CapEase™ Tool

A unique device for opening and closing strip caps - an ideal tool for each laboratory bench!

Video presentation:

1. Closing the strips
2. Opening the strips

Description

Strip caps may cause problems in everyday laboratory work. Many laboratory workers handle a considerable number of strips daily, which causes pain in their fingertips.

Strip caps must be sealed tightly to prevent evaporation during thermal cycling. When using a hot-lid thermal cycler it is important to seal the caps evenly to allow the cycler lid to adjust properly over the strips.

A careful opening of the strips after PCR is critical in preventing sample mixing and sample contamination. From the safety point of view opening of strips is especially important when working with hazardous chemicals like radioactive reagents.

CapEase™ Tool is designed to overcome these problems. It can be used for both opening and closing strip caps. The caps are sealed tightly and evenly, and no physical force is required.

Advantages

Closes strip caps evenly and tightly

• No evaporation during PCR
• No cumbersome closing of each individual tube
• No force required

Opens strip caps gently and easily

• No exchange of aerosols between tubes
• No breakage of strip caps
• No pain in the fingers after handling many strips daily
• The risk of exposing to hazardous chemicals is minimized

The use of CapEase™ Tool

Closing the strip caps

Picture 1. Place a strip with open caps into the strip cavity.

 

Picture 2. Press the cover gently by hand and your strips are ready to be processed.

Opening the strip caps

Picture 3. Open the cover. Slide the piston gently forward as shown in the picture. The strips are now open for further processing.

Technical information

• Suitable for sealing and opening of standard size 0.2 ml PCR strip tubes (not low-profile tubes). Works with strips consisting of 2 to 12 tubes.
• Made of polycarbonate (PC), which tolerates most chemicals and solvents used in molecular biology laboratories. Can be cleaned by using detergents/washing powders and ethanol. Autoclaving CapEase Tool is not recommended.
• Dimensions: 12.7 x 11.2 x 4.4 cm
• Can be used over a broad temperature range
(-80°C to +100°C).

NOTE:
Due to the defined height of the strip cavity in CapEase Tool, only standard size 0.2 ml tubes (not low-profile tubes) can be sealed/opened with the device. Some Perkin Elmer thermal cyclers are using instrument specific racks for PCR strips and these racks can not be handled with CapEase Tool.

Ordering information

CapEase™ Tool
F-340	blue with a white lid
F-341	transparent blue with a transparent lid