Questions getting ready to build

General
1

I have two questions:

First, I am doing the printer test. But for the testing of the nut trap can I use a screw other than the hex drive one specified?

Second, I understand it is possible to upgrade the low cost microscope to the high resolution microscope. Is there more to this than printing the high resolution lens parts and getting the necessary lenses?

Thanks,

Ken

2

Hi @KenF. For the nut trap test it is best to use the type if screw that you will use for the build. You want to get the feel for how tight you need to screw it in order to embed the nut, and how tight is too tight where you damage the plastic or the screw thread. This will feel different for different drives. If you want to use a screw with a different head, you would need to check that the head size is similar to the DIN size of the M3 socket head, but not bigger. You also need to be able to drive at an angle of 15 degrees to fit the optics module.

Changing from the low-cost optics module to high resolution is as you say just printing the other parts and assembling it with the tube lens and the objective.

3

Thanks.

4

Another Qusetion: The instructions say the Condenser arm **should be printed in dark, opaque filament.” I have seen pictures of microscopes where this part is printed in light colors. Would yellow be ok? or should I use something darker like medium blue?

5

We recently changed the recommendation to dark. The photos across the head of the main instructions still very boldly show a white condenser. I have taken new images, but they have not yet made it to a release.

It is not critical, but it is harder to see to align/focus the illuminated spot if there is a lot of light coming out of the side of the condenser module. I use blue or black. White is bad, yellow is probably also not good.

6

How dark should the blue be?

7

What I have is called ‘blue’, and it is quite light. The purpose is that light from a bright LED should not show through. If you put something printed in white on top of a phone torch LED it will be almost too bright to look at. You want a colour where the LED does not show through, or at least is dim..