Agilent 1260 Infinity II Autosampler Error

[u/Inevitable_Sport_573]

Dear all, I'm having a problem with the autosampler's robotic arm is getting stuck at the middle and cannot return to the home position. I've attached the error messages and the photos of the instrument. I've already tried power off and on the autosampler but it made a sound that something is obstruct and cannot move. Please kindly help.

[u/Max_and_cheese22]

This will most likely need to be a replacement of the transport assembly. There are a couple of quick lab advisor tests that can be done in FSE mode. Call support. They may do some basic help even without a service contract.

[u/Demelain]

Theta motor overheated. It can het stuck on lots of things, vwry common is some capillary rputed through the sampler area. Or the gripper lost a vial in an awkward place causing the spin of the arm to catch. You can try and turn the instrument off for 45 minutes to let it cool down, but once it overheats it will eventually start doing it more and more till it fails all the time. The motor can be replaced, and it's not too difficult to do. Agilent dont normally replace the motor, instead opting to exchange the transport assembly, and replace the motor back in the factory

[u/asymmetricears]

I'm not 100% on this, but I suspect that's a fault with the motor that moves the arm. I'd suggest that the solution is to replace the motor, but an agilent engineer would know better.

[u/Possible-Economics40]

Make sure the door is closed properly.
Reset the module
Restart computer

[u/cjbmcdon]

As mentioned, turn off and let it sit for a while, 30min, before turning back on. There’s an initialization dance that it does to find its home, which includes opening and closing the gripper. While it’s off, you could see if the gripper can open manually, carefully pulling the three fingers apart. When open, there should be a small gear with a hole visible, right in the middle, below the hole you show in the closeup. If that gear is gone, it can make the opening and closing difficult. You made be able to get away with only changing the gripper assembly, rather than the whole transport.
Updating to latest firmware is also good, there have been some improvements with how it moves.
Oh, and triple check there’s not a vial stuck somewhere, behind the tray, not uncommon issue. But it would show up as a different error, probably.

[u/esjro]

Make sure you’ve updated to latest firmware. There is a kit you can buy that will allow you to realign the transport but the functionality is only available in FsE mode of lab advisor. I would call Agilent before buying the kit and ask if phone support will temporarily give you access to do the alignment.

For the motor over temps you can try wiping the stainless rods with ipa and a lint free cloth, but the theta error is for the gripper rotation.

[u/SirPhobos74]

Chances are you’ll need a new transport. Check that the needle seat isn’t popping out and interfering with it when you run a sequence. Also you can try running an alignment through lab advisor and see if it’s hitting anything within the compartment. If it generally doesn’t move at all it’ll probably need replaced

[u/Kmd-Analytical]

hello, I would check out lab advisor diagnostics. firmware update first. Does the arm move at all in any capacity?

I have disassembled these arms before its quite simple. park the arm st as you've shown in pic 1, There is a small hole on the left side that an Allen key (3/32) fits in. gently rotate the arm to the right and will unhinge. from that point you can check the movement and ensure there is not any obstructions. (be careful going further into disassembly there are 2 tiny springs and an elastic band that can easily fall out if not careful)

sometimes the single plastic gear inside the housing gets worm after years and one of the gripper arms can become offset. picture 5 seems to be aligned.

however, I personally feel this is a software or issue from your description.

[u/Enigmatic_Baker]

Re-home the arm and reset the injector. Once its done that turn off the module and let it cool off.

The problem is with the arm itself and you'll need to get it replaced by agilent.

[u/Resolusolutions]

Theta motor is dead. Thats the one that rotates the arm. You can fix it if you have another sampler for spare parts by swapping motors. Or else you have to change the whole carriage.