FAQs

The FORMULATOR can dispense into 384-well, 96-well, 48-well, 24-well plates (and other formats) as long as they are SBS footprint.

The minimum total well volume is 10 µL.

7 mL:  2 mL from the bottle to the ingredient selector, and 5 mL from ingredient selector to chip.

5% for 10 µL dispenses and more.

200 nL dispenses are 5% or better.

We've tested up to 30% peg 20k.

The vacuum is 22inHg and pressure is 30psi.

No. Liquid is moved in to the FORMULATOR by diaphragm pumps in the instrument.

We designed the FORMULATOR so that the channels get smaller and smaller down to the nozzles. Then, when washing we wash in reverse. So, if something blocks the channels then it will just get washed out during the wash cycle, which is run after every ingredient.

Silicone.

It takes about 13 seconds for the FORMULATOR to finish the bottle input wash, which is recommended before any bottle change.

The Falcon tubes included in the accessories kit with the part number 202300 only work with the septa caps for Falcon #201947. The Nalgene bottles included in the accessories kit with the part number 202176 only work with the septa caps for Nalgene #201946.

No. The solenoids are in the main part of the instrument and control air pressure lines that lead to our silicone diaphragm valves in the chip (dispense head). Liquid only touches the Topas chip and the silicone valves.

Since we use silicone valves, we can dispense anything that is compatible with silicone. The chip is made of Topas which is compatible with almost all polar liquids. It is not compatible with non-polar liquids, like oils and xylene. For a list of reagents you should not use, see chemical compatibility.

The FORMULATOR will be OK. However, dispensing a solution with debris in it may temporarily clog the FORMULATOR or otherwise mess up the plate dispense.

Currently with a 10 second wash, cross-contamination is less than 1 part per 10,000. Longer washes or secondary washes with cleaning solutions can be used to further reduce the cross contamination.

There is no maximum well volume. The FORMULATOR can dispense into 2 mL deep well blocks. Simply repeat dispenses to get to a desired well volume.

It does not compensate automatically for lower temperature operation. So we would have to set up different liquid classes for 4 °C.

Anything more than 5000cP would be too slow for convenient use.