CuttingTubing for SRI GCs
Use either the free tubing cutter or the
plier-type tubing cutter to cut the 1/16”
stainless tubingas youmay not have
access to a cuttingwheel. Place the tub-
ing into thenotch, holding the cutters
straight up anddown so that it cutsper-
fectlyperpendicular into the tubing. Cut
firmly andquickly.
Use a de-burring tool or a syringe nee-
dle to cleanup and round off the hole.
Remember to hold the tool below the
tubing so that anymetal particles fall out
of and not into the tubing. Themore cir-
cular thehole and the straighter the cut
the better thegas chromatographywill
be.
0.53mmmetal capillarycolumn tub-
ing
is used inmanySRI GC columns as
well as heated transfer lines, and to con-
nect fromcolumns to valves inside the
GC. This tubing is often coated on the
inside to optimize its inertness since it is
in contact with the sample. To cut this
tubing you can useeither
(1)
a scoring
wafer, which is a thin squareof hard ce-
ramic, or
(2)
a small metal triangle file. In
a pinch, a sharp knife canalsowork.
The outside diameter of this tubing is
actually .8mmbut it is commonly re-
ferred to as 0.53mm tubing because that
is its internal diameter.
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