How do you store ...

[Lorikeet]

Friends - I have joined the esteemed field of laboratory assistance 6 months ago - and I am still here !!!!
Alas - Now that I have my head around what things are and where they are - I am looking to do a little stream lining, I'm not one for reinventing wheels etc.

So what fantabuluous ways have your kept, stored or manage particular equipment...

Thermometers is what I am looking at we have lost 5 this term ... and now have new ones and transport / storage ideas.
Lenses
Microscopes
Balanaces

Any ideas, suggestion and photos welcomed - and thanks for sharing ... Kate

[bigmack]

My offsider I share my job with wraps rubber bands around the ends of thermometers...stops them rolling off benches. We keep them in drawer in th boxes they came in , minus the plastic tubes.......they get stored with the straws and are good for dropping KMnO4 Crystals into beakers for convection current prac.

BTW..I feel your enthusiasm to reorganize .I could not believe the level of chaos when I started here over two years ago but I'm seeing the method in the madness now. Shareing the place with someone that has been at it long time .I have left things as they are until he retires.....

I also work at another school part time with another longtime Labbie. It is interesting to see the different thinking on how a particular item is stored .
Both store specific items in areas relavant to thier use as Physics , bio , Chem or Senior science ...but its the other random stuff that causes the chaos .

At the nd of the day , as long as you know where it is , thats what matters .
No matter where you store it , someone else will have as much problem finding it if you are not there as you did when you firdt staryed

[trish armstrong]

I store my thermometers standing upright. I was told that you should not store them lying down, it's not good for them. My lenses are stored in a drawer which has a thick piece of polystyrene that has slits carved out of it to hold each lense, so they don't touch each other or move when drawer is carried around. Balances are stored on a shelf and carried into lab when needed. I hate this as I know that balances should not be moved, but we don't have the budget to buy them for each lab. My microscopes are on a shelf, they have their covers on them to keep the dust of them.
This is how I store mine,
Cheers Trish.

[sunray18]

I also store them upright - bought plastic pasta storage jars - cheap - put a chux folded up in the bottom and each lab has them on the sink,
Lens are not used much here so I boxed them instead of using a whole drawer for them
Balances - digital ones I bought containers from Reject Shop [$4} and store the ones that fit in those, others that were large I bought cheap Kitty litter trays from Reject shop and they sit in those. Digital ones can be moved - and reality is that we have to - I have 7 labs and no way can I afford 4 balances per lab.
Reject Shop: plastic containers with lids, all heights:
* a lot of physics gear goes into them.{I try to NOt leave thing sin the original boxes as they eventually break - so they get put into plastic containers with lids on them}
*
Plastic food containers from supermarkets are great for all the smaller things - I buy them in packs of 200 at a time. they are great to put together kits for classes - eg the syringe gas kits, flame tests kits, rock platform excursion kits.
In the main prep room I have them in the glass front cupboard son the wall containing things like marbles tooth picks coloured paddle pop sticks counters etc etc.. easy to see what is in them and they stack well. Teachers can come in and see at a glance what is in them and grab it in middle of class if they need something like that.
Cheap kitty litter trays are brilliant for all things lab!

[CC]

I use old tennis ball containers from PE. I put foam in the bottom, drill holes in the cap and store 8 in each container. I know exactly how many thermometers are there at a glance. they don't have to take the cap off just take one out and when finished pop it back in, works really well

[Rock]

Hi. I'm new to posting here but I have been reading the posts for a while (I'm from Queensland). I store thermometers in the wooden thermometer rack from Serrata. The holes were a bit small in the last one we bought, so we drilled larger holes. If thermometers are needed for a prac, I usually put the required number on the trolley in one of the racks. Haines also does a thermometer storage rack. It sits flat. Small lenses I store in a Gratnells tray in one of the foam inserts (I think the one designed for calculators). Two or three of the lenses fit into each slit. Some schools store balances in Sistema clip containers. They can be stacked on top of each other. I haven't tried that yet. I find storage solutions are often limited by budget.

[Labbie]

Yes Do store them Standing UP right. Spirit ONES only up right. Its the mercury ones that must lay down.,