[ccp4bb] Filament Lifetime

2007-05-11 Thread Mark Agacan
I think the filament from one of our x-ray generators must be a record
breaker.  Yesterday it clocked up its 6000th  hour or 250th day on the
job, not counting down / holiday time.

The intensity had only dropped by around 25 % of the value it was when I
put it in, eight-and-a-half months ago...

Really, this filament is like the horror-movie bad guy who just won't
die - it survived countless power drop-outs and  surges, the rough
treatment of everyone from undergraduates to postdocs, and still it kept
on and on...

So, I decided to give it a break, as it has already smashed the Guinness
world record for filament lifetimes (I checked) - I removed and replaced
this beauty today, even though it's still working.

I thought about framing it and keeping it on display in the generator
lab for future generations to marvel at, but I got greedy - It will be
up on eBay soon.  Discounts available for academic institutions, etc

Have a nice weekend (it's my birthday!)

Cheers Rigaku!

Mark



_
Dr Mark Agacan
Scientific Officer,
Division of Biological Chemistry 
and Molecular Microbiology,
Wellcome Trust Biocentre,
College of Life Sciences,
Dow St., 
University of Dundee,
Dundee, DD1 5EH
Tel: +44 1382 388751
Fax: +44 1382 345764
_


Re: [ccp4bb] Filament lifetime on Rigaku Micromax007

2007-03-01 Thread Kevin Jude
I use a multimeter from Radioshack (catalog number 22-812) that can
record this data on a PC via a serial connection.  Presumably by now
there is a similar device with a USB connection.  Publishing the
resulting text file on the web would be effortless on a *nix
machine, but I'm not sure how to do it on the Windows machine that
controls out X-ray - not that I've tried.

kmj

Ingo P. Korndoerfer wrote:
> 
> there is very likely also some way to record the vacuum in a somewhat
>  more sophisticated manner and even put the values on a website 
> (together with data from the cryo), so you can get a better feel for
>  how the generator is doing from home over the weekend.
> 


Re: [ccp4bb] Filament lifetime on Rigaku Micromax007

2007-03-01 Thread Ingo P. Korndoerfer
hi ...

there is very likely a correlation between quality of the vacuum and
filament lifetime.

it had been recommended to us to monitor the vacuum continuously on the
rigaku ru300 (?) generators we had at the time. this was fairly easy by
just plugging a left over plotter from an old chromatography station
into two plugs 'under the hood' of the machine (make sure you set the
plotter to an appropriate range). these ports output a voltage
proportional to the actual vacuum and allowed us to have a complete
'vacuum history' of the machine for reference at all times.

i found this very useful for the initial burning in of filaments or
ramping up after shutdown, since you could nicely see when the vacuum
was really good enough to ramp up power and voltage, and you would see
it spiking, if you went to fast. we, interestingly, also saw a variety
of other power spikes in the plots, that we maybe should have followed
up on. they might have been interferences from other machinery in the
electrical circuit, or very short leaks in the vacuum system. something
that might be interesting to know, if it exists.

it would also give you a better idea when to start making sure to have
replacement magnetic seals available.

the vacuum also seemed to get notoriously worse when the filament was
about to burn.

there is very likely also some way to record the vacuum in a somewhat
more sophisticated manner and even put the values on a website (together
with data from the cryo), so you can get a better feel for how the
generator is doing from home over the weekend.

the other good thing about this is, that your provider might be more
inclined to replace your filaments, if you can prove that the vacuum has
been just fine, all along (and not only when you accidentally happened
to look at the front panel).

