drawings for the proposed sbs standard 96 well microplate - SLAS

DRAWINGS FOR THE
PROPOSED
SBS STANDARD
96 WELL MICROPLATE
INCLUDING REVISIONS DISCUSSED
AT THE
JANUARY 2000 MEETING

06-06-2000 Martin Popoloski, David Kenney (Corning Incorporated)
The following drawing, representing the proposed 96 well microplate standard, has been revised based on the last
SBS sub committee meeting held at Lab Automation in January. The goal is to have a drawing which is concise,
complete, and which will be interpreted consistently worldwide. The drawing standard used is ASME Y14.5M-
1994. The SBS proposal used to revise this drawing is the revised January 2000 version, which can be seen in Marc
Feiglin’s (Merck) e-mails of March 2, 2000 and again on April 24, 2000.
In his e-mail, Marc has outlined four points discussed at the meeting:
1- The standard will be as specified in the drawings. The text is only meant as a clarification and is not the actual
standard:
The revised drawing (DWG102005 Rev.X2, 11 pages) (the drawing number is for our internal file reference only) is
in the same basic format as the original but does have a few changes. The title block of the drawing contains the
lines “PROPOSED SBS STANDARD”, “96 WELL MICROPLATE” and a line with the number of the SBS
proposed standard (i.e.: “SBS-1a”, “SBS-2”, etc.). Keeping in mind that the text of the SBS proposal consists of a
number of separate or independent standards, there is a separate sheet (or page) of the drawing for each proposed
SBS standard. Where appropriate, separate standards are combined (e.g.: SBS-3a, 3b, & 3c are all shown on sheet
3). Sheet 5 is a composite drawing showing all the proposed standards rolled into a single drawing. This composite
may be what we want to ultimately issue as a standard.
The explanatory sketches (pages 6-11)(to illustrate principles involved and/or interpretation) have been moved to the
back of the drawing as an appendix. We have found these to be quite useful in explaining the drawings and feel they
should remain as part of the standard. The so called “Centerline Method” (drawing DWG102006) and the “B” size
composite page include in the original package have been dropped.
2- The primary units of measure will remain metric, but we will include the non-metric conversion. Metric units are
to be rounded to 2 decimal places, non-metric to three:
The drawing has been updated. In order to be very specific and to avoid any confusion with interpretation of the
rounding of the inch conversions, I decided to go with four place decimals for the English (inch) units (which has
slightly changed some of the numbers specified in the text). Note that for the metric (millimeter) dimensions, the
numbers used contain a leading zero before the decimal point but no trailing zeros (for the two decimal places). No
leading zeros are used for the English (inch) dimensions. This is per the ASME Y14.5M-1994 standard (sections 1.5
& 1.6).
3-Well locations will be specified from the plate edge not the plate center:
As stated, the wells have been dimensioned from the edges (A-1 corner). We did however agree to maintain the
basic symmetry of the plate design, (i.e.: “on center”). In order to maintain perfect symmetry and maintain the two
place decimals (as detailed in item #2 above) I took the liberty of changing the overall width dimension very
slightly. It is understood that this change is subject to the approval of the sub-committee.
The overall width was changed from 85.47 mm to 85.48 mm (3.365” to 3.3654”) for an increase of 0.01 mm
(0.0004”).
4-The corner notch will be removed from the drawings since it is not specified in the standard:
Although we did agree to this, my meeting notes indicate we also agreed that; if a “corner notch” is used, it is not to
extend into the “flange”. In order to call this out, we do show the corner notch (at the A-1 location) with a note that
reads “Quantity and location of chamfer(s) is optional. If used the chamfer must not include the flange.” Reference
note # 7 on pages 1 & 5 of the drawing.
We hope that these revisions to the drawing will help to condense and clarify the proposed SBS 96 well microplate
standard as it stands today. We also recognize that not everyone who might have wished to have been there had the
opportunity to attend the January meeting. Some have since used the listserver to express concern over the corner
notch and some over the flange height. We would like to urge all interested parties to attend the sub-committees
meeting at the Drug Discover Show this August in Boston to help resolve the remaining issues.