after the holidays i see that the channels move like 3mm higher than they did 2 weeks ago. during this time, the robot was barely used but was kept on and we never re-initialized the components
That is very interesting.
When you say 3mm higher than before, do you mean only during movement or is the z-height of all labware suddenly off?
Is this on one or multiple machines, i.e. can you compare between different machines?
you can say it as “the z-height of all labware is suddenly off” (relative to the channel), but more accurately the channels seems off
we have noticed this on two machines (the other ones are power cycled more often, as a side effect not on purpose)
This is on a STAR?
yes, a starlet to be precise (a very old one, it has a 2004-series iswap)
I’m not working with the STAR / Starlet device familly so I can’t realy say anything about it, but this seems weird. Maybe check with Hamilton tech support if this is something they ever heard of?
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I’d ask on the other lab automation forum, probably more experience there. Personally haven’t seen that, but Hamilton definitely advises to power cycle often, we do daily.
I can’t think of why the motors would drift, if the steppers are powered they should hold position, but also powered steppers for 2 weeks in the same position is a long time haha