Vacuum flange

Several flange standards exist with differences in ultimate attainable pressure, size, and ease of attachment.

KF flanges are made with a chamfered back surface that is attached with a circular clamp and an elastomeric o-ring (AS568 specification) that is mounted in a metal centering ring.

An extra spring-loaded circular clamp is often used around the large-diameter o-rings to prevent them from rolling off from the centering ring during mounting.

[3] The term "ConFlat" is a registered trademark of Varian, Inc., so "CF" is commonly used by other flange manufacturers.

Each face of the two mating CF flanges has a knife edge, which cuts into the softer metal gasket, providing an extremely leak-tight, metal-to-metal seal.

ConFlat gaskets were originally invented by William Wheeler and other engineers at Varian in an attempt to build a flange that would not leak after baking.

Metal gaskets are used in ultra-high-vacuum systems where outgassing of the elastomer could be a significant gas load.

An electrical feedthrough allows voltages to be applied to components under vacuum, for example a filament or heater.

A wobble stick is a mechanical feedthrough device that can be used to pick up, move and otherwise manipulate objects in a vacuum chamber.