CTC Tray Type Definition

[labstephan]

Hi all,

does anybody have a description of how to define a custom tray type for the CTC CombiPAL?

I want to build a tray for some special vial / application. Up to now I looked down every manual I can get for the CTC but didn`t find how to specify the tray dimensions and vial coordinates.
I also looked into some tray object definitions and found the necessary data but my mind seems to be a little "blocked".
Does anybody know how to interpret them or have some written instruction how to define a custom tray? This would be very, very helpful for me.

By the way. Does anybody have the CTC Service Manuals available?

Best regards

Stephan

[lynoguchi]

Hello Stephan,

In my experience with CTC auosampler, in older versions of firmware in Configuration Menu you can set only the type of tray and when you configure the Tray Holder position, all the vial positions are definied automaticaly.
For newer firmware revisions, in addition to the above configurations, in the Utilities menu you can set the positions of vial 1, 9 and 54 for each tray (when you use the 54 positions tray).
Probably you can customize these parameters for your needs.

Regards,
Leonardo.

[Peter Apps]

Hi Stephan

This is one of those things that should be built into software, but is not I suspect.

As a work around you might be able configure one of the pre-defined trays with numerous holes, then make your custom tray with your vials centered on the same positions as some of those holes. Then in the sequence tell the CTC to sample only from the original vial numbers that correspond to where your custom vials are (having suggested it I am not even certain if that is possible !)

Peter

[labstephan]

Thank you very much for your reply.

Yes, Peter you are right. It would be very nice if there were an editor in the CTC Object Manager.

FYI. I found a manual from an PALxt where a desription of parameter settings is included. I also found the section in the CTC Object file where this settings are written down.
I think I can try to make my own tray and object file with this information.
If this will not working properly I`ll try the approach Leonardo mentioned.

Best regards

Stephan

[Jake]

Have you checked with Leap? Note at the bottom of this page there's a link to "How to Define PAL Custom Tray Types," under Pal Support Documents => How-to. I didn't log in to check what it says, but it's a start.

http://www.leaptec.com/site-map.php

Jake

[labstephan]

Hi Jake,

thank you very much. I`ve seen this before but the document ssems to be not available. The others are downloadable.

So, is anyone has this doc available.... Please let me know.

Best regards

Stephan

[Jake]

Stephan,

I figured that might be the case. I see you're in Germany. LEAP is in the US and has been pretty helpful to me in the past. I will try to contact them and find out what the deal is with the document.

[labstephan]

Hello Jake,

thank you very much for your efforts.
Please let me know if you can get any information about the document.

Best regards
Stephan