DeCapper

The Hamilton LabElite DeCapper removes and replaces screw caps on sample tubes a whole rack at a time. Revolution drives the decapping and recapping, and — where a code reader is fitted — the tube ID reading alongside it.

At a glance

Rack formats	24, 48 and 96 tube racks, with swappable decapping heads
Tube types	Internally and externally threaded tubes; most microtube and cryovial brands via swappable adapter bits
Rack orientation	Landscape or portrait
Integration	SiLA-compliant drivers, or a direct non-SiLA connection
Revolution control	Cap, decap, load holders, move to position, read tube codes

Specifications

Hamilton publishes the following.

Rack compatibility	Includes RackWare standard-density racks
Operation modes	Five, from the touchscreen: all rows, selected rows, all columns, selected columns, or partial racks
Use	Standalone or fully automated

Hamilton also states the instrument includes cross-threading prevention — relevant because a cross-threaded cap on a sample tube is a lost sample, not just a failed step.

The swappable head and adapter bits are the practical constraint on a schedule: format and tube type are set by what is physically fitted, so a method cannot switch between a 24-tube rack and a 96-tube rack without an operator changing the head.

Supported methods

Capping

• Decap — remove caps from the rack presented
• Cap — replace caps on the rack presented
• Load holder for decap — load the holder ready for a decap operation
• Load holder for recap — load the holder ready for a recap operation

The load-holder operations exist because decapping and recapping need the holder prepared differently. A recap needs the caps that were removed; the holder is how they are kept in order so each returns to the tube it came from.

Tube identification

• Read barcodes — read the tube barcodes in the rack
• Read codes — read the tube codes in the rack

Tube ID reading is a separate SiLA service from the decapper itself — the driver takes its own WSDL URL — so a system may have decapping without ID reading, or both.

Positioning and configuration

• Move to position — move to a named fixed position
• Get configuration — read the decapper’s current configuration back

Integration

Revolution reaches the instrument in one of two ways, and which one applies to your system determines what needs configuring:

• SiLA — Hamilton’s SiLA-compliant drivers, which they state are what enables integration into larger robotic workflows. The decapper and the code reader are addressed as separate SiLA services, each by its own WSDL URL.
• Direct — a non-SiLA connection to the instrument by host and port.

Prerequisites

• The decapping head fitted must match the rack format the method presents, and the adapter bits must suit the tubes.
• On a SiLA system, both WSDL endpoints must be reachable — the decapper’s, and the code reader’s if ID reading is used.
• Where tube data is recorded, the database connection and the barcode and image output folders must exist and be writable before a run.

Device configuration

Property	Purpose
SiLA Decapper WSDL URL	SiLA endpoint for the decapper
SiLA CodeReader WSDL URL	SiLA endpoint for the tube code reader
Device Host / Device Port	Address of the instrument on a direct, non-SiLA connection
Event Callback Host	Host the instrument calls back with events
Barcode Xml Folder	Where barcode XML is read from or written
Image Output Folder	Where captured tube images are written
Db Connection String	Database the tube data is recorded to

If you need more of this instrument driven from a schedule, get in touch — the driver is extended on demand.