Dear crystallographers,
While this is not a directly CCP4-related project, no crystal (or bad quality ones) means not much use of CCP4 ... hence the following inquiry. I am involved in the design of a new crystallisation lab with temperature-controlled rooms, which we have found to be typically quite prone to internal vibrations. A little vibration is probably not an issue in most of the cases, but how to define what is acceptable and what is not?
Most of the time people define good crystallisation environment as vibration-free, but I suspect that 0 vibration is not a value that can be typically achieved in labs (can it be achieved at all?), and while there are means of measuring vibration levels, I could not find any numeric references...
...which leads me a long list of naive questions:
- does anyone have performed any vibration level measurement in their labs and defined a threshold for acceptable conditions?
- are scientists performing their crystallisation experiments in temperature-controlled rooms satisfied with the vibration levels?
- do some of you recommend some devices/brands to reduce vibrations applied to the crystallisation trays? (I heard about vibration-free shelves or insulation pads, is this any good?)
- any advice about how to handle vibration issues welcome!
Thank you very much to all of you in advance,
Ingrid Mechin
