Dear Fellow Managers:
Our NMR facility is 2-3 months away from taking ownership of a 500 MHz NB
instrument. I took over as manager earlier this year. The 500 will be primarily a walk-
up instrument. I am currently in the midst of trying to impress upon the users the
importance of tube quality. It is a tough sell since the users as well as those I report to
are used to doing NMR _at_ 250 and 400 MHz over the years here without a "tube rule",
using whatever they could get their hands on. They don't feel the cost of a 500 MHz
quality tube is justified. I've had to replace a broken insert recently on one of our 400
probes. I've attributed the damage to use of poor quality NMR tubes. They are still
skeptical, since I can't prove unequivocally that the damage was due to a poor tube.
Hence I turn to this wonderful group of experts for support. I realize there have been
some active discussions over the years regarding tubes but nothing I saw that was
recent. I would love to hear from anybody who has any comment on the above. Also,
comments on the following questions are most welcome:
(1) Do you have a tube rule at your facility? If so, what is it?
(2) If your instrument(s) is walk-up access, how do you enforce your tube rule?
(3) How well does Wilmad's tube tester act as a "traffic-cop"?
I will of course compile a summary of all responses if interested.
Best Wishes,
Mike
---------------------------------------------
Michael D. Lumsden, Ph.D.
NMR Facility Manager
Atlantic Region Magnetic Resonance Centre
Dalhousie University
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, B3H 4J3
phone:(902)494-1635
FAX: (902)494-1310
email: lumsden_at_chem3.chem.dal.ca
Received on Tue Oct 29 2002 - 17:25:07 MST