Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Soxhlet Thimble Sizing

alchemew - 23-8-2017 at 17:21

First post...

So I have a soxhlet extractor that's a Kimax, it's 34/45 top joint and 24/40 bottom joint. It's 296mm tall, and I'm not sure what size thimble to acquire for it. Those offered on Amazon are sized to a 50/40 top joint.

What size should I be using? Couldn't I just use folded coffee filters for plant extractions? Does anyone know a good distributor for finding higher quality glass or cotton filters?

Thanks in advance.

UC235 - 23-8-2017 at 18:31

I just use a wad of unrolled cotton balls at the bottom. As long as the sidearm's opening is covered up, you're good. You'd obviously want a smaller thimble than the joint size if you're after the real deal. A 34/45 is about 30mm at the small end, so a 25mm thimble is probably a good choice.

PirateDocBrown - 23-8-2017 at 19:33

I use coffee filters, just cut to size.

alchemew - 23-8-2017 at 19:36

those options both make sense to me. I like the tidy look of a reusable glass thimble, but as long as they get the job done, that's what really matters!