Centrifuge

Ross_16734

Does anyone know of a large chamber centrifuge (table top) that does cost a squillion dollars? 

grandpa.yum

i assume by large chamber you want a large capacity? if so unless you're buying used be prepared to spend several thousand dollars. Refrigeration is important, especially if your centrifuge is on the slower side (2-7500g) and will require runs of 12+ hours versus the 1 hour at 27,500g. If you're using it for cooking you'll likely want something that can hold at least 250ml tubes although some may disagree with me here. I don't see the point in low yield centrifugation especially for things like separation of lipids (think pea butter). In addition they'll cost 3-400+ to ship and likely require a freight shipping company.

in buying used keep in mind that these devices are lab equipment. they may have been used for solvents (some solvents don't need much worry but halogens and mercury compounds are bad news and will poison you), radioactive compounds, pathogens, and bodily fluids. Furthermore depending on the age of your machine and the materials it is made out of, any attempt at decontamination may be difficult (e.g. no bleach on aluminum rotors as it will corrode; likely don't have access to an autoclave if your rotor is autoclavable). Unless you can find a seller that is willing to give you a solid history of the unit (or if you're super lucky find a food science lab cleaning house) you have to treat it as potentially exposed to all of those compounds, especially if the rotor doesn't have a lid to limit exposure of any samples that aerosolize. It's somewhat better than other lab equipment since the samples are in sealed containers (never use used centrifuge bottles, the risk simply isn't worth saving a hundred bucks)

In addition keep in mind that history of the rotor is of great importance. Rotor failures can be deadly and it's difficult to predict when to degrade a rotor if you don't know how many hours are on it and or the specific gravity of what was being spun. Newer centrifuges may have this info in the machine but if it's a machine from the late 80s through 2000 it most likely was recorded into a log book which may or may not exist anymore (if it ever did).

I bought mine from a lab I used to work at so I had a decent idea of the history of the machine. In spite of this I still measured with a geiger counter to confirm no radiation, autoclaved as much as I could at the lab when I picked it up, and still sanitized the entire machine with acetone, deionized water, soapy water, a 20% bleach solution that I allowed to air dry, then a final rinse with deionized water. This method will likely remove the majority of solvents and pathogens but it's certainly not foolproof and it's important to understand that it's impossible to remove all risk without simply buying a machine that is new.