<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif;font-size:10px"><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15299"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15311">Hi John!</span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15327" dir="ltr"><br><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15311"></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15337" dir="ltr"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15311">Sounds pretty exciting! </span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_34648" dir="ltr"><br><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15311"></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_34650" dir="ltr"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15311">Just thought of something: You're going to want to vent your pump exhaust through a piece of 1/2 in. OD to 1" OD clear PVC hose ASAP. Even a small amount of smoke is pretty nefarious, rivaled only by marijuana smoke. More importantly it teaches good ballast practice and serves as a practical tool for knowing when the pump is dry. A dry pump stays much cleaner and lasts much longer, especially over long periods in storage. Start by blanking off the pump and closing the ballast and running it until warms up. If it won't warm up you can run it flat out for a bit but you'll lose a few grams of oil, and your hose may pop off, especially if your hose is not all downhill and thus forms a trap. Once warm, blank off and open the ballast. The hose should immediately turn silver-grey with condensed water. Run the pump with the ballast open until this disappears. Some of the water will form larger drops, especially in a trap, I usually run until these are gone too, but I'm sure all the real benefits have rolled in long before the last drop is gone.. I guess it's just absolute proof you are finished. <br></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_46319" dir="ltr"><br><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15311"></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_46321" dir="ltr"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15311">You'll probably be pretty surprised how quickly water accumulates during normal operation. This water collects relatively harmlessly in the sump. But if the sump is iron it still makes for some rust. I think I cycle my ballast every three or four pump downs.</span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_50775" dir="ltr"><br><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15311"></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_50777" dir="ltr"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15311">Ultimatley you'll want to vent this water and oil out a window or something, making sure it won;t waft into another window, drip onto the house paint, or drip on pedestrians. A catchpot is a great idea if it can be protected from rain: otherwise it will fill with rainwater and the oil will of course float to the top and be first to spill over. Generally the oil is very clean and much less harmful than motor oil, being free of additives and byproducts of combustion. Depending on the pumps history it may have process contamination, including mercury which was widely used in vacuum instruments and still used in bulb and neon sign making.<br></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15339" dir="ltr"><br><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15311"></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15342" dir="ltr"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15311">The thing about turbos is that they really are hit and miss. There's not much room for grey area: maybe 1000 hours at most. Once the bearings wear to the point where they are out of spec, they deteriorate very quickly. It becomes difficult to keep them cool, so they wear even faster. It's not long before the power supply can't keep the pump running faster than %60, at which point most controllers give up.</span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_16457" dir="ltr"><br><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15311"></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_16459" dir="ltr"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15311">That having been said, I've never witnessed this happen to a pump. All of my pumps have either been removed from working equipment (ie: some 1000's or 10's of thousands of hours of bearing life left). or deteriorated to the point they won't spin up. Dunno if that seems to discredit or support my theory.<br></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15672" dir="ltr"><br><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15311"></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_16166" dir="ltr"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15311">What model Pfeiffer did you get? Did you fire it up yet?<br></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_17686" dir="ltr"><br><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15311"></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_17688" dir="ltr"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15311">Pfeiffer says WRT to some if not all of their pumps that if the pump is not run for more than a year, the bearings must be replaced. Any thorough treatment of bearing theory would suggest this might be true, at least to some extent. Obviousky the year figure is arbitrary and probably varies with temperatuere. Pfeiffer may be particularly affected because they are the only maker I can think of that still uses steel bearings, as well as heavy steel rotors. That having been said I've let some of my pumps go 3-5 years: I was dissappointed to hear the news but it hasn't changed my habits. <br></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15674" dir="ltr"><br><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15311"></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15676" dir="ltr"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15311">I'll be buying the alcatel toolkit, so NB wouldn't bear that expense. So if NB found a pump for $200 and it needed $300 bearings, a good heart should be guaranteed for $500.