I have developed in the past some skills in agar and sterile techniques, but HEPA floowhood was not an option at the moment, so I offered to help my FOAF build a glovebox for his sterile work. I have this microwave cardboard box lying around and so I decided to put it to good use.
Material needed:
The box (of course), some rolls of adhesive transparent foil for the inside of the box, A4 or A3 transparent plastic for the windows and contact adhesive as well a duct tape (lots of it). A very sharp knife, some Velcro is also needed and (optional) silicon gaulk and two tyvek sleeves. At a later stage I added a small cardboard box and a thin nylon bag (explanation later).
And here we go; first I dismantled the box completely and flattened it then applied the adhesive foil on the inside. This has to cover the whole surface and is useful because it is impermeable to water or should I say liquids and of course is easy to wipe clean. Once this is done then the box is reassembled with contact adhesive leaving one side open. I decided to adjust the top of the box to simulate the commercial gloveboxes with a slanted front panel to allow for clear vision inside ( this took some exact measurements to bring the edges of the top together and the gap that was left was covered later with the transparent plastic sheet. Then two 6” circles were cut in the front panel to allow for the arms, the tyvek sleeves were taped to the circles using duct tape,(pic1)
a rectangular door was created on the right by cutting the three sides of the rectangle and leaving one side attached as a hinge (this door will serve as the main door for introducing material before starting sterile work) velcro is applied to the opposite edge in such a way to be able to lock the door, (pic2)
additional windows were created in the front to allow for a clear view of the inside. On the left side another door was created and hinged in a similar fashion, the size of this door was enough to fit the smaller box which was also treated in the same way as the large box (dismantled, inside covered with adhesive foil then reassembled…). This box will serve as an airlock to introduce stuff needed inside the glove box after the sterile work has started (it is especially useful when you thought everything you need is inside then suddenly you discover you forgot something, so rather than open the door on the right and introduce contam the airlock box is used after spraying it with disinfectant, closing the outer door then with the gloved hands open the inside door and take the needed equipment).(pics 3&4)
Another addition to the box is an airbag using the thin nylon; this is taped around a rectangular window created on the back of the box. This airbag serves as a pressure equalizer when opening doors or moving hands and arms inside the box so air movement is kept to a minimum.(pics5&6)
All the cut edges on the cardboard box were covered with duct tape because the exposed edges serve as a reservoir to collect dust and bacterial as well as fungal spores from the air and so the tape is impermeable and allows for easy wipe clean with disinfectant. If the edges cannot be covered with tape then silicon is used in the difficult corners or inaccessible areas. Once this basic work is done then duct tape is used on the outside to cover all the angles and edges, the plastic sheets are taped and the doors tested for any spaces left.(pic7)
]After I built the box and wanted to use it I found that despite all the windows created there are areas which were dark and vision was not clear so I added a small fluorescent light bulb inside the box for an excellent view. (pic8)
sorry for the long writeup and hope this is useful to someone.
