PhD thesis: How to mess shit up. #2- Cable

Lesson 2 - Check your cables...

Earlier this week... Dr Eugene changed the source of mass spec as he took over the instrument from another scientist.

Dr Eugene: Phyliss, the software does not detect the source. Usually clicking at ‘source’ would show a drop down menu of ionisation modes. It is not showing anything now...
Me: Er... I am not familiar with TOF you know... try to restart software?
Dr Eugene: I have done it, many times. Even restarting the computer, it just doesn’t work.
Me: Restart instrument electronics then?
Dr Eugene: I don’t know how to do it, let’s ask Dr Little Strawberry.
Me: No no we don’t need to ask her. I know this very well (same across all MS), it’s very intuitive. Just look at the 2 switches, one says ‘pump override on/off’ and other says ‘electronics on/off’. You want to switch to ‘pump override’ before turning off electronics. Because without pump override, turning off the electronics will turn off the pump, instrument will vent.
Dr Eugene: So this is to protect the pump
Me: No, (obviously no!) this is to keep the mass spec in vacuum state so you don’t have to wait half a day before you can run samples. Instrument takes a few hours to pump down...
Dr Eugene: Ok I get it.
Me: You don’t want to switch off ‘pump override’ before turning on electronics, otherwise the pump will switch off and instrument will vent, electronics turn on. So electronics on, then pump override off.

Restarting the electronics didn’t fix the problem. Then, I thought... since the software couldn’t show the ionisation modes, it probably is not detecting the source? 🤔 Reconnect cables...

When opening the cover, true enough the yellow cable was not pushed all the way! Pushed it in and the software shows the ionisation modes right away. 🤷🏻‍♀️

This reminds me of primary school exams. Mistakes you made, not because you didn’t know how to do it, but because you didn’t check your work. Carelessness.

1 hour later.

Dr Eugene: I am reading up some slides about the instrument. It says that there are 2 ways of restarting electronics, one from the front and one from the back. Could you show me how to do it from the front?
Me: There is no button on the front of the instrument so you can’t do it from the front. It’s just how this instrument is designed.
Dr Eugene: Ok, what does the pilot valve mean then?
Me: I am not a TOF engineer and I am not sure. It’s the valve on the bottle trap to shut off and on for source pressure test, I think. Read the operators guide and you may be able to find the explanations there. (I am not your Google!!!)
Dr Eugene: I don’t remember my previous company has a bottle trap for the mass spec...
Me: All our company’s mass spec comes with a bottle trap. You probably did not notice it before because it is behind the instrument.

Come on... You book the instrument but use the time to read about TOF parts? Run your important samples first before you find other time to read! Priorities!