Followup on Peter’s important comment: I’ve found effective
to trick the system into thinking there’s a white tube in there by
rolling up a piece of regular white copier/printer paper and snaking it into
the position under the transport tube. This does risk mangling or tearing
bits of paper off inside the SampelCase, so one must be careful.
Of course, if you do this once, it teaches you that it’s better to
wash half (or nearly all) the tubes first, then rotate the carousel
to place a clean one under the transport tube, then clean the remaining white
tubes.
Josh
> From: main_at_ammrl.groups.io on behalf of Peter Thompson via groups.io
> Date: Monday, December 1, 2025 at 1:35 PM
> To: main_at_ammrl.groups.io
> Subject: Re: [AMMRL] Sample case error: sample not dropping all the way
Just a quick follow-up to Luke's comment: If you are removing the jacks and
cleaning them, you can avoid a minor headache by ensuring that whatever holder
spot is moving to the sample transfer position does have a jack in position.
We made the mistake of trying to take all of them out at once. When a spot
without a jack hit the sample transfer position, the Case refused to continue
to rotate to the next spot. We had to 'trick' the sensors to get the spot
without a jack into a position where we could easily get the jack back in place.
Peter
On Mon, Dec 1, 2025 at 1:18 PM Fulton, Luke via groups.io wrote:
Hi TJ,
Thinking long term, accumulated residues increase friction and interfere with
smooth action. Gentle cleaning with isopropanol removes leavings from broken
samples and greasy fingers. Those white tubes (jacks?) are fully removable
and it's easy to give them a quick scrub if things ever get sticky.
Kind regards,
Luke
Luke Fulton, PhD
CHEM BLDG R003
NMR Core Facility Director
Unit 3060
COR2E & Department of Chemistry
55 N Eagleville Road
University of Connecticut
Storrs, CT 06279
email: fko24003_at_uconn.edu<mailto:fko24003_at_uconn.edu>
(alias): luke.fulton_at_uconn.edu<mailto:luke.fulton_at_uconn.edu>
mobile: (603) 953-5275
Office: (860) 486-4069
________________________________
> From: main_at_ammrl.groups.io on behalf of Thusitha Jayasundera via groups.io
> Sent: Monday, December 1, 2025 9:32 AM
> To: main_at_ammrl.groups.io
> Subject: [AMMRL] Sample case error: sample not dropping all the way
Hello all--our Prodigy 500 MHz system has recently been having a sporadic error
because the completed sample doesn't drop all the way to the sample case
(please see attached figure).
The problem can occur in manual mode or when running Icon. A simple tap on
the white sample insert drops the sample down to the case, but a restart is
always required to return to normal operation. The problem initially occurred
several times while on manual mode (requiring a full restart of the system),
and just once since then while on Icon, which was resolved by a restart of
just the sample case.
For more context, we have had this sample case since May, and the problem
started ~3 weeks ago. In contrast, the issue has never occurred on our second
500 MHz system which is identical to this one except for having a regular
helium cryo probe.
Has anyone encountered this problem, and perhaps found a remedy? Any advice=
would be much appreciated, and as always, many thanks in advance!
TJ.
--
Peter Thompson, Ph.D.
Lead Research Scientist, Macromolecular NMR, Molecular Education,
Technology and Research Innovation Center (METRIC)
Research Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular and Structural Biochemistry
North Carolina State University
51 Polk Hall
Raleigh, NC 27695
Phone: 919.515.0836
Email: pmthomps_at_ncsu.edu
METRIC Website: https://research.ncsu.edu/metric/home
Consultation and Sample Submission: https://labs.ncsu.edu
Biochemistry Website: https://cals.ncsu.edu/molecular-and-structural-biochemistry/
“All electronic mail messages in connection with State business which
are sent to or received by this account are subject to the NC Public Records
Law and may be disclosed to third parties.”
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Received on Mon Dec 01 2025 - 12:45:48 MST