Hey there, I’m a security guard in Ottawa just getting his feet wet in this stuff! Right now I’m looking into DIY microscopy - ideally without a 3D printer, since my broke ass doesn’t have one. I’m looking into the Yoshino and Hackteria designs right now, but both are over a decade old - have there been updates to the designs, or anything?
Hi ‘Ottawa’, there’s a great many diy designs out there, I have worked with the OpenFlexure microscope https://openflexure.org/projects/microscope/ , which is great; currently I work mostly with the UC2 modular setup because of its flexibility https://github.com/openUC2/UC2-GIT . You’d need access to a 3D printer though, maybe there is a fablab or makerspace in your area?
Good luck, Jan-Maarten
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Hey Jan (Jan-Marten?)! I’m asking around for the makerspace/fablab options in Ottawa - by and large, the community was wiped out, but there are still a few places to print, just a question of money. One of my pipe dreams was to maybe use the Yoshino design to upcycle all those old laser pointers nobody uses anymore by touring high schools and having students put together their own microscopes. Eh, that can still happen after I get my own super-cool, 3D printed microscope, I guess.
I’m looking at the two projects you linked to - both seem very cool, but I’m having trouble understanding their performance. With the Yoshino design, it was very clear - you can get ~325-375x in terms of magnification, although I’ve since learned that maybe a red herring (something something aperture?). But concretely, what can I expect outta these two, in terms of performance? Or, if you’re a RTFM type - which I’m all about - what’s the FM I should get my nose in?
Hey @OttawaToMontreal, speaking for UC2 (I’m the developer 
) It’s mostly a skeleton for any optics you have. You can go down to several nanometers in resolution if you tweak the optics and photochemistry carefully enough: An open-source, high-resolution, automated fluorescence microscope | eLife
What exactly are you trying to image?
The openflexure from the folks in Glasgow is a great piece of design and works out of the box with very little complexity. You’re bound by the Raspi cam which is not exceptionally great though…
Hey sorry for the late reply - I swear I thought I did some reply already, guess it didn’t go through!
I’m not sure what I want to image yet - I have an interest in microbiology (mycology, tardigrades, rotifers, that sorta thing) but no concrete projects yet. What I really don’t want is to make an investment of time and money - both currently in short supply over here… - and then find out I need to make another microscope to actually get so-and-so done. So I want something that’s either:
- modular, so I can swap out various powers of microscope or whatever as I need them
- great bang for buck, something along the lines of, “This 150$ you spent should cover whatever microscoping you need to do for a while!”
Past that, thinking of finding a good microscopy textbook or something to work through, get some experience & muscle memory going, you know?
For a quick start maybe something like this would suffice? https://www.instructables.com/10-Smartphone-to-digital-microscope-conversion/ . The organisms you are interested in are small, but not that small, and this setup is cheap, fast, and easy to adapt. Should get you some experience while you figure out what role you want microscopy to play in your life. It’s always going to take time though (and usually some money too). Good luck!
That’s the Yoshino design I mentioned! I actually emailed him with questions about the design, if I end up riffing off of it I’ll put it up here.