Ideas and projects that don’t fit in the other categories
- Lab stand cart for distillation setup
I want to build some sort of cart, or something with wheels to put all my distillation things on so I can easily roll it out of the way. It should permanently hold my big lab stand to hold the biomass vial, and under that I would like it to house a 10L jerrycan and a smaller lab stand to hold the heated mantle and boiling flask. Also, somewhere to put the controller/power for the cooling loop pump. Something like this, with caster wheels under the corners:
I want to make it out of leftover pieces of wood. I would need:
- 4x 44x44x400mm horizontal
- 4x 44x44x338mm vertical
- 2x 69x44x362mm horizontal, at the bottom
- 2x ~12x150x412mm sides
- 1x 12x312x450 bottom
- 1x 12×150+x450 backplate
I can get all of that out of scraps, yay! Let’s get building!
Edit: done! I don’t remember the last time I went from conceptualisation to finishing a project in one afternoon. It’s nice to finish something for a change.
Next up: figuring out all the connections on my random collection of glassware that I want to build a distillation setup from.
- Two propagation racks
I salvaged an aluminium drying rack for glass tubes. I already had some salvaged lab glass tubes and long bottles that I wanted to make racks for, and they fit nicely in the holes. However, I didn’t have enough of the bottles to fill it up, and it was too tall for the reaction tubes. So I drilled out the little rivets, sawed one of the plates with holes into two, and made the thing into two racks to fit both the tubes and the bottles.
It was nice to work with rivets again, I don’t have much experience with those. It shows if you look closely – the one in the back has four different sizes of rivets – but I learned in the end.
I’ll use these for propagating plant cuttings. They fit perfectly in the windowsill :)
- Drying rack
Lab was throwing out an old drying rack. It’s not in the best shape, but it was free and it’s exactly what I wanted, so I guess I’m not making one myself any time soon. Also, found a spot on the wall.
- Glassware drying rack
I want a drying rack for my home chemistry glassware, for drying & storing.
Maybe something modular, so I can expand my glassware collection later?
Perhaps incorporate a drip tray?
I have round wooden rods, I think 13mm and 8mm diameter, that would make nice pegs.
Maybe first find some wall space to hang it. Right now I only have space behind a door, but obviously I don’t want to smash fragile glassware every time I open the door.
Edit: lab was throwing one out, post here.
- Plant shelf for lab office
I want more plants in our lab office, but I don’t want to clutter my desk too much. I’ve already found a way to suspend some plants from the ceiling, but I also want to reuse some old / damaged lab glassware as planters and I don’t want to hang those.
My desk is in a corner with two windows overseeing the lab. Both windows have a small ledge, so I’m thinking of putting a shelf onto them. I could make it mostly out of reused wood from the lab, e.g. wood that was used for shipping some of our machines.
I think the weight on top will keep everything in place, but I want to secure the thing to be sure. I don’t think I’ll be allowed to drill into the window frames. I guess I could wedge something between the frame on the long side, so the shelf can’t move. Maybe I can use bolts in T-nuts to push into the steel frames on both sides and wedge it that way? Or perhaps a very strong magnet on both ends to make sure the thing doesn’t slide off?
- Mattress extender
I want to make a mattress extender, but to make it wider instead of longer. There’s about 20-25 cm between my bed and the wall, I’ve got square buckets of hydroponic media there for storage but I think it would be nice if I put some sort of mattress extender on top of it. Perhaps I can just make it out of an old duvet cover, which is already the right length. I’ve still got a bag of foam scraps that I used to make my beanbag, I don’t know if it’d be enough.
- Radiator cover
I’m making a radiator cover.
Goals
- Hide ugly radiator
- Extend windowsill for plants
- Protect windowsill plants from touching hot surfaces
- Work with fabric for a change
Steps
MeasureFind inspirationDraw designBuy materials- Cut materials to size
- Assemble
Design
I would’ve embedded the Pinterest section I made for inspiration in this post, but apparently you can’t embed Pinterest sections, only whole boards. Here’s just the design I came up with:
It’s a simple design made out of wood, unbleached cotton and rope. Part of the wood is reused hardwood skirting boards that we had laying around. The plywood sides are closed, the bottom is open, and the plywood top has a 10mm ventilation slit. The whole thing is lightweight, which makes it easy to attach to the wall so I can vacuum under it.
I might put some reflective foil on the underside of the overhanging part of the windowsill extension, so less heat is radiated directly into the plants. I might even extend it all the way down behind the radiator, but I don’t know if the fabric I bought is dense enough to hide it.