Tour My Lab

This is a continuation of what I started that ended up with Waldo in Whimsy. My purpose here is to show the lab I built this summer in my garage, i.e., the infrastructure and utilities. I encourage others to show features of their lab. (A thread just on equipment would also be very interesting.)

I often lamented the fact that I had no sink in my garage which I view as a severe limitation for a lab. Then it dawned on me that one wall of the garage is shared by a 1/2 bath inside the house. Therefore, hot & cold water + drain were just inside that wall! So I installed the sink shown below. The sink itself is 10" (25 cm) deep, aquired from a restaurant equipment supplier. (I just love putting ordinary items to a higher use ).

[Edited on 11-11-2005 by Magpie]

[Edited on 11-11-2005 by Magpie]

EbC: reduced picture size.

[Edited on 26-1-2007 by chemoleo]

Very nice! I see that your recently made pellet press is sitting there as well

Where, may I ask did you get those wash bottles (I've been looking for some for the longest time), and where/how did you design your water aspirator? I've been meaning to build one for awhile, but I never got around to any good plans

Counter top looks nice too, make sure you don't spill any nasties on it

Thanks Darkblade. I just recently bought the wash bottles, a 250ml & 500 mL. Couldn't decide which one I wanted so bought both.

The aspirator is a common chrome plated brass type available for about $15. Then to the hardware store to get the necessary adapters to attach to the faucet.

I hesitate to give wide distribution to valuable sources of supply. They can disappear if abused or embarassed by kewls and the like. I will U2U this to you.

Yes, Tacho - clean for now. That's the fun of new construction.

When I built my gas cylinders I wanted to leak test them for gas tightness. So I had to get an air compressor. I've needed one of these all my life for blowing out sprinklers, cleaning parts, etc. Somehow I could never justify buying one until the lab came along.

It's shown below:

EbC: reduced picture size.

[Edited on 26-1-2007 by chemoleo]

Here's some more infrastructure: "Do + Able" cabinets, available at your Home Depot if you live in the US. These are attached to a free-standing wall. The wall consists of a 4' x 6' sheet of 3/4" plywood. Mounted to the wall on the backside are shelves for counterbalance. I keep all my glassware and other small pieces of equipment in these. It's also my desk.

[Edited on 26-1-2007 by chemoleo]

Wow! Looks very nice, you're quite the DIY handyman.

You'll be soon building a fully equipped lab with fume hood and all

Darkblade you are ahead of the curve again. I am saving the pictures of my crown jewel for last.

For those of us who live outside of the equatorial belt a source of heat is necessary if we are to enjoy our lab in the winter. I would likely use mine without one, I'll just enjoy it more and use it more often with the heater. I had to run a 240V line for this. Standard US voltage is 120VAC.

It is adjustable and I can aim it right down the aisle to my workstation.

EbC: reduced picture size.

[Edited on 26-1-2007 by chemoleo]

Quote:

Originally posted by Magpie Darkblade you are ahead of the curve again. I am saving the pictures of my crown jewel for last.

That means you have a fume hood designed/built already! Stop beating around the bush and show us the goods!

I like how the heater is called "The Hot One", though the line that runs to the heater doesn't look like 240V (power cable seems too small in diameter).

Darkblade all in due time - you are getting spoiled. I'm also worried that you are spending too much time on the forum with all those tests coming up.

On the power cable: you have that backwards. The higher the voltage the lower the current and required wire size. The plug really faked me out as it looked about like a 120VAC plug in size. But one prong was turned 90 degrees. There is an outlet box; its just too high up to be seen in the picture (in the attic). I didn't have to run wire into the wall that way.

Actually, the main reason the cable is so small is that 4kw really isn't that big of a heater - just four big hair dryers.

[Edited on 12-11-2005 by Magpie]

Quote:

Originally posted by Magpie Darkblade all in due time - you are getting spoiled. I'm also worried that you are spending too much time on the forum with all those tests coming up.

