BobD1001
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A Sad Day - Another Great Supplier Gone - Elemental Scientific
Just got an email from Elemental Scientific. It Reads:
"BME Lab and Science and Elemental Scientific are closing their retail store and online website that sold lab supplies and lab equipment. This change
will allow us to focus our resources on providing repair and calibration services to our many wonderful and loyal customers, as well as, build our new
business, Green Science Solutions, that distributes new, sustainable cleaning and disinfecting technologies and services. "
So sad to see these guys go. They were an awesome spot to get hard-to-find chemicals for those of us who dont have a sigma account.
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Fyndium
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It's sad, but supplying chemistry stuff to hobbyists is more of a hobby than a business. Few people buying a liter of this and 100g of that every now
and then does not really keep the food on the table.
Someone enthusiastic enough could run one as a side business. Of course, there are circumstances where even a small side business can be lucrative,
but this narrows the chances for such a business to occur very narrow.
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enlight
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We do not exist in an economic ecosystem optimized for effectively distributing wealth to small businesses. It may be a niche market, but that's
traditionally how small businesses thrive. Perhaps it's too niche, but one could always try catering to different customers.
Brick and mortar is going away sooner than later, and I can guarantee we'll see the commercial real estate market collapse in on itself as small
businesses are put out of business by monopolistic online marketplaces (e.g., Amazon), and everybody outside of manufacturing slowly moves towards
remote working.
This is a very difficult time for small businesses, but you would be surprised at how many successful startups began during economic recession.
Hopefully, there is a silver lining to this mismanaged COVID fiasco compounded with the dumpster fire of wealth inequality.
Anyway, how does a fella in the US find a domestic source of NaBH4?
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chemist1243
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https://www.labdirectllc.com/
I have done business over eBay with them, they weren’t shy at all and were extremely generous and considerate of my needs, and it seems like they
are doing exactly that - running a professional business but supplying to individuals as a side business.
“ Expensive is definitely correct but not because it’s an expensive reagent, just because all other suppliers shamelessly gouge amateur/hobby
chemists for small quantities of everything, if they even sell it to “non-institutional entities” in the first place “
My first time buying from them, they added 50g of NaBH4 to my order as courtesy. They did have to order it from china so that did take a while longer,
however. if you seek a chemical company that ships to individuals in the U.S, go check em out. I think I even saw things like DMS, Oleum, as well as
NaBH4.
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Triflic Acid
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Another one I like ordering from is https://www.amazon.com/stores/Alliance+Chemical/page/32AD3F0... (alliance chemical on amazon) They sell good solvents for cheapish, and some acids
as well. https://www.laballey.com/ is also really good. Because of them, I just got a half kilo of pure sulfur, half kilo of calcium chloride anhydrous,
250g of sodium thiosulfate, as well as 500mL of 30%H2O2(for just $23 with a $35 hazmat fee), and a liter of concentrated sulfuric and hydrochloric to
top it all off. I used those to make sulfur chlorides over the weekend. It failed miserably, and instead of red SCl2, I got some charred $hit-colored
abomination after rather stupid mistakes . To add to the fun, now all my glassware
is covered in sulfur . But getting back to laballey, they also have some exotic
items like flouoboric acid and hydrobromic acid, things that would otherwise be made slowly in a home lab. So if you need a supplier, I'd so go for
those. Oh, and, does anyone if piranha solution will remove sulfur?
There wasn't a fire, we just had an uncontrolled rapid oxidation event at the power plant.
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woelen
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Sulfur can be removed by boiling with a solution of NaOH. Boiling with NaOH can be done for not too long a time, without seriously damaging the glass.
Do not boil for hours, that would damage the glass (make it appear frosty on the inside). Another option is to boil with toluene. Sulfur dissolves in
that. Gettinbg rid of the tiny remains then can be done with a brief treatment with hot solution of NaOH.
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Bedlasky
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Quote: Originally posted by woelen  | | Sulfur can be removed by boiling with a solution of NaOH. Boiling with NaOH can be done for not too long a time, without seriously damaging the glass.
Do not boil for hours, that would damage the glass (make it appear frosty on the inside). Another option is to boil with toluene. Sulfur dissolves in
that. Gettinbg rid of the tiny remains then can be done with a brief treatment with hot solution of NaOH. |
Boiling with sodium sulfite is another option - this convert sulfur in to thiosulfate.
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Triflic Acid
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A SM marketplace?
I was thinking, what if we set up a science madness marketplace, like a separate section in fundamentals, where people could sell the chemicals that
they buy or have made to other members, kind of like an ebay, but just for chemistry stuff(glassware, hotplates, mantles, chemicals, etc.), with less
frauds and hopefully cheaper prices? I'm envisioning a thread where someone starts by posting what they have to sell/price, and then people can post
whatever questions they have in the replies, finally a U2U message to actually pay for the stuff. Then a mod would close the thread with a notice of
who bought it for what price. Kind of like this: http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=156402... The reason I'm thinking of a new section in fundamentals is because its a pain to
search through and see who is selling what and for what price in Reagents and Apparatus Acquisition, and it is sometimes hard to tell if a sale is
still open. Keeping it more organized will promote more people to buy and sell on SM. Open threads mean a sale is ongoing, and closed threads mean it
ended. What do you think of this idea?
