Home-made fractional column

[blindreeper]

While making some 90* bends in some glass tubes (halogen tubes) I had a bit about 20 cm long in my bin and decided to do somthing with it. What I did was heat a spot on it almost red and pushed in with a round file and it made a dimple. I started to do this all over the tube and wasn't expecting much because I thought it would crack on the cooling process. Well it cooled down perfectly just laided it on some bricks came back 5 min later and it was fine.

Once this was done the finished product reminded me of a fractional column. I was thinking anyone who doesn't want to spend $100 + on one could easily improvise one. If you guys have any other glass ware improvisations I would love to hear them!
I hope some one is accually finding my posts on improvised glass ware and stuff useful or am I just making pointless threads?

[CommonScientist]

Arnt they called flourescent not halogen, I thought the halogen ones were the tiny, 3 inch ones, I could be wrong though. It isnt really glassware but i made a funnel for powders. All you need is:

1 hydrogen peroxide bottle
1 pair of scissors
1 sink, with running water

Take the H2O2 bottle and poke a hole to insert your scissors into, then cut it at the crease closest to the top. You may need to wash out the inside because it might not be clean(contaminated with H2O2). You could also cut it more towards the bottom for use as a filter/buchner funnel.

Nope, you didnt create this thread for nothing, its just that people arnt responding to it.

[Blackhawk]

Thats not really Improv glassware though. The most I do is use jam jars for beakers.

[knowledgehungry]

I find itr extremely useful im going to work on my own distillation setup soon ill keep you posted.

[Wild Catmage]

I was considering buying a distillation setup, but I'll try improvising one first. Do you think a blowtorch will work fine for melting the glass? Blowtorches can melt soft lab glass tubing fine.

A fractionating column is the one filled with glass rods or other media, right?

[vulture]

A Vigreux column could also be improvised, although they aren't that expensive.

Vigreux is good enough for alcohol destillation and separating mixtures with boiling points that differ 40C or more. Columns filled with glass or other objects have rather low flow rates and large heat loss. Make sure you insulate it, otherwise you'll be waiting several hours before your destillate reaches the top.

[knowledgehungry]

A blow torch should work fine, I can melt lightbulb glass with mine.

[blindreeper]

Its not melting it the problem, overheating is a problem but the worst of all is trying to get it to cool bck down without cracking, takes a bit of practise but you get there eventually.

[powdermunkey]

I use a copper tube filled with glass marbles. The tube is 2.5 inches diameter by about 1.5 feet long. I follow it with a helical coil of copper tube that is water cooled. Makes pretty fine moonshine.

[knowledgehungry]

For moonshine that works but Nitric Acid doesn't like metal, especially not copper.

[CommonScientist]

Most acids dont like metals, they can turn into hypersensitive salts which can go off extremly easily.

Powdermunky, is their any chance you go that off the show M*A*S*H* and just enhanced it?, sure it will make good moonshine, but distilling acids is very popular when making explosives, so thats why we use glass.

Blindreeper : I admire your work, its truely awesome!

[Tuatara]

Drop your hot glass into a bucket of vermicullite, that should help with cooling by slowing the cooling rate right down. Vermicullite is available from shops that sell stuff for hydroponics.

[vulture]

For moonshine that works but Nitric Acid doesn't like metal, especially not copper.

Indeed, but why would one want to use a fractionating column when distilling nitric acid?
It's no good at breaking the azeotrope, furthermore you'll need to heat your flask considerably more, which will cause alot of decomposition.

[knowledgehungry]

I was just trying to make sure no one gets hurt, and there are some explosives you remove from the reactents by distillation.

[Wild Catmage]

My fractionating column construction project has run into a slight problem. The fluorescent light bulb tube I was going to use coated with a white powdery substance on the inside. I'm guessing that this is the stuff that fluoresces when the light is on. Any ideas on how to remove this?

For a conventional water cooled distillation setup, I've seen a vase in an IKEA stores. It has a spiral that winds through the middle of it, and is designed to hold a candle. The spiral is hollow and has exits on each side of the vase.

A picture is a thousand words, so take a look at it... http://www.ikea.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=7&langId=-20&catalogId=10101&productId=15589

It would have to be modified so that you could attach equipment to it more easily, and a pump to circulate water from a larger reservoir would also be nice, but I think it has "potential".

Edit - If it's a barium compound, it could have pyrotechnical applications. I'll give it a go if I can scrape off a decent amount.

[blindreeper]

Just put a piece of material on the end of a long dowel and push it through the tube, this scrapes off the white stuff. It will take more than one go. I think it is a barium compound so use gloves, I always did :) It is insoluable in water so don't bother trying.

[tiac03]

Actually I used to have one of those vase things. was thinking about using it for what you said, but I think it broke before I had a chance.

As for improvised lab equipment (although it really has nothing to do with glass sorry), I was going through a lab tech book in the schools library and I saw an improvised "fume hood"

I don't know if anyone already wrote this somewhere but they took a funnel attached a tube to it (the small part) inverted the funnel and put the big end a few inches over the beaker that required the hood. they connected the tube to a pump of sorts (wasn't in picture) and the funnel was conected to one of the stands with a test tube clamp.
Well that was my two cents worth... hope it's usefull and not been posted before.