
Print your own laboratory-grade microscope for US$18 - samizdis
https://phys.org/news/2020-05-laboratory-grade-microscope-us18.html
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sandworm101
Print? Forget 3d printing, if you want a cheep medical microscope you can
2d-print and the _fold_ one out of paper.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foldscope](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foldscope)

Foldscopes illustrate an interesting reality when it comes medical testing:
more often than not a general-purpose medical microscope is total overkill.
For medical testing, seeing if some pathogen is present or not, you do not
need massive optics creating large fields of view. Answers can be found using
extreemly small optics of, literally, disposable microscopes. The problems of
foldscopes largely surround issue of contamination and testing methodology,
not the limitations of the optics.

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dekhn
This isn't really comparable on any dimension. The foldscope uses a tiny ball
lens that introduces a ton of distortion and even its ability to detect
disease is pretty questionable (that said I really think it's got a bunch of
clever ideas).

Note that this scope really isn't as cheap as described; the printer and the
labor involved massively outweight the dollar cost of the components.

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paypalcust83
It's good for rough pathology of certain infectious diseases and fluid and
tissue conditions. Also, you're throwing around a strawman about fixed costs
that are amortized in volume. Plus, robotic manufacturing and packing can
produce these in massive quantities that drive the net unit costs down.

I've played with similar microscope prototypes IRL and they were quite
impressive for something seemingly primitive at first, they were quite usable
and adjustable.

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dekhn
I've built several scopes by hand and looked at various projects; this one is
far and away the best combination of design, price, and features that I've
seen. It's not 'perfect' (if you really care about that, go to a top lab and
build your own scope from scratch), but given the limits of what's available,
it's pretty damn impressive.

~~~
app4soft
> _I 've built several scopes by hand and looked at various projects_

It would be cool to see comparison between such DIY microscopes.

JFTR, IBM rolled out own version of "low-cost" (~ $300) DIY motorized
microscope based on Lego + RPi.[0]

[0] [https://github.com/IBM/MicroscoPy](https://github.com/IBM/MicroscoPy)

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dekhn
The problem is that so few people do this, and needs are so specialized, that
head-to-head comparisons are really hard.

I never understand why people build things like this out of legos. They really
not a good substrate for microscope parts. I know it's fun and they're easy to
get, but the other parts of the scope are so demanding that you might as well
go the full way and design/print 3D plastic (solid body) or use aluminum.

~~~
app4soft
> _I never understand why people build things like this out of legos._

Think, Lego chosen because it is really good for prototyping & and widely used
for education.

And according such projects like _MicroscoPy_ (or any other Lego-based
project) main target is not create "production ready thing", but instead learn
how things could be invented using basic building blocks.

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zwieback
Very cool but misleading title - you need to bring your own optics.

~~~
claar
Agreed -- feels like a real waste of time after I Google'd the costs for the
optics ($100 minimum if I did it right) and other parts (Raspberry Pi, etc),
then Google'd what a pre-built way-nicer-than-I'd-need microscope goes for
($157 shipped at [https://www.amscope.com/40x-2500x-advanced-home-school-
compo...](https://www.amscope.com/40x-2500x-advanced-home-school-compound-
microscope.html))...

Definitely seems to fall in the "3d printing is cool" bucket more than "look
how much money I can save" bucket.

~~~
dekhn
The big difference here is the stage is automatic, and it supports multiple
types of illumination.

I've built high-end 3D microscopes using aluminum extrusion and 3d printed
parts before (with commercially produced objectives, but everything else
pretty much sourced from places like Adafruit and OpenBuilds). I got pretty
good results and contributed the hardware drivers to MicroManager (an open
source tool to drive many different scopes with the same UI).

In retrospect, I would have instead found a way to get a Nikon Ti scope body
and accessorize that. It's hard to replicate the high quality and full
ecosystem of the Ti for anything less than the list price of a Ti.

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amelius
Isn't this just a holder that keeps the objective lens at the desired distance
from the sample/camera?

And if you can buy the optical parts for cheap on Alibaba, then why not buy
the holder there as well?

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mceachen
The project name is the answer to your question:

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexure](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexure)

From
[https://openflexure.org/projects/microscope/](https://openflexure.org/projects/microscope/)

> Optomechanics is a crucial part of any microscope; when working at high
> magnification, it is absolutely crucial to keep the sample steady and to be
> able to bring it into focus precisely. Accurate motion control is extremely
> difficult using printed mechanical parts, as good linear motion typically
> requires tight tolerances and a smooth surface finish.

> This design for a 3D printed microscope stage uses plastic flexures, meaning
> its motion is free from friction and vibration. It achieves steps well below
> 100 nanometers when driven with miniature stepper motors, and is stable to
> within a few microns over several days.

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miesman
[https://openflexure.org/projects/microscope/](https://openflexure.org/projects/microscope/)

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canada_dry
Somewhat related... it makes me wonder whether 'old' zoom camera lens - which
you can readily find for a fraction of their original price at thrift stores -
could they be disassembled and their high quality glass lens used in something
like this?

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Jemm
The current trend not to include the name of or a link to the article subject
is annoying and should stop.