cheers

ingo

Peng Zhang wrote:
> Dear Pat and friends,
>
> Our lab has a ultraX18 5.4kw x-ray generator, and the lifetime of the
> filament is more than 1000 hours before rigaku recalled and changed the
> vacuum pump. I noticed that the lifetime is really related with the the
> vacuum. Ideally it is below 0.1mpa and the lifetime can be longer than
> 1000 hours, but the changed vacuum pump does not work so good than before,
> and the lifetime is shortened to up 800 hours.
>
> Did anyone meet the similar problem and share the experience in the
> maintenance?
>
> Thanks.
>
>   
>> Dear Colleagues,
>>
>> During more than three years of operation, I have recorded considerable
>> difference in filament lifetimes on my Micromax007: roughly in the range
>> 500-2000hrs. Some of this may be accounted for by poor manufacture and
>> Rigaku have, in the past, noticed this problem and replaced some
>> filaments. For the last three filaments fitted, two have lasted about
>> 500hrs and the third about 2000hrs. These filaments were replacements. My
>> generator running protocol has been constant throughout.
>> Interestingly, the filaments show no visible sign of wear or damage (even
>> the 2000hr one) and are only changed when the generator starts to shut
>> down on OL or FC limits.
>> I recall earlier Rigaku generators that would give 2000hrs when well
>> maintained and they ran at 5.4KW compared to the 800W of the Micromax.
>> I would be grateful for any comments or suggestions from other Micromax
>> operators.
>>
>> Sincerely,
>>
>> Pat Bryant
>>
>> Dr Pat Bryant
>> Senior Experimental Officer
>> Macromolecular Crystallography Core Facility
>> Faculty of Life Sciences
>> Michael Smith Building
>> The University of Manchester
>> Oxford Road
>> Manchester M13 9PT, UK
>> Phone: +44-161-275-5090/5658
>> Fax:  +44-161-275-1505
>> email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> Intranet:http://www.intranet.ls,manchester.ac.uk/facilities/research/xraycrystallography
>> Internet:http://www.ls.manchester.ac.uk/research/facilities/xray
>>
>>
>> 
>
>
>   


-- 
Ingo P. Korndoerfer, PhD
Head of Crystallography
CrystaX Pharmaceuticals, S.L.
Parc Científic de Barcelona 
Josep Samitier 1-5 
08028 Barcelona
Tel.: +34 93 403 9093
Fax: +34 93 403 4788
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]


Re: [ccp4bb] Filament lifetime on Rigaku Micromax007

2007-02-28 Thread Peng Zhang
Dear Pat and friends,

Our lab has a ultraX18 5.4kw x-ray generator, and the lifetime of the
filament is more than 1000 hours before rigaku recalled and changed the
vacuum pump. I noticed that the lifetime is really related with the the
vacuum. Ideally it is below 0.1mpa and the lifetime can be longer than
1000 hours, but the changed vacuum pump does not work so good than before,
and the lifetime is shortened to up 800 hours.

Did anyone meet the similar problem and share the experience in the
maintenance?

Thanks.

> Dear Colleagues,
>
> During more than three years of operation, I have recorded considerable
> difference in filament lifetimes on my Micromax007: roughly in the range
> 500-2000hrs. Some of this may be accounted for by poor manufacture and
> Rigaku have, in the past, noticed this problem and replaced some
> filaments. For the last three filaments fitted, two have lasted about
> 500hrs and the third about 2000hrs. These filaments were replacements. My
> generator running protocol has been constant throughout.
> Interestingly, the filaments show no visible sign of wear or damage (even
> the 2000hr one) and are only changed when the generator starts to shut
> down on OL or FC limits.
> I recall earlier Rigaku generators that would give 2000hrs when well
> maintained and they ran at 5.4KW compared to the 800W of the Micromax.
> I would be grateful for any comments or suggestions from other Micromax
> operators.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Pat Bryant
>
> Dr Pat Bryant
> Senior Experimental Officer
> Macromolecular Crystallography Core Facility
> Faculty of Life Sciences
> Michael Smith Building
> The University of Manchester
> Oxford Road
> Manchester M13 9PT, UK
> Phone: +44-161-275-5090/5658
> Fax:  +44-161-275-1505
> email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Intranet:http://www.intranet.ls,manchester.ac.uk/facilities/research/xraycrystallography
> Internet:http://www.ls.manchester.ac.uk/research/facilities/xray
>
>


-- 
Peng Zhang, Ph.D. Student
Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology
Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences
Chinese Academy of Sciences

320 Yue-Yang Road
Shanghai 20031
P.R. China



Tel: 021-5492-1117
Fax: 021-5492-1116
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]


Re: [ccp4bb] Filament lifetime on Rigaku Micromax007

2007-02-28 Thread Mark Agacan
Dear Pat,

I too am shocked by the extra-long lifetimes the current batch of MM
filaments have.  I've had filaments in both our instruments (a M007 and
an M007 hf) since August and they are still going strong.  

