Abstract
Powder weighing is an essential but tedious activity in many branches of science. Here I describe a MIcrobalance AUtosampler (miau) that transfers solids in the sub-mg range to a microbalance. Miau is a pick-and-place machine which moves a gripper with dual function: 1) move tin capsules; 2) deliver powder from a container to tin capsules. In our laboratory we routinely use miau to prepare working standards for quality control of elemental and isotopic analyses. In a test, miau produced standards between 0.3 and 1.1 mg, which is a useful range in our laboratory. Failure to produce a weighed standard happened in 5% of the cases. A comparison with manual measurements demonstrated that obtained amounts for automated samples were as accurate and precise as manually prepared ones. Setup for daily use is simple, and the microbalance can be easily used alternately with or without miau. Miau is a low-cost device that can work with microbalances from many manufacturers, and can be readily adopted by many laboratories.
Highlights
I present a MIcrobalance AUtosampler (MIAU) that delivers a chosen powder in a narrow range of masses to containers that are individually weighed by a microbalance
A video showing miau working is presented in Supplementary Information 1
All actions described in the previous section are performed by miau and the balance
Summary
Miau Chemistry and Biochemistry Environmental, Planetary and Agricultural Sciences Medicine, Forensics Solid sample handling. I present a MIcrobalance AUtosampler (MIAU) that delivers a chosen powder in a narrow range of masses (around 1 mg) to containers that are individually weighed by a microbalance This way, a large number of standards can be automatically prepared for elemental and isotopic measurements of solids. Miau includes a base, where two trays, one for the tin capsules, and another for the sample deposits and powder container, are fixed (Fig. 1). The tray for tin capsules was designed in a way to facilitate manual positioning of the capsules, and reliable automated manipulation using the forceps. It is a very shallow tray, which allows for easy manipulation with the forceps (Fig. 1). A video showing miau working is presented in Supplementary Information 1
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