Shh, I only have a few tests left...I'll manage, I just need to sleep less so I have more time for the forums

And now you know why I'm not an electrician

Thanks gsd and thanks for the warning. I have already seen stains from iodine on stainless steel (not on my sink though ).

Lab

Nice looking setup ! I'll be moving in the spring from an apartment to a mobile home.
This will give me more privacy - especially when I run my still !

Thanks MadHatter. Speaking of stills a friend and former colleague wants to start making his own ethanol for fuel for his cars. He has located an 8' stainless steel distillation column w/pot & piping for $350. He has told his wife that that is what he wants for Christmas. I have told him that the economics aren't good. He says he's going to do it anyway as I think he wants to play, and also be in a knowlegeable position when the petroleum crunch really comes. I have been providing him free lab support for analysis of his fermentation product. I may have to start charging him.

Here's 3 pictures of my homemade fume hood. These have been resized to a maximum dimension of 550 pixels so hopefully Taaie can put away his Dramamine. (Thanks Taaie for the software guidance ).

The hood dimensions are 41.5" H x 48"W x 28" D. (1" = 2.54cm). It is made from 14 gauge aluminum (1/16". Inside is epoxy coated, except for the removable baffles (2 ea). There is a removable stainless steel pan with 1" high sides.

The blower is 120VAC, 1/4HP, 1000 rpm, squirrel cage, open one-end estimated to move 400-500 ft3/min. The ducting is 8" IPS 63 psi irrigation PVC with schedule 40 fittings.

The outlet plenum is 16 gauge stainless steel. Both sheet metal pieces were fabricated by local shops to my drawings.

[Edited on 13-11-2005 by Magpie]

The 4' x 7" fluorescent light rests on a tempered glass piece silicone caulked to the aluminum frame.

[Edited on 13-11-2005 by Magpie]

2nd picture:

3rd picture:

The window is a vinyl framed tempered glass double pane, 4' x 5'. Special order from Home Depot as it has only one sash ( this really puzzled them). Design intent is to have constant flow regardless of sash opening.



[Edited on 13-11-2005 by Magpie]

Yes! I knew this day would come!

Amazing, simply amazing. I like the design, though the pictures somewhat cover up the fact that the aluminum panelling inside is epoxy coated (could have fooled me).

Seems really nice, in the third picture are the lights on or off?

Also, on the far left hand side of the fumehood in the third picture, I notice what appear to be 3 small brass nipples, and in the first picture, one of them appears to be attached to some rubber tubing.

I'm guessing that this is attached to the water aspirator that is in your sink that you also recently setup. Vaccuum filtration available and all

I have a feeling that for air, you're going to make good use of your air compressor as well

This is nice Magpie! Very inspiring
Now I really wanna remake my polyethylene overdrawn hood to more solid one like yours. Though I'll go cheaper with something like plywood..

So if I got it correctly the air intake inside is destributed to top and bottom parts of the hood, like in commersial designs?

This thing popped up again so...

I am sorry to dig this kind of old thread, but Bromine asked (http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=7017) for pictures. So I thought why not add a picture of my own.

Picture updated.

Ringstands, clamps, jacks etc. are in the cuboard with periodic table on it. The cuboard at the left side of the picture contains glassware and organic chemicals. The cuboard under the table with the "corrosive" sign contains mineral acids and solvents. Inorganic chemicals are in the cuboard next to the one with organics, sadly it is not in the picture. Oh and .. yeah, I really do have a rotary evaporator

[Edited on 13-12-2007 by kaviaari]

Laboratory Pictures

Just a smattering of pics from the old laboratory my friend and I experimented in. Might as well post them.

Ok, the picture with the shelves of the glassware is only about a quarter of our glass, the rest was boxed up for a move. On the top shelf you see some boxes (fritted filtration setup), 700mm liebig, 400m Hempel, and then a large 40 theoretical plate fractioning column that's kinda hard to see. And yes, that is a 12" diameter buchner for scale. As far as Jesus goes, don't ask why there's a hole in his feet.