<br></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_19495" dir="ltr"><br><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15311"></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_19497" dir="ltr"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15311">Alcatel is the only maker that explicitly supports customer bearing replacement. However, there is at least one third party pump rebuilder that also offers bearings and toolkits for a wide range of pumps. Dunno the name. <br></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_23747" dir="ltr"><br><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15311"></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_23750" dir="ltr"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15311">Actually, if we make a bang-up diffusion pump based vacuum system it wouldn't be half bad, but it couldn't travel. And a pvc hose<br></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_22222" dir="ltr"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15311"></span></div><br> <div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15332" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;"> <div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15331" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> <div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15330" dir="ltr"> <hr id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15329" size="1"> <font id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_15335" size="2" face="Arial"> <b><span style="font-weight:bold;">From:</span></b> John McMaster <johndmcmaster@gmail.com><br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> Jeff Miller <mysterylectricity@yahoo.com>; Chris Murphy <chrisnoisebridge@gmail.com> <br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cc:</span></b> "sem@lists.noisebridge.net" <sem@lists.noisebridge.net> <br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Friday, December 12, 2014 7:09 PM<br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: All in on the mini-SEM?<br> </font> </div> <div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_55190" class="y_msg_container"><br><div id="yiv5747781064"><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_55189">
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418691070495_55188" class="yiv5747781064moz-cite-prefix">Heyo,<br clear="none">
I haven't followed the noisebridge unit, but some updates on my
side if anyone is curious.<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
I traced the vacuum leak to the column in my Super IIIA. I'm
having trouble safely taking apart the column to troubleshoot
further.<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
Over the previous weekend I picked up a small ISI SEM similar to
the noisebridge unit ($500 + drive to LA and back). Some details
on it here:
<a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" class="yiv5747781064moz-txt-link-freetext" target="_blank" href="http://uvicrec.blogspot.com/2014/12/theyre-multiplying.html">http://uvicrec.blogspot.com/2014/12/theyre-multiplying.html</a><br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
The guy also threw in a carbon coater.<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
Anyway, it has a broken PMT and needs a small vacuum adapter that
should have come in the mail today. PMT has unknown ETA but I
could steal a spare off of the Super IIIA if I wanted to test
sooner.<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
I also have a *huge* (over 100 lbs) pile of ISI documents
(schematics, mechanical drawings, service notes, etc) I've been
scanning in that one of their retired lead techs gave me. Maybe
this weekend I'll finish the digitaization process and begin
uploading/organizing them.<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
I have a small Pfeiffer/Balzers turbo pump system I assembled off
of eBay for under $500. It was chosen specifically because parts
for this particular system are readily available to piece
together. Of course, it would be hit or miss if the bearings are
sub-optimal but I imagine often times they will be good enough for
hobbyist use. I'd suggest others looking into the same route
before dropping 1k on a restore kit. I haven't decided if I'm
going to attach it to the SEM once it works better.<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
I get class 10k using a high power Honeywell HEPA filter in my
bedroom. Very cheap and easy to setup.<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
John<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
On 12/12/2014 05:56 PM, Jeff Miller wrote:<br clear="none">
</div>
<div class="qtdSeparateBR"><br><br></div><div class="yiv5747781064yqt9895894788" id="yiv5747781064yqt00489"><blockquote type="cite">
<div style="color:#000;background-color:#fff;font-family:HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif;font-size:10px;">
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_19032">I think we
should give the mini-sem project a second chance. <br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_19510"><br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_19511">I've been
thinking about what the SEM experience at NB drove home.</div>
<div id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_19126"><br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_19127">We should
think small and practical. <br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_19513"><br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_19514">Rather than
a clean room, let's think glovebox. Small glovebox, easy
enough to fab.<br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_25951"><br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_25952">The manual
vacuum controls have to go. It should all be electric valves,
interlocked and goof proof.</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_25953"><br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_25954">The coater
should be integrated, and interlocked with the SEM to use the
same pump(s). <br clear="none">
Perhaps a small, low temp vacuum oven for drying bugs and
plant samples, too.<br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_28674"><br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_28675">The console
has to more or less go. We have to commit to the digital
platform I developed, or develop a new one. </div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_39479"><br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_39480">Ideally,
the diff pump and forepump should be replaced.with a turbo and
a diaphragm pump. With that we get instant on, no exhaust
fumes. and no periodic cleaning of the column parts.</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_44946"><br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_42482">Alcatel
makes a high speed molecular drag pump. I may be wrong, but I
don't think it has stator blades. So I think you can up-to-air
it at full speed with no damage, and it may be able to choke
down a grain of sand or two without exploding. It will be
mounted upside down of course. <br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_43639"><br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_43638">The vacuum
isn't as deep as theoretical for a turbo or diff pump, but is
more than sufficient for a SEM and coater. <br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_50497"><br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_50498">I have a
bunch of these pumps. So many in fact that I'm thinking of
coughing up the $1,000 for the factory toolkit (probably a
bearing puller and two precision bore steel plates, if that)
to rebuild them. I think the bearings alone go for $300, but
it shouldn't be hard to find a pump with bad bearings</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_53761">for ~$250.
