How to attach soft tubing to glass I plan to do some amateur chemistry with some basic equipment. I've watched hours of youtube videos for how to bend and polish glass tubing and push it through rubber stoppers, and I've seen diagrams of such tubing attached to rubber or silicone tubing, but nothing showing how to do that. I've even searched through catalogs of equipment and seen lots of specialized gadgets with hose barbs and such, but nothing basic. I just want to do a simple thing: have a rubber stopper with a glass tube in it, and attach that directly to a flexible tube. Nothing fancy, just one tube connected to another. I see it in diagrams like http://www.mctcteach.org/chemistry/C2224/labman/vacfilt/filter7.htm , but it gives no explanation. What am I missing?
Heat up the soft tubing to make it easier to fit over the connection. Most labs have a heat gun that is used for this (amongst other uses). A hairdryer will serve, or put the end of the tubing in hot water. Many glass connection have what is called an olive which you have to push the tubing over while hot, when it cools it contracts giving a good seal (particularly important for the water lines of condensers which may be left overnight)