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Preparing your Samples

Preparing your Samples

Owned by Dean Keeble
Last updated: Mar 04, 2025 by Anna Herlihy
2 min read

Once you have received your capillaries in the post, you are ready to load your samples into them, and to mount the samples into bases and the pins into pucks.

Guidance for loading samples into capillaries

  • Loading powder samples into glass capillaries. Click here to view the instructional video.

  • Loading liquid samples into glass capillaries

  • Loading powder samples into Kapton capillaries. Click here to view the instructional video.

  • Loading liquid samples into Kapton capillaries. Click here to view the instructional video.

Mounting filled capillaries in bases

  1. Slighlty loosen the coloured nut

  2. Gentley press the sealed end (for glass capillaries) or metal rod (for Kapton capillaries) into the small hole in top of the mounting pin until it slides in as far as it will go

  3. Tighten the coloured nut to secure the capillary

 

Mounting bases into Pucks

  1. Starting from position 1 at the center of the puck, place the base of each sample pin into a numbered hole on each puck. The positions are magnetic and each pin should smoothly locate itself into the hold.

  2. Note the position of each sample in the puck as you will need to enter this information into ISPyB

  3. For transport, line up the black line on the puck lid with the top (12’o’clock) position of the puck, carefully lower the lid onto the puck, then twist the lid clockwise by ~1/16th turn to secure it in place.

 

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