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What kind of tips should I use?

Picking the right tip is a crucial part of liquid handling on the Microlab Prep. Hamilton offers CO-RE tips in different shapes and sizes, and with different features suited to a variety of workflows. This article describes which tips are available for the Prep, and how to select which tip will work best for your protocol.

Tip Features

Size

The size of the tip determines the maximum volume of liquid that it can transfer, and affects how liquid flows from the tip. Three tip sizes are available for the Prep:

  • 50 µL (low volume)
    50-uL-tip-1
  • 300 µL (mid volume)
    300-uL-tip-1
  • 1000 µL (high volume)
    1000-uL-tip-1

The tip size you need will depend on a number of factors. Use the flow chart below to decide which tips you will need for a particular liquid transfer, otherwise the accuracy of the transfer may suffer.

If you don't need to dispense more than 50 uL, aspirate less than 300 u, then you should use 300 uL. If you need to dispense less than 15 uL use 50 uL tips. If you need to aspirate more than 300 uL or dispense more than 300 uL then use 1,000 uL tips.

Color/Conductivity

Hamilton tips come in two colors, which indicates whether or not the tip is conductive:

  • Black/conductive: Black tips contain carbon to make them conductive. The channels and 8 MPH contain capacitive sensors that enables them to detect the liquid level when pipetting conductive liquids with conductive tips.
    black-conductive-tip
  • Clear/non-conductive: Clear tips do not contain carbon, so they cannot be used to detect the liquid level with the channels or 8 MPH. Otherwise, they work just like conductive tips.
    clear-nonconductive-tip

If you want to set the aspirate or dispense position from the liquid level or use liquid following, you will need conductive tips. Keep in mind that both the tip and the liquid must be conductive to measure from the liquid level and use liquid following. For clear tips and non-conductive liquids, you will need to set the pipetting position from the bottom of the container.

Filtered or Non-Filtered

Tips can have filters for pipetting volatile liquids and preventing sample carryover. The filter protects the channel from vapor that could contaminate other liquids. The filter does not affect the volume a tip can pipette, but it can affect how the liquid flows from the tip. If you want to improve your results, you can learn more about honing your pipetting.

filter-tip

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