Picarro L2130i autosampler bending syringe

Abel, our Picarro L2130-i water isotope analyzer (inherited from UW Oceanography), has always finished a run with the syringe slightly bent towards the back of the instrument. The failure rate of syringes on this instrument is far higher than other Picarro instruments in the lab.

UPDATE - Scroll down to see the fix!

The reason for this bend is not obvious. The needle is not colliding with any vial edge, waste edge, or vaporizer edge. The needle is not running into the bottom of any vial or waste container or the bottom of the vaporizer. I have changed the injection height repeatedly and still I observe this bend after a run. The purpose of this post is to document this bend and share this post with folks that might be able to help me identify the problem.

The figures below document the bend in the syringe needle and show images of a suspect needle guide piece. Click on the images to get higher resolution. Is the needle bend caused by the erosion of the needle guide piece?

Figure 1 - Bent syringes from the Abel autosampler.

Suspect autosampler guide piece — Figure 2 - As of August 23, 2021, I am suspecting the autosampler guide piece that is shown with the red arrow. See figure 3 for a zoom on this piece.

Looking down on the suspect guide piece — Figure 3a - Looking down on the suspect needle guide piece. Note the slight erosion of the metal, or is it supposed to be oval?

Fix this issue - give your autosampler some love

The bending needle issue was solved by going through the Picarro autosampler maintenance instructions. Here are some helpful docs given to me by Picarro.

Order the lubricants if you don't already have them.
Take your time, clean and lube.
Check the spring while you are at it.

Author: Andrew Schauer - Last updated: 2021-09-21 17:28:56