A higher-tech open syringe pump
Posted in Hardware
Theo Walker has a very nice open syringe pump design that has some advantages over another open syringe pump project we’ve covered (though the latter is less expensive).
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Category: Hardware
Cheap microcontrollers
Posted in Hardware
This post is by Koen Vervaeke.
Cheap microcontrollers like Arduino or Raspberries are great devices to orchestrate behavior experiments. They don’t have however high voltage outputs to directly drive valves, servomotors, etc which typically…
The commoditization of image sensors
Posted in Hardware
About 25 years ago, pro-level audio recording technology was prohibitively expensive for home studios. Then, digital audio technology like the Alesis ADAT enabled working class musicians to produce high fidelity recordings. The fast…
Custom scan optics for two-photon imaging
Adrian Negrean, in Huibert Mansvelder’s lab, has been designing and building custom scan optics for two-photon imaging and earlier this year published his work (paper). Labrigger wants to emphasize how nice this paper is. It’s…
Drop-in cage system from Newport
Posted in Hardware
Newport has expanded their cage system offerings. We’ve teased them in the past, but this looks nice. Thorlabs has a few components that can be dropped into a completed cage…
Scheme-it: online schematics integrated with Digikey
Scheme-it is an online electronics schematics/design tool that is integrated with Digikey’s catalog. This way, you can skip a step and go directly from design to order, without having to spend time sourcing parts….
MISUMI for customized parts
Posted in Hardware
When fabricating custom parts, starting from raw materials gives you flexibility. However, it is time consuming and design changes can mean starting from scratch. It’s faster if you can find some part off the shelf to…
Personal laser cutter
Posted in Hardware
It’s easy to underestimate the implications of running a laser cutter. Toxic fumes, tons of space occupied (machine and stock materials), breakdowns. It’s maybe not worth it since there are so many companies that will ship…
OpenTrons – liquid handling robots for high throughput
Posted in Hardware
OpenTrons is a project to develop an open architecture for liquid handling lab robots. Actually, they’re more versatile than that. They can also be used for related robotic tasks, such as pick-and-place machines. They already…
Abbe Diffraction setup
Posted in Hardware
Kurt Thorn shared the parts list for his Abbe diffraction setup. He describes how to use it in his blog post, but you can also check out his talk.
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OpenLabTools at Cambridge
OpenLabTools is a new initiative at Cambridge University, using engineering students to develop modular lab equipment.
The OpenLabTools initiative aims to provide a forum and knowledge centre for the development of low cost and open…
Optomechanics and microscopy technical notes – many items
Posted in Hardware
Vojnovic’s group at Oxford has dozens of technical notes. Most are concise, and include software code, if applicable. SolidWorks files and PCB files are available on request.
Here are a few examples:
DIY Von Frey filaments
Posted in Hardware
FlyMAD
This tip comes from John Stowers. He and his colleagues developed an open source opto- and thermo- genetic system for targeting freely moving Drosophila with lasers.
He wrote a long post discussing some of…