. I have quarz tubing, but I see no option to make it closed at one side myself :(

Sauron - 5-5-2008 at 23:46

Hg lamps run very hot, like 900 C, which is why a jacketed immersion well is needed. Jacketed quartz immesion wells run $500-$1000 from Ace. They have the advantage of being transparent to the entire UV spectrum, and can be used iun conjunction with filter sleeves of pyrex or vycor to control which wavelengths get through.

Obviously borosilicate jacketed immersion wells are much less expensive, like $200-$300 so roughly 1/3 the price. But borosilicate cuts off a lo of the spectrum. If you search Org.Syn. you will see that almost all of the photochemical reactions in there (about 2 dozen) with Hanovia medium pressure lamps were done in pyrex wells or in quartz weklls with pyrex sleeves (same effect) and a few with vycor sleeves. Very few were done in unfiltered quartz wells.

I plan on doing chlorinations and a decomposition.

But who knows, I may want to do some Diels-Alders later.

The photochemical chlorinations are of methyl chloroformate and dimethyl carbonate.

The decomposition is of trichloroacetyl chloride to CCl4.