I’m exploring the possibility of dispensing with the 96-head while it’s in a ‘tip touch’ location, to hopefully assist with small volumes. I can move the head to the location I want using the 96-head move command, but then when it enters the dispense command the head re-moves itself to the sequence position at the center of the well. Is there a firmware command to exclude this movement from the step or somehow work around this? Any pointers are appreciated.
I would use a virtual labware shift. Hopefully someone from Hamilton can chime in because I do not have my Hamilton PC handy.
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@mgildemeister - There are likely lots of options available to explore here. Would you mind sharing some specifics as to the nature of the transfer (volume, labware etc)? This will make it easier to tailor a recommendation as to how to best proceed. If there is something unique about this transfer that require custom movements, there are likely libraries that already exist for straightforward implementation.
Thanks.
-Nick
@NickHealy_Hamilton thanks for the reply. The method is built to allow the user to define their labware and auto select tips based on volume, but for this specific use case we are looking to stamp 3uL into PCR plates with 10uL tips. The volumes looked accurate enough with a blowout and tip touch off, it’s just difficult to reliably make all of the 96 tips touch each well. So I was thinking of pushing a mm or so into the side of the well to correct for any differences in tip geometry.
Seems like a virtual labware shift could be a good idea, is there any way to do that via a library?
Something else I’ve thought could work would be to tip touch in +/- x and y to get as many tips as possible to touch, is there an easy way to accomplish that?
You should just set a side touch at the height you require in the plate. That is what I would do personally. You need to set the exact height and side distance in the labware so it is not very flexible, but we use it with great success.