Chromatography Forum

hello,

I have the bad luck to work with a Thermo Trace GC with just Chrom-card SW installed. (Unlucky no other SW installed.) Been using Agilent GC's and its ChemStation SW for 7 years but now i'm forced to use the Thermo one. Will anybody let me know where i can find some video tutorials of how to set up methods and sequences and teh rest of the procedures using Chrom Card? (Its manual is so uselees.)

Many thanks in advance.

Sorry to hear you don't like the Thermo GC and Chromcard but I much prefer it to Agilent especially Chemstation Chromcard is almost as old in origin as Chemstation and Thermo are developing their other products like Chromeleon. I do not beleive that there are any video tutorials.

Chromcard is a very simple data system and very easy to use. Try not to think of it as Chemstation the two softwares are very different. In Chromcard you have a sample table into which you type all your samples and GC methods. The sample table is part of the method file not a separate file! Always save your method to a new directory on your computer and it is into this directory that all your files etc. complete with a full integration and gc methods will be stored. Very handy for archiving and GLP compliance.

CE Instruments, first of all i would like to thank you for your reply. You sound like an expert at Crom Card. I observed that it is a simple SW and it looks too elementary to me, but it is this simplicity that makes it look complicated to me. I also went through the Chrom-Card Gas Chromatography Data System Operating Manual, but it is not detailed except the menu icons definitions. It doe not even show how to create a method using the Wizard Development Method, except it describes with 1 sentence its Function Description. what do you recommend me to do for practice before hand?

many thanks in advance.

Practice ? I've never practiced before using a new data system

Chromcard will aquire and save data with the minimum imput and you can correct things as you go along. If the GC etc. were new you should have had it set up by your engineer. Assuming you don't want to hire an expert in to train you and set the system up you should see what the previous operator ran. On opening Chromcard the last users data and method will be loaded. Already changed , no issue find one of their old methods and load that. If fully processed you can view the summary file to observe the data, click back to the chromatograms, change integration and re-process to observe how the data changes.

Can we assume you are running with Chromcard controlling your autosampler and GC? If so is the old method in the GC and sampler ? Open the icons and GET from each and save with the method to a new directory. You can modify the GC method from Chromcard or even use the Trace keypad it is almost identical to an Agilent. Once you have a method for the Chromcard, GC and sampler save these to a new directory on the PC . Then edit the sample table to fit any new samples you want to try. Note if I remember correctly leaving a gap in the table will pause the system. Once you have the basics check the first column is checked A for actual sample and send the sequence to the GC. Start the run, you can play with integration and calibration after running. Remember if in doubt save! You cannot destroy data but if you don't save it but then edit it it will be over written. The running copy of the method is in virtual memory it is not automatically saved to disk.

Do not enable the GLP option or compliant operation unless it is essential for your process.

Chromcard supports most types of integration except bracketed calibrations. It does Internal, external, % normalisation with and without reference peaks. It does support Kovats. Printing is a bit of a pain as the report options are single use. i.e. you can either print, export to Excel, ASCII, export to HTML but only one at a time , not in combination. Reprocessing allows you to carry out multiples. Most operators set up the summary file and export that to their chosen report.

I never use Wizard method integration I find it a pain, I copy and edit an existing method saving to a new name.

As in any other data system it is good practice to keep your data files and sequences in a new directory. In Chromcard the method and sequence are one, only your GC and sampler methods are separate. Copy the GC and sampler methods along with the main chromcard method to the new directory when you start a new batch of samples and you can't go far wrong.