THANK YOU: Crack-resistant tubes for centrifugation

From: Raji Edayathumangalam
Date: 2 February 2012 22:40


Hello Everyone,

Many many thanks to all the folks who responded to my question with very good suggestions. 

Here's a very quick and dirty summary of the various tubes and rotors that people use without any issues:

(1) 50ml Nalgene tubes for an SS-34 rotor

(2) Shape-matched new Fiberlite rotors

(3) Nalgene round-bottom centrifuge tubes (re-usable)

(4) Beckman ultracentrifuge tubes (re-usable)

(5) 50 ml Falcon tubes (red cap)

(6) 50 ml Corning tubes in F13S-14x50cy rotor

(7) Polyethylene tubes work but polycarbonate do not, for some folks

It seems Fiberlite rotors were a common suggestion and a bunch of folks suggested that breakage may have AS MUCH to do with centrifuge and shape-complementarity (understandably) as much as with the centrifuge tubes.

Many thanks for your time and help. Go CCP4BB!

Raji

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Raji Edayathumangalam

Hi Folks, 

Are you any favorite brands out there for crack-resistant 50mL centrifugation tubes. It seems we are having recurring episodes of Falcon and Corning tubes cracking even at 9,000 rpm, which is the maximum speed possible with our rotor. I have used Falcon tubes for years in the past without problems and I want to be able to spin down bacterial lysates without a mess.

Any suggestions for tubes that have worked well in your experience?

Thanks,

Raji

--
Raji Edayathumangalam

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From: Artem Evdokimov


Clearly, it's better to use shape-matched rotors (I sort of assumed
that you do that already!); however the BD/Falcon polyethylene tubes
(conical ends) will actually change shape (flow) when placed into the
round-ended rotors, if the speed is high enough -- and most of the
time the tubes survive the transition w/o ill effects. Polycarbonate
ones will shatter every time if their end taper does not match the
rotor taper (ok, at < 5000g they will probably survive).

Artem

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From: Artem Evdokimov


P.P.S. it also matters a LOT how you fill the tubes. Leaving too much
air gap on the top is actually very likely to cause crushing of the
plastic.