The basic system consists of three servo-motor powered linear rail tables (Daedal Series 500000) mounted on an anti-vibration table. (Newport) The system is controlled by a Galil DMC-1730 controller card (Galil Motion Control, Sunnyvale CA). The DMC-1730 controller card communicates with the Compumotor amplifiers that drive the motors.

Movie Thumbnail	Description
	This movie shows two angles of the print head of the arrayer rinsing, drying, loading DNA from a microtiter plate, and then printing on five microscope slides. The second angle is a closeup of the print head switching from the the rinse and dry stat ions. (3.4Mb)
	This shows a closeup of the print head, with four tips, loading DNA from a microtiter plate, and then printing on a series of five slides. (1.2Mb)
	This is another clip of a rinse,dry, and print cycle, except the camera has been placed back several feet from the machine. The entire table and all three stages can be easily seen.(2.8Mb)

Printing Tip Overview

The printing tips resemble a foutain tip pen. They are custom machined from 308L stainless steel to promote capillary action. Liquid is drawn into the tip by submerging it into DNA solution in a 96-well plate. The drops are also formed by capillary actio n, the size of which is determined in part by the sharpness of the point. To print, the tip is lowered to barely touch the surface of the slide. The principle is analogous to the way a fountain pen works. The diameter of the rod is 1/8 inch. Click on the image to see a large version.

The parts listed on this page, with the exception of the newport table, can be purchased through Western Technology Marketing (650) 968-6200. Additional parts that require custom machining are listed below the table.

Custom machined parts: wash/dry station, slide platform, and printing tips. Estimated cost for these parts is about $5,000 depending on the machining quality and materials cost.