The pumps have a very high foreline pressure tolerance, 30
torr I think: I've seen them backed with run-of-the-mill two
stage diaphragm pumps from Gast. Meanwhile, high performance
four stage diaphragm pumps seem to be fetching less than half
of what I was getting for <br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_65013">them 5
years ago, $150 might buy a working pump and $200 more might
effectively rebuild it. <br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_57288"><br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_59126">As it turns
out, I've already done some of the heavy lifting. It's
probably been close to ten years now since I first wanted to
make the mini-sem portable, to bring to classrooms. To that
end I had custom pieces milled that attach to the top and
bottom vacuum ports, and convert them to the KF standard.
Short lengths of stainless bellow also show up cheap enough
these days.</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_67112"><br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_69228">Perhaps as
much as anything, it would highlight vacuum technology as well
as the SEM itself. <br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_69229"><br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_69234">I might
have almost everything we need on hand. I can see lending the
core components for proof of <br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_88474">concept ,
or until they can be found serendipitously on ebay.. <br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_108767"><br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_108768">For all
the little pieces and parts, $200-$300 might be a good guess
and represent a good working minimum budget for retrofitting
the valves and <br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_116695">piping.
If we have to do it from scratch, the glovebox could be
another $150 or so but further down the line. <br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_98537"><br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_130752">I say
pitch it as far more user friendly and less invasive, and see
if we can get funds allocated. </div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_139660"><br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_139661">Anyone
care any more? How are you guys coming along with your SEMS,
coaters, and turbos? <br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr"><br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr">-Jeff</div>
<div dir="ltr"><br clear="none">
</div>
<div class="yiv5747781064" dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_69230" style=""><br clear="none">
</div>
<div class="yiv5747781064" dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_114010" style=""> <br clear="none">
</div>
<div class="yiv5747781064" dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_69233" style=""><br class="yiv5747781064" style="" clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_98527"><br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_37623"><br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_37624"><br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_53762"><br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_25399"><br clear="none">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_25645"><br clear="none">
</div>
<div id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_18966"><span></span></div>
<br clear="none">
<div id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_25391" style="font-family:HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif;font-size:10px;">
<div id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_25390" style="font-family:HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif;font-size:16px;">
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_25389">
<hr size="1"> <font id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_25392" size="2" face="Arial"> <b><span style="font-weight:bold;">From:</span></b> Chris
Murphy <a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" class="yiv5747781064moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" ymailto="mailto:chrisnoisebridge@gmail.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:chrisnoisebridge@gmail.com"><chrisnoisebridge@gmail.com></a><br clear="none">
<b><span style="font-weight:bold;">To:</span></b> John
McMaster <a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" class="yiv5747781064moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" ymailto="mailto:johndmcmaster@gmail.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:johndmcmaster@gmail.com"><johndmcmaster@gmail.com></a> <br clear="none">
<b><span style="font-weight:bold;">Cc:</span></b>
<a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" class="yiv5747781064moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" ymailto="mailto:sem@lists.noisebridge.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:sem@lists.noisebridge.net">"sem@lists.noisebridge.net"</a>
<a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" class="yiv5747781064moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" ymailto="mailto:sem@lists.noisebridge.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:sem@lists.noisebridge.net"><sem@lists.noisebridge.net></a> <br clear="none">
<b><span style="font-weight:bold;">Sent:</span></b>
Tuesday, September 2, 2014 12:13 AM<br clear="none">
<b><span style="font-weight:bold;">Subject:</span></b>
Re: [Sem] Picked up a sputter coater<br clear="none">
</font> </div>
<div class="yiv5747781064y_msg_container" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_25393"><br clear="none">
Well that's a breakthrough. Maybe Alan has something to
coat. <br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
Sent from my iPhone<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
> On Sep 1, 2014, at 22:41, John McMaster <<a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" id="yiv5747781064yui_3_16_0_1_1418428069474_142720" ymailto="mailto:johndmcmaster@gmail.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:johndmcmaster@gmail.com">johndmcmaster@gmail.com</a>>
wrote:<br clear="none">
> <br clear="none">
> ...3.5 hours of driving each way later. Hit me up if
you need to coat something. I have a gold target for it<br clear="none">
> _______________________________________________<br clear="none">
> SEM mailing list<br clear="none">
> <a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:SEM@lists.noisebridge.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:SEM@lists.noisebridge.net">SEM@lists.noisebridge.net</a><br clear="none">
> <a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/sem">https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/sem</a>
<div class="yiv5747781064qtdSeparateBR"><br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
</div>
<div class="yiv5747781064yqt2957129140" id="yiv5747781064yqtfd81589"><br clear="none">
_______________________________________________<br clear="none">
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<br clear="none">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
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