The micromaze can be retained if you desire, however, the secret and virtual must have for a micromaze is a full shut off valve immediately each side of the maze. This can be seen in the photos on fusor IIIs setup on my website.
The micromaze doesn't load up with water from a fusor being opened to air unless the micromaze is also open to air. The micromaze can be viewed as a ravinous water scrounger. Once baked out, any exposure to air, even for a moment, will just load it up with moisture. There is an unlimited supply of atmospheric moisture so opening the maze up to air will ruin the micromaze bakeout. With valves immediately on each side, the entire system can be completely dismantled boxed up and moved from the Evergaldes to a house boat on Lake Erie without a molecule of moisture geting to the micromaze. Once reassembled the pump can pull the line to the micromaze down and be ballasted. Once at low pressure, the maze pump line valve is opened after a few minutes and the micromaze will not experience any undue moisture addition.
The only new moisture to enter the maze will be when the fusor chamber side valve is opened and the liter or so volume of air must pass through the maze. With this scenario, I can go about 30-40 complete take aparts between bakeouts. Others claim hundreds of takeaparts. The key is those expensive valves on BOTH sides of the maze which can totally isolate it and make it pretty bullet proof against goings on on either of the outward sides of the valves.
Without the above, and in an often "let up to air" system, the micromaze advantage is totally missed. Note* A mistep in the valve sequencing will also load the maze up with water. It is up to the user to know the sequence of valving to protect his tedious and time consuming bakeout.
A well baked micromaze will, with the valving mentioned, regularly let a well maintained and ballasted mechanical pump dip into the high 10e-5 Torr range. This obviates the seemingly absolute need for a high vacuum (diff/turbo/cryo) pump for simple fusor work. Now that I will be employing a diff pump for fusor IV, I will keep my micromaze on the fusor III demo bench in my attached lab and not transfer it to the HV system. I'll let the diff pump do its job.
Even Lesker and others state that the micromaze or any complex vacuum sorption trap, for that matter, can do more harm that good if it is not rigidly controlled and used in a specific manner designed to isolate it from outside contamination.
Open your system to air as often as needed, BUT ISOLATE THE TRAP!
Richard Hull
Created on Monday, April 16, 2001 4:26 PM EDT by Richard Hull