[3dem] Cracked Vitrobot container

[Avila Sakar, Agustin J]

I concur with Bob's suggestion of having your container built in a local machine shop, especially if it is one where the machinists have the curiosity to inquire about and understand the process in which it is going to be used. They are usually very creative and with some effort and controlled testing you can come up with simple and affordable solutions with excellent performance and durability. By the way, in addition to styrofoam, there are several other good insulation materials.

Regards,
Agustin

Agustin J. Avila-Sakar, Ph.D.
Director, Biological Electron Microscopy Facility
Department of Biological Sciences
Purdue University
(765)-494-1487

________________________________________
From: 3dem-bounces at ncmir.ucsd.edu [3dem-bounces at ncmir.ucsd.edu] on behalf of Bob Grassucci [rg2502 at columbia.edu]
Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2013 3:00 PM
To: 3dem at ncmir.ucsd.edu
Subject: Re: [3dem] Cracked Vitrobot container

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
>
>
> Do. Or do not. There is no try.   -- Master Yoda
>
>
>
>
>
>
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