>What does it do that normal tables don't? >If it's the surface I'm sure you can buy it and built or repurpose some other table for it.
Chemistry labs use soapstone. Which you can get from any stone countertop place.
The main thing to consider when DIYing a table with a stone top is strength ... stone can weigh 20-30 pounds per square foot, so a 3' by 6' table might weigh 500 pounds.
because they're low volume products usually purchased with public/institutional dollars. the same reason why a hot plate stirrer might have $100-200 of manufacturing cost yet retail for $1500.
they good ones get up to 400-500 C. the most expensive components are the enclosure (die cast) and its chemical-resistant paint and the heating element and topper (aluminum on lower temp models, ceramic on higher temp models.)
i have an "older" IKA hot plate with a corroded PCB. i'm working on making my own PCB and BLDC stirrer. i don't expect it to cost more than like $30 in PCB manufacturing costs and components.
>and BLDC stirrer
you could simply solder the stator coils directly to the pcb and ignore the motor middle man >using coils to spin a permanent magnet, which spins a permanent magnet that spins another permanent magnet
what a great concept, who came up with this shit?
cool idea, i've seen those before. only challenge is that i have no idea how to design them. i think i'm going to take the easy way out with a quadcopter hub-style motor. pic related fits in the existing enclosure and allows me to mount a magnetic angular sensor at the end for good low RPM control. rated to a few hundred watts in a quad copter application so i don't think it should have any issues running at a few watts in an aluminum enclosure.
The middle school near me threw out a bunch of them that were perfectly good as far as I could tell. I grabbed a couple, kept one, donated the rest to Restore. The waste of tax dollars by schools begging for "pencil money" is just disgusting. I expected the top would be made of slate or marble but it's some kind of MDF that scratches with a fingernail.
>Critics point to many cases of fraud and wastefulness in the E-rate program. Examples include $101 million in equipment which was used for nine schools in Puerto Rico, a $73 million network in Atlanta which never went through a bidding process, and a $21 million settlement from the NEC for fraud and price rigging. >In 2009, a division of AT&T settled $8.2 million in lawsuits alleging violations of the bidding process, as well as using E-rate to cover ineligible services. In September 2010, the FCC tightened restrictions on gifts given to school personnel by telecommunications companies for the E-rate program. In November 2010, Hewlett-Packard settled a lawsuit for $16.25 million concerning contractors illegally giving gifts to school officials in exchange for contracts on E-rate funded equipment. The HP lawsuits were part of a larger investigation of the Texas E-rate program by the US Department of Justice which included smaller settlements from Houston Independent School District, Dallas Independent School District, and a businessman. >In 2013, an investigation by a israeli newspaper found that Haredi israeli schools in New York City received millions in E-rate funding, despite their practice of rejecting modern technology.
In Atlanta they found millions of dollars of equipment sitting unused in storage. The teachers who ordered the equipment had no idea what any of it did but since they could get it for free, they ordered as much stuff as allowed and then never even opened the boxes.
Because they're sold to schools, who have no understanding of how to budget someone else's money.
These tables are actually free at a location near you
>science table
What does it do that normal tables don't?
If it's the surface I'm sure you can buy it and built or repurpose some other table for it.
It does le heckin science, bigot
>What does it do that normal tables don't?
>If it's the surface I'm sure you can buy it and built or repurpose some other table for it.
Chemistry labs use soapstone. Which you can get from any stone countertop place.
The main thing to consider when DIYing a table with a stone top is strength ... stone can weigh 20-30 pounds per square foot, so a 3' by 6' table might weigh 500 pounds.
because they're low volume products usually purchased with public/institutional dollars. the same reason why a hot plate stirrer might have $100-200 of manufacturing cost yet retail for $1500.
>hot plate stirrer
Bet i can make that with a heated bed from a 3d printer and a magnet duct taped to a motor mounted below the bed
they good ones get up to 400-500 C. the most expensive components are the enclosure (die cast) and its chemical-resistant paint and the heating element and topper (aluminum on lower temp models, ceramic on higher temp models.)
i have an "older" IKA hot plate with a corroded PCB. i'm working on making my own PCB and BLDC stirrer. i don't expect it to cost more than like $30 in PCB manufacturing costs and components.
>and BLDC stirrer
you could simply solder the stator coils directly to the pcb and ignore the motor middle man
>using coils to spin a permanent magnet, which spins a permanent magnet that spins another permanent magnet
what a great concept, who came up with this shit?
cool idea, i've seen those before. only challenge is that i have no idea how to design them. i think i'm going to take the easy way out with a quadcopter hub-style motor. pic related fits in the existing enclosure and allows me to mount a magnetic angular sensor at the end for good low RPM control. rated to a few hundred watts in a quad copter application so i don't think it should have any issues running at a few watts in an aluminum enclosure.
The middle school near me threw out a bunch of them that were perfectly good as far as I could tell. I grabbed a couple, kept one, donated the rest to Restore. The waste of tax dollars by schools begging for "pencil money" is just disgusting. I expected the top would be made of slate or marble but it's some kind of MDF that scratches with a fingernail.
the nice ones are slate
shit ones and one at the shitty lab i worked at where phenolic faced baltic birch...still not cheap but its not slate either
>Critics point to many cases of fraud and wastefulness in the E-rate program. Examples include $101 million in equipment which was used for nine schools in Puerto Rico, a $73 million network in Atlanta which never went through a bidding process, and a $21 million settlement from the NEC for fraud and price rigging.
>In 2009, a division of AT&T settled $8.2 million in lawsuits alleging violations of the bidding process, as well as using E-rate to cover ineligible services. In September 2010, the FCC tightened restrictions on gifts given to school personnel by telecommunications companies for the E-rate program. In November 2010, Hewlett-Packard settled a lawsuit for $16.25 million concerning contractors illegally giving gifts to school officials in exchange for contracts on E-rate funded equipment. The HP lawsuits were part of a larger investigation of the Texas E-rate program by the US Department of Justice which included smaller settlements from Houston Independent School District, Dallas Independent School District, and a businessman.
>In 2013, an investigation by a israeli newspaper found that Haredi israeli schools in New York City received millions in E-rate funding, despite their practice of rejecting modern technology.
In Atlanta they found millions of dollars of equipment sitting unused in storage. The teachers who ordered the equipment had no idea what any of it did but since they could get it for free, they ordered as much stuff as allowed and then never even opened the boxes.
You ever wonder what percentage of tax dollars actually goes to useful stuff that people actually need? I hope its at least 1%
If all of that money was being spent on american made products, then it wouldn't be so bad, but when the money leaves the system it becomes very bad.
I remember our school science lab was made of a wood from a tree that's now extinct. Not sure what it was.