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Celine Martin

Tue, Apr 28, 2026 1:28 PM

Dear All,

We own a Leica ACE 600 C coater for 3 years, and it now takes forever to reach the correct vacuum. It already happened last summer when the humidity was high, but right now, humidity is in the 20-30% range, and it takes around 3 hours to coat thin sections.

Any idea?

Thank you very much
Celine

Celine Martin PhD
Research Scientist
American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at 79th Street
New York, NY 10024-5192, USA
Phone: (+1) 212 769 5365tel:+12127695380; Fax: (+1) 212 769 5533tel:+12127695533
Email: cmartin@amnh.org mailto:cmartin@amnh.org

Dear All, We own a Leica ACE 600 C coater for 3 years, and it now takes forever to reach the correct vacuum. It already happened last summer when the humidity was high, but right now, humidity is in the 20-30% range, and it takes around 3 hours to coat thin sections. Any idea? Thank you very much Celine Celine Martin PhD Research Scientist American Museum of Natural History Central Park West at 79th Street New York, NY 10024-5192, USA Phone: (+1) 212 769 5365<tel:+12127695380>; Fax: (+1) 212 769 5533<tel:+12127695533> Email: cmartin@amnh.org<mailto:cmartin@amnh.org>

GM

Grafulha Morales Luiz

Wed, Apr 29, 2026 9:03 PM

Hi Celine

Some stuff you can check (I guess you have done some of those):

leak - check for, o-rings worned out, dirty or misaligned, stage not seated propertly, chamber contamination preventing proper sealing - even a tiny leak may lead to that
do you have a rotary vane pump or scroll pump I suspect - you can check the oil level and the oil color, and may consider change it if the oil is too dark
depending on how used is your machine and how often you clean up the chamber, maybe a deep clening following Leica instructions may help
less likely but also possible could be valves that are not properly opened, tube leaking, somewhere a “loose” fitting

I assume you tried to pump your system without any sample inside, because another souce could have been the degassing of the sample itself

hope it helps

cheers

Luiz

On 28 Apr 2026, at 15:28, Celine Martin via MSA-talk msa-talk@minlists.org wrote:

Dear All,

We own a Leica ACE 600 C coater for 3 years, and it now takes forever to reach the correct vacuum. It already happened last summer when the humidity was high, but right now, humidity is in the 20-30% range, and it takes around 3 hours to coat thin sections.

Any idea?

Thank you very much
Celine

Hi Celine Some stuff you can check (I guess you have done some of those): 1) leak - check for, o-rings worned out, dirty or misaligned, stage not seated propertly, chamber contamination preventing proper sealing - even a tiny leak may lead to that 2) do you have a rotary vane pump or scroll pump I suspect - you can check the oil level and the oil color, and may consider change it if the oil is too dark 3) depending on how used is your machine and how often you clean up the chamber, maybe a deep clening following Leica instructions may help 4) less likely but also possible could be valves that are not properly opened, tube leaking, somewhere a “loose” fitting I assume you tried to pump your system without any sample inside, because another souce could have been the degassing of the sample itself hope it helps cheers Luiz > On 28 Apr 2026, at 15:28, Celine Martin via MSA-talk <msa-talk@minlists.org> wrote: > > Dear All, > > We own a Leica ACE 600 C coater for 3 years, and it now takes forever to reach the correct vacuum. It already happened last summer when the humidity was high, but right now, humidity is in the 20-30% range, and it takes around 3 hours to coat thin sections. > > Any idea? > > Thank you very much > Celine

WN

Will Nachlas

Wed, Apr 29, 2026 9:20 PM

Hi Celine,
It sounds like it might be time to rebuild the roughing pump. They wear out after a few/several years and then take forever to pump down or are unable to back the turbo pump. My ACE600 had a roughing pump from KNF; I shipped it to them for rebuilding. Access the roughing pump at the base of the right-side panel (see photos below).

Good luck!
Will

[cid:fc967981-4305-470b-85bd-66e6233a56df]

William O. Nachlas, PhD
Staff Scientist II
Director, Electron Microbeam Labshttps://eml.geoscience.wisc.edu/
Department of Geoscience
University of Wisconsin
1215 West Dayton Street
Madison, WI 53706

From: Celine Martin via MSA-talk msa-talk@minlists.org
Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2026 8:28 AM
To: msa-talk@minlists.org msa-talk@minlists.org
Subject: [MSA-talk] Carbon Coater Leica ACE600

Dear All,

We own a Leica ACE 600 C coater for 3 years, and it now takes forever to reach the correct vacuum. It already happened last summer when the humidity was high, but right now, humidity is in the 20-30% range, and it takes around 3 hours to coat thin sections.

Any idea?

Thank you very much
Celine

Celine Martin PhD

Research Scientist

American Museum of Natural History

Central Park West at 79th Street

New York, NY 10024-5192, USA

Phone: (+1) 212 769 5365tel:+12127695380; Fax: (+1) 212 769 5533tel:+12127695533

Email: cmartin@amnh.org mailto:cmartin@amnh.org

Hi Celine, It sounds like it might be time to rebuild the roughing pump. They wear out after a few/several years and then take forever to pump down or are unable to back the turbo pump. My ACE600 had a roughing pump from KNF; I shipped it to them for rebuilding. Access the roughing pump at the base of the right-side panel (see photos below). Good luck! Will [cid:fc967981-4305-470b-85bd-66e6233a56df] --- William O. Nachlas, PhD Staff Scientist II Director, Electron Microbeam Labs<https://eml.geoscience.wisc.edu/> Department of Geoscience University of Wisconsin 1215 West Dayton Street Madison, WI 53706 ________________________________ From: Celine Martin via MSA-talk <msa-talk@minlists.org> Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2026 8:28 AM To: msa-talk@minlists.org <msa-talk@minlists.org> Subject: [MSA-talk] Carbon Coater Leica ACE600 Dear All, We own a Leica ACE 600 C coater for 3 years, and it now takes forever to reach the correct vacuum. It already happened last summer when the humidity was high, but right now, humidity is in the 20-30% range, and it takes around 3 hours to coat thin sections. Any idea? Thank you very much Celine Celine Martin PhD Research Scientist American Museum of Natural History Central Park West at 79th Street New York, NY 10024-5192, USA Phone: (+1) 212 769 5365<tel:+12127695380>; Fax: (+1) 212 769 5533<tel:+12127695533> Email: cmartin@amnh.org<mailto:cmartin@amnh.org>