Frequently Asked Questions
New Customers
Installations and Upgrades
- How to Get Help
- Realtime Help and Support over the Internet
- Sending Movies to FTA
- Instrument Startup Checklist
- How to Upgrade Software
- How to Uninstall Unwanted and Incorrect Software
- Databases and Demo Movies
- I Put The Hardware In First!
- Wrong Frame Grabber Installed
- How to Switch Frame Grabbers
- Software Installation Messages
- Program Startup Messages
- Software on the Web versus the CDROM
- Do I Need a License?
- User Security Levels
- What To Do If You Have No Video
- Got 8 Bit/256 Color or 640 x 480 Size?
Camera Selection
- NTSC (Frame Grabber) Camera Images
- USB Cameras
- USB Camera Limitations
- USB 1 Camera Images
- USB 2 Camera Images
- USB Powered Backlight Installation
- The Truth About High End Cameras
General Operation
- Resolution and Accuracy
- International Number Formats
- Microscope and Imaging Terminology
- Magnification Calibration
- Log-On Screen
- Passwords
- Logon and Password Screens
- Start Up and Shut Down Times
- Opening Movies from CDROM's and Across Networks
- Access Database Operations
- Movie Run and Trigger
- Movie Timing
- Data Logs
- Measurement Data Types
- Exporting Data to Excel
- Complex Graphs
- Exporting and Printing Images
- FTA Movies in Power Point
- AVI and Image Files
- How to Use Auto Zoom/Focus
- ASTM Standards
- Calibration Standards
- How to measure a meniscus in a capillary tube
Instrument Selection
Chambers and Stages
General Dispenser Operation
- Syringe Pump Accuracy
- Pump Programming
- External Pumps for FTA Instruments
- Introduction to the Peristaltic Pump
- Needle and Syringe Suppliers
- Dispensing Glycerol and other High Viscosity Liquids
- Pump Control from Run and Trigger
- FTA200 Pump Resolution
Interfacial Tension (IFT) Measurements
- Laplace-Young Errors and Logs
- What Tip Size Should I Use?
- What Drop Size Should I Use?
- How Do I Get 72.8?
- Liquid Climbs Needle
- Recipe for Sessile Drop IFT Measurements
- Recipe for Dilational Stress Measurements
- Cuvette Holder Use
- IFT Measurements in Cuvettes with J Needles
- Drop Volume or Drop Weight IFT Method
- Recipe for CMC Calculations
- Dorsey Method for Interfacial Tension on Large Sessile Drops
- Low Liquid-Liquid IFT Measurements
- IFT and Dilational Stress Checklist
Contact Angle Measurements
- Contact Angle Click Does Not Respond
- Left, Right, Up, Down Contact Angles
- How to Make Manual and Automatic Contact Angle Measurements
- Preset Baselines for Contact Angles (Store and Reuse)
- Contact Angle Baseline Choices
- Contact Angle Drop Profile Choices
- Why Can't I Go To 0 degrees Contact Angle?
- Curved Baselines
- Tilt and Camera Angles
- How Do I Get a Constant Drop Size?
- Recipe for Advancing and Receding Contact Angle Measurements
Surface Energy Methods
- Surface Energy Introduction
- Polar and Dispersive Liquid Components
- Wetting Tension
- Averaging Measurements with Many Drops and Many Liquids
NanoDispense Dispense Head
FTA136 Top View Glass Analyzer
FTA188 Contact Angle/Surface Tension Analyzer
FTA1000 B Frame
FTA2000 Multi-Fluid Programmable Analyzer
- Introduction to the FTA2000
- Script Programs
- Specimen Platter or 'Chuck'
- Debugging Sequencer Programs
- FTA2000 Setup Constants
- Sequencer Simulation Mode
FTA4000 MicroDrop Analyzer
- Introduction to the FTA4000
- FTA4000 Sample Setup
- FTA4000 Examples
- NanoDispense for the FTA4000
- Drop and Sample Sizes
- Piezo Pump Operation