Problem sample chamber replacement for LaVision Ultramicroscope II

[Ralf Palmisano]

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Dear all,

I have two major issues.

An unlucky user broke the quartz sample chamber for my LaVision
Ultramicroscope II. Now I am told  by LaVision that they don't have a
stock of this item and that their supplier has problems delivering any
sample chamber to LaVision. This means our system is now already down
for a week and for an unforeseeable future.

We believe that Helma Analytics is the manufacturer of these sample
holders and currently try to justify that.

Does anyone have an idea where else to get a sample chamber for an
Ultramicroscope II? I would really appreciate any help on that as so far
it looks like this is going to last for weeks now, that our users can
not use the system. That is a real blow to a core institute delivering
imaging services.

Second did anyone out there also experience this poor availability and
customer service by that company? I think a sample chamber, regardless
that its a rather special and expensive one, should be in stock by the
dealer of such instrument. I mean if this is true it means they are not
even able to deliver new instruments at present and therefore also put
buyers on hold. Is that true are there colleagues out there that ordered
an Ultramicroscope II and the delivery is post-poned?

Cheers Ralf

--
Ralf Palmisano
Head - Optical Imaging Centre Erlangen

Fellow Royal Microscopical Society
Member Royal Society of Medicine

Scientific Advisory Board "German Society for Microscopy and Image Analysis"
Board of Directors Core Technologies for Life Science

Hartmannstr. 14
91052 Erlangen, Germany
[phone] (Office)
[phone] (Secretary Ms. Lang)
[phone] (Fax)

www.oice.uni-erlangen.de

[Alison J. North]

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Dear Ralf,

I'm afraid I have bad news for you.  I ordered a new cuvette for my
Ultramicroscope in mid-May and I still haven't received it. Nor do I
have any ETA from them.  They warned me that they were having
difficulties getting them from their supplier, but this is ridiculous. 
You have every reason to be concerned about how long you will have to
wait.  LVBT, you definitely need to find an alternative supplier please,
and quickly!

All the best,

Alison


On 10/30/2018 10:22 AM, Ralf Palmisano wrote:

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> and include the link in your posting.
> *****
>
> Dear all,
>
> I have two major issues.
>
> An unlucky user broke the quartz sample chamber for my LaVision
> Ultramicroscope II. Now I am told  by LaVision that they don't have a
> stock of this item and that their supplier has problems delivering any
> sample chamber to LaVision. This means our system is now already down
> for a week and for an unforeseeable future.
>
> We believe that Helma Analytics is the manufacturer of these sample
> holders and currently try to justify that.
>
> Does anyone have an idea where else to get a sample chamber for an
> Ultramicroscope II? I would really appreciate any help on that as so
> far it looks like this is going to last for weeks now, that our users
> can not use the system. That is a real blow to a core institute
> delivering imaging services.
>
> Second did anyone out there also experience this poor availability and
> customer service by that company? I think a sample chamber, regardless
> that its a rather special and expensive one, should be in stock by the
> dealer of such instrument. I mean if this is true it means they are
> not even able to deliver new instruments at present and therefore also
> put buyers on hold. Is that true are there colleagues out there that
> ordered an Ultramicroscope II and the delivery is post-poned?
>
> Cheers Ralf
>

--
Alison J. North, Ph.D.,
Research Associate Professor and
Senior Director of the Bio-Imaging Resource Center,
The Rockefeller University,
1230 York Avenue,
New York,
NY 10065.
Tel: office ++ 212 327 7488
Tel: lab     ++ 212 327 7486
Fax:         ++ 212 327 7489

[Julio Vazquez-2]

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MIZAR offer small glass cuvettes for their tilted light sheet, and I believe they have partnered with IBIDI to provide special slide chambers that also would work with their system. Don't know if any of these would be compatible with the LaVision system.


https://www.mizarimaging.com/thick-specimen-sample-prep-tilt/

Julio Vazquez
Fred Hutch Cancer Res Center
Seattle, WA

[Craig Brideau]

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If it comes down to it, you could probably have a cuvette made by a local
optics shop, as long as you have the measurements.

Craig

On Tue, Oct 30, 2018 at 11:12 AM Julio Vazquez <[hidden email]>
wrote:

> *****
> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
> http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
> Post images on http://www.imgur.com and include the link in your posting.
> *****
>
> MIZAR offer small glass cuvettes for their tilted light sheet, and I
> believe they have partnered with IBIDI to provide special slide chambers
> that also would work with their system. Don't know if any of these would be
> compatible with the LaVision system.
>
>
> https://www.mizarimaging.com/thick-specimen-sample-prep-tilt/
>
> Julio Vazquez
> Fred Hutch Cancer Res Center
> Seattle, WA
>

[Alessandro Ciccarelli]

