Guest blogger, Michael Jukes (Master of Science candidate in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology) has been instrumental in the establishment of an active community of makers at Rhodes University, South Africa. Below he describes one seemingly simple printed modification to a light microscope.
“Yay, 3D printers to the rescue printing useful microscope tools!! Well, maybe a little more back story is required. Microscopes are common pieces of equipment to most biology labs providing students the ability to gaze into the world of the microscopic. As a biology student, I can testify that this miniature world is amazing! I have had the pleasure to observe the smallest structures found on insects and plants as well as peering into the tiny world of bacteria and viruses. However, often I am unable to share these amazing spectacles with those around me as not all microscopes have cameras and these wondrous images are lost to time. Well, this is where the 3D printer comes to the rescue. A quick search on Thingiverse and the designs for a Universal Phone Microscope Adapter (by shanos) were found. We churned one out and put it to the test. Essentially this adapter allows any smartphone to be carefully positioned over the microscope eyepiece allowing one to seamlessly snap high quality images and with smartphones having cameras upwards of 8 megapixels, these images are as good as those achieved with dedicated microscope cameras. Below is an array of images of the adapter and the images taken with it”
The main body being printed in PLA at 200µm/micron layer height on a RepRapPro Ormerod
Completed and assembled with the aid of some extra nuts and bolts.
Samsung Galaxy neatly housed in the adapter positioned over single eye-piece on an Olympus light microscope, the image being visualised is a bacterial Gram stain for identification and classification.
Image of Gram-Negative rod shaped bacteria captured using the adapter.
A stem cross section of Tecoma capensis – The Cape Honeysuckle indigenous to Southern Africa.
A Green Lacewing as visualised under a Dissecting (Stereo) light microscope
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