Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Buying Endecott Test seives - questions about metal compatibility & best models - anyone near Purdue Uni in Indiana?

RogueRose - 10-7-2019 at 09:35


Attached are photos from the auction I won & now I'm trying to find out the physical dimensions - diameter, height & weight. I email Endecott & seller and am waiting for a reply buy who knows how long or if that will happen. The body/frames are brass with stainless steel mesh of:
2mmm or 10 mesh
850um or 20 mesh
250um or 60 mesh
75um or 200 mesh

Here are the sizes, diam & height, they offer and frame material (SS is available for all of them, some have Brass option - marked by Brass)
diam - height - 1/2 height models - frame material
3" - 1.25" - 1" - Brass
8" - 2" - 1" - Brass
12" - 3" - 1" - Brass
18" - 3.5"
38mm - 19mm - Brass
100mm - 40mm - 20mm - Brass
150mm - 38mm
200mm - 50mm - 25mm - Brass
250mm - 60mm
300mm - 75mm - 40mm - Brass
315mm - 75mm
350mm - 60mm
400mm - 65mm
450 mm- 100mm

Since the units are brass body, these might be possibilities, but I'm guessing 8" or 12" or maybe 200mm or 300mm.
I've attached photos of the items.

The shipping quote was a little, "expensive" (what else do I expect from UPS store anymore??) b/c a large pickup fee was added after asking for a quote before bidding. It's extortion IMO. Does anyone live close to Purdue Uni in Indiana?


I have concerns that the brass body/frame might corrode with some salts like nitrates, sulfates, phosphates, chlorides, etc. - especially if there is ANY moisture in the solids, high humidity, a hydrate that decomp's near working environment's temp, etc. I'm kind of looking at these for sifting pyro materials & many interesting salts - among many other materials used for filtering (Act Carb,DE,sands, some carbonates,etc). I'm going to add a finer, maybe 325, 400, 500 or 600 - I'll pick 2 of these and make new bodies out of something - obtaining the 304 or 316L SS mesh from Ebay - its very economical.

As for the body of the new sieves, I was thinking of making them a sq ft b/c the mesh comes in 12"x12" or 30cm^2. These have to stack very flush/flat (maybe add a gasket in between?)so I was thinking very high grade plywood (like 15-21 laminations in 3/4" thick board) or even MDF. I'd then coat the entire thing with a very inert/chem resistant epoxy I have to ensure the chemicals don't stick or corrode the material. All sides would be covered by epoxy so it is waterproof and simple to clean - possibly even put in dishwasher.

Another option is to use acrylic or poly-carbonate sheets/slabs I have (rear panels from old LCD/plasma/LED monitors/TV's or from old CRT projection TV's (the big bulky 55" to 81" that are like 22-30" deep). The large plastic "sheet" range from 1/4" to 7/16" and are the size of the display sometimes 2" larger vet & horiz. I'd cut these to a width of maybe 1.25-2.5" which would make them that tall IDK what is ideal.

I'm stuck trying to figure out the best framing method. I've also looked at things like Tupperware/Rubbermaid containers and modifying them by cutting out the bottom (or lid even) and while it would work for a little while I think it would be difficult in the long run. I don't know if I can find cookie tins (round) that fit under the Endecott ones, but that isn't a major deal breaker. There are also square metal tins that may work or even using cake pans, possibly as the bottom "catch" container and then convert the current catch container to a working sieve with the new mesh. If anyone has any suggestions on materials or process I'd love to hear them!

So let me know if you are close to Purdue or if you can help with this project. I'm also going to build a shaker/vibrator of some kind down the road, which sounds like a fun project!



Seive_stack-wide shot.jpg - 99kB


Seive_stack- closer.jpg - 106kB


Seives from the top.jpg - 144kB

10 mesh
Seive 10 mesh - ASTME-II.jpg - 125kB

20 mesh
Seive 20 mesh - ASTMF-II.jpg - 148kB

60 mesh
Seive 60 mesh - ASTME-II.jpg - 122kB

200 mesh
Seive 200 mesh - ASTME-II.jpg - 139kB

[Edited on 7-10-2019 by RogueRose]

wg48temp9 - 10-7-2019 at 12:38

If you want stainless steel search for "stainless steel baking trays" but they are usually not cheap. Also You may get lucky in a charity shop.


RogueRose - 10-7-2019 at 18:42

Quote: Originally posted by wg48temp9  
If you want stainless steel search for "stainless steel baking trays" but they are usually not cheap. Also You may get lucky in a charity shop.



I thought about looking at charity shops and probably will. I then realized that I have lots of 3" x 48" strips of stainless steel, so I guess I could make my own square/rectangular body but I'm not sure how I'll be able to do it. Other option is to make circles the same size as the units in the picture.

Do ou think the brass body would be a problem for things like ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulfate and various other salts? I'm trying to think of various salts that react with brass, I need to look that up. I think these sieves are meant more for things like pharmaceutical powders, which I doubt are very reactive with the brass.

I could always coat the brass with epoxy I guess to make sure it doesn't react with any of the salts.

elementcollector1 - 10-7-2019 at 22:14

I'm about to move pretty close to Purdue (within driving distance, at any rate). How heavy do you expect these to be?