Abstract
Multichannel pipettes are used widely to accelerate research and testing in life sciences laboratories and within the biomedical industry. Commercial multichannel pipettes cost several hundred to thousand U.S. dollars and are not accessible in many areas. This study utilizes an open source and digital distributed manufacturing model to design a USD$24 4-channel 200 micro-liter pipette. The design uses widely-available interchangeable off-the-shelf parts and custom components, which can be fabricated with a low-cost fused-filament RepRap-class desktop 3D printer. The manuscript describes the design, construction, and validation of an ergonomic open-source multichannel pipette, as well as the evaluation of pipetting parameters and quality control. The open source multichannel pipette is found to be compliant with ISO 8655 standards for precision and accuracy. The device has separate syringes that operate individual tips, which prevents cross contamination of specimens because there is no direct contact of different liquids with each other and no mixing with actuating air. Each syringe is easily replaced for different experiments and the source CAD files are provided to enable others to build variants or custom configurations of the open source multichannel pipette. <strong>Metadata Overview</strong> Main design files: <a href="https://osf.io/9tn6e/" target="_blank"><em>https://osf.io/9tn6e/</em></a> Target group: chemistry, biochemistry, biology, biomedical, medical, and associated disciplines Skills required: desktop 3D printing – easy, mechanical assembly – easy Replication: <em><a href="https://www.appropedia.org/Open_Source_3-D_Printed_ISO_8655_Compliant_Multichannel_Pipette" target="_blank">https://www.appropedia.org/Open_Source_3-D_Printed_ISO_8655_Compliant_Multichannel_Pipette</a></em> for comments and feedback. <em>See section “Build Details” for more detail</em>.
Highlights
The basic use of a pipette is to transport a measured volume of liquid with high precision for the preparation of solutions, biological, biomedical and chemical tests with regards to the quantity of the chemical or reagent being used
As the results of this study show the open source multichannel pipette can be used for any chemical, biological or medical application that demands ISO 8655 for manual pipetting
The design of the open source multichannel pipette is comfortable to use for an average sized hand and has a finger hold for compression of the syringes
Summary
The basic use of a pipette is to transport a measured volume of liquid with high precision for the preparation of solutions, biological, biomedical and chemical tests with regards to the quantity of the chemical or reagent being used. A method of modularity was built into the design could prove useful for different versions of the device as different 3D printed multichannel pipettes may have different elevation of the locking mechanism (the precision screw allows users to adjust the device so a set amount of fluid is released as seen in Figure 1) and the offset can be calculated using the syringe’s graduations. As 10 tests are to be conducted for a particular set volume for a single syringe, average of these tests are calculate using equation 2 As this is a measuring device, accuracy and precision play an important role in determining the usefulness of the multichannel pipette. By adjusting the precision screw and by using the graduations on the syringes, the pipette was set to take two sets of volumetric readings at 200 μL and 100 μL
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
