[RASMB] Affordable Quartz window update!

[Neil Errington]

Hi John, Chris and all.

We did use Saint-Gobain quartz windows while I was at Leicester & Nottingham
(The TSL Group in ther UK are now owned by Saint-Gobain also).

As John saidd I did find a bit more noise and possibilities of cracking at
prolonged high speed use (50K and up). The cracking actually tended to occur on
deceleration from very high speeds, rather than during acceleration or the run,
so I did manage to minimise that by using slower deceleration rates on the XL
(decelerating at 200 rather than 400 seemed to help a lot). Other than that I
found no problems with those windows during other 'normal' use in the XL-A.

I can't remember if they were fused quartz but I would imagine that to be the
case - I think the product we used from Saint-Gobain was called 'Spectrosil
2000' if that helps anyone figure it out.

Best wishes to all

Neil

-- 
Dr. Neil Errington
Biomolecular Sciences Department
UMIST
PO Box 88, 
Manchester, 
M60 1QD, UK 
Tel: +44 (0)161 200 4191
Fax: +44 (0)161 236 0409 

Quoting John Philo <jphilo at mailway.com>:

> Chris,
>  
> Thanks for the info, but are you saying that this is a US supplier for the
> same low-cost quartz windows mentioned by Olwyn Byron back in '99 from a
> company called TSL group? And why not tell us all the actual 'reasonable'
> price from Saint-Gobain Quartz?
>  
> Further, it may be important to note that the quartz windows supplied by
> Beckman (made by Meller Optics) are listed by Meller as single-crystal
> quartz, while these ones from Saint-Gobain are, I believe, probably fused
> quartz. 
>  
> I've never been entirely clear exactly why Beckman specifies single-crystal
> quartz, but I'm guessing there is a difference in strength or durability.
> Can someone else on RASMB or perhaps one of the Beckman folks enlighten us
> on this? 
>  
> I believe Neil Errington noted back in '99 that the low-cost quartz windows
> from TSL gave higher noise and developed cracks with extended use above 50K
> rpm.
>  
> John Philo
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: rasmb-admin at server1.bbri.org [mailto:rasmb-admin at server1.bbri.org] On
> Behalf Of Chin, Christopher
> Sent: Monday, July 19, 2004 2:08 PM
> To: rasmb at server1.bbri.org
> Cc: tina.m.scott at saint-gobain.com; Lee.c.Malone at saint-gobain.com;
> nancy.j.heid at saint-gobain.com
> Subject: [RASMB] Affordable Quartz window update!
> 
> 
> Affordable Quartz window update
> 
>  
> 
> Dear RASMBers,
> 
>  
> 
> Just want to share this information with you that Saint-Gobain Quartz USA
> sells windows that we can use with an affordable price.  I have done some
> test (enclosed) on these products and feel it is comparable to the product
> I
> got from Meller Optic.  I believe this company is the same company
> mentioned
> in 1999 rasmb_archives. 
> 
> For those who are interested you can contact;
> 
>  
> 
> Tina M. Scott
> 
> Saint-Gobain Quartz USA
> 
> Sr. Customer Service Specialist
> 
> Phone:  502-775-7383
> 
> Fax:  502-775-7385
> 
> Email:  tina.m.scott at saint-gobain.com
> 
> Web Site:  www.quartz.saint-gobain.com
> <outbind://6/www.quartz.saint-gobain.com> 
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> By the way, does any body know if we can purchase some reasonable priced
> "cell Housing Plug"?
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> All the best.
> 
>  
> 
> Chris
> 
>  
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> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Christopher Chin
> 
> Manager
> 
> Sealy Center for Structural Biology
> 
> HBC&G, 5134 MRB. rt1055
> 
> UTMB  <mailto:cchin at utmb.edu> cchin at utmb.edu, 
> 
> 409-772-1693, efax 708-585-1920
> 
> -------------------------------------------------
> 
>  
> 
>