/diy/ - Do It Yourself

it's not really chemistry. Distilling is just heating a solution to have one compound in a solution evaporate whilst leaving the rest behind thus creating a more concentrated mixture of each.

>>703008
I mean, it is chemistry, but at the same time boiling water or mixing vinegar and baking soda is also chemistry. The distilling for essential oils isn't the hard part either; it's getting the plant material.

>>703001
well it depends what you want to do, vapor stripping is one thing, if you want to do that and other simple things like making soaps, creams (facial) or toothpaste. the kinds of things old pharmacists did you only heed a simple setup. a couple of beakers, and precipitation glasses, a simple frame and burner, mortar and pestle, thermometer etc. most of it can be cobbled up from pots, pans, and other kitchen equipment.
if you are more interested in old organic chem you would need a little more, for example to play with tar and anilines, ethers, nitrations, etc.
I would recommend going to the internet archive and getting the compete apothecary, toilet of flora, manual of industrial recipes, an artist's materials handbook etc.
It's amazing what useful things you can make, and it gives some accomplishment about knowing and actually doing things by yourself the old timey way. It also shows how incredibly inventive we are. Also learn how to cook.

Hope you go into it, it's a hell of a ride.
finally and I know I shouldn't toot my own horn, as a chemical engineer I would say, don't go for the high end lab materials, cheap glass and decent pots and pans work well enough, just remember, no aluminium or iron for many things. Have fun.

Op Here, I probably should have clarified that I was just using the picture as an example, and that I plan to do more. But I appreciate the responses. Especially >>703082

>>703088
I've been extracting oils for some months now, I research about what benefits each plant has and the name and properties of its essential oils.

You'd be surprised at what you can extract from spices, herbs and fruits.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtH5q4zfIf3-FoHywbMEJwQ

This chick has a lot of info regarding different essential oils and their properties.

>>703113
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsodWbQoKFM
all of my wat

>>703122
Lel, yeah they're kind of all-natural nutjobs, doesn't discredit their info on essential oils.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iN_ZthPis8&list=UUtH5q4zfIf3-FoHywbMEJwQ

>>703001
I've been self-teaching chemistry for a few years now, and I enjoy it very much. I'd say go for it.

What does it for me is when I start with a raw, common, or off-the-shelf material and transform it into something else. The book "caveman chemistry" is particularly fantastic in this regard. I have, with its assistance:
-cut down a (small) tree with a flint axe
-made fire with from sticks
-made charcoal from wood
-made potassium/sodium hydroxide from wood ashes
-made lime (Calcium oxide), and slaked lime (Calcium Hydroxide) from limestone
-extracted sodium nitrate from compost
-extracted sulfur from fertilizer
-made hydrochloric acid, sodium hypochlorite, crystalline salt, and chlorine gas from seawater
-made sulfuric acid
-smelted (yes, I mean smelted) copper from ore
-made nitric acid
-took water apart (electrolysis) and put it back together (ignition)(burned the frack out of myself)(guess I should have read about that 5,000 degree flame -before- igniting the balloon. :/ )
-made thermite
-made clay from Tennessee subsoil
-failed repeatedly at firing crude pottery

Barring zombie Apocalypse, I will never be a professional chemist. Even so I do not regret the time I invested in learning so far.

>>703001
Last i checked unitednuclear.com had a cheap steam still.

>>703122

i want whatever fucking drugs these guys are on

>>703122
My brain

Nice I was the anon who posted this.

I would say that you should get a fully glass lab setup rather than this diy one.

I only recommended it as the OP was living in an area where he couldn't access lab glassware such as a liebig condenser.

In honesty distilling is fun for spirits, fuel, cleaning alcohol, plant essences, etc. and is easuly one of the easiest forms of chemistry that one can start without needed any substantial knowledge other than boiling points of certain materials.

Start small, if you want to expand further look into vaccuum distillation for extracting high BP chemicals easily.

Just remember to be aware of fumes and to keep safe

>>703171
Not OP but are we the same person. I've done a little more than half the things on your list.

What else do you do as a hobby mang?

When you say something like that I just automatically assume you must be trying to extract safrole for MDMA synthesis or something like that, even though I'm probably wrong.

>>703821
What do I do?...
My standard answer to this is "Convert carbohydrates to heat."

My day job is as a PFE with Microsoft. (non-kool-aid). I garden and take care of my chickens. When something is broken I fix cars and lawnmowers. For fun I make stuff, void warranties, think, etc.

Right now I'm working on (aka procrastinating) finishing a winusb based driver for an Intel qx3 camera, learning Spanish with my daughter, helping my son learn to fly a RC jet, and thinking about building a robot lawnmower. I owe /diy a write up on how to cast parts with hot glue too. :-/

I keep a blog at extraparts.info.

What do you do?

>>703826
I don't have any intention of making drugs, or anything of the sort, but I am concerned some will assume that's what I'll be doing.

>>704219
>I am concerned some will assume that's what I'll be doing.

This is a good assumption. Several people have asked if I'm making meth. (damnit) I explain very clearly to whoever goes in the garage that I'm not making drugs, and I talked to a couple of guys in the narcotics unit of my local PD. They said not to worry, but I still do.

The best approach seems to be to gush about some obscure chemistry topic until their eyes roll back. Mine is "I'm researching a new type of battery for electric cars. It uses a sulfur and lithium to store fantastic amounts of electriciy.. What's really great is bla bla bla..." you can watch their eyes glaze over. (a human buffer overflow.)

Kids are the best though. Show them some burning thermite and you've got them hooked! Free lab assistants. (Slightly flammable)

>>703171
No soap? Shit's fairly easy...
>nitric acid
how about some nitrates?

Personally gearing up to make a halide scintillator crystal, but can't afford a decent rotary vane vacuum pump atm...

>>703425
>united nuclear
>cheap
suuuure....

>>703001
>couple of hundred
ebay motherfucker, you'll easily cut the price to 1/3 and less, as an amateur you should avoid buying new glassware, used works just as well and you can save shekels for the chemicals...

>>705178
>halide scintillator crystal
my imagination tells me that this should flash when ionizing radioactive particles whiz through it.

my brain tells me its a boring crystal that you need to set up various light amplifiers and sensor circuits to detect anything. which would it be?

I like the idea of flashing an led which illuminates it when it detects something as an art piece though.

>>705178
although I would not buy anything used if you intend to rub things processed in them over your body or eat them. because trace amounts of things can hurt you.

>>705178
>how about some nitrates?
What's the first rule of fight club?

>>705202
uhhh....don't get put on a NSA watch list?