[3dem] Cracked Vitrobot container

[Bob Grassucci]

Hi Terje,
The latest version of the container is made of styrofoam and cost about 
$1000 last year.  While this does not crack it is susceptible to melting 
if some inattentive user decides to dry it with heat gun.  There is some 
epoxy that we tried but it did not last and I can not remember where we 
got it.  I would suggest if you have a machine shop have them make you 
one out of aluminum with styrofoam insulating material.  The original 
version was much more robust but alas now we are getting built in 
limited lifetime in all things.  Good luck.
Bob
On 8/29/2013 11:18 AM, Terje Dokland wrote:
> The black plastic container that holds the liquid nitrogen and the 
> ethane cup in out Vitrobot Mark IV has cracked. The crack is very fine 
> and is invisible when the container is warm but shows up when cooled 
> down and causes the nitrogen to leak out through the bottom (where 
> there is a larger crack, a hole even)!
>
> Is there a fix for this? Is there some kind of cold-resistant epoxy 
> resin that can be used to seal it up, for example? Or do we really 
> have to get a new container from FEI...? (I dread to ask for a quote, 
> but I'm betting it's not cheap)
> Thanks,
> terje
>
>
> ---
>
> Terje Dokland, PhD
>
> Associate Professor
>
> Department of Microbiology
>
> University of Alabama at Birmingham
>
> 845 19th St South, BBRB 311
>
> Birmingham, AL 35294
>
> Tel:(205) 996 4502
>
> Fax:(205) 996 2667
>
>
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