The picture of the household products shows our reagents. Most of the organics have been redistilled and rebottled, so that's just feedstock containers. All of the baggies in the middle of the picture are various transition metals. Up on top are (empty at the time of the photo) where we put the powdered metals and oxidizers in those large 3 gallon jars. In the left foreground is our Mettler analytical balance, on the right, our lab aprons.

Other photo is just of some random glassware, beer can is for scale. There's also a picture of our hydrogenator, it has 60 psi of H2 in it.


Last photo is of the large equipment, a 20L filtering flask for precious metals work, and the as-of-yet, unused 55L 24/40 jacketed pressure reactor flask, which I wanted to use for the hydrazine sulfate scale up, but now my friend and I are using it for Na methoxide prep of biodiesel. -Fleaker











P.S. This is NERV here, and yeah that beer is my own special treat, lol . Oh, and yeah sorry for not posting this year: I have been busy as hell with college and work.



Edited for accidental misinformation-those jars on top of the shelves were empty when I took this photo. They've since been filled.

[Edited on 2-1-2007 by Fleaker]

Interesting pictures Fleaker, but I'm mostly jealous that you have a lab partner. It gets kind of lonely out in my lab at times. Then again there are never any disagreements about what expeiment to do next or who should clean up the dirty glassware.

That hydrogenator is interesting. I have wished I had a Kipp generator at times. I've seen them on e-bay for ~$300 but I don't want it that bad.

Some of your reagents look familiar, ie, Red Devil lye, Ace toluene, and those blue solvent cans.

By the way are you and NERV pulling an all-nighter making that fuming nitric? Is that the way chemists celebrate New Years?

Gnaw, their way of celebrating new years is understandably more dramatic (hey, I think I see a jug of potassium permanganate there, and I bet it's lighter in weight since last night!). I'll let him expand if he wants.

Tim

Off topic but Magpie, I must say that your fume hood is absolutely amazing. I hope to use your basic design premise in the hood. Fleaker and I are currently attempting to build a larger version in our own lab. My original idea was fairly skimpy and left a lot to be desired, but with the design you have put out, and a little alteration in materials used an excellent fume hood can be made relatively cost effectively. Thank you very much for your beautiful lab pictures. It’s almost like looking at super dirty porn when it comes to goggling at another’s laboratory .

Lol, yes it is very nice to have a lab partner, but when it comes to what experiment to run next we can get on each others nerves. Glassware cleaning is not much of an issue though Fleaker always likes to leave up to me (seems he’s always got to go home just before clean up, lol jk) .

Oh, and yeah this is definitely an all-nighter to get this nitric acid made up. We just switched flasks since our pear was full.

P.S. Sorry about misspelling grammar is not my strong point; Fleaker usually has to fix my posts up. I guess I am just a rough around the edges kind of guy.

P.S.S. actually no pyro this new years at least for me Fleaker had his own fun. This nitric acid more than makes up for it though! Oooooo the best part we didn’t even have to pay for the hydrogenator! It was a donation from a very generous Dr. at a local collage.

[Edited on 22-9-2002 by NERV]

I`m not sure if I should post in here or make a new thread entirely?
but since others have I will add to this one rather than make an entirely new one.

this should give a reasonable 1`st impression of what will meet you when you enter:






this is in the Stock room:




obviously there`s plenty that you Can`t see as it`s in closed drawers or boxes etc...

An impression of my lab:

A lot of storage space:



The contents of my storage space (chemicals and electronics stuff, also HV-stuff). Some people may recognize material, which I have on my website:



My lab consists of two rooms, which are connected to each other through some kind of "port". I have a roof window for ventilation and daylight (from the south). In hot days I can dim the sunlight with a sheet on the outside of the window.



This is the darker part of my lab, with lots more chemicals (many very small bottles, tens of grams per bottle). Here, I also have running water.



Below follows an overview of that part of the lab. There is some "fume hood", but that only is useful for experiments where not too much gas is produced or not too toxic gas.



