A team of physicists and engineers at the University of Strathclyde, in Scotland, working with a colleague from the University of Glasgow, has developed the means for 3D printing a microscope, including the lens, for under $60. In their paper posted on the bioRxiv preprint server, the group describes how they came up with the plans for the microscope and notes that the end result has a resolution strong enough to make out individual blood cells in test samples.
  • Björn TantauEnglish
    1•4 minutes ago

    Reminds me of this one you’d get in magazines in the 90s. If I recall correctly it actually worked.

  • @[email protected]English
    9•23 hours ago

    it was possible to print quality microscope lenses using a photopolymerizing clear resin on a Mars 3 Pro printer. In developing the specifications for their lenses, they followed those of the Edmund Optics 12.7 mm diameter plano-convex lens, which has a focal length of 35 mm

    I didn’t open the paper to read more, but that’s the important bit if you’re curious like me.

  • @[email protected]English
    2•23 hours ago

    The cost of high-resolution microscopes can be prohibitively high for millions of students and researchers around the world.

    Now they’ll just need to spend $1,000 on a couple of 3D printers (FDM and resin) and supplies and bam you’ve got a fully functional microscope!

    • @AnUnusualRelicEnglish
      4•19 hours ago

      A thousand dollars divided by millions of students and researchers ends up being really cheap!

  • @sir_pronounEnglish
    0•21 hours ago

    You can usually find pretty good used microscopes cheaply