Hey #NewPI #AcademicChatter crowd: I'm thinking about getting a vacuum pump to speed up aspirating supernatant from pellets. We don't have access to a vacuum filter flask setup unfortunately. Was thinking about something like this: https://www.fishersci.co.uk/shop/products/airjet-mini-membrane-vacuum-pump/15134816#
Anyone with experience with benchtop vacuum pumps?
@MarkHanson our lab uses benchtop pumps. Main issue is noise—if I’m doing a lot of work with it I put in some earplugs, though other lab members don’t seem to mind. We bought a standalone noise isolation cabinet but still haven’t set it up since it’d take a lot of tubing to go from that cabinet to the bench where we are using the vacuum currently. Our pump has a tendency to dance around on the desk due to vibration so some padding might also help keep it in place.
@askennard nice. Can I ask what model? What work do you do with it?
@MarkHanson at a conference now but I can check next week. We largely use it for aspirating from multiwell plates during IF preps, but it seems plenty powerful for something like a mini prep manifold (tho not something I have explicitly tried).
@askennard yeah we'd be doing aspiration of ethanol from RNA pellets as the main use. Just would help to power through hundreds of samples.