Automated 20 µL Test Tube Sorter

Automatic alignment apparatus with packaging assembly

XY table driven by components developed for my CNC_Machine

Close up of gear head motor and drive assembly (hopper removed for clarity)

Use of counter rotating parallel bars as an allignment method for this application was surprisingly effective. This small scale apparatus was capable of orienting 400 tubes per minute.

Test tube flow would typically be controlled by solenoid actuator (not shown)

Note adjustment screws for aligning counterrotating bars

White 96 well box, ready for packaging

Generally the use of lexmark printer components for an XY table leaves something to be desired in terms of precision, but for this application the tolerances were fine (necessary tolerance of +- 0.1" in both axes).