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Designing the Sample Holder

A project log for Microscope fiber optic lighting rig (version 2)

Custom lighting for a inverted microscope to successfully photograph and analyze non transparent macro objects using fiber optic wire.

zachary-marlowZachary Marlow 07/31/2022 at 15:490 Comments

Macro samples are usually to large to view on a slide or dish, which means you have to attach them to another object and then lower them into the focal space. The average size of samples that I will be viewing are around .3 to 3mm in size so I decided to design a magnetic sample holder that can be changed easily when changing samples . The sample will be attached to this with a small application of superglue, the amount of super glue necessary for this is smaller than the tip of a needle. The design on the right will be glued into place and the design on the left will be removable creating a magnetic hold. All of these parts are being printed on a resin printer to get the accuracy on the tip.

The magnets I will be using are 1*2mm

Solid view of the stack

X-ray view to show how the magnets will be aligned up.

The tips height was important to bring the sample into a position that would maximize light exposure. I was able to simulate this in Tinkercad. 

Now I just need to get it all printed and the magnets should be here in a few days.

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