Welcome to Labtech-EM, if you can’t find what you’re looking for please get in touch via our contact us page.

Vacuum pick-up tools

Vacuum pick-up tools are ideal for picking up flat, lightweight items without touching them by hand or with sharp tools – ensuring delicate items or surfaces will not be scratched. Vacuum pick-up tools can be used for coverslips, Si substrates, quartz substrates, small componets, parts and many other samples.

The lifting capacity of the vacuum pick-up tools depends on:

  • Vacuum generated in the vacuum pick-up tool
  • Nature of the material surface
  • Size of the pick-up cup –  see lifting capacity table below.

The lifting capacity and lifting time both increases when surfaces are flat and smooth (polished). Vacuum pick-up pens will not work on porous surfaces. Vacuum pick-up tools consist of  a body to generate vacuum, interchangeable vacuum needle tips and vacuum cups which fit on the needles to increase lifting capacity.

Micro-Tec vacuum pick-up tools are ESD safe to avoid static discharge:

  • Micro-Tec ESD safe mini vacuum pick-up tool with a bulb type vacuum pump with 15 gauge straight and 45 degrees needles and 4 / 6 / 9.5mm rubber vacuum cups
  • Micro-Tec ESD safe heavy duty vacuum pick-up pen with a high performance piston type vacuum pump with 16 gauge straight and 45 degrees needles and 4 / 6 / 9.5mm rubber vacuum cup
  • Micro-Tec B126 ESD-safe battery operated vacuum pen with built-in pump with straight/bent 16 gauge needles and 4/6/10 mm rubber vacuum cups and two sets of straight/bent fine needles (30 and 27 gauge) for TEM grid handling. The B126 allows for precise handling of parts and TEM grids. It is light weight and not restricted by a vacuum hose. Equipped with  30 or 27 gauge fine needles. They are  also  referred to as vacuum tweezers. The B126 operates on a standard 1.5V type AAA battery.

Fine needles for picking up TEM grids are also separately available for use on other vacuum pick  pens. The 30 and 27 gauge needles work well on the 400-500um wide rims which are used on most TEM grids.

Needle/cup size diameter in mm Estimated lifting capacity (g)
1.3mm tip (18 gauge) only < 1
1.9mm tip (16 gauge) only 1
3mm vacuum cup 7
4mm vacuum cup 12
5mm vacuum cup 18
6mm vacuum cup 25
7mm vacuum cup 35
9mm vacuum cup 55
10mm vacuum cup 70

Ordering information: