DIY Dapi

Here you can discuss DIY adaptations to the microscope.
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Plasmid
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DIY Dapi

#1 Post by Plasmid » Fri Dec 24, 2021 2:24 am

Does anyone have any experience in custom making filter cubes, Im specially considering making Dapi filter for my Diastar ( I have a 1711 and another with just a dichroic mirror no emissions or excitation). I've seen companies like Chroma filters and Optolong offer emission filters, excitation filter and dichroic mirrors, but in guessing it'll be quite expensive.

What type of glue is used to set the filters?
Has anyone figured out a way to 3D print the two halves of the cubes?

Hobbyst46
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Re: DIY Dapi

#2 Post by Hobbyst46 » Fri Dec 24, 2021 3:31 pm

In commercial cubes I have met, the optical components are replaceable, that is you can configure a given cube with any set of filters, so no glue was used.
If the light source can be an LED, specific for DAPI, an excitation filter is not a must.
Interference filters and dichroic mirrors are indeed expensive, although Chroma used to be less expensive than other firms.

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iconoclastica
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Re: DIY Dapi

#3 Post by iconoclastica » Thu Oct 20, 2022 2:15 pm

I had a filterset by Optolong and I have tried to make filtercubes for use on the Optiphot. The greates issue I ran into was, that the modern filter cubes are larger than the ones the old Nikons use, and so are the modern filters. It seemed that I could just about fit the larger filters on a custom made filter cube. In the filter house there is no leeway, however, to make the filter cubes much larger than the original ones. So in a number of iterations, I found myself ever removing more construction material to accomodate for the filters while at the same time allowing the cube to move sidewards over its rail. In the end the construction was just too fragile to be assembled an I gave up.

With the proper size of filters and mirror, it likely would have worked though. It's feasable indeed to make the parts fit so snugly that the expensive filters need not be glued.

the last version - not sturdy enough
the last version - not sturdy enough
cube.jpg (32.42 KiB) Viewed 2028 times

Saul
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Re: DIY Dapi

#4 Post by Saul » Thu Oct 20, 2022 4:33 pm

Single body

FL cube 12.jpg
FL cube 12.jpg (20.41 KiB) Viewed 2010 times

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iconoclastica
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Re: DIY Dapi

#5 Post by iconoclastica » Thu Oct 20, 2022 7:09 pm

Saul wrote:
Thu Oct 20, 2022 4:33 pm
Single body
I see you're going for the soft line with the rounded edges - nice touch. It's close to my first attempt, when the filters hadn't yet arrived and I did not know their exact size yet. Is your stl downloadable somewhere?

Saul
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Re: DIY Dapi

#6 Post by Saul » Sat Oct 22, 2022 1:24 am

iconoclastica wrote:
Thu Oct 20, 2022 7:09 pm
... Is your stl downloadable somewhere?
Stopped doing that after some guys started selling my designs on ebay (licence was for the personal use only)

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