[DIYbio] Re: Cleaning methods for pipette tips

Hello DIYbio-ers!

I'm still a newbie at the practical lab side of biology. I'm wondering if people know [good] methods of cleaning pipette tips for re-use. 

Obviously not for the well funded labs that just buy new tips everytime, but this would reduce costs for DIYbio labs. 

I did some google searches, but so far haven't found anything. 

The reason I'm asking this is because I want to work towards building a cheap DIYbio lab robot, 

and having a cleaning system would lower cost and simplify the robot (No need to switch tips)

Would any of these things make sense: 

- Very small scale localised autoclaving? Normal tips would melt, but maybe metal tips could work here, or something else that is temperature-resistant. 

- Chemical cleaning of tips, but I guess that if you need chemicals you might as well use 

- Remove the biological compounds using other methods, maybe sound waves (Sonification)

Please contribute any crazy ideas you might have! :)

kind regards,

Jelmer Cnossen