Re: Moving confocal system

Posted by Craig Brideau on
URL: http://confocal-microscopy-list.275.s1.nabble.com/Moving-confocal-system-tp592245p592246.html

We are in the middle of a major lab move with several confocals.  Your mileage may vary, but we just break the systems down into their largest parts and carefully move them ourselves.  Once they are roughly back in place then call the tech in to do the alignment.  If your ultrafast laser is a one-box (no pump laser box next to it) then you won't even need to realign the laser, just the microscope.
On a related note, to give us more mobility in the future we have a small optical bench from TMC which has deployable wheels.  It's a fully functional air table with the wheels retracted, but when they are deployed it (just) fits through standard doorways and can be rolled pretty much anywhere without disturbing its payload.  They have a number of different sizes of frame and table top to suit your doors and payload requirements.

Craig

On Fri, Feb 29, 2008 at 11:19 AM, Arvydas Matiukas <[hidden email]> wrote:

Our university will be  doing a renovation of the floor where our confocal/2p system (Zeiss LSM510 META NLO)

is located. This means that the confocal system has to be moved (within the same building).

 

Please share your experience on moving (i.e. disassembling/reassembling/adjusting) a working confocal system

and potential caveats/damages related to this procedure.

 

Zeiss/Coherent provided quotes for disassembling/reassembling/adjusting that total to ~$20k. What bothers me most

 is that the quotes do not include coverage of any broken parts, and the mechanical move of the blocks/parts

is single university's responsibility. Under such conditions if there are any problems in adjusting the reassembled

system they will unavoidably be blamed on us, and we will have to pay extra for the "broken" parts.

 

I appreciate sharing any relevant experience/info and/or advocating against the move.

 

Thank you,

Arvydas

*********************

 

 

Arvydas Matiukas, Ph.D.
Director of Confocal&Two-Photon Imaging Core Facility
Department of Pharmacology
SUNY Upstate Medical University
766 Irving Ave., WH 3159
Syracuse, NY 13210
tel.: [phone]
fax: [phone]
email: [hidden email]