• All requests to the Scientific Instrumentation Workshops must be submitted via the ticketing system. We will then typically set up a follow-up meeting to discuss detailed requirements and evaluate the suitability of the project.
• Walk-in requests are welcome. Urgent repair requests, or follow-up discussions regarding recently produced hardware can be brought directly to the respective workshop teams. For all other walk-in inquiries and requests, please first visit the Head of SIW (Thanasi) in 404B.
• To provide fair services to all users, the Scientific Instrumentation Workshops work on a first-come-first serve basis, accounting for established project deadlines. Because of this, short-term deadlines may not be possible to accommodate, and delivery timelines can vary based on current workshop load. For urgent parts that we cannot produce quickly in-house, we are happy to help find external solutions or coordinate external fabrication.
• While we can produce the majority of components for our projects in-house, some projects require us to engage external manufacturing partners or to order project-specific tooling. In these cases, we will bill the external costs directly through to the end-user.

Mechanical Workshop

• 3D CAD Designs of parts/assemblies will only be accepted in the following formats: Solidworks (preferred), STEP, IGES.
• If submitting multiple related parts, please also submit the complete assembly file, and ensure that assemblies are exported in a way that all references are included (e.g. pack-and-go). 

Publication Policy

• If you publish work supported by the Scientific Instrumentation Workshops design and fabrication services,  it is obligatory to include this sentence in the acknowledgment:

We thank the Scientific Instrumentation Workshops at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) for their support.

• If the SIW staff contributed significantly to the conception and design of an instrument central to published work, the relevant staff members shall be included in the author list.

Repair Procedures

When you get in touch with us after your equipment fails, the SIM group will evaluate the possibility of repairing in house, taking into account:

• type of the equipment
• year of construction
• ratio instrument cost / repair cost
• availability spare parts in the near future
• supplier warranty
• cost of the new equivalent Equipment

If we determine we cannot repair the device, we will let you know and can help to organize an external repair, which will be billed to your group.