Oh, and is there anything that would be easy to use on a vacuum frit, other than RFNA? I know I'm stupid for filtering sulfur on a vacuum frit For the rest of my glassware, the sodium sulfite seems good. Also, if I just left the
glassware for a few days in a bath of sodium sulfite, would that work as an alternative to boiling?
There wasn't a fire, we just had an uncontrolled rapid oxidation event at the power plant.
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itsallgoodjames
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| Quote: Originally posted by Triflic Acid | I was thinking, what if we set up a science madness marketplace, like a separate section in fundamentals, where people could sell the chemicals that
they buy or have made to other members, kind of like an ebay, but just for chemistry stuff(glassware, hotplates, mantles, chemicals, etc.), with less
frauds and hopefully cheaper prices? I'm envisioning a thread where someone starts by posting what they have to sell/price, and then people can post
whatever questions they have in the replies, finally a U2U message to actually pay for the stuff. Then a mod would close the thread with a notice of
who bought it for what price. Kind of like this: http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=156402... The reason I'm thinking of a new section in fundamentals is because its a pain to
search through and see who is selling what and for what price in Reagents and Apparatus Acquisition, and it is sometimes hard to tell if a sale is
still open. Keeping it more organized will promote more people to buy and sell on SM. Open threads mean a sale is ongoing, and closed threads mean it
ended. What do you think of this idea?
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Not that this is something that I'd have any real say in, but I think this is a great idea
Nuclear physics is neat. It's a shame it's so regulated...
Now that I think about it, that's probably a good thing. Still annoying though.
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Texium
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https://www.sciencemadness.org/whisper/viewthread.php?tid=30...
This is an idea that’s been suggested multiple times over the years (no such thing as an original idea on a 20 year old forum, lol). Essentially it
comes down to this: having a classifieds section on the forum would be too much of a liability risk for the forum. If people get caught shipping
contraband chemicals across borders or shipping illegally packaged or labeled chemicals, the forum could get shut down. Some of the threads in R&A
acquisitions are already pushing it, but it’s a matter of intent. Having a whole sub forum dedicated to facilitating transactions would put the
forum at fault, not the irresponsible seller.
As you can see in the thread that I linked, a couple attempts were made to come up with alternatives. For a short time we had a page on the old wiki
(which was not on the Sciencemadness.org domain) but that didn’t work very well. Then Doug made a separate forum called SynthSource, specifically
for buying and selling chemicals and lab equipment, and that had potential, but didn’t catch on, and kind of fizzled out after a year or so. The
site is still up, surprisingly, but it’s been overrun by spammers.
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metalresearcher
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Great idea as well, but a few questions arise.
* Payments. How to pay other members ? Via Paypal ?
* It should be protected against abuse, such as somebody buys from another and is not paid for or the buyer pays and does not get his stuff. Places
like ebay are protected against this (in most cases) and abusers will be banned.
* Illicit drug makers and terrorists who try to buy their stuff via SM should be banned as soon as possible.
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itsallgoodjames
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| Quote: Originally posted by metalresearcher | Great idea as well, but a few questions arise.
* Payments. How to pay other members ? Via Paypal ?
* It should be protected against abuse, such as somebody buys from another and is not paid for or the buyer pays and does not get his stuff. Places
like ebay are protected against this (in most cases) and abusers will be banned.
* Illicit drug makers and terrorists who try to buy their stuff via SM should be banned as soon as possible.
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What Texium said makes sense, with the liability and such. Also, if SM holds the money until the item is received by the buyer, or something like
that, they are participating in the transaction. I'm sure that could open them up to all sorts of legal trouble. Also, eBay does a really bad job
with that sort of thing, at least from a selling perspective. I stopped selling on eBay a while ago, after being scammed out of $250 on a $400 sale
by a buyer who was abusing ebay's return and feedback policy. eBay does a really bad job, at least from a seller's perspective.
Nuclear physics is neat. It's a shame it's so regulated...
Now that I think about it, that's probably a good thing. Still annoying though.
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Triflic Acid
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I mean we already sell things here, just its haphazard. Putting a separate section would make it easier. Another thing that we should do is ban the
selling of things like drugs or chemicals that are only used to make drugs. And anyway, drug makers and terrorists could just make these things
anyway. Possibly saying that transactions over $500 or so are monitored/go through SM and if 3 different people report a scammer that person is banned
for life from selling. This would need some safeguards, but with elemental gone, I think now is a good time to do this.
[Edit] We could also just say that SM does not endorse anything being sold here in a disclaimer, and also discourage people from trying to trade
precious metals, very expensive compounds etc. Normal reagents like NaBH4 or SOCl2 are fine, but if you are stupid enough to buy H2PtCl6 from an
unnamed source over the internet, thats on you 
[Edited on 30-3-2021 by Triflic Acid]
There wasn't a fire, we just had an uncontrolled rapid oxidation event at the power plant.
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Texium
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Read the thread that I linked. A lot of the points that you're making now were addressed seven years ago.
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Triflic Acid
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Reading that thread I realized just how many flaws are in this idea. Oh well, it was worth asking. Also, what is whimsy/references, and how does one
access them?
There wasn't a fire, we just had an uncontrolled rapid oxidation event at the power plant.
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Texium
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Whimsy is a subforum that allows for discussion of any off-topic subjects, besides politics and anything else that devolves into a flame war.
References is a subforum where people can request and post full-text documents from the literature. Access to them is restricted to established,
trusted members. You've been around awhile now. I'll add you to the access list.
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