Friends/Aria users

Hi Folks,

	Just wanted to share with you my new found knowledge on the
FACSAria; which be of use to you'll.

	This past month, I just received the new adjustable 100u nozzle.  As
most of you can testify to, the old 70u tip; just plan sucks.  I run a Flow
Core Facility and most of the cells I sort are either very large, fragile,
or sticky, or a combination of all.  B-D's & my general settings for the
100u nozzle is as follows:

		   B-D
HSM
		setting:      low				     low
		amp:	     20 			   17-18
		pressure:   20 psi			   17-21
		frequency: 30				    32.1
		2nd drop:  10				      15
		3rd drop:    5					4
		4th drop:    0					0

	I like Drop 1 to range from 330-348.  I control this by balancing
pressure vs. amp. this gives me a gap set of 5-7, before I lock-in to the
"Sweet" spot.  I get fantastic side streams.  I realize, that I do not have
to mention it, but each instrument is different, and as I found out each
day.  The thought behind this is, do not be stressed-out about slightly
juggling the pressure or the amp each day. I do not mess with the frequency.
The above numbers seems to work well for my instrument, you of course will
have to play around to find your sweet-spot, sorry I couldn't resist.

	On keeping the instrument sterile block free.  As mentioned in a
previous e-mail, I am dead set against pouring sheath fluid into wide mouth
container opening.  The following are the steppes I have taken to address
this problem.
	I took an extra pressure/fluid assembly from my old FACScan
receptacle, and put on a weighted extension tube.
On the air intake I attached a filter.	The screw cap is the same size as
the screw cap of the 20 L. FACSFlow sheath fluid.
I raised the container to about the same level as the other tanks on the
cart.  The fluid portion of the speedy connector assembly, of course plugs
in nicely to the female receptacle on the instrument.  I than took the extra
waste container and filled it with D-water.  I placed the original assembly
with sensor in this container to "fool" the instrument into "thinking it had
full volume.  The catch to this is to make sure the sheath container has
plenty of liquid to do the experiment [weight and slosh].  Not a very good
method I admit; I just hope I do not wind up being the fool.  You may get
around this by taking the plastic portion out of the cardboard box; since
this system works on a vacuum pump rather than pressure it works well with
no danger.

	The nice part about this system is; at the end of the day I unplug
the sheath speedy connector attached the D-water speedy connector, before
putting the instrument through Fluidics shutdown 2X to 3X times.  I have
left my instrument for more than a week while on vacation with no ill
affects form salt blocks.

Hope this works well for those who are willing to give it a try.  I would
also like to give recognition to my two great field engineers John Hurman
and Joe Keffofer who got me over the the bumps to get this instrument
rockin'


					As Always,
					   Howard [301] 827-0704  CBER-FDA
Bethesda Md