What is Robson Scientific and what does the website offer?

Updated

Robson Scientific (robsonscientific.co.uk) is a UK-based supplier of fused quartz and silica scientific glassware, established in 1988. The site is a product catalogue and ordering portal for laboratory glassware, quartz tubing and rod, and optical components, aimed at industry and research buyers. It is not a general lab-supply store: the focus is quartz and silica fabrication, including custom work to order.

Company identity and positioning

According to the site, Robson Scientific is "widely recognised as a leading supplier of quartz scientific glassware using industrial glass blowing techniques." Two points define what you can expect:

  • Specialism in lathe-drawn quartz tubing, including close-tolerance material fabricated to order.
  • High-purity material: fused quartz at 99.995% SiO₂ is used throughout manufacturing, with quality control at each process step.

The site also states that glass blowers combine traditional craftsmanship with modern facilities, and that products range from simple glassware to complex quartz laboratory apparatus.

What the website offers

Laboratory glassware (quartz)

The catalogue lists a broad set of quartz lab items, including:

  • Quartz tubing, rod and wool
  • Quartz sintered discs
  • Spherical joints (balls and cups) and conical joints (cones and sockets)
  • Quartz screw threads and stopcocks
  • Quartz-to-borosilicate graded seals
  • Round bottom, flat bottom and conical flasks, with optional sockets
  • Wide-form and tall-form beakers

Optical components

A separate Optical Engineering section covers components for applications "ranging from the near Infrared to the ultraviolet spectral region." Materials listed are quartz, borosilicate, sapphire, magnesium fluoride and calcium fluoride, fabricated into windows (flat, curved and stepped) and other components. The catalogue also lists:

  • Quartz polished discs and plates
  • UV-grade silica polished discs, plates and slides
  • Sapphire, magnesium fluoride and calcium fluoride polished discs and plates
  • B 270 crown glass slides

Services

  • Custom fabrication to order, from one-off pieces to thousands of pieces; the site states every order receives the same level of care.
  • Lathe-drawn quartz tubing in close tolerances.
  • Technical advisory service to help customers choose the best design and application for their requirements.

Who it is for

The site names the semiconductor, optical fibre, water sterilisation and lamp industries as customer sectors, alongside general research use. If your work involves UV-to-IR optical windows, high-purity quartz apparatus, or custom quartz tube assemblies, the catalogue and advisory service are the relevant entry points.

Practical notes before you order

  • Pricing: the site shows a basket and a "Product Price List" link, but no prices appear in the available page content. Check the price list or request a quote rather than assuming listed pricing.
  • Account and checkout: the header includes "Welcome login or create an account," "My Account," "My Basket" and "Checkout," so ordering appears to run through an account-based basket. Whether guest checkout exists is not stated.
  • Currency: a € / £ / $ selector is shown, so pricing display may be switchable by currency.
  • Custom work: for non-standard items, the stated route is direct contact through the advisory service rather than catalogue ordering.

The most efficient way to use the site is to identify whether your item is a standard catalogue product (glassware or optics) or a custom fabrication, then use the price list or contact route accordingly.