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Making Rotary Attachment, Getting Ready For MRRF2017

A project log for Electrospinning Machine

Bring an open source electrospinning machine to the hobbyist level. Made with easily sourced and inexpensive materials.

douglas-millerDouglas Miller 03/17/2017 at 23:420 Comments

Well aware that MRRF 2017 is only a week or so away, I'm getting the one piece of equipment I still really need for this thing: a rotary cylinder. It'll allow me to make long fibers instead of just mats. It's almost ready. Still need to do the speed control and straighten out the wiring to connect it to the electrospinner. But it works! :)

For now I'm using a spring inside to connect the center rod, which does not spin, with the cylinder, which does. I need that to ground the cylinder for the hV, of course. As it spins the fibers tend to grab and stick, then lay down around the cylinder. You wind up with longer 'strings' of fibers instead of just a unwoven mat.

It fits into the machine and sits on the table supports. A notch at the bottom keeps it in place on the supports.

This is what it looks like, inside and out.

A few days ago I tossed something together for the USB microscope. The thing works great, but at high magnification the stand that comes with it is all but unusable. So I made a better one. This is what that looks like. I'm sure I'll have both of these new doodads at MRRF, if you're coming. I hope you do!

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