I'm doing a follow up on my purchase of the 78-1 Magnetic stirrerhotplate from Amazon.
Right off I'll say, I like it, and my wrists are thanking me, and I realize this isn't a necessity for mixing. So there, that's out of the way.
I have mixed several 240 ml batches in a 600 ml flask, or beaker, whichever they are called, a wide mouthed container anyway. I am going to be getting a 250ml one for this size of batches shortly, along with other length stir bars to experiment with. This came with a 1 inch bar.
In the large mixing vessel, the 1 inch bar appears to work very well, and I did try it in a 60ml amber boston round bottle. The bottle doesn't appear to have a flat bottom which makes the bar hard to control, due to it slipping off center, and becomes un balanced. I'm hoping a shorter bar might work better, I'll see.
The one inconvenience I have with this, is the hot plate, the temp is not adjustable, and it heats to 160 deg. F. Way to hot in my opinion. I like to just warm it enough to thin out the VG some for better mixing. My solution so far, is to turn it on for 10 minutes, then off. The hot plate stays warm for a good bit, then after a while I'll give it another maybe 5 minute shot. I like to feel the container a little warm, not hot. Maybe if I were an electrician, I could probably wire in a thermostat or something to control the heat. The time for mixing is up to the individual, I think. I've been doing 45 - 60 minutes, so far.
So, that's it for now, and I'm happy with it, as I said before.