Finally, when I do experiments which produce lots of toxic gas, or when I use the really nasty ones, such as thionyl chloride, then this perfectly ventilated room is used (not the red, but the green room ):



Making this lab was quite a lot of work, but I do not regret this (I made this, together with my father, last spring). The only thing which really needs improvement is the fume hood. That may be a project for next spring.

The best thing is the large amount of storage space and the presence of hot and cold running water. All required tubing is nearby, because the boiler and heater already were present. Just needed to make some T-taps from the existing tubing.

EDIT: Changed links, so that they work again.


[Edited on 21-8-12 by woelen]

Very nice YT2095. Looks warm and cozy. It thoroughly looks like a place for discovering the wonders of chemistry. I see the Kipp generator and am getting jealous.

Woelen that is really first class! And very well equipped too. I am jealous of your outside facility as I have some experiments in mind for that kind of location. Although I have a large backyard, I am not as well protected from prying eyes.

All that green grass, how can you do anything outside? BromicAcid would be ashamed to burn stuff on there!

Tim

Geeze I am getting lab envy as well now

Woelen were those pictures taken the same date as your post? So green! I have 4" of snow on the ground and no leaves on the trees now.

No, these pictures were taken last spring (IIRC end of March). But the grass still is as green as on the picture, the trees, however, now don't have any leaves anymore.

In summertime the trees are MUCH bigger than on the picture. I prune them every early spring, otherwise our garden soon becomes a forest .

Very nice set up you have there magpie! I REALLY love the vent hood, i have the materials to build mine but i have no room


I will have to take pictures of mine next time I'm bundled to go out side (my garage is my lab)


Oh, btw i am new here. Ive lurked around for a few moons but never got around to registering.

Great forum guys keep it up!

Nice going Alan. It looks like your chemistry is overtaking your mechanical work bench - that's the right priority! You have a nice mix of kitchen implements along with regular lab glassware. I especially like the line-up of tea cups in the 1st picture. Mind if I drop by for a cup of acetyl chloride?

Nice all.
Mine coming soon. I am first trying to install running water as i dont want to run to the kitchen all the time to flush down the drain. And corrosives are a pain if I don''t have tap water nearby, so that's a priority.
Also i will want to buy a small refrigerator as opening methanol and 36% HCl isn't going to be nice during the hot summer months otherwise

I want to ask one question to you all. It seems that most people ,except chemeleo and odenblitz and some others , have most of their substances in non-reagent/lab bottles. Is it supplied like that or do you guys prefer the cheap OTCs?
I rather spend some extra money and the having only nice lab-grade chems. But ofcourse, I will do most microscale like woelen , so i only need small quantaties.

I am currently in the process of moving all of my bits and pieces into a single shed, which has been put aside purely as lab-space... This will be rather enjoyable, not least of all because now everything will have a place and everything in its place.

Magpie, as you appear to be the ranking expert on this topic, I seek your advice on what is necessary (this is for general - rather than specific - experimentation).

Now has anybody tried using the exhaust gasses from a stationary motor to (1) generate a vacuum; (2) draw offensive fumes from a fume hood; and (3) dispose of said fumes?

I ask as I am in the process of designing a vacuum generation system for my lab-space, with a fume-hood and while trying to work out how to dispose of some rather nasty by-product fumes and this came to me whilst trying to sleep in the middle of sorting this shit out...

Now all motor vehicles generate a vacuum through what is in effect a gas-aspirator running off the exhaust gasses, these gasses are at some pretty serious temperatures (surely sufficient to destroy most of the by-product fumes - particularly when used with activated carbon filters, etc.) and if properly designed should even be able to evacuate the fumes from a small hood...

I'd like some feedback on this, I am in the process of setting up the lab now and it is quite a job.