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Hi Ralf,
We`ve just installed a new Lavision UMII and for the moment we received a sample chamber that is not the standard one, but one made of metal + 2 round glasses only on the sides facing the light-sheets. It is not ideal, but it works. So, it probably confirms the problems they have with the supplier and also that is possible to make/use  a chamber where only same part of it is made of glass. If you need, I can send you more details about the chamber.
Best,
Alessandro


---
Alessandro Ciccarelli
Light Sheet Specialist
CALM - Crick Advanced Light Microscopy Facility
The Francis Crick Institute
1 Midland Road - London -NW1 1AT
United Kingdom

T: [phone]
E: [hidden email]
W: www.crick.ac.uk

-----Original Message-----
From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Ralf Palmisano
Sent: 30 October 2018 14:22
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Problem sample chamber replacement for LaVision Ultramicroscope II

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Dear all,

I have two major issues.

An unlucky user broke the quartz sample chamber for my LaVision Ultramicroscope II. Now I am told  by LaVision that they don't have a stock of this item and that their supplier has problems delivering any sample chamber to LaVision. This means our system is now already down for a week and for an unforeseeable future.

We believe that Helma Analytics is the manufacturer of these sample holders and currently try to justify that.

Does anyone have an idea where else to get a sample chamber for an Ultramicroscope II? I would really appreciate any help on that as so far it looks like this is going to last for weeks now, that our users can not use the system. That is a real blow to a core institute delivering imaging services.

Second did anyone out there also experience this poor availability and customer service by that company? I think a sample chamber, regardless that its a rather special and expensive one, should be in stock by the dealer of such instrument. I mean if this is true it means they are not even able to deliver new instruments at present and therefore also put buyers on hold. Is that true are there colleagues out there that ordered an Ultramicroscope II and the delivery is post-poned?

Cheers Ralf

--
Ralf Palmisano
Head - Optical Imaging Centre Erlangen

Fellow Royal Microscopical Society
Member Royal Society of Medicine

Scientific Advisory Board "German Society for Microscopy and Image Analysis"
Board of Directors Core Technologies for Life Science

Hartmannstr. 14
91052 Erlangen, Germany
[phone] (Office)
[phone] (Secretary Ms. Lang)
[phone] (Fax)

https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=www.oice.uni-erlangen.de&amp;data=02%7C01%7C%7C0149374d3de04affa7d508d63e747bd4%7C4eed7807ebad415aa7a99170947f4eae%7C0%7C0%7C636765067388592713&amp;sdata=te6q7L3YBI8F0Po4D%2BIZ%2Bc6vev%2BzWisssWdi28BtWS0%3D&amp;reserved=0
The Francis Crick Institute Limited is a registered charity in England and Wales no. 1140062 and a company registered in England and Wales no. 06885462, with its registered office at 1 Midland Road London NW1 1AT

[Ralf Palmisano]

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Dear community,

thanks for your valuable on- and offline help, support snd informations!
I got meanwhile also support from LaVision and we will be able to go
live again next week.

Cheers ralf

Am 30.10.2018 um 15:22 schrieb Ralf Palmisano:

> *****
> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
> http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
> Post images on http://www.imgur.com and include the link in your posting.
> *****
>
> Dear all,
>
> I have two major issues.
>
> An unlucky user broke the quartz sample chamber for my LaVision
> Ultramicroscope II. Now I am told  by LaVision that they don't have a
> stock of this item and that their supplier has problems delivering any
> sample chamber to LaVision. This means our system is now already down
> for a week and for an unforeseeable future.
>
> We believe that Helma Analytics is the manufacturer of these sample
> holders and currently try to justify that.
>
> Does anyone have an idea where else to get a sample chamber for an
> Ultramicroscope II? I would really appreciate any help on that as so
> far it looks like this is going to last for weeks now, that our users
> can not use the system. That is a real blow to a core institute
> delivering imaging services.
>
> Second did anyone out there also experience this poor availability and
> customer service by that company? I think a sample chamber, regardless
> that its a rather special and expensive one, should be in stock by the
> dealer of such instrument. I mean if this is true it means they are
> not even able to deliver new instruments at present and therefore also
> put buyers on hold. Is that true are there colleagues out there that
> ordered an Ultramicroscope II and the delivery is post-poned?
>
> Cheers Ralf
>

--
Ralf Palmisano
Head - Optical Imaging Centre Erlangen

Fellow Royal Microscopical Society
Member Royal Society of Medicine

Speaker Scientific Advisory Board "German Society for Microscopy and Image Analysis"
Board of Directors Core Technologies for Life Science

Hartmannstr. 14
91052 Erlangen, Germany

[phone] (Office)
[phone] (Secretary)
[phone] (Fax)

www.oice.uni-erlangen.de

[Alison J. North]

*****
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Dear Ralf,

I am very happy to hear that your Ultramicroscope is back up and running
again, because I know all too well the pain of having it down for
extended periods.  For the sake of other people who are still waiting
for a new cuvette from LaVision, I am sharing part of my recent
communications with them regarding this issue.

