Dear Celine, This can be happened if ACE 600 is not properly cleaned. Dust of carbon absorbed a lot of humidity that is very difficult to pump out. If ACE600 is properly clean, next step to check the o-rings and pumps. Best regards, Valentina ------------------ Dr. Valentina Batanova ISTerre Université Grenoble Alpes CS 40700 ISTerre MicroAnalytical Platform (IMAP) https://www.isterre.fr/french/services-plateformes/plateforme-microanalytique-isterre-imap/ 38058 GRENOBLE Cedex 9 FRANCE Geographical address / delivery OSUG-C (Maison des Géosciences) 1381, rue de la Piscine 38610 GIÈRES FRANCE > On Apr 30, 2026, at 12:03 pm, msa-talk-request@minlists.org wrote: > > Send MSA-talk mailing list submissions to > msa-talk@minlists.org > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via email, send a message with subject or > body 'help' to > msa-talk-request@minlists.org > > You can reach the person managing the list at > msa-talk-owner@minlists.org > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of MSA-talk digest..." > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: Carbon Coater Leica ACE600 (Will Nachlas) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Wed, 29 Apr 2026 21:20:14 +0000 > From: Will Nachlas <nachlas@wisc.edu> > Subject: [MSA-talk] Re: Carbon Coater Leica ACE600 > To: "msa-talk@minlists.org" <msa-talk@minlists.org>, Celine > Martin <cmartin@amnh.org> > Message-ID: <BYAPR06MB50616D34F01F93E114FD57AAD4342@BYAPR06MB5061.nam > prd06.prod.outlook.com> > Content-Type: multipart/related; boundary="_004_BYAPR06MB50616D > 34F01F93E114FD57AAD4342BYAPR06MB5061namp_"; > type="multipart/alternative" > > 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> > > >