[Valseki]

Hello all,

This is my first post on CF and would like to thank everyone for making such a wonderful community. I  have been interested in chemistry for some time. Currently I am reading general chemistry for a refresher. Now comes my question. I have a good understanding of glassware I will need to purchase and also some chemicals. Now, what else do I need? I looked into fume hoods but they seem a bit expensive. And a home made one seems a bit iffy.

So, in short, other than glassware and the obvious chemicals, what else do I need in my new lab? Thanks in advance!

[joeflsts]

I made my own hood and I'm very pleased with it.  It does a very nice job of keeping the nasties out of my lab while allowing me to experiment with items that normally would be no fun in the lab.

You should get a heat source.  You can use either a bunsen burner (I run mine off a grill tank using a standard grill adapter (low pressure)).

You can also score a decent hot plate on eBay if you are patient.

You will need a couple of ring stands (either eBay or a decent supplier)

Understand the reactions you are going to perform.  It makes chemistry much more rewarding.

Joe

[Valseki]

I made my own hood and I'm very pleased with it.  It does a very nice job of keeping the nasties out of my lab while allowing me to experiment with items that normally would be no fun in the lab.

Thanks for the info. Your fume hood, did you have plan it out yourself or did you use an online resource? I was trying to find basic plans for one, but no luck. Also, what type of materials did you use? I would guess plexi-glass and metal?

[billnotgatez]

You might want to consider safety equipment.
Fire extinguisher
Shower with easy pull handle
Anti acid and anti base stuff


Let us see if others will add to your list


By the way, I think there were other posts like this in this forum

[joeflsts]

I made my own hood and I'm very pleased with it.  It does a very nice job of keeping the nasties out of my lab while allowing me to experiment with items that normally would be no fun in the lab.

Thanks for the info. Your fume hood, did you have plan it out yourself or did you use an online resource? I was trying to find basic plans for one, but no luck. Also, what type of materials did you use? I would guess plexi-glass and metal?

I made it myself with home-made plans (many of the ideas stolen off public forms  .  I created the box out of MDF and then painted it with an epoxy-based paint.  Multiple coats.  Since I don't use it all the time I didn't bother with stainless steel.  The sash is made out of plexiglass and the blower is a bildge blower.  You can buy them relatively cheap at most marine supply stores.  I power it off a converted PC power supply.

I will take some picture and post them.

I'm not filtering it, but I really don't experiment with materials that toxic to begin with.  Most of my experiments are on the micro to mini scale.

Joe

[pantone159]

You want a scale, as well.  If you really need to go low budget, you can get electronic postal scales with 1 g precison (poor for chemistry but better than nothing) at office supply stores cheap, or better get a 0.1 g or better electronic scale.

As far as fume hoods, I have heard that you do not want to filter the exhaust, it sounds nice as an idea to clean up your waste emissions, but it causes the thing to back up and does not work well.  I am curious to see any plans, one day I'll want to make one.

[constant thinker]

Past topics with some relevance to this.

http://www.chemicalforums.com/index.php?topic=12160.0
http://www.chemicalforums.com/index.php?topic=12063.0 (this is the more useful one)

Outside of the lab you need a job to fund your budding hobby.

By the way good luck and welcome to the community.