It always amazes me what you can find on the used equipment market, and this 700 MHz Bruker is no exception:Description: Bruker 700 MHz Ultrashield NMR
Item-Specific Notes:
Bruker Avance 700 MHz UltraShield NMR System with CryoPlatform / CryoProbe. 5-channel system for solution protein NMR with 3 probes. Original cost of system and CryoProbe upgrade approximately $1.8MM.
Date Originally Installed: 2003. System updated to TopSpin 2.1 software in 2009. Firmware updates done in October 2013.
Professionally decommissioned June 2015.
System was maintained under service contract with Bruker until 2014 with annual maintenance. Magnet helium hold times 4+ months, with helium refills every 4 months, nitrogen refills every 10-14 days.What does this bad boy cost, anyway? My guess is ~$800,000, but I dunno, it's been a while since I've been in the used NMR market.
(Anyone know the story behind this thing? Who needed a 700 MHz NMR in San Diego? Old Scripps equipment?)
Why would you dump a 700? It's not likely a startup would buy one, and I wouldn't think that even Scripps would dump one (you could just move it down the list so that people would use it for more pedestrian NMR experiments). Maybe it's a byproduct of one of the big pharma binge-and-purges, and the parent didn't have any academics or people in other convenient relationships who wanted it?
ReplyDeleteHow much would a new one like that be today? I would be curious to compare recent quotes for similar new systems.
ReplyDeleteIt's resale probably is probably halfway decent, given that the number of NMR instrument vendors has imploded in recent years.
DeleteI don't know...the older they get, the harder it seems to be to find parts to replace the ones that fail (and I am learning it all fails, given enough time and use). If the cost is not much different, it might be better to get something new with a warranty and service agreement?
DeleteI know a guy at a pawn shop who'll give ya $500 for it.
ReplyDeleteToo much, considering that this is 700 mHz (not MHz!) instrument.
Delete"Let me call my buddy who knows about NMR spectrometers"
DeleteAs a single point of reference our 700 was about $1.5M "new" (its complicated...), so not so much of a discount.
ReplyDeleteI suspect there isn't much of a market for these things anymore outside of academic labs. The upkeep on a NMR spectrometer is pretty labor-intensive, and the industrial R&D operations big enough to do this are cutting back like crazy - DowDuPont, Pfizer, etc.
ReplyDeleteAt least it was professionally decommissioned. I suspect at a lot of companies, the person responsible for taking care of the NMR would have been laid off, no one remaining would have known it's important to refill the liquid nitrogen periodically, and all hell would have broken loose a few weeks later!
ReplyDeleteLook around on YouTube and you can find people "decommissioning" them on purpose that way. (We don't say the Q-word around here. Superstitious.)
Deletethe real fun is quench of a large magnet that had ice built up inside, from years of poor maintenance, blocking He release. Our Bruker field engineer once saw a magnet that had the whole upper part blown out, punching a rather nice hole in the false ceiling panels... Fortunately happened over Christmass break so no-one was around.
DeleteSimilar story to the one I have heard. Shredded mylar insulation covering every surface in the lab. Apparently, the magnet blew apart at the seals.
DeleteExtra $100,000 to paint over the uber-80s logo.
ReplyDelete