Re: Confocal lifetime question

Posted by Stanislav Vitha-2 on
URL: http://confocal-microscopy-list.275.s1.nabble.com/CO2-enrichment-accessories-tp7589882p7589903.html

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One of our confocals (Olympus FV1000) that is now 15 years old. It is not as heavily used as yours, but over the years I have not noticed a significant degradation in performance. We never had a service contract, and in our case it paid off, since it was mostly trouble free. I moved it twice (once to a different room, second time to a different building) and it just kept going. We only had one major repair (galvos) about 6 years ago. About 4 years ago we upgraded the computer/OS,  and got additional (GaAsP) detectors.  Otherwise it is just the matter of dealing with the "consumables" - replacing and realigning the Argon laser - they last about 5000 hours, we are on a fourth laser (I have a spare that I get re-built when the one on the microscope starts failing), I also replaced the 543 nm HeNe laser few years back.
I do agree that the availability of parts and service is going to be an issue on these older systems. The 405nm laser power has been going down lately, both due to the laser itself and the fiber optic cable for that laser. These parts are no longer available from the manufacturer, but luckily for a fraction of the cost I got a well functioning replacement off Ebay.

When Windows 7 support ends, we will choose a similar strategy as on our TEM computers (some of  which still run WIndows XP) - disable USB ports on the control computer, dump data to a support PC connected via intranet. Users then copy data from the support PC.


Best Regards,
Stan Vitha
Microscopy and Imaging Center
Texas A&M University