When I prepare the equipment should I do it in a glove box? Must the glove box be filled with inert gas?
for the equipment/ tubes,....no, but I use rubber gloves to avoid finger prints. (clean with Acetone and cotton cloth, let air dry) just vacuum for a few days after assembly and after leaks are out. - Hint: with conflats, it seems best to tighten wait for some time (day??) and then retighten. They use copper gaskets and knife edges so they some time take a while for the copper to "flow". So the second tightening seems to help.