air table floatation: compressor vs house air

[Ben Abrams]

Hi All,

Does anyone have a strong opinion about whether it is best to float an air table via a small air compressor or via house air?

Thanks,
Ben

[Michael Bastiani]

*****
To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
*****

Our experience with house air has not been good and our building is only 10
years old.  We have outages about once every 2 months.  Outages last 1-2 days
and require constant calls to University maintenance to ensure we are a
"priority repair".  Several times we have had water show up in the building air
lines so have a good trap to protect your table.    So.... obviously depends on
the quality of your building maintenance.  If they regularly clean the filter and
drain the tank it is likely to be very reliable for years.  
cheers,
m

[David Baddeley]

*****
To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
*****

Have used both, and have found the house air to be less hassle. If you a good house air system it should be both more reliable and much quieter than a compressor. Normal caveats about the potential for moisture and your dependence on central maintenance apply. If you do have a central outage you can get away with running tables off bottled gas (N2 or similar) for a day or two - and this might be easier to get at short notice than a compressor. If your table is in good nick and you aren't bouncing it up and down too much this is much less wasteful than it sounds. 

cheers,
David


----- Original Message -----
From: Ben Abrams <[hidden email]>
To: [hidden email]
Cc:
Sent: Wednesday, 8 August 2012 8:41 AM
Subject: air table floatation: compressor vs house air

*****
To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
*****

Hi All,

Does anyone have a strong opinion about whether it is best to float an air
table via a small air compressor or via house air?

Thanks,
Ben



--
View this message in context: http://confocal-microscopy-list.588098.n2.nabble.com/air-table-floatation-compressor-vs-house-air-tp7578794.html
Sent from the Confocal Microscopy List mailing list archive at Nabble.com.

[Daniel Gitler]

*****
To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
*****

Dear Ben,
I have been using house air for a long long time. I just added an air filter before the table to make sure not to get junk into the airtable's filters. I have not had to change anything, ever. If there were on occasion pressure changes, I did not feel them, and that includes electrophysiological experiments. I imagine in those any change in flotation would be quite obvious.
Daniel

----- Original Message -----
From: David Baddeley <[hidden email]>
Date: Wednesday, August 8, 2012 1:07
Subject: Re: air table floatation: compressor vs house air
To: [hidden email]

> *****
> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
> http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
> *****
>
> Have used both, and have found the house air to be less hassle.
> If you a good house air system it should be both more reliable
> and much quieter than a compressor. Normal caveats about the
> potential for moisture and your dependence on central
> maintenance apply. If you do have a central outage you can get
> away with running tables off bottled gas (N2 or similar) for a
> day or two - and this might be easier to get at short notice
> than a compressor. If your table is in good nick and you aren't
> bouncing it up and down too much this is much less wasteful than
> it sounds. 
>
> cheers,
> David
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Ben Abrams <[hidden email]>
> To: [hidden email]
> Cc:
> Sent: Wednesday, 8 August 2012 8:41 AM
> Subject: air table floatation: compressor vs house air
>
> *****
> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
> http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
> *****
>
> Hi All,
>
> Does anyone have a strong opinion about whether it is best to
> float an air
> table via a small air compressor or via house air?
>
> Thanks,
> Ben
>
>
>
> --
> View this message in context: http://confocal-microscopy-
> list.588098.n2.nabble.com/air-table-floatation-compressor-vs-
> house-air-tp7578794.html
> Sent from the Confocal Microscopy List mailing list archive at
> Nabble.com.
>

Daniel Gitler, Ph.D.
Department of Physiology and Neurobiology
Faculty of Health Sciences
Ben Gurion University of the Negev
Beer-Sheva 84105
Israel

Tel:  [phone]
Cell: [phone]
Fax: + 972-8-6477628
http://web2.bgu.ac.il/physiology/faculty-members/daniel-gitler/‎

[Johannes Helm]

*****
To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
*****

Good evening.

According to my personal experience "house air" is preferrable provided
the supply is close to free of interruptions because of "technical
issues". However, a good oil separator is important. Otherwise, small oil
drops from the compressor can accumulate in the needle valves of your
table air regulation and cause trouble there.

Best wishes,

Johannes

> *****
> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
> http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
> *****
>
> Hi All,
>
> Does anyone have a strong opinion about whether it is best to float an air
> table via a small air compressor or via house air?
>
> Thanks,
> Ben
>
>
>
> --
> View this message in context:
> http://confocal-microscopy-list.588098.n2.nabble.com/air-table-floatation-compressor-vs-house-air-tp7578794.html
> Sent from the Confocal Microscopy List mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>

--
P. Johannes Helm, M.Sc. PhD
Seniorengineer
CMBN
University of Oslo
Institute of Basic Medical Science
Department of Anatomy
Postboks 1105 - Blindern
NO-0317 Oslo

Voice: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

WWW: folk.uio.no/jhelm

[ChrisWilms]

Just to add a further option:
Due to repeated problems with the house air supply in our building we switched to using compressed air cylinders several years ago. Given leak-free tubing, a large cylinder will easily last one and a half years on a large (2x3.5m) table.

Best, Christian

[Kate Luby-Phelps]

*****
To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
*****

We have used house air with a water trap for years on our LSM 510 with no problem.
However, if you plan to use house air, check first to be sure the pressure is high enough (80
psi) and put a regulator on it so you can tune the table.

Kate L-P