The Elixir Process

If you shake the flask a little bit, that powder should fall to the bottom with the rest.

I'll start the next month.
I think that here, in Europe, ther's some sense in collecting the dew by Aries et Taurus (20 March - 21 May) and in the fullest moon.
I'm with all of you my friends that are working the Magnum Opus.
I think that the bottle could be OK, even the gum piece of the cork I think it's real natural gum, the one that is commonly used in omeopathic medicine bottles.
I hope with you that it will support the stronger heating phase.

I'm happy and proud with you Magnus Opus.

Zosimo

Great pics Jairo, good job. It looks like whats there may be turning black.

MO-1

jairo wrote:

Flask was sealed with glass stopper and water resistant plaster.. It's a tube ready to use you can buy at hardware stores.. Smells a bit chemical but it dries within 20 minutes or so.

I have the very same glass setup as you jairo, I even tested the glass stopper alone at about 220°F for more than 24 hours.

It held all on its own. I wanted to open the still 220°F hot flask with a towel and tried it very gently however I needed quite a few slight hits with a plastic hammer on the glass stopper from below to get it open ... it flew away 2 meters and hit a concrete floor but didnt crack.

So the glass stopper alone would work even for the sandbath however I am very interested in your "lutem".

Do you have a picture of it or maybe a link where you bought it from?

Thanks for your answers.

Wilfried

Of course, Wilfried, You are talking about the normal glass stopper, not the particolar one from Roth ind. you show in one of your messages, right ?
By the way they told me that the roth stopper belong to a particolar flask where can be screwed in.
The normal glass stoppers can keep the pressure but the question is how long x how much; we have to consider a 40 and more day work...
May be the Roth stopper can be a good solution.


Zosimo

If you shake the flask a little bit, that powder should fall to the bottom with the rest.


I think maybe we are dealing with surface tension on the floatings on the top of the water. It's kinda like when a mesquito lights on the surface of the water he doesn't sink.



MO-1

dejan07,

What is with that face? No words? I know you have something tomsay besides that!

Jamar

No problem.

Dejan07,

You are a good man.

Thank You

Jamar

Wilfried,
The glass stopper alone is NOT enough to seal the flask..
even if the glass stopper does not come of so easy, very small amounts of vapor will escape if not sealed properly.
About my 'lutem'.. The small amounts of vapor coming out on the sides of the glass stopper did not allow the plaster to dry and parts of it even went into a liquid state. two days in the BM bath I had to carefully remove the plaster and clean it (without opening the flask) to seal it with something else.. Instead of plaster I now sealed it with sealing wax. So far that has been working much better.. I just hope that it wont melt when I put the flask in the sand bath. I will have to do my best to keep the top of the flask cool while heating the bottom of the flask..

process update:
It is now day 3 in the BM and more powder stuff has been forming and is floating on the surface of the salty dew.

Guys, My RAMS DVD arrived today. I coppied it on to my thumb drive so I can
put the DVD up for safe keeping.

It is like this mountain of information.



MO-1

Yes Zosimo, I am talking about a „normal“ glass stopper. The one with the screw cap is suited only for one special type of flask.


I am pretty sure the glass stopper alone can hold the pressure. It is certified as autoclavable up to 121°C (250°F). The pressure is big however I still needed a hammer to get off the glass stopper when it was heated to about 210°F … it is easier to remove when you let the flask cool down again …


It really is a problem to find an "ideal lutem" which doesn’t absorb water …
I thought about rubber bands to put around the flask. But its probably difficult to fix it on a round bottom flask.


Wilfried

Wilfried wrote:

Yes Zosimo, I am talking about a „normal“ glass stopper. The one with the screw cap is suited only for one special type of flask.


I am pretty sure the glass stopper alone can hold the pressure. It is certified as autoclavable up to 121°C (250°F). The pressure is big however I still needed a hammer to get off the glass stopper when it was heated to about 210°F … it is easier to remove when you let the flask cool down again …


It really is a problem to find an "ideal lutem" which doesn’t absorb water …
I thought about rubber bands to put around the flask. But its probably difficult to fix it on a round bottom flask.


