Category: Hardware

Microbehunter

Oliver Kim puts out a nice magazine called Microbehunter. It’s a great resource for microscope nerds. I’ve listed a few blog articles below, but actually, the full PDF issues are where most of the…



Wire gauge frequency ratings

As previously noted, homemade cables are to be avoided. However, stock cables are not always up to spec. For example, if one wants to drive stepper motors using a 9-pin serial…



Multimeters with IR temp

I thought I needed a $30 multimeter. But then I saw that for just a few bucks more I could get some more features. This process repeated itself until I ended up buying a…



3D Printed iPhone-to-Eyepiece adapters

Thanks go to commenter ybot for this one. They pointed out this handy iPhone-to-Microscope mount iPhone case.

From the pictures, it looks like the prototype was printed on a Makerbot, which isn’t terribly high…



CircuitLab: Google Docs for circuits

CircuitLab is an online circuit design tool. This is my new favorite way to jot down circuits. The interface is clean and simple and even has some test/simulation facilities. It also has a sharing/GoogleDocs…



Fast z-galvo for 3D two-photon imaging

Perhaps you’re familiar with the various AOD and piezo-based methods for two-photon imaging in 3D quickly. Here’s another way (Botcherby et al. 2012, PNAS, open access)

The used all galvos, rather than AODs or…



Intrinsic imaging on the cheap

Intrinsic signal optical imaging is a functional imaging modality where the reflectance of red light indicates active portions of cortex. It is used for many applications, including imaging individual barrels in rodent somatosensory cortex, maps in visual cortex, and the tonotopic organization in auditory cortex.

Here is a prior Labrigger post with tips for intrinsic…



Clearing tissue for imaging: index matching is not new

The main factor that limits how deep we can image into tissue is the scattering of light. Multiphoton imaging partially mitigates the problem by using infrared light, which scatter less, and by using an excitation…



3D Sketch-up models for Newport parts

Thorlabs and Newport have offered 3D models of their products for a long time. However, they’re typically in formats for expensive programs like SolidWorks and AutoCAD. In the past year or two, Newport has been slowly adding to their library of Google SketchUp models.



Optics Planet and Braintree Scientific and New Era syringe pumps: Inexpensive scientific equipment

Optics Planet has a nice selection of inexpensive microscopes and other lab equipment. Such as these chubby, potential Cute Overload



Thorlabs’ B-scope

Thorlabs’ scope pieces and kits have been mentioned in these pages before. At SfN, they had their new B-scope on display. This is like the Sutter MOM and the UCLA…



Building a 2p scope, 2011 edition

What’s new this year?

The original post on building a 2p scope still gets a lot of hits. Let’s revisit the topic.

Scientifica

Scientifica has been working hard on developing a kit for multiphoton imaging. It’s all based off of their minimalist, yet versatile SliceScope platform.

I’ve had the opportunity to check out their collection module and…



Sensapex piezo manipulators

Sensapex is the new kid on the block for micromanipulators, and theirs have an ultra small footprint with 20mm of travel on 3 axes. Here are some pictures of one of the first…



Thorlabs’ SM2 fits Nikon lenses

Fun fact for the day: ThorLabs’…



No homemade cables

One of Josh Trachtenberg’s rules that I have adopted is “No Homemade Cables”. It’s so natural to think that this is the best solution to hook two…