On June 28th I was told about the expected delivery time of a new cuvette:
"A reasonable realistic date could be End of August / Beginning of
September."

Our head of Procurement followed up with them on my request last week
(after reading your post here!), and received the following response on
November 2nd from the same LaVision representative:

"…So I am sorry to say that we are still not able to tell you when we
can deliver this product. If we get enough glass cuvettes to supply our
systems for this year we will work on the open orders as they have been
placed."

I then followed up myself with the said representative to clarify if I
had understood correctly that they are prioritizing new
systems/customers over existing ones, and I was informed that you (Ralf)
would be sent a new cuvette asap because your system was down, but
indeed the rest of us have to wait until all of the orders for new
systems have been filled first.  Interestingly, the representative wrote
"Now Mr. Palmisano’s case is the only case with a broken cuvette and a
stop of imaging."  I am curious to know whether this is true, or whether
anybody else out there is waiting with a broken - or partially damaged -
cuvette?  The reason I ordered one is that ours has cracks at the top,
and although these are only minor at the moment, we are concerned that
they could get worse and eventually leak DBE into the system.

So - it does not appear that this wait for cuvettes will be over for the
majority of us any time soon, and therefore if anybody comes up with a
new solution, I'm sure many of us would be grateful to hear about it!

Thanks all,

Alison



On 11/8/2018 3:57 AM, Ralf Palmisano OICE wrote:

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>
> Post images on
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.imgur.com&d=DwIDaQ&c=JeTkUgVztGMmhKYjxsy2rfoWYibK1YmxXez1G3oNStg&r=RBx0-WJrAO5vwSOLNmFbqYvikvIZS5ns3-USwvMOuLo&m=AIyX3yZD0nacv-50FucxSi5i_gmdCf01sOqrMq7gx1Q&s=lmlOSOUuAb9Yrg45wbV_TTyjOmglIxXwLe7rsFteRKI&e= 
> and include the link in your posting.
> *****
>
> Dear community,
>
> thanks for your valuable on- and offline help, support snd
> informations! I got meanwhile also support from LaVision and we will
> be able to go live again next week.
>
> Cheers ralf
>
> Am 30.10.2018 um 15:22 schrieb Ralf Palmisano:
>> *****
>> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__lists.umn.edu_cgi-2Dbin_wa-3FA0-3Dconfocalmicroscopy&d=DwIDaQ&c=JeTkUgVztGMmhKYjxsy2rfoWYibK1YmxXez1G3oNStg&r=RBx0-WJrAO5vwSOLNmFbqYvikvIZS5ns3-USwvMOuLo&m=AIyX3yZD0nacv-50FucxSi5i_gmdCf01sOqrMq7gx1Q&s=BRnAL9npDQL9ZzDEudCaGZy0CtCkIrwJTnKnvy98ALM&e= 
>>
>> Post images on
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.imgur.com&d=DwIDaQ&c=JeTkUgVztGMmhKYjxsy2rfoWYibK1YmxXez1G3oNStg&r=RBx0-WJrAO5vwSOLNmFbqYvikvIZS5ns3-USwvMOuLo&m=AIyX3yZD0nacv-50FucxSi5i_gmdCf01sOqrMq7gx1Q&s=lmlOSOUuAb9Yrg45wbV_TTyjOmglIxXwLe7rsFteRKI&e= 
>> and include the link in your posting.
>> *****
>>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> I have two major issues.
>>
>> An unlucky user broke the quartz sample chamber for my LaVision
>> Ultramicroscope II. Now I am told  by LaVision that they don't have a
>> stock of this item and that their supplier has problems delivering
>> any sample chamber to LaVision. This means our system is now already
>> down for a week and for an unforeseeable future.
>>
>> We believe that Helma Analytics is the manufacturer of these sample
>> holders and currently try to justify that.
>>
>> Does anyone have an idea where else to get a sample chamber for an
>> Ultramicroscope II? I would really appreciate any help on that as so
>> far it looks like this is going to last for weeks now, that our users
>> can not use the system. That is a real blow to a core institute
>> delivering imaging services.
>>
>> Second did anyone out there also experience this poor availability
>> and customer service by that company? I think a sample chamber,
>> regardless that its a rather special and expensive one, should be in
>> stock by the dealer of such instrument. I mean if this is true it
>> means they are not even able to deliver new instruments at present
>> and therefore also put buyers on hold. Is that true are there
>> colleagues out there that ordered an Ultramicroscope II and the
>> delivery is post-poned?
>>
>> Cheers Ralf
>>
>

--
Alison J. North, Ph.D.,
Research Associate Professor and
Senior Director of the Bio-Imaging Resource Center,
The Rockefeller University,
1230 York Avenue,
New York,
NY 10065.
Tel: office ++ 212 327 7488
Tel: lab     ++ 212 327 7486
Fax:         ++ 212 327 7489