The two most important things to be aware of when casting gels using the caster systems are:

1. that the glass plates have been inserted into the casting or gel running module on a flat surface.
2. that the spacers are flush with the bottom edges of the glass plates.

Perfect alignment of spacers can be guaranteed using the new glass plates with bonded spacers.

If you are experiencing problems obtaining good polymerisation adjacent to spacers and combs then this can be overcome by pre-soaking the combs and spacers in distilled water or a 10% solution of ammonium persulphate.

Over-tightening the cam pins on the casting systems is a common cause of problems when using these units. Cams should only be tightened just until appreciable pressure is felt.

Tube gel electrophoresis can be difficult because of problems with extracting the tube gel from the capillary tube. The tube gel is best extracted by gently pipetting liquid behind the tube gel and then catching it in the Gel extraction platform.

If the gel blot sandwich is too thick, this may bow the cassette causing loss of contact between gel and membrane resulting in poor transfer. The thickness of the blot can be lessened by removing the fibre pad on the non-membrane side of the blot.