{"id":1177,"date":"2020-04-30T12:35:48","date_gmt":"2020-04-30T04:35:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ciderhousetest.com\/labnetwest26\/?p=1177"},"modified":"2025-12-22T06:03:51","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T22:03:51","slug":"removing-a-rubber-stopper-stuck-in-a-glass-flask","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ciderhousetest.com\/labnetwest26\/removing-a-rubber-stopper-stuck-in-a-glass-flask\/","title":{"rendered":"Removing a rubber stopper stuck in a glass flask."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Possible\nCauses:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.Rubber\nstopper fitted tightly in the flask. Flask neck might be slightly narrow for\nthe stopper or the stopper is slightly too small for the flask.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.Rubber\nstopper has hardened somewhat with age to the point where rubber attains a\nstrong bond with glass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3.Rubber\nstopper is stuck due to vacuum formed inside the flask.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

General\nSolutions:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.Scrape around the edge of the flask\nwith a scalpel to try to loosen the stopper to let a bit of air in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.Lever out the stopper with a mounted\nneedle placed into the edge of the stopper at an angle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3.Run the flask under a lot of running\nhot water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4.Spray around the edge of the flask\nneck with lubricants such as WD40 or dish washing liquid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5.Lubricate around the edge of the\nstopper with light oil or water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6.Get a piece of thin wire such as\npaper clip and push down the side between the glass and stopper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7.Place conical flask in a beaker of\nfull water and create a water bath by heating the beaker. This should cause the\nexpansion of air and water molecules and eventually build pressure in the flask\nto push the stopper out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8.Pressurise the flask by gently\nheating on a hot plate. Ensure fit is not too old to avoid failure at the neck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9.Gently push a mounted needle down\nthe side of the flask to help break the seal. Do it at quarterly around the edge first and push\ntowards the middle. Then you should be able to prise it out by pulling the\nmounted needle outwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10.Drilling the\nstopper: (image below and attached)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a.) Make sure that the flask is securely\nheld in place, if by hand some welders, gauntlets or such are recommended to\nreduce the likelihood of cuts in the event of glass failure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

b.) Start with a small diameter drill and\ncarefully drill a pilot hole through the stopper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

c.) In steps, open the hole using larger\ndiameter drills being careful to not have a sharp drill bit bight too deeply\ninto the rubber, as this may torque the flask too much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

e.) Once opened up enough the contents can\nbe drained and the final part of the stopper removed, this may require cutting\ninto sections with a scalpel or such, scrapping off the residue and remaining\nthin sections with a small, flat blade screwdriver or other implement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

11.A combination of all the solutions\ncan also be used at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0a). WD40, hot water bath and needle probe can\nbe used together to remove the stopper.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0b). Spraying the flask neck with a lubricant\nand then pushing a needle on the side between the glass and stopper.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Possible Causes: 1.Rubber stopper fitted tightly in the flask. Flask neck might be slightly narrow for the stopper or the stopper is slightly too small for the flask. 2.Rubber stopper has hardened somewhat with age to the point where rubber attains a strong bond with glass. 3.Rubber stopper is stuck due to vacuum formed inside […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technical-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciderhousetest.com\/labnetwest26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciderhousetest.com\/labnetwest26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciderhousetest.com\/labnetwest26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciderhousetest.com\/labnetwest26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciderhousetest.com\/labnetwest26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ciderhousetest.com\/labnetwest26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1177\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciderhousetest.com\/labnetwest26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciderhousetest.com\/labnetwest26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciderhousetest.com\/labnetwest26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}