[3dem] Vitrobot Mark IV water cylinder

[Roseann Csencsits]

Hi Bob,

I think Luiza is on the right track, but there may be more..

We recently got a new Mark IV and had training and warnings from the FEI engineer. Over filling the water cylinder can lead to over heating and burning of the plastic piece to which the cylinder mates on the Vitrobot. When this happens the humidifier stops working until a part is replaced. 

So to avoid over-filling our protocol includes:

Draw up 55 ml of distilled water in to the syringe. Inject the 55 ml into the tube to fill the humidifier. Keep the syringe attached and pull 10 ml “air” out of the humidifier. This results in a slight vacuum and now the humidifier is properly filled and will work properly.

And:
Emptying the Humidifier - All remaining water must be removed.
Disconnect the electrical cable from the humidifier by pressing up on the ring near the cable and pulling down on the cable connector. Subsequently, twist and pull the humidifier to release the bayonet connection from the Vitrobot. Empty the reservoir by pouring the water from the central reservoir. Re-connect the syringe and withdraw the rest of the water from the outside reservoir. Leave the empty humidifier on the table to dry out completely.



Good luck,
Roseann

Roseann Csencsits, PhD
Scientist in Charge, Downing TEM Tools
Lawrence Berkeley Lab 01-365
1 Cyclotron Road
Berkeley, CA 94720
510-486-4548












On Dec 18, 2013, at 11:39 AM, Luiza Mendonça wrote:

> I'm going to suggest something that may be very naive (sorry if I do that, I'm new to the field).
> But here in the lab, whenever we have problems with the humidity it is because we got air on the tube of the cylinder, so we get a syringe, and pump the air out, and the humidity magically gets better.
> Luiza.
> 
> 
> 2013/12/18 Bob Grassucci <rg2502 at columbia.edu>
> Hi All,
> We are having a problem getting the humidity up to 100% on our Vitrobot Mark IV and expect it might have something to do with the water cylinder or it's seal to where it is mounted.  The water container seems a bit looser than what I remember and suspect this may have something to do with the humidity problem.  My question to the list is has anyone else had this problem and if so how did you solve it?  Thanks.
> Bob
> 
> 
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