all of the suggestions, low n2 pressure, dirty ejector cylinders, grooved
ejector push....were all tried and found to be normal. the answer was
finally found shortly after i posted my plea (as luck would have it). we
noticed that there were metal shavings appearing in the cartridge bay.
this lead us to carefully watch the path taken by the ejector arm both
with pressure from cartridges and with no pressure. we found that with no
pressure applied, the arm functioned without problem: when pressure was
applied, a slight change in path occurred. from this we determined that
the guide pin horizontal to the arm was bent causing the pin on the bottom
of the arm to bind in the groove in which it travels. we removed,
straightened and replaced the guide bolt and voila! it now works as it
should.
it was a very confounding problem but it is finally fixed. the guide pin
was most likely damaged but accidental release of the "cheese block"
cartridge pusher...slamming against either the closed cartridge bay or
against a few cartridges. we found that the metal of this pin is quite
soft and was easily straightened (therefore, likely easily bent).
thanks for all your suggestions. if it happens to you now, now you know
what to do!
jane
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*Jane Nagel MSc (Med Chem), BSc Pharm *
*BioTools Inc. Laboratory Services *
*E-mail: jane@biotools.com *
*Mobile phone:403-906-0284 *
*Lab:403-432-6461......fax 403 423-1333 *
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