Beanfondler
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Chinese stirplate
Just curious if anyone is familiar with Bante Istrument. I certainly am not, but suddenly curious about the
MS300/400 Hot Plate Magnetic Stirrer and even some of their other offerings... PHScan10 or some bench testers... Even a supposedly quality JB-1A Cartoon Magnetic Stirrer. Which some Chinese vendors at least indicate to have previously sold from $30-50.
They're running $130, $155, $30 for the 300, 400, PHScan10 respectively. Shipping ends up being at least a third of the cost.
It seems like the hot plates at least have not been catered to the US at all. They are 220v dependent. All things considered it apparently is an in
country type of distribution as Chinese vendors that I found offering it record all of the sales. 15 international since its been on the market 15mos
ago.
I know Chinese products can tend to be empty shells after being stripped down to a costless pile. Perhaps I can get a Chinese Chinese product and
reap the benefits of quality and cost?
[Edited on 29-4-2012 by Beanfondler]
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adamsium
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Probably best to avoid these hotplates
I am familiar with the MS400 hotplate stirrer. I just shipped the one I purchased back to China after it broke within about half an hour of turning it
on. I ordered one on ebay for about $160 plus $25 shipping. I placed a 1L beaker containing ~600mL of water on the hotplate, activated the stirring
and heating with the temperature set to ~105C in order to boil the water. After some time, the water was becoming warm, but the stirrer failed - it
just wouldn't stir anymore. I continued trying to heat the water for some time, but it never boiled. One of the real issues I found with the unit -
aside from it breaking - was that the included temperature probe must be connected and in the liquid being heated for the device to function.
The instructions state that it will not function at all if the probe is not connected, and if it is not submerged in the liquid, it will simply
continue to heat until the hotplate breaks. Rather than adjusting the temperature of the actual hotplate, one enters a desired temperature to be
reached for the liquid being heated (using a pushbutton system, which looks somewhat pretty, but is far less practical than plain old knobs), and the
hotplate heats until this temperature is reached.
I never actually managed to get the water to boil, either, despite leaving it for a considerable time. The reported temperature display on the unit
reached just above 100C very briefly once that I saw, but the water was certainly not boiling, and this was confirmed using a regular glass
thermometer, which gave a reading of approximately 97C, at most. It was also just plain obvious that the water was not boiling, rather, just
'simmering'. I was told by the seller that I may not have had the probe deep enough in the liquid (apparently it needs to be almost fully submerged -
and it is rather long), but I feel that it was quite deep enough, and, surely if that was the problem, this would result in a cooler temperature being
reported (due to part of the probe being exposed), thus causing the hotplate to heat even more, not less. This particular seller was, however,
extremely helpful and reasonable, so absolutely no issues there. She has allowed me to return it for a full refund, as I decided that was the best
option, particularly due to the requirement to have the probe in the liquid being heated. This could be a real problem in a closed flask and even if
using a water bath, using the probe to monitor its temperature, if the probe must be immersed almost completely in to the water as the seller
indicated, this would be completely impractical, if not impossible. In short, there was no way that this device was going to suit my needs - had I
been aware of how this worked in advance, I would not have ordered it. The requirement to use the probe was a real deal breaker, and, regardless of
this, it was faulty due to the stirring function completely failing.
So, now I'm back in the market for a decent hotplate / stirrer... I'm considering the Scilogex ones - I think I've done my dash with cheap hotplates.
Those pH meters do look interesting, though!
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Beanfondler
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Was nothing, but a dream. I was sure of it. Thanks. I hate spending money. Ha.
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Pyro
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this is an interesting guide about making one, seems pretty effective. i will be trying this soon
http://brewiki.org/StirPlate
all above information is intellectual property of Pyro.  |
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sargent1015
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Keep your eyes peeled on eBay for the lab close out sales. I recently got a stirrer/hotplate for $40 on ebay (Free shipping) and the thing works
great! I love when people don't quite know the value of what they are selling 
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EssOilChem
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Quote: Originally posted by sargent1015  | Keep your eyes peeled on eBay for the lab close out sales. I recently got a stirrer/hotplate for $40 on ebay (Free shipping) and the thing works
great! I love when people don't quite know the value of what they are selling
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Yep, a few weeks ago I got a corning pc-420 for <$80. Give it seven days or so, i'm sure something decent will pop up.
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sargent1015
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In regards to my previous post, the stirrer/hotplate that I am using now is an old Markinson. Very good quality! If you find one of these, buy it!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/180860053575?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:I...
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