Mount the sample properly. Think about covering the glue or holder and about either fixing the sample by Al wire or mounting an Al foil bag around.
For magnets, sample mounting needs to be better than within 1°. Depending on the instrument, care that one crystal direction is parallel to the goniometer axis.
Start experiment. Experiment name, sample name, give sample metadata to system
move instrument to elastic position
calculate (hkl) of a strong allowed refelction in your scattering plane for your kf
if there is no allowed reflection within the available q-range, think about removing the filter and orient at
move stt/a4 to scattering angle
rotate sample for 181° minimum (sometimes SE will hinder you, then take what you get)
you should find at least one reflection, and the angles between refelctions should represent the symmetry of the crystal
if there are more reflections than expected or the angles are wrong: filter forgotten? more than one grain? - think and decide
if ok - move sth/a3 to maximum of the reflection. Take the one better suited for SE/other constraints
go to maximum of the peak, define sth/a3 for the reflection [panda: setalign((h,k,l), nn)]
gonio-scan in the related direction, go to max.
check height
repeat gonio-scan, until there is no relevant change
check the lattice parameter. Care that horizontal focus is flat for this scan.
adjust lattice parameter
check gonio, height, lattice parameter iteratively up to no relevant changes occur. care about foci
after last lattice parameter scan, define sth/a3
claculate orthogonal reflection
go there, you should find it immediately
gonio-scan, lattice parameter iteratively (remember foci. height should be ok)
adjust lattice patametr, fix gonios
in case sth/a3 does not fit perfectly for both reflections, decide about a compromise depnding on you measureing goal
check lattice parameters at the temperature you want to measure
start first inelastic scans