BTW, here is a link to a discussion on the use of compressed air to generate a vacuum (via aspirator):

http://tinyurl.com/2g8ugl

Unfortunately, although this would be good, it would not dispose of the fumes - which I would rather dispose of thoughtfully, rather than just pump into the atmosphere

Magpie, with your fumehood, is it feasible to build an additional add-on sash with built in gloves - thus allowing you to use it as a combination fumehood/glovebox?

The proposal was not to pass the gas through the internal combustion engine - but to build an aspirator into the exhaust manifold - uses the same principle as an afterburner - the superheated exhaust gasses cause the ignition of the additional flammable material...

I have since decided fuck it, it is really not that difficult to build a plunger pump - which should be ample for what I need, with the added benefit that most of the gasses will liquify at ambient temp. & Pressure, thus allowing for proper disposal and/or reuse as appropriate. Those that can be absorbed/adsorbed and/or neutralized will be... Unfortunately I'm stuck with septic rather than sewer, so I have to take great care with what is put down the drains.

pictures I promised to post:

working bench
http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/3751/p1060112bd9.jpg
(very dark, dark camera as well , door is 1 meter to left.)

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/7424/p1060114xk2.jpg
solids (excludes oxidisers and very common reagents, tomorrow 8 more solids arrive)

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/5242/p1060115ks8.jpg
Acids (plastic bottle is 'pure grade' sulp, middle one is p.A, right one is nitric.)

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/7130/p1060119rb7.jpg
organic solvents (L to R: acetone, methanol, acetic glacial ; ethanol doesnt fit in there, its the 2,5L jug you see in pic 1.)

http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/4729/p1060117fi3.jpg
(storage place , keep common solids, glasware, empty bottles/containers here , also my 2,5L hydrochloric acid in a plastic bag.)

http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/2094/p1060118qh8.jpg (outside, experiments involving gasses are done here, altho not much can be produced due to neighbours.

All pictures are a lot darker than they are in reality.


[Edited on 3-2-2008 by Jor]

[Edited on 3-2-2008 by Jor]

Jor, the only thing I can say is WOW! You did a really good job making this nice workbench. It looks very neat and clean . Also the storage is a nice and clean place. That is the way I like it. A clean and ordered place is a pleasure to work in. I would say, keep it that way and nice to see that you now got started!

I didnt make the workbench myself though, my parents did it for me

It;s really nice to finally have running water. Now I can handle all acids, without having a fear for running to the kitchen.
It's quite cold now though, I tried preparing a 50% acetic acid solution today, but to my surprise all the stuff was frozen !
Also my nitric acid/copper reaction took ages to get going, so I just neutralized the stuff with NaOH and flushed down the drain. What a waste of acid

nice pictures. But where is the running water? Scary if you spill something on your skin !

Oh, and I like the site with the safety label with dihydrogen monooxide

Considering I still live with my parents, this ain't so bad, is it?



"Non dangerous" chemicals and glassware:


Dangerous chemicals:


And acids (and ammonia):


Supply:


Sink:


As you can see, the sink has taken quite some beating:

I know! I usually don't!

"A tidy laboratory means a lazy chemist."

That lab sure is tidy . I like the lithium though.

Oh sorry, the sink is just infront of the right half of my lab, guess that didn't make the pictures.

Chemkid

Is that white phosphorus I see in the fridge ScienceGeek? Nice arrangement you have with your parents

It might be
Not to be mean in any way, but furtunately my parents barely know what H2O is!
Of course, I'm not implying that I don't know what I'm doing

i must agree with you there sciencegeek. Though i agree i can't represent my opinions with my actions very well.

To answer your question, Jor, I really do prefer nice lab- grade chemicals!
It looks better (especially with the hazard symbols ), and it is easier to understand the "content", due to the fact that most chemical labels are supplied with R and S- phrases.

As a perfect example on why you pay a little extra for lab- grade chemicals, consider this analysis printed on the label of a bottle of 65% Nitric acid.

I completely agree.
I merely wanted to say that sometimes, lab- grade chemicals are needed, as when making silver salts, for instance, that needs to be pure.
For other reasons, such as when performing the Thermite experiment, Iron Oxide from the nearest pottery supply will more than suffice.

