Freedom Rocker - Frequently Asked Questions| Overview | FAQ | Purchase | Accessories |
|---|
Yes. A wall transformer will convert the voltage from your wall outlet to 12V DC for the Freedom Rocker. Select the proper voltage when you order your instrument.
The Freedom Rocker takes up only 10 inches (25 cm) of lab bench. It is 10 inches (25 cm) wide by 15 inches (38 cm) deep, including the pump and the rocker. The bottles for wash buffer, waste, and reagent collection can be placed behind or to the side of the Freedom Rocker, or even on a shelf above or below the lab bench.
Yes, the hose for waste liquid can either run to a container or to a sink.
After the programmed duration of the final wash step, the instrument beeps to let the user know that the wash is complete. However, to keep the membranes, gels, or slides from drying out, the rocking continues and the wash buffer is not pumped from the tray(s).
The Freedom Rocker model DX2 can run 1 large tray or 2 tray small or medium trays. With the purchase of AHDS24 Small Aspiration Head, one small or medim tray can be used. The DX4 model runs 4 trays or 2 trays at once. To run just 1 tray at a time, a different aspiration head is required. Aspiration heads and different tube sets can be ordered separately. See the pricelist for ordering information and current pricing.
Yes, the Freedom Rocker pumps the liquids in and out of all the trays simultaneously to/from the same reagent/waste containers. Different reagents can be manually poured in the different trays initially, or automatically with the multi-dispense option, however, when these reagents are aspirated out of the trays, they will be combined in the waste or recover bottle.
Yes, with the Multi-dispense (MD) models. Individual antibodies are loaded into the syringes on the dispense head. Antibodies cannot be individually recovered.
The DX4 model can use 1, 2 or 4 sample trays. To switch between 2 and 4 trays, on newer models, simply move the plunger in the manifold of the tube set. In older tube sets, you may have to swap out the tube set.
To use just a single sample tray, set up the Freedom Rocker just as you would for using 2 trays. Then attach the small dispense head AHD24. Since the instrument is now dispensing and aspirating into a single tray, twice as much buffer or reagent will be pumped into or out of the single tray, so set your volumes to half the desired amounts.
To dispense 10 ml or less per tray, attach the 50 mL tube to the blue tubing and set the fill volume to 30 mL and the clearing rinse to on. The Freedom Rocker can only dispense as much antibody as is in the tube, so if the 50 mL is full, i.e. there is tubing and about 46 mL in the 50 mL tube, only about 11 mL will go to each tray. If using just 2 trays, only fill the 50 mL with about 22 mL of antibody. Actually, about 1 mL per tray will be lost. The clearing rinse step will replace the buffer in the tubing with the antibody, by pumping the antibody into the tubing. To make sure that there is practically no buffer left in the tubes, about 1 mL of antibody will be pumped out the other end of the tubing. When the Freedom Rocker tries to pump 30 mL, it will pump about 10 mL into each tray. After that, it is just pumping air since there is no more antibody to pump. By pumping air, most all of the antibody is forced into the trays.
Press the "SELECT??? button several times, until the parameter you want to change lights up. Then rotate the knob to adjust the setting to the value you want. Then press the "SELECT??? button again if you want to change another parameter.
Pressing the "RECOVER REAGENT??? button on the front panel changes whether or not the reagent solution is collected after the reagent step. When the light by the button is on, the reagent will be recovered. If the light is off, when the reagent solution is aspirated, it will be sent to the waste container.
Simply press the "FILL???, "ROCK???, or "DRAIN??? buttons to dispense wash buffer, rock, or aspirate the liquid in the tray(s). The Rock rate and the dispense/aspirate volumes can be changed by pressing the "SELECT??? button until the desired parameter lights up, then rotate the knob to adjust the setting. By pressing any of the "FILL???, "ROCK???, or "DRAIN??? buttons overrides the Automatic and Semi-automatic modes, putting the instrument into Manual Mode.
In semi-automatic mode the rocker operates as an ordinary rocker with a built-in countdown timer. Simply set the reagent duration to the desired time, set the wash durations to "0???, and press "RUN???. The washes will not occur. After the desired duration, the instrument will beep. (The rocking will continue and the liquid will remain in the trays so that the membrane, gel, or slides do not dry out.) Press "RUN??? or "DRAIN??? to stop the rocking and aspirate the liquid.)
If nothing happens. All the lights are off and the display is blank. Check that the power is properly connected. If the wall transformer is plugged in all the way and the power line is plugged into the instrument, then either the wall outlet or the wall transformer is bad. Plug something else into the same wall outlet. Does it work? If so, then the power supply is probably bad. Contact us for a replacement.
If liquid is not dispensed immediately after the pump is turned on, the tubing was probably empty and needed to be primed. If this is the case, the problem should not occur as long as the tubing does not fill up again with air.
If liquid is not dispensed or aspirated, the caps are probably tightly screwed onto the bottles and air is not able to enter or leave the bottles and equalize the pressure. Loosen the caps on the bottles. If not caught early, this could lead to tubing popping off a fitting or leakage at a fitting.
 Yttria coated filament at start |
 Yttria coated filament after 16,000 cycles |
New Pumps Added to the List of LOW COST S.I.S. Rotary Vane
Vacuum Pumps - Save 35 - 50% off the price of comparable vacuum pumps.
Adixen (Alcatel) ACP Series Compact Dry Roughing Pumps - a frictionless pumping module, optimized for operation without internal lubricant.
Next-Advance Lab Products - affordable molecular biology instruments that automate mundane tasks, freeing scientists for repetitive, time consuming procedures.
- Direct Replacement for the Shimadzu QP5000 Filament.
PCI Analytics Products - product solutions for all Analytical Instrumentation
SilTite™ FingerTite, the next generation GC capillary ferrule system without the use of any tools.
(25% discount until Oct 31)
Direct Replacement for the Heated Capillary in the Thermo-Fisher Scientific TSQ & LCQ Mass Spectrometers now available
- Ideal for use in analytical instrumentation
- Will improve your laboratory workflow and reporting confidence in many ways
DigiVac Bench Top Vacuum Gauges
- Vacuum instrumentation with everything you need to go to work
Imtakt HPLC Columns
-offer a wide variety of unique stationary phases in their HPLC
columns
Programmable syringe pumps for controlled flow. Model NE-300 priced at only $275.00
NEW: Wiley 9th Edition - 660,000-850,000
spectra (a 65% increase). 
NEW: Agilent 5973/75 Replacement Source
Heater and Temperature Sensor 
NEW: SIS™ Direct Replacement
Filament for the Amatek/Dycor RGA Leak Detectors and Quadrupoles
(p/n 95381VE), which tests have shown increase service life. 
NEW: SIS™
Replacement Filter Elements For Edwards Oil Mist Eliminators -
Save up to 25% off the price of comparable Edwards replacement
elements. 
Identify mass spectra via library
search with the fully-evaluated, most widely used mass spectral
reference library, compiled by the National Institute of Standards
and Technology (NIST). 
View and capture images or video at
20x/400x power on a PC computer via attached USB cable. 