Wilfried

Hello again Wilfried,

One of my 2 dew processes underway uses a 1 litre round-bottomed flask with a straight condensing tube stoppered above, and I use a PLASTIC LAB. JOINT CLIP to hold the joint under pressure. These joint clips come in various sizes for different size joints or stoppers, such as B24, B29, B34.



These clips are also commonly used to hold stoppers in place under pressure.



LVX... Don

Nice luce7,

this helped me along.

These clamps seem to be ideal.

I even found a clamp which you can tighten with a screw. And I ordered already a few.
Link

[img][/img]

At last I think I can put the endless thoughts about the ideal hermetically sealed flask at rest.

This will work for sure, combined with a duran flask and glass stopper.


Wilfried

you know what they say, "a picture is woth a thousand words". I imagine the rest of the group feels as I do- these pics that are being posted in different areas are MOST helpful! PLEASE, lets keep these going

Hyramposey

Luce7:

If you are going to use scientific lab glassware you have the best method I've seen.
This is exactly what the locks are designed to do.

All ground joints are easy to take apart when they are cold. When you heat the glass
the stopper expands inside the flask. This creates an excellent seal. The glass will only
expand to a certain point but as the glass gets hotter the seal gets tighter. If I am
impatient and decide I want to tale my distillation train apart before it cools I have to
use a small rubber hammer to break the seals. If you let it cool it comes apart
realatively easy.

MO-1

OK Guys, I am on day 28 of the 40 day cycle. The ambient temperature in my
garage is 71 degrees The top of the bottle is 77 degrees Moddle is 94 degrees
and the bottom of the bottle is 125 degrees. I am showing little or no
condensation inside of the bottle. Has anybody had similar experiences..


MO-1

Last week i went in a shop for Laboratory equipment.

I told the man, i want a Kjedalflask with a glassstopper. As i told him, that i will try to heat up water up to 200°F he laughed at me, saying, i'm crazy: "do you want a bomb"

I really don't beliefe him, but i don't want to risk anything, because a blast of such a flask might be fatal.

now i bought me a pressure ressistant glassbottle. I saw, luce is having the same?

what do you think about it, the flask is not round at the bottom?

http://www.neolab.de/images/online/3d/3c/3d3c7572ae6c9f06b81a0fce5ceaa191ed92f1cc.jpg

the bottle is pressure ressistant up to 1.5bar.

thx for your advices

Day 9 update:
Today I noticed a lot of salt crystals forming in the flask..
I don't know whether it is a good sign or not
Has anyone who is DOING (or finished) the process also noticed the same thing??

I leave you with the following pictures..

magnum.opus1 wrote:

OK Guys, I am on day 28 of the 40 day cycle. The ambient temperature in my
garage is 71 degrees The top of the bottle is 77 degrees Moddle is 94 degrees
and the bottom of the bottle is 125 degrees. I am showing little or no
condensation inside of the bottle. Has anybody had similar experiences..


MO-1

When my flask is wrapped in the heating pad, there is not a lot of condensation..
Only when I take it out to inspect it it starts condensing a lot.
I hope Nick comes back soon to comment on our posts..

Great pictures Jairo.
The problem that you and magnum.opus1 encountered is simple.
The difference in temperature between the top and bottom of your flask is too low for good condesation.You have to cool the top with cold water for example.

Maybe it's not about condensation at all..
And if that is the case, we should not label it as a "problem"..
But what do I know?

The problem that you and magnum.opus1 encountered is simple.
The difference in temperature between the top and bottom of your
flask is too low for good condesation. You have to cool the top with
cold water for example.

I kinda thought it might be something like that.
Thats the reason why you have to run cold water through a condenser
in a distiullation train. I have to figure out a way to keep the bottom hot
and the top cool. Well, the old sages used snow and Horse dookie.
This time of year in the middle of Dallas I'm fresh out of both.

MO-1

In the Real Baneum Maria the heat comes from the bottom
if you use the heating pad around the flask the heat will come from all the sides yeah?
then less convection I guess.