It all depens on what kind of experiments you do!

PS: I didn't buy the bottle of Nitric acid. My chemistry teacher donated it

Well, if chems are donated, then of course you want the highest possible purity .

And I also agree that certain transition metal experiments require pure chemicals. I sometimes find very peculiar color changes with complexes of transition metals and then it always is good to know that these are not due to impurities, but really are due to some interesting unknown (at least to me ) complex.

showing off...more to come!

i just had to post this

Distillation of MeOH, recycled from CTH attempts.




The final parts needed for this solvent still were sniped on ebay: the column is a 50cm Vigreux (60EUR), the column head (40 EUR) has a double face condenser and permits intermittent draining or change of the receiver vessel while maintaining vacuum.

Close up:


I will attach a 3-way valve to switch between the funnel receiver for solvent recycling and a fraction collector for smaller volumes, so i don't have to reassemble the still each time.

The pump pulling the vacuum is a KNF N022 AN.18 diaphragm pump which needed new valves (40EUR for the pump, 3EUR for the valves).

I have 2 more of these KNF pumps, if anybody is interested. they pull 100mbar/75torr/mmHg. Data sheet here.

To the very right you can catch a glimpse of a Thermovac TM201 highvac gauge (a PTFE tape roll on top) attached to an Edwards E2M1.5 2-stage rotary vane oil pump (1*10E-4mmHg) via a TR201 Pirani sensor, standing next to a KNF N735.3 AN.18 2-stage diaphragm pump (13mmHg), waiting to have sex with the other 2-stage N035.3 AT.18 in the storage room. I hope they will have many, many siblings.

All of those are situated below this lovely shiny cabinet:


Don't ask how much i've spent on lab equipment, gotta be in the 1*10E4 EUR range as of late...

I'm penta-gone for today! pz

[Edited on 21-2-2008 by stoichiometric_steve]

[Edited on 21-2-2008 by stoichiometric_steve]

[Edited on 21-2-2008 by stoichiometric_steve]

^ Wow! That is a nice setup. What kind of reaction were you performing?

Nope, they are 2x 2.5L tert-Butyl-methylether and 2.5L of Cyclohexane. top row: 2x 500ml + 1x1000ml BF3*Et2O, a bit of CHCl3, 1L CHCl2, 1L DMF, 3x1L MeOH, the rest i cant remember.

I only store organic solvents in the hood. Acids and bases stand nearby on the shelf. I don't even have nitric acid

Domaani you have an very beautiful lab!!! Looks like you keep busy with all that glass. Very nice Buchi rotovap there in the first picture I am jealous.

You call that a lab!? The stainless isn't even rusted!

Tim

I like the last picture...I like the pictures of obviously well used labs

Very impressive!

I sware, one day, I'll have a similar lab! And I will never come out of it

I though it would be nice to post a new picture. The lab has changed a bit since the last one was taken.



[Edited on 30-6-2008 by kaviaari]

Nice!
But... CLEAN UP!
I clean up all the time, and it's a pleasure to work in an ordened place. however, my desk is stained. Cause: Iodine.

These are some bad stains, very hard to remove:





[Edited on 30-6-2008 by Jor]

Sodium thiosulphate solution is good at removing iodine stains. You'd probably need to scrub a little but it should work wonders

I was planning on using a laminated "kitchen worktop". I think the laminate is formica. However I am now going against that idea as it is much cheaper to buy some 12mm thick MDF and "paint" it with epoxy resin. I would then sand it smooth, and add another coat, this time sanding with very fine sandpaper as to not remove much of the epoxy, but to leave a smooth finish on the worksurface. This is essentially what I will do to build a fumehood when I finally get myself sorted out... so many plans but no implementation as of yet

No problems. Make sure you come back with pictures so we can see how it goes I will be doing this myself at some point also, and so any advice you can give after going through the process would be appreciated.