[Noisebridge-discuss] Re: Draft Finance Policy

[Mitch Altman]

You should definitely do a workshop on glassware!  That would be great.  And also workshops on other aspects of chemistry of interest to you.  I think there are a bunch of people who would show up for learning chemistry.
 
Mitch.
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> Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:51:08 -0700> From: mlp at thesmartpolitenerd.com> CC: noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net> Subject: Re: [Noisebridge-discuss] Re: Draft Finance Policy> > Mitch Altman wrote:> > Though, the general feeling from discussions thus far (where I've been > > around) has been: if you bring something to Noisebridge, you should be > > OK with it breaking, or getting stolen, or otherwise becoming unusable. > > I'm not sure how we could handle it in other ways, unless the equipment > > in question is extremely valuable, in which case our insurance may be > > able to cover loss.> > Honestly, my concern is not so much "OMG that was my $150 Liebig > condenser!" as it is "oh shit, the condenser's broken and now nobody can > do a distillation or a reflux reaction."> > I won't be bringing anything of real sentimental value (eg the glassware > my dad bought for himself in college and then gave to me). I do expect > anything I bring in to get used and treated well (i.e., cleaned and put > back dry so that the next guy's reaction doesn't get contaminated), but > realistically, glass does break (or stuff gets charred onto the bottom > of it and can't be gotten off, &c). The situation I'm worried about is > where some expensive and key piece of glass gets broken and whoever > broke it can't afford to replace it, thus rendering the entire > collection mostly useless for everyone else. I have a mostly-complete > setup for one person, and don't have backups for a lot of my gear.> > I dunno, could we perhaps set aside $250 or so in an "emergency glass > breakage fund" to cover accidents, with people paying back into the fund > if they can't immediately replace a broken item? I also like Shannon's > idea of putting up a "cost to replace if broken" list, perhaps on the > glassware cabinet -- this can serve as an inventory as well.> > I could also give a little workshop on "lab glassware, how to use it, > and how to treat it and your lab-mates with respect". From experience, > when personal stress erupts in labs, it's usually due to people treading > on one another's toes with respect to equipment and reagents. You'd > think "don't take equipment from someone's reaction *while it's in > progress*" would be pretty obvious, but in practice ... it isn't.> > Oh, another thought -- a full set of microscale glassware can be had on > ebay for about $220. Some guy also has five very nice microscale kits in > his ebay store for $995 right now. Most of my kit is either 24/40 > standard taper (the size you probably worked with in high school) or > stuff that I've hacked to be 24/40-compatible with stoppers and tubing. > Microscale glassware is 14/10 standard taper, which is much smaller, but > it's just as easy to work with (in some ways easier -- you can do > reactions under inert atmosphere using nothing but a party balloon), is > *much* easier to store (a set comes in a sturdy plastic box with > protective foam inserts), and is cheaper to replace when things break. I > also have an organic chem lab manual which shows how to do do workups > for 24/40 scale, miniscale (19/22), and microscale equipment, and would > be happy to bring that in too.> > --mlp> _______________________________________________> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
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