I've seen equipment ideas (diy magnetic stirrer contruction, diy plastic-bag sep funnel) and tool suggestions scattered through various subforums, and I was thinking that it might be nice to have a dedicated thread about what equipment and tools people use, have invented, have discovered, or postulate for spice extractions. It might even be worth making a subforum about this. I was debating with myself about which forum i should post this in, and I decided it fit best in "Safety" because tools and equipment that enable easy and efficient extraction will prevent error, carelessness, and accidental/avoidable exposure to some of the dangerous chemicals involved in the process.
When posting, it would be good to include an explanation of why/how the tool/equipment is more effective than other alternatives. If your idea is something that can be assembled from easily obtainable/cost-effective/household components, please provide detailed assembly instructions (with pictures if necessary) and suggestions about where the components can be found.
Effective, cheap alternatives for sophisticated, expensive lab equipment are extremely welcome!
Some ideas may be worth writing up as teks and maybe even warrant inclusion into the wiki!
For example, my cat has taken to using a paint-scraper/palette-knife from the hardware store for scraping spice out of his freeze-precip container. He use to use a razor-blade, but it was quite difficult for him to hold with his not-so-dexterous paws. The long handle of the paint-scraper is much easier to grip, and the wide, slightly flexible blade greatly expedites the collection process.
After having trouble finding a glass turkey baster, my cat turned to using a high-volume glass pipet he reclaimed intact from the glass waste-bin in a school chem lab (he washed it thoroughly before use!!), topped with a bulb aspirator, which is easily obtained at any drugstore.
These suggestions of mine may not be particularly useful for anyone, and aren't necessarily very inventive, but they are examples of the kind of information that should be posted here.
There are some very ingenious people on the Nexus and its likely some excellent ideas can be pooled in this thread.
intechgration is a fictitious persona. anything he says, writes, suggests, or does are simply the products of someone's imagination and have no place in reality.