Single Elderly Centrifuge seeks well-preserved hanging-bucket rotor

August 2, 2011 11:59 AM

Hi, it's your friendly neighborhood biotech lab-equipment-monkey again. In a continuation of the centrifuge saga, now that we've confirmed the unit will probably work with a proper rotor installed, I am on a quest to track down and acquire said rotor. Nobody seems to be selling it new anymore, and the ones I've found used are all missing crucial parts! Do I need better search-fu, or is it time to call the glue factory for this big old spinny beast? Halp!

Background: The centrifuge is a rather old (one of the circuit boards had a date stamp of 1980) Sorvall RC-5B. The rotor we covet is an SH-80 Hanging Bucket model, and while I've been able to find a number of these for sale secondhand, it seems that everyone who has ever owned one of these rotors has managed to go and lose all the buckets!

I did inquire with contact in Thermo-Fisher tech support, and he informed me that they don't make the SH-80 rotor or any parts for it anymore.

So, basically we are at the point where if we can't find a source for a rotor AND a full set of buckets (or, at the very least, an even number of buckets for balancing purposes, as I am well aware of the perils of improper rotor use), we are unfortunately going to have to return the RC-5B to the Jawa Sandcrawler scrap heap from whence it came. The (Fisher?) part number for the titanium bucket set is 08308, but I haven't been able to find any info about whether the buckets have individual part numbers or whether there is a "modern equivalent".

Anyhow, as for my actual question...I guess I am mainly looking for either (a) a source / list of potential sources for 08308-model titanium hanging rotor buckets, OR (b) a reality check along the lines of "this is a lost cause and a time sink, you're better off just finding a newer centrifuge".

Bear in mind that (as we're a smallish nonprofit research center here) money most definitely IS an object, so a *brand*-new giant centrifuge isn't exactly an option. A better used one is a possibility, though, so model suggestions are perfectly welcome. Thanks!

posted by aecorwin to Technology (6 answers total)

Have you tried LabX? Never used them, but they used to send me lots of emails about used equipment.
posted by deludingmyself at 12:08 PM on August 2, 2011

Response by poster: deludingmyself: yeah, I've been checking LabX -- seems they just sold an SH-80 rotor to someone else recently, before I started looking. No clue whether it actually came with buckets, though, and thus far I haven't been able to find the buckets by themselves on that or any other site.
posted by aecorwin at 12:19 PM on August 2, 2011

Buy more than one of the used units with missing parts and use the parts from one to repair the other?
posted by txmon at 1:37 PM on August 2, 2011

Response by poster: txmon: not to thread-sit, but the used rotor units I'm finding don't seem to have ANY buckets. Otherwise I would be all about that option!
posted by aecorwin at 1:40 PM on August 2, 2011

Have you tried watching DoveBid for auctions?

Repairing units that the manufacturer no longer makes parts for is asking for the same headache the next time it breaks down.
posted by benzenedream at 1:57 PM on August 2, 2011

I didn't read the previous thread, but you might try contacting some of biology and biochemistry departments at nearby universities. In my experience, they periodically give away or throw away old equipment, so it's possible someone might be trying to get rid of exactly what you're after.
posted by davemessina at 5:06 PM on August 4, 2011