[Jerry]

I am starting to have to take over the responsibility of maintaining glassware for my lab.  I don't really know where to go to get some of this stuff fixed.  My university used to have a glassblower that would come by once a week and pick up orders and then return them whenever he got finished, but no one has seen him for a long time.  What's the best way to go about finding someone to repair scientific glassware?

Also, as a side note, I've used this forum for random references for quite a while, but just never got around to registering.  Now that I actually have an account, I'll probably start asking some pretty random questions frequently.  I'm in a pretty small lab (numbers-wise) and the older two students are basically on their way out, so I'm kind of having to scramble to figure out as much as possible.

Thanks!

[opsomath]

It's cool. It'll be nice to have someone asking real chemistry questions rather than "lol my teacher sux can you tell me how do do my chem hw".

We had an in-house glassblower. It was awesome. What happened to yours? Is he lost?

[Jerry]

It's cool. It'll be nice to have someone asking real chemistry questions rather than "lol my teacher sux can you tell me how do do my chem hw".

We had an in-house glassblower. It was awesome. What happened to yours? Is he lost?

Haha...well, maybe they'll be real chemistry questions, maybe they won't.  They won't be of the "my teacher sux" type though.   

Part of me wonders if he passed away.  He wasn't actually paid by our university.  He worked with each group and then drove back to his shop that's like an hour away.  But, I ran across his age, and he was getting up there, and since no one has had any contact with him at all...I just wonder.  I really wish we had an in-house glassblower.  We are large enough that we should but no luck.

[opsomath]

Usually the chemistry department of old, ancient universities maintains one. It's a pretty sweet setup. If you are already at your local old, ancient university, though, you might be SOL. The Univ. of Georgia had one when I was there.

Edit: Hey, they take outside jobs, and I bet you could ship to them! I can personally recommend their work, at least.

http://glass.uga.edu/

[Jerry]

Usually the chemistry department of old, ancient universities maintains one. It's a pretty sweet setup. If you are already at your local old, ancient university, though, you might be SOL. The Univ. of Georgia had one when I was there.

Edit: Hey, they take outside jobs, and I bet you could ship to them! I can personally recommend their work, at least.

http://glass.uga.edu/

Thanks for the recommendation.  I'm checking into it.  If mid-late 1800's is considered ancient, then I have an ancient university.  But, either way, I think I'm SOL for around here at least.

Thanks again, I really appreciate the help.

[Honclbrif]

You could try a Google Maps search for "technical glassblowing near (your city)".

[Jerry]

You could try a Google Maps search for "technical glassblowing near (your city)".

Indeed.  The nearest one is far enough away that shipping will be required.  There is also a website that lists specifically sciencetific glassblowers, but the same is true for that list as well.

[Dan]

Quite a few Universities will do external glass jobs, and it'll probably be good value.

I do find it amusing to hear any US institution called ancient. The youngest one I've worked in is 420 years old!

[opsomath]

I do find it amusing to hear any US institution called ancient. The youngest one I've worked in is 420 years old!

Thbbbbbbbt.

[thekid_frankie]

Shot in the dark, if you are near Atlanta I know a couple glassblowers who have experience with lab equipment.

[Jerry]

I'm in the midwest area unfortunately.

Thanks though.  I'm still trying to find a reasonable solution for my lab.  Other labs up here are interested as well it seems.  We all have very large boxes of glassware that probably could be fixed, but isn't usable in its current state.