Orbital Shaker Selection Guide
Our selection guide will help you answer some common
questions so you can choose the appropriate orbital shaker
for your needs.
Tips for Choosing the Right Orbital Shaker for Your Laboratory
Orbital shakers are essential tools in the lab that are used in various applications involving bacterial suspensions, cell cultures, staining and washing procedures, solubility studies and more. They ensure uniform gentle agitation and even distribution of nutrients within flasks, tubes and plates. Shakers come in different sizes and formats, with different functions and options. Given this wide choice, it is not easy to decide which shaker is best suited for your laboratory. The following guide covers the main factors in more detail to help you select the best fit piece of equipment for your application.
1. Type of Shaker: Open Air or Incubated Shakers
Dependent on your application you may need different types of shaker: Open-air or incubated shakers.
Open-Air Shakers
Open air shakers are designed for shaking under ambient conditions, on the bench, in a warm or cold room or in incubators, environmental chambers or refrigerators. They have no temperature control and are good for protocols that only require ambient temperatures, such as staining, some solubility studies, extraction and washing procedures. Since there are no costs for heating mechanisms and compressors, open-air shakers are usually the most cost-effective option on the market and come in several sizes with a variety of platform types. There are even stackable platforms.
If you need to place an orbital shaker into a CO2 incubator for mammalian cell growth applications, it is important to verify whether the selected model is approved for use in CO2 chambers. CO2 resistant shakers are specially treated to protect the electrical and mechanical components from the corrosive environment in the CO2 chamber. In this type of environment, the electrical components react with high humidity and CO2 to form carbolic acid, which can cause the shaker to malfunction.
Incubated Shakers
By offering a wide range of temperature options, including ambient, incubation and refrigeration incubated shakers are more versatile than open-air shakers. With these units you can grow bacteria at 37°C or perform protein studies where refrigerated temperatures of 16°C are required in the same device. Incubated orbital shakers are ideal for applications where the growth atmosphere needs to be controlled and medium or high throughput is needed. These shakers can be found in different sizes ranging from benchtop to floor and stackable floor models.
2. Capacity of Shaker
Orbital shakers are available with different capacities. The capacity of a shaker is determined by the platform area and maximum weight limit. If handling heavy workload is a must for your application, it is worthwhile considering a shaker with a triple eccentric drive mechanism. Unlike single eccentric drives, triple eccentric drives provide smooth motion coupled with high axial platform stability for repeatable shaking and reliable performance, even under heavy workloads. Depending on how much space you have available in your laboratory, you can opt for a smaller benchtop model with a smaller platform area and a lower weight capacity or a large, stackable floor model with a high weight capacity.
Just as important as space and weight is the question of how many vessels of a certain size you need to shake at the same time. In some cases, this question will determine the size of shaker you need to consider. In the technical data of some manufacturers you will find valuable information about different vessel shapes and sizes and how many vessels a particular model can accommodate. As a wide range of vessel types and sizes are available, such as Erlenmeyer flasks, funnels, beakers, tubes and microwell plates, it is important to list out all the labware you want to shake.
3. Orbital Diameter
Once you've determined the vessel type, you can decide on the orbit diameter of the shaker. For most chemical applications, the orbital diameter is not important, but for culturing applications it is one of the key factors as the orbital diameter is proportionate to the oxygen transfer rate, which affects cell culture growth.
Most shakers designed for cell culture applications have an orbit diameter of 19, 25 or 50 mm. A 25 mm orbit diameter is the standard option for most applications. However, for experiments with a volume more than 2 L or shear-sensitive cells, an orbit with a larger diameter is advantageous. Small orbit diameters of less than 10 mm are best for microcentrifuge tubes, microplates, and other extra small vessels.
Our Recommendation
We recommend the following orbit diameter for the use of type and size of vessels as a general guide:
- 3 mm orbit diameter: Best for microplates, microcentrifuge tubes, and other very small vessels
- 15-25 mm orbit diameter: Best for cell culture dishes, and flasks and beakers up to about 2 L
- >30 mm Orbit diameter: Best for large vessels above 2 L
4. Speed Range
Speed is another important parameter, especially for cell culture applications, as it also affects oxygen transfer rate and in turn cell culture growth. Among the orbital shakers for cell culture applications, the smaller orbit shakers (19 and 25 mm) typically have a maximum of 400 or 500 rpm, whereas the large 50 mm orbit shakers have a maximum speed of 300 rpm. The smaller the orbit, the higher the maximum speed that can be set. Changes in orbital diameter can be compensated for with a change in speed and vice versa.
5. Temperature Range
It is important to get an orbital shaker that offers the temperature range you need to meet specific growth requirements. For example, some orbital shakers used to grow thermophiles, can reach up to 80ºC, while refrigerated units that are used for protein expression applications can be cooled down to 4ºC.
Our Recommendation
We suggest starting with the following speeds for various cultures and for staining and washing applications as a general guide:
- Bacteria: 250 rpm
- Fungi: 200 rpm
- Yeast: 120-300 rpm
- Algae: 110 rpm
- Insect cells: 100 rpm
- Staining: 15-70 rpm
There are also units available that shake as slow as 15 rpm. These slow speed shakers are ideal for staining and destaining of fragile gels, washing blots and general mixing applications. Please note that the speed can also be limited if the unit is stacked.
6. Analogue or Digital Controls
Analogue orbital shakers are a cheaper alternative to digital models, but also have a more limited speed range than their digital counterparts. Another disadvantage of analogue shakers is that they require annual maintenance, whereas the digital units are considered maintenance-free. This may be due to the brushes in the motors of some analogue systems that need to be replaced. Digital orbital shakers typically offer better speed accuracy and have more features than analogue models, including temperature and speed alarms, unbalanced load sensors, the ability to transfer data to a computer and more.