Hopefully this has an easy answer. Every time I move PCR plates from the magnetic block to the plate carrier, one of the corners on the PCR plate isn’t sitting fully on the carrier. I know the slide guides are a little stiff, but I wasn’t sure if there was something I could do to get the plates to lay flush on the carrier.
Is this happening on one position or anytime you are transporting a PCR plate with the iSWAP? If the former, please see suggestions below. If the latter, confirm that your iSWAP is level and calibrated within spec.
There are a number of ways to get this right:
Ensure proper teaching (X,Y,Z coordinates) of your plate pickup and destination position. Your Z might be a tad too high so when the iSWAP reaches that position, it is not fully seeded in the carrier
Adjust the iSWAP grip height. Decreasing the grip height (distance from top of labware to where you want to grip labware) will raise where the labware is gripped. I have found that gripping a PCR plate a bit higher will help push it into the plate carrier better when being placed
If you are confident in your teaching from option 1 and the pipetting is performing well with those coordinates, you can create a second sequence with your PCR plate labware of which the Z height is a bit lower than the sequence you perform pipetting on. Name the sequences accordingly so you don’t get them mixed up when trying to transport labware vs. pipetting.
Upgrade your carrier to the newer MTAB PCR plate positions. The plastic corner tabs are much more consistent than the older copper tabs
Those tabs can be bent in or out to allow for a bit more play in the placement of the plate. It’s a bit of a balancing act with these carriers as they are not intended to be very high precision.
