FACSCalibur -- sheath fluid arrived

Our 10 boxes of sheath fluid arrived today, so we should be good on that for some time. They are all under the table by the confocal. Let me know if there are any questions or concerns about this.

Confocal -- locked up by security log

The confocal locked up last night due to the security log being full. I remotely cleared the log, so we should be fine for now. I'll put a ticket in to the IT staff to help develop a way for this to happen automatically or for there to be more space for the log so it doesn't lock up the computer again.

FACSCalibur -- No sheath fluid

We ran out of sheath fluid yesterday, and I hadn't realized that we were even low. I ordered 10 boxes right away, but they probably won't be in until Thursday at the earliest. I'll make sure to be more diligent about noticing when we're low in the future, and help from users on this would be greatly appreciated. In the meantime, if there's anything urgent you might need to do, you can use PBS; I have some in the Core room (T635B) if anyone needs some.

Confocal - focus motor gear slippage

I spoke with Steve Fryer, our scope rep recently about the problems some users have seen with the gears slipping when the focus motor is engaged. He stopped by and looked at it himself and said that the problem is that when you do manual focus, then engage the focus motor, it occasionally and randomly happens that the gears don't perfectly mesh right away. Then, when you start moving the focus, the gears slip into place, there's a clicking or popping sound, and from then on the gears are properly meshed. He said that the best way to handle it is to check the manual focus knob right after engaging the focus motor, and trying to move it a little should click it into place if it was not aligned. Then, it won't slip during the z-stack or when setting up the top and bottom. Let me know if you have any questions about this.