Not long ago I would replace a filament before it blew if I knew there
was an important data collection scheduled on the same instrument.  It
used to be 12 - 16 weeks on average, on this occassion it's over 30
weeks for each filament.

Good to see we are getting our money's worth ;) 

Mark 




_
Dr Mark Agacan
Scientific Officer,
Division of Biological Chemistry 
and Molecular Microbiology,
Wellcome Trust Biocentre,
College of Life Sciences,
Dow St., 
University of Dundee,
Dundee, DD1 5EH
Tel: +44 1382 388751
Fax: +44 1382 345764
_
>>> Patrick Bryant <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 28/02/07 1:18 PM >>>
Dear Colleagues,

During more than three years of operation, I have recorded considerable
difference in filament lifetimes on my Micromax007: roughly in the range
500-2000hrs. Some of this may be accounted for by poor manufacture and
Rigaku have, in the past, noticed this problem and replaced some
filaments. For the last three filaments fitted, two have lasted about
500hrs and the third about 2000hrs. These filaments were replacements.
My generator running protocol has been constant throughout.
Interestingly, the filaments show no visible sign of wear or damage
(even the 2000hr one) and are only changed when the generator starts to
shut down on OL or FC limits.
I recall earlier Rigaku generators that would give 2000hrs when well
maintained and they ran at 5.4KW compared to the 800W of the Micromax.
I would be grateful for any comments or suggestions from other Micromax
operators.

Sincerely,

Pat Bryant


Dr Pat Bryant
Senior Experimental Officer
Macromolecular Crystallography Core Facility
Faculty of Life Sciences
Michael Smith Building
The University of Manchester
Oxford Road
Manchester M13 9PT, UK
Phone: +44-161-275-5090/5658
Fax:  +44-161-275-1505
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Intranet:http://www.intranet.ls,manchester.ac.uk/facilities/research/xraycrystallography
Internet:http://www.ls.manchester.ac.uk/research/facilities/xray


[ccp4bb] Filament lifetime on Rigaku Micromax007

2007-02-28 Thread Patrick Bryant
Dear Colleagues,

During more than three years of operation, I have recorded considerable 
difference in filament lifetimes on my Micromax007: roughly in the range 
500-2000hrs. Some of this may be accounted for by poor manufacture and Rigaku 
have, in the past, noticed this problem and replaced some filaments. For the 
last three filaments fitted, two have lasted about 500hrs and the third about 
2000hrs. These filaments were replacements. My generator running protocol has 
been constant throughout.
Interestingly, the filaments show no visible sign of wear or damage (even the 
2000hr one) and are only changed when the generator starts to shut down on OL 
or FC limits.
I recall earlier Rigaku generators that would give 2000hrs when well maintained 
and they ran at 5.4KW compared to the 800W of the Micromax.
I would be grateful for any comments or suggestions from other Micromax 
operators.

Sincerely,

Pat Bryant

Dr Pat Bryant
Senior Experimental Officer
Macromolecular Crystallography Core Facility
Faculty of Life Sciences
Michael Smith Building
The University of Manchester
Oxford Road
Manchester M13 9PT, UK
Phone: +44-161-275-5090/5658
Fax:  +44-161-275-1505
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Intranet:http://www.intranet.ls,manchester.ac.uk/facilities/research/xraycrystallography
Internet:http://www.ls.manchester.ac.uk/research/facilities/xray