Having recently purchased some glasssware, there's no way I could have afforded the American made stuff. Chinese glass is just insanely cheap.
I bought 1 1000mL RBF, 1 500mL RBF, a 300mm distillation tube, T, vaccum takeoff adapter, thermometer well and a few other bits and bobs all in 24/40 for like $40 shipped from China.
It's not beautiful, but it works. You need guys like this for the crazy complicated apparatus, or the one-offs, but for everything else, mass production is the way to go.
Sow,thing to keep in mind about top researchers at top schools: money is not usually the constrained resource — time and people are harder to come by.
Paying for a custom rig that works and does exactly what they want is easily worth the added expense, paid for by research grants. Waiting for mediocre products,that only mostly solve your problem, to be shopped internationally just isn’t worth the cost savings.
As you might guess, a cheap boro distillation rig from china isn't going to be doing cutting edge research. But, for most of the more mundane undergrad labs and routine chemistry, that kind of stuff it perfect.
That's a great deal. And yes, most universities don't need a full-time glass-blower, if they need specialized glassware they can hire services or make orders to companies.
I bought 1 1000mL RBF, 1 500mL RBF, a 300mm distillation tube, T, vaccum takeoff adapter, thermometer well and a few other bits and bobs all in 24/40 for like $40 shipped from China.
It's not beautiful, but it works. You need guys like this for the crazy complicated apparatus, or the one-offs, but for everything else, mass production is the way to go.