pedant
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Posts: 1
Registered: 6-9-2012
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Mood: No Mood
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DIY rotavap condenser / seal ?
does anyone have any experience with this topic (especially buchi RE-111/12x/14x series with a fixed (KD-22) seal and rotating vapor duct)?
basically, i have a rotavap with intact vapor duct, but i don't have a condenser or the seal stuff (involves a screwcap, a seal, and a compression
coil thingy) that connects the condenser to the rotavap.
getting a condenser and the seal kit would realistically run me at least a few hundred bucks, and i don't feel like spending that at this point.
i'm trying to come up with the best way to hook up tubing or something, and then run that into a friedrichs condenser + flask or something like that
which i already have.
i don't have a camera handy at the moment, but here are some pics from the internet that basically show what i'm working with
mine looks very similar to this. the vapor duct rotates. the metal 'condenser coupling' plate, which includes those threads, is stationary. so if you
were looking at it dead-on, you would see this plate, the vapor duct in the middle, and a PTFE 'deflector ring' (which is kind of a bearing) stuck on
the vapor duct.
dead-on view of the condenser coupling plate, but the vapor duct and deflector ring are missing.
dead-on view of the condenser coupling plate, vapor duct (much shorter duct than mine. mine is like the first pic) and PTFE deflector ring visible in
the middle. you also see some kind of a black rubber gasket here, but this is absent on mine. i only have a metal surface (coupling plate).
normally, the condenser would be inserted onto the vapor duct, and a gasket kind of like you see above would be placed on which seals the plate to
the condenser lip.
again, the glass duct and the PTFE ring rotate.
i was thinking of maybe taking a piece of metal pipe larger in diameter than the vapor duct / ptfe ring but smaller in diameter than the threads. the
pipe end could be sanded smooth for a metal-on-metal seal to the plate assisted by some vacuum grease.
the other end of the pipe could be capped, and one or more holes could be drilled for hose barbs. some thick polyethylene tubing could then go from
here to a condenser or something.
not very elegant, and of course it would all have to be clamped and secured with stands (and the pipe would have to be fiddled with each time while
beginning to pull a vacuum until it seals well)...
thoughts?
any other ideas?
thanks guys
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smaerd
International Hazard
Posts: 1262
Registered: 23-1-2010
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Mood: hmm...
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I like you're idea a lot. PTFE rod can be bought by the foot and machined with simple tools easily(Amazon carries it). Not sure if this thread will
help you at all but it has some different design concepts for DIY rotovaps.
http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=7128
Wish I had more to offer.
[Edited on 8-9-2012 by smaerd]
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