"borrowing" lab equiptment

[gbwillner]

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In light of the hilarious conical tube usage thread... I thought of another fun lab topic to bring up....

Is there any lab equipment that you "borrow" and take home?

for me it was razor blades (for stripping old paint) and acetone (in 15ml falcon tubes) for cleaning.

 

[xanthines]

Bleach for laundry purposes. In a 50mL conical tube, coincidentally enough, so I guess I did take some them home. 🙂

-X

 

[seraph524]

Isopropyl alcohol in a 50 mL tube for my first aid kid.

 

[QofQuimica]

You guys are seriously cheap; I'll be embarrassed for you if you're not embarrassed for yourselves. 😛 I know grad school stipends aren't that high, but come on! You can get a whole gallon of bleach or acetone for like a dollar or two.

Maybe it's a bio versus chem thing, but I never had a desire to take anything whatsoever home from my lab. The one thing I did take (with permission!) was liquid nitrogen. I used to go make ice cream with it once or twice a year for disadvantaged kids at one of the local elementary schools. Oh, and when I unpacked after my last move, somehow I wound up with an unused lab book, but I didn't take that on purpose. 😳

 

[jsg1985]

A few 2 mL sterile pipettes (with permission of course) to use as chopsticks to impress my date!!!

 

[Doctor&Geek]

You guys take bleach home?

I buy nail polish (I'm a guy!) and bleach for the lab, because Fisher overprices everything. I don't even ask my boss for it either.

 

[Inuranic]

I bring home the digital camcorder I convinced my PI to buy. She knows, and doesn't care. I always bring it back anyway.

 

[gbwillner]

You guys take bleach home?

I buy nail polish (I'm a guy!) and bleach for the lab, because Fisher overprices everything. I don't even ask my boss for it either.

I had to buy nail polish too for FISH. I also had to buy a coffee machine for the lab... so I think it was a fair trade.

Besides, where do you buy those large razor blades and acetone anyway?

 

[seraph524]

I don't know about the razor blades, but you can buy acetone in bulk from chemical companies in gigantic drums...

 

[gbwillner]

I don't know about the razor blades, but you can buy acetone in bulk from chemical companies in gigantic drums...

Right... I'll stop by the chemical company next to the grocery store tomorrow after work to buy a drum of acetone...😉

 

[seraph524]

hahaha

 

[Neuronix]

I buy nail polish (I'm a guy!) and bleach for the lab, because Fisher overprices everything.

I have had so many problems with Fisher shipping too. They don't bother to notify you if the product is out of stock or whatever so you can put in alternatives. It's mostly a dry bench lab so it doesn't matter a whole lot, but it took 7 months for me to get acetone shipped to me.

I was going to call and ask but somehow I got it in my head I ordered from Sigma (who is much better) and bugged my sigma rep about it. Then I thought since Sigma didn't have it the order never got placed and then it just slipped my mind.

Then one day a bottle of acetone appears. Yay.

Edit: Lab timers are the BEST for cooking with. You can have 4 diff timers so you can keep track of multiple things 👍

 

[Doctor&Geek]

Our Fisher reps are pretty good with getting us what we need quickly - a lot of the time, order in the afternoon, comes next morning.

Of course, it comes with a frighteningly high cost.

 

[Foghorn]

I had to buy nail polish too for FISH.

Haha, I totally forgot about this.

I also had to buy a coffee machine for the lab... so I think it was a fair trade.

I did that too and regularly bring in coffee beans from a local shop or pre-packaged ones from Godiva. One grad student also started bringing in tons of Gevalia coffee packets 'cause her parents set up a subscription for her and she said I could help myself.

Every 2 or 3 weeks I bring in lots of pastries, donuts or some kind of breakfast goodies for the lab to enjoy.
Needless to say I 😍the people in my lab. Might be because I'm the only guy in there 😛

 

[foster033]

Right... I'll stop by the chemical company next to the grocery store tomorrow after work to buy a drum of acetone...😉

They sell 1 gallon cans of acetone at Home Depot.