Edward A. Berry wrote:
And what about different format of pucks/cassettes/tongs etc?
I can still read my old Vax backup tapes (on a linux box with an
exabyte tape drive), but my old Yale-style pins won't fit in the
Hampton Research cryotongs available at the beamline, they don't sit
well on the standard goniometer magnet, and can't be picked up
by the automounter.
Ed
I'm sure we can all agree that standards are important, and this is
probably why we all have our own.
However, Ed, I can't resist but to point out that the robot in ALS 8.3.1
("Cool Hand Luke" or CHL) has a "SuperTong" that will handle Yale pins
as well as every pin Hampton has ever made (24 to 10 mm), and even mods
to them like the Syrrx pins (sometimes called "ALS pins"). Yes, CHL is
the $550 robot with the pencils holding the tongs. As for cassettes, we
don't use them directly. The sample holder dewar (conveyor) contains 52
magnets identical to those on the goniometer, and you simply unload your
cassette or cane or whatever into the conveyor on-site. Best way to do
this is via the goniometer itself because then you can center,
pre-screen and digitally capture the sample position, run info, etc. for
re-centering and data collection during the night. But, it is also
possible to load the conveyor from outside the hutch while someone else
is collecting data.
So, yes, a universal pin solution exists, and the hardware is not
expensive, but I gave up a long time ago on trying to get other beamline
scientists to expand their support of pin types. But this is not to say
that there has not been progress. Aina Cohen I think deserves a lot of
credit for managing to generalize support for cassette formats with the
UniPuck (which I can at least tell you has gained acceptance at SSRL and
ALS), but the UniPuck is by no means universal yet. Something about
Europeans and their SPINEs?
I think the core reason why beamline staff around the world are not so
interested in supporting more standards is not that they are evil or
lazy or anything like that but just that they need to prioritize, and
most beamlines are still not at the point where they are hunting for new
users, but they are trying to hang on to the users they have (especially
the ones who pay the bills).
-James Holton
MAD Scientist
