[3dem] Cryo-grids melting on Gatan multi-specimen cryo holder 910 [Solved]

[Ernesto Arias]

Good afternoon,

Some months ago we purchased a Gatan 910 multi-specimen cryo holder (three
positions). It initially worked wonderfully, but after some time we started
to observe that some of the grids would melt inside the microscope.
Sometimes they would be melted from the very beginning and sometimes it
would happen randomly during the EM session.

After some troubleshooting we have observed that, over time, the
splitrings tend to get too constricted, almost closing the C-shaped gap
(pic attached). The splitrings then sit too loose on the holder (they can
even rotate in place when they are clipped), and they do not make proper
contact with the grid, causing the temperature loss.

We now regularly open up the splitrings a little (with a pipette tip) and
that seems to fix the problem.

We hope this might be helpful (and save some frustration) to other Gatan
910 users.

Best regards,
Ernesto.


--
Ernesto Arias Palomo, PhD
Group Leader
Center for Biological Research Margarita Salas (CSIC)
Ramiro de Maeztu, 9.
28040. Madrid. Spain
earias at cib.csic.es
+34 91 837 31 12 ext 4446
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