70 lines
3.5 KiB
Plaintext
70 lines
3.5 KiB
Plaintext
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How to Build a Still
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Once the Militant has his chemicals, he sets up his still.
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In it he makes things like tear gas, prussic acid and occasionally
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distills alcohol.
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First, a flask is fited with a one-hole rubber stopper. A short
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length of thin glass tubing is inserted into the hole. A five-foot
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length of thin rubber tubing is fitted over the glass tube and
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coiled into the ice bucket and out through a hole near the bottom.
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The end of this tube is fitted with another glass tube which is in
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a two-hole stopper stuck into a bottle. The other hole contains
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another glass tube to which is attached another length of tubing
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long enough to reach outside to get rid of any noxious or
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poisonous fumes.
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The equipment for the still is cheap and simple to get.
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Most of it can be bought from your local drug store. They carry
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tubing, stoppers, glassware, and many chemicls which they sell
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freely to doctors, students, etc. If you get on good terms with
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your druggist and he doesn't know you're a freak you can buy
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most of your stuff from him.
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A ring or tripod for the flask is more handy than the can in
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the illustration. But a tin can with strips cut out of it for
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ventilation and for the removal of the lamp is usually adaquate.
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The checklist for equipment is:
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1. alcohol lamp.
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2. ring stand
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3. 500ml or larger flask
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4. assortment of 1-hole, 2-hole, and holeless rubber
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stoppers of various sizes.
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5. about six yards of 3/16" (inside diameter) rubber
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tubing
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6. about a foot of six mm (outside diameter) laboratory
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glass tubing
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7. child's plastic bucket
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8. receiving bottle.
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The hole in the bucket for the tube is made somewhat smaller
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than the tube so it will fit snugly and prevent leakage.
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Full-strength wood alcohol for the lamp can be bought at the
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drug store. Rubbing alcohol, although 30% water will burn in the
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lamp, but not so well. You can distill the pure alcohol off the
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water from rubbing alcohol.
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Ths is best done over a gas or electric stove. First a large
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pan with a couple of inches of water in it is put on the burner
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to be used and the others are turned off.
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The still is set up as in the illustration except the receiving
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bottle is larger and doesn't need a stopper or tube going outside.
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The flask is filled with rubbing alcohol to just under the neck and
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set in the pan of boiling water.
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In this setup a coathanger wire with a loop in it's middle is
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put over the neck of the flask and fixed to the sides of the pan.
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This is necessecary because as the alcohol distills off, the flask
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gets lighter and would rise in the water and fall over without
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support.
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Another consideration is to make sure the tube does not flop
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over and collapse. This can be prevented by hanging a string from
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the ceiling by which the tubing is held above the flask.
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The tubing should be further supported so it does not touch
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the hot edge of he pan. If it is allowed to lie over the edge it
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will melt.
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When the action starts the alcohol will fairly flow into the
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collecting bottle. When it stops all that is left in the flask
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will be water. If left alone, water would start dripping much
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slower than the alcohol, but this is not wanted.
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This is the only case where you should distill over a stove.
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A stove is harder to control than an alcohol lamp. It is also
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harder to clean up than a table in case of an accident.
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