Modifying OpenFlexure: Where to start?

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Hello everyone,

I am an electron microscopist, and I discovered OpenFlexure project some months ago. I was amazed! I quickly bought the necessary components, and built my first microscope. It was totally beyond my expectations, I am very happy with it!

Now I want to do more by modifying it. My hope is to do ptychography with it, but I need to modify a couple of things before I get there. However, when I wanted to modify the parts, I ran into some challenges. The designs are not really accessible for modifications, at least at my knowledge level.

Shortly, my questions is: If someone wants to modify the parts (beyond changing the length of the lens tube through SCAD), how should they approach this? For example, does anyone have access to the solid versions of the STL parts?

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And if you have time, here is a practical example of what I’m going through:

I wanted to modify the condenser. And the original part itself is beautifully designed. But when I want to add something to it, I can only use mesh-level operations, because the original file is an STL.

I tried converting it to a solid in Fusion360, and unsurprisingly it didn’t work, as these work only for very basic shapes.

And if I want to draw it myself from scratch, while maintaining compatibility with the rest of the microscope, the amount of complexity is too much. For example, I have no idea how to approach drawing these details:

Screenshot 2026-01-04 at 18.52.11
Screenshot 2026-01-04 at 18.52.111522×1306 27.4 KB

I use CADs such as Fusion360, and I am somewhat a beginner/intermediate user.

Does anyone have any suggestions to help me start modifying some parts, beyond parametric modifications through SCAD?

Kind regards,

Berk

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Hi @FrustratedElectron. Thank you for looking into the project. I would love to see ptychography implemented.

As you have already discovered, the source design is in OpenSCAD, and the solid parts are STLs. OpenSCAD uses a constructive solid geometry approach to CAD, which is fundamentally different from programs such as Fusion or FreeCAD, which use constraints based geometry. It is not possible to make direct conversions between these different approaches.

There is some explanation of the reasons for using OpenSCAD in the first place, and the consequences of that, in Alternative file options other than STL for block/delta stages? - #2 by WilliamW .

If you are wanting to make significant modifications to the main body, you would be best working in OpenSCAD. If you are wanting to modify accessories, or things that mount onto the optics fitting or the illumination dovetail, then these relatively simple parts do not take too long to recreate, or you could try the methods in Towards STEP components . This should work for most of the mounted parts. You might only need the part that mates to the OpenFlexure mount, from there you can add what you need.

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Hello @WilliamW ,

Thank you sincerely for the reply, and the links. These are super useful.

Honestly, I was a bit reluctant to learn OpenSCAD because I read it’s rarely used in the industry. However, after reading some other discussions about it in a more positive light, I decided to give it a go. I’ll let you know of the results.

Kind regards,

Berk

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OpenSCAD is not very widely used, and it has some odd quirks. I would put it as ‘OK when you get used to it’.

The main reason to use it is the ease of version control with multiple developers and tracking development, because it uses text based programing.