Help Center

Using the Purge Station

A place for every cartridge.

The purge station is the small black block that comes with our 10 and 20 packs of cartridges. It's somewhere for your cartridges to stand, not another part of the pen. Nothing on it clicks, unscrews or needs setting up.

1. What it is

  • Six slots, sized to MODTECH 3mL cartridges.
  • A purge post in the center.
  • Printed by us in Texas, in black, with the MODTECH M on the front.

Putting cartridges in

Stand each cartridge upright in a slot. The fit is snug on purpose, so a cartridge stays put when you bump the counter. If one feels tight the first time, a gentle push with a small twist seats it. Forcing it isn't the fix.

If a cartridge won't go in at all, it's probably not one of ours. Other brands' cartridges can be a different width.

The purge post

A cartridge that's only part full has an air gap above the liquid. Put 1 mL into a 3 mL cartridge and most of it is still air. The purge post lets you push that air out before the cartridge goes in the pen, so it's primed and ready instead of "mostly ready."

The post works from below: it pushes the stopper up, and the air leaves through the top.

  1. Give the air a way out. Put a needle or pen tip on the top of the cartridge.
  2. Set the cartridge on the post, stopper end down, so the post sits against the stopper.
  3. Press down from the top, on the needle cap or the pen cap rather than your bare fingers. The stopper rides up and the air goes out through the tip.
  4. Stop when the liquid reaches the top. Past that point you're pushing out liquid, not air.

Then load the cartridge into your pen as usual.

A holder, not a sterile surface

The station is printed plastic. It isn't sterile and isn't meant to be. Keep cartridges sealed in their pouches until you use them, and treat the station like anything else on your counter.

Cleaning it

Wipe it with a damp cloth and let it air-dry. Keep it out of the dishwasher, hot water and hot cars: the plastic softens with heat, and a warped slot won't hold a cartridge properly.

Getting one

Right now the purge station comes with our 10 and 20 packs of cartridges. It isn't sold on its own.

Cartridges with a purge station

Still stuck?

Email tfortech@modtechsupply.net. We reply within one business day.

MODTECH products are precision hardware sold for laboratory and research use only. They are not medical devices. No substances are included with or sold alongside any product, and nothing on this page constitutes medical advice or instructions for administering any substance to humans or animals.