Re: Laser 488 on a Zeiss LSM 700

[rwightman]

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We are going through the same issue with the labs 8 year old 700. Told the 488 is on its way out and will need replacing in the not so distant future. Zeiss recommended and quoted replacement = £Very high. It turned out to be 3 times higher than expected based on similar lasers on our spinning disk system and I’m no laser expert but they don’t seem to be the kind that warrants a high price tag. In fact that one laser is similar price to an entire widefield system we purchased from another company.

Now we do measure laser output at the sample plane using a nice Thorlabs piece of kit and so can adjust for any fall in output and detect fluctuations so that users can be informed and can correct as appropriate. Researchers here never use the laser above 2% and the drop so far is negligible and so hoping to get as long as possible out of it. Three of the lasers are frequently used (and one hardly ever) and based on highly indicative prices from https://www.ogs.state.ny.us/purchase/spg/pdfdocs/1201020895PL_CarlZeiss.pdf (although the listed 488 price is well below my recent quote!) replacement of these three lasers would be in excess of £80K - the question becomes at what point does it become better to put that money to a new system.

I would be keen to know how you and anyone else have managed with third party or more financially viable options. I like the 700 and want it to keep going for much longer.

[Arcroyal Systems]

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Raymond
                  www.Arcroyal.com

 


On 8/19/19, 4:59 AM, "Confocal Microscopy List on behalf of Raymond Wightman" <[hidden email] on behalf of [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.
    *****
   
    We are going through the same issue with the labs 8 year old 700. Told the 488 is on its way out and will need replacing in the not so distant future. Zeiss recommended and quoted replacement = £Very high. It turned out to be 3 times higher than expected based on similar lasers on our spinning disk system and I’m no laser expert but they don’t seem to be the kind that warrants a high price tag. In fact that one laser is similar price to an entire widefield system we purchased from another company.
   
    Now we do measure laser output at the sample plane using a nice Thorlabs piece of kit and so can adjust for any fall in output and detect fluctuations so that users can be informed and can correct as appropriate. Researchers here never use the laser above 2% and the drop so far is negligible and so hoping to get as long as possible out of it. Three of the lasers are frequently used (and one hardly ever) and based on highly indicative prices from https://www.ogs.state.ny.us/purchase/spg/pdfdocs/1201020895PL_CarlZeiss.pdf (although the listed 488 price is well below my recent quote!) replacement of these three lasers would be in excess of £80K - the question becomes at what point does it become better to put that money to a new system.
   
    I would be keen to know how you and anyone else have managed with third party or more financially viable options. I like the 700 and want it to keep going for much longer.