I’m looking at implementing a new method on a Hamilton Autolys STAR (4+4 configuration)
We need to use the Hamilton on deck centrifuge to spin some deep well plates at max speed (6 gram imbalance tolerance with the Hamilton centrifuge).
There are two centrifuge steps – one requires a balance plate with 820ul liquid per well, the second requires a balance plate with 420ul per well.
Because the number of samples varies per run (min 1 max 24 – most commonly 16-24) – the number of wells that need to be filled in the balance plate varies.
Other labs, make the balance plate during the run – adding 820ul per well to match the number of samples – then they remove 400ul to create the balance rack for the second spin.
I’m wondering if anyone has any suggestions for better options? With a 4 channel this will take a while, and I’m trying to save some time for the method.
We have 1000ul tips on deck, so repeat pipetting wont help speed it up.
I don’t know what your process looks like, but I wonder if it would be feasible to split your samples onto two plates prior to the centrifuge step so they would balance each other. I realize this might not be possible depending on the upstream and downstream work.
@DCurrier probably has the best solution. My only other thought would be to prepare balance#2 for 420uL fill volume using a fresh plate so it could be created asynchronously during spin #1.
I tried to find a average balance plate weight that satisfied the max imbalance of 5g for the most number of samples, but unfortunately it does not work well above n>12 samples. Above that number, you really need to create a new plate every time to balance the centrifuge - there’s just too much weight difference between those two volumes with that many samples.