Display case for an elements collection

[rasiel]

Hey guys, I wanted to show off a handmade prototype that took a long (long!) time to put together. It would house a collection of elements. We're thinking of selling these if there's enough interest. The 'cells' are big enough to hold a 2x2 cube as elements sometimes come embedded in this size.

 

They'd be pretty expensive mostly because there's a lot of labor involved in putting them together. Each one starts out as two acrylic sheets. A CNC router then cuts out the holes in one panel and then a third panel which is cut up into sized squares that are then individually glued in position. When the whole grid is in place then the two panels are sandwiched and glued on.... a real pain but it looks great!

 

Would love to hear some comments. I've been a collector of elements for a long time and finally have a decent way to show them off!

 

[Sensei]

They'd be pretty expensive mostly because there's a lot of labor involved in putting them together.

How come? It's just a piece of plastic..

 

Reasonable price IMHO is $10-$20.

 

Would love to hear some comments.

Personally I would prefer to have 32 columns (not special separated region for Lanthanides & Actinides).

 

How are you going to keep gases?

They will be empty boxes?

It would be fun to have them hermetic and filled with gas, and just connectors exposed, which after providing high voltage would start emitting light like discharge tubes..

Although it's way way beyond simple plastic container.

[John Cuthber]

How come? It's just a piece of plastic..

 

At a rough guess, it's about 200 pieces of plastic.

 

I see the cell for nitrogen is already nearly full.

[rasiel]

How come? It's just a piece of plastic..

 

Reasonable price IMHO is $10-$20.

 

Heh, if only. Just a sheet of 48x24x1/4in acrylic at Home Depot runs $65 ...and for this project you'd need three! Then there's the labor. How long would you guess it takes to precision glue (to within, say, 0.5mm tolerance) a couple hundred pieces?

 

Still don't believe me? See what this guy went through for a similar project, except uncovered:

http://thehomescientist.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-element-display-introduction.html

 

But yeah, if there was a machine that could pop these out they'd be dirt cheap.

 

I thought of the contacts idea for the gases. It might be doable but hydrogen and helium would quickly leak out. Plus the idea here is to provide a set that the collector can fill rather than provide a partially filled in one.

[Sensei]

At a rough guess, it's about 200 pieces of plastic.

 

There is only 118 elements.

As long as each element is in it's own box, and it's own cover it's 118*2=236 pieces of plastic.

But it's not the only way to make it. Single horizontal piece of plastic can have "cuts" for vertical one piece of plastic.

So in minimum case there is needed 31 pieces vertical * 6 horizontal + 4 surrounding + 2 front/back = 192.

Although some manufacturer could make entire 32 x 7 array of boxes as single piece matrix, plus 118 covers, glued on top of them after filling.

 

Heh, if only. Just a sheet of 48x24x1/4in acrylic at Home Depot runs $65 ..

 

Here it costs 1000x1000x4 mm $34.9 inc. VAT.

Edited September 14, 2015 by Sensei

[swansont]

I see the cell for nitrogen is already nearly full.

 

But according to the holder, every element is mostly nitrogen.

[John Cuthber]

 

Here it costs 1000x1000x4 mm $34.9 inc. VAT.

And you think you can get about one and a half sheets for $10-20

(That's before we ask how wobbly a 4 mm sheet would be once you loaded it up with specimens.)

I Based the estimate of 200 on the idea that, once you have one box, you can often add the next one by just adding two more sides (It doesn't always wok but...)

The point is that my initial estimate of about 200 is just a shade more realistic than your assertion that it was just 1.

 

Personally, I think it's a good design and I might even buy one- but international shipping would be a killer.

[rasiel]

For it to be stable you really need the sheets to be at least 10mm. Even at 10mm I got a small stress crack (see image). Of course, as you increase the thickness the weight and cost goes up but 10mm is a good balance between cost and portability.

 

The cells can also accommodate minerals. Here's a chunk of pyrite seen from the back (and, heh, in the wrong place too!)

 

In case anyone's even remotely interested I'd sell it for $500 plus shipping. For now there's only this one but if there was enough interest I wouldn't mind switching careers to become a fulltime craftsman!

 

 

[Sensei]

And you think you can get about one and a half sheets for $10-20

Because I was thinking about completely different method of production.

"Reasonable price for item regardless of method of production" (current one is pretty time consuming).

 

$35 per 1m2 sheet is retail price.

Companies can get them much cheaper in large quantity.

Or buy pellets, melt them and fill matrix by them self.

 

I was thinking about buying plastic pellets like these:

http://www.ebay.com/bhp/plastic-pellets

50 lbs = 22.7 kg for $65 (also retail price)

and fill matrix with entire 200 cells by melted plastic.

 

1000x1000x4mm with density 1g/cm3 is approximately 4 kg mass.

22.7 kg / 4 kg/sheet = 5.675 sheets. Reducing price of sheet to $65/5.675 = $11.4

 

If width is 1000mm, 32 columns, 1000/32=31.25mm per cell width (and height, and depth).

It's area 1000x219 (31.25*7) = 0.219 m2, front and back double it,

and area for borders between cells horizontal & vertical.

Total area ~0.914 m2. So one sheet (if we go sheet-way, not melted-plastic-to-matrix-way) is enough.

[John Cuthber]

you seem to have overlooked costing one of these into the project, which is unfortunate.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Plastic-Injection-Moulding-Machine-Sandretto-150Tonne-SERIES-8-ReconScrewMotor-/252085178012?hash=item3ab1728e9c

[Sensei]

In case anyone's even remotely interested I'd sell it for $500 plus shipping.

I appreciate time and invention that you spend on it. It looks nice.

But from business point of view, did you thought about it.. ?

Make pool in the Internet (there are free survey services) asking them how much people would be willing to pay for it.

 

Personally if I would be collecting elements, I would go to any electronics shop and get transparent drawer box, like this one (~ 30mm x 23mm x 17mm per cell) from Conrad:

It's for $6 retail. And there is needed 4-8 such. Giving $48 for all.

Edited September 14, 2015 by Sensei

[John Cuthber]

Personally if I would be collecting elements, I would go to any electronics shop and get transparent drawer box, like this one (~ 30mm x 23mm x 17mm) from Conrad:

419150_BB_00_FB.EPS_1000.jpg

It's for $6 retail. And there is needed 4 such. Giving $48 for all.

Which is fine, but it looks like it cost six bucks (whether you think the fact that the cells are a lot smaller might be a good or bad thing depending on your point of view, but it's moving the goalposts a bit).

Let's face it, you can have an element collection wrapped in old newspaper- but that's hardly the point.

 

I'm not sure that Rasiel is ever going to make money on this, but it looks good.

[studiot]

Out of interest for comparison here are some sealed perspex boxes with a few geological samples.

 

These are obtainable, complete with sample and labeling, for under £1.00 each in the UK.

Edited September 14, 2015 by studiot