0.5 mL tube to 1.5 mL tube adapter

thingiverse

This is a collar that lets you insert a 0.5 mL tube into a 1.5 mL tube. A set of 24 pieces prints in about one hour (60 mm/s, 0.40 mm nozzle). The usual way to centrifuge a 0.5 mL tube is to nest it inside a 1.5 mL tube, but I sometimes had catastrophic failures when centrifuging samples for long periods at high speeds; the smaller tube would twist inside the larger tube, its rim would get wedged, and then it (and the tube's cap) would rip off entirely. The rest would shoot through the bottom of the 1.5 mL tube, leaving me with complete sample loss and a mess to clean up. By supporting the smaller tube's rim more evenly, this adapter makes this kind of failure less likely. And if it does happen, there's a chance that your sample will be caught by the 1.5 mL tube and you won't lose it entirely. I have successfully tested this in PLA, spinning full tubes at 15,000 RPM (around 21,100 RCF) for ten minutes at a time without damage to the tubes or delamination of the adapters. You should test your own tubes and prints to make sure that they can withstand centrifugation at the forces, periods, and temperatures you need, before you risk samples. This collar cannot help you if you use weak, low-quality tubes! Post-Printing The collars are a secure press-fit into 1.5 mL tubes that have an inner diameter of nine millimeters. Cut the lids off your 1.5 mL tubes to make them easier to handle. If the fit of your smaller tubes is too tight, you can expand the openings using a knife-edge reamer tool. Changelog Jun 16 2016: Initial release. Apr 18 2017: Replaced the design with a new one that uses less material, prints faster, and fits inside a 1.5 mL centrifuge tube. A friend of mine had the old design delaminate along the print layers while she was centrifuging something. By relying on the support of the 1.5 mL tube, I hope to prevent this from happening to anyone else. May 7 2017: Tapered the top of the adapter into a flat dome. This makes it easier to uncap and remove tubes.