Home built laser scanning confocal microscope

What equipment do you use? Post pictures and descriptions of your microscope(s) here!
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franc0_c
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Home built laser scanning confocal microscope

#1 Post by franc0_c » Fri Jul 22, 2022 7:35 am

Hi everyone, my name is franco. This is my home built confocal microscope project. I used Nikon eclipse C1 scanning head and rebuilt the control system. Now it works well in confocal fluorescence and bright field imaging. I would love to discuss and learn about confocal imaging with you in here. :D :D :D

This is my youtube channel : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK_DOH ... 00iZ5kr3oA

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Cristian11
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Re: Home built laser scanning confocal microscope

#2 Post by Cristian11 » Fri Jul 22, 2022 12:40 pm

duuudee,

I wish I was that smart haha

Epic stuff. Good job!

Scarodactyl
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Re: Home built laser scanning confocal microscope

#3 Post by Scarodactyl » Fri Jul 22, 2022 2:20 pm

Wow, that's a very impressive project, and the results look great!

Sure Squintsalot
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Re: Home built laser scanning confocal microscope

#4 Post by Sure Squintsalot » Fri Jul 22, 2022 5:11 pm

Cristian11 wrote:
Fri Jul 22, 2022 12:40 pm
duuudee,

I wish I was that smart haha

Epic stuff. Good job!
I know, right!?

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imkap
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Re: Home built laser scanning confocal microscope

#5 Post by imkap » Fri Jul 22, 2022 5:50 pm

Looks great, high tech :shock:

Congratulations on your success

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zzffnn
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Re: Home built laser scanning confocal microscope

#6 Post by zzffnn » Fri Jul 22, 2022 6:19 pm

Very impressive work, Franco.

Did you build it with a purpose in mind (if so, what is your purpose?), or did you build it just for the fun of creating it?

I have used confocal (only as tool to get particular results) in my cell biology research, but don’t really know much about it.

Microscopy_is_fun
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Re: Home built laser scanning confocal microscope

#7 Post by Microscopy_is_fun » Fri Jul 22, 2022 7:11 pm

Great work, thanks for showing!

Can you give some more details on the software you used for controlling the scanner and on the utilized objectives and tube as well as scanning lenses?

franc0_c
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Re: Home built laser scanning confocal microscope

#8 Post by franc0_c » Sat Jul 23, 2022 1:45 am

Cristian11 wrote:
Fri Jul 22, 2022 12:40 pm
duuudee,

I wish I was that smart haha

Epic stuff. Good job!
Thank you~ :) :) :)

franc0_c
Posts: 16
Joined: Sun Jun 19, 2022 6:00 am

Re: Home built laser scanning confocal microscope

#9 Post by franc0_c » Sat Jul 23, 2022 1:50 am

Scarodactyl wrote:
Fri Jul 22, 2022 2:20 pm
Wow, that's a very impressive project, and the results look great!
Thank you, I am very satisfied with the result.

Next, i want to design my own scanning head, and hope better than this. :D :D :D

franc0_c
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Re: Home built laser scanning confocal microscope

#10 Post by franc0_c » Sat Jul 23, 2022 1:52 am

imkap wrote:
Fri Jul 22, 2022 5:50 pm
Looks great, high tech :shock:

Congratulations on your success
Thank you~ :) :) :)

franc0_c
Posts: 16
Joined: Sun Jun 19, 2022 6:00 am

Re: Home built laser scanning confocal microscope

#11 Post by franc0_c » Sat Jul 23, 2022 2:46 am

zzffnn wrote:
Fri Jul 22, 2022 6:19 pm
Very impressive work, Franco.

Did you build it with a purpose in mind (if so, what is your purpose?), or did you build it just for the fun of creating it?

I have used confocal (only as tool to get particular results) in my cell biology research, but don’t really know much about it.
Widefield flouresence and Confocal fluorescence imaging are two main characterization methods in my research.

The commercial confocal microscope is tooooooooo expensive for personal use, so, i try to make it in low cost using used parts.(Just for prototype~) :D :D :D

franc0_c
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Re: Home built laser scanning confocal microscope

#12 Post by franc0_c » Sat Jul 23, 2022 2:57 am

Microscopy_is_fun wrote:
Fri Jul 22, 2022 7:11 pm
Great work, thanks for showing!

Can you give some more details on the software you used for controlling the scanner and on the utilized objectives and tube as well as scanning lenses?
I used custom LabView programm to control the system. The objectives is olympus PLN20X, the tube is removed from olymupus cx21 binocular observation tube, and the scanning lenses is a part of the Nikon c1 scanning head. :) :) :)

Microscopy_is_fun
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Re: Home built laser scanning confocal microscope

#13 Post by Microscopy_is_fun » Sat Jul 23, 2022 8:22 am

franc0_c wrote:
Sat Jul 23, 2022 1:50 am

Next, i want to design my own scanning head, and hope better than this. :D :D :D
I would be glad to hear more about that when you progress with this project!
franc0_c wrote:
Sat Jul 23, 2022 2:57 am
I used custom LabView programm to control the system. The objectives is olympus PLN20X, the tube is removed from olymupus cx21 binocular observation tube, and the scanning lenses is a part of the Nikon c1 scanning head. :) :) :)
Thanks for the info!

Hobbyst46
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Re: Home built laser scanning confocal microscope

#14 Post by Hobbyst46 » Sat Jul 23, 2022 8:48 am

Amazing job !
What illumination sources are used ? the lasers of confocal microscopes that I have met were large, and water-cooled.

franc0_c
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Re: Home built laser scanning confocal microscope

#15 Post by franc0_c » Sat Jul 23, 2022 8:50 am

Microscopy_is_fun wrote:
Sat Jul 23, 2022 8:22 am
franc0_c wrote:
Sat Jul 23, 2022 1:50 am

Next, i want to design my own scanning head, and hope better than this. :D :D :D
I would be glad to hear more about that when you progress with this project!
franc0_c wrote:
Sat Jul 23, 2022 2:57 am
I used custom LabView programm to control the system. The objectives is olympus PLN20X, the tube is removed from olymupus cx21 binocular observation tube, and the scanning lenses is a part of the Nikon c1 scanning head. :) :) :)
Thanks for the info!
You can subscribe my youtube channel to get the latest progress. :D :D :D

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK_DOH ... 3oA/videos

franc0_c
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Re: Home built laser scanning confocal microscope

#16 Post by franc0_c » Sat Jul 23, 2022 9:13 am

Hobbyst46 wrote:
Sat Jul 23, 2022 8:48 am
Amazing job !
What illumination sources are used ? the lasers of confocal microscopes that I have met were large, and water-cooled.
I use two HeNe gas lasers.

The large and water-cooled laser may be the ultrafast laser. :D

Most commercial confocal microscopes now are using compact laser,like Coherent Obis, Sapphire.

Microscopy_is_fun
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Re: Home built laser scanning confocal microscope

#17 Post by Microscopy_is_fun » Mon Jul 25, 2022 8:18 pm

franc0_c wrote:
Sat Jul 23, 2022 2:46 am
The commercial confocal microscope is tooooooooo expensive for personal use, so, i try to make it in low cost using used parts.(Just for prototype~) :D :D :D
Do you already have an idea which galvoscanner and which photomultiplier tube you would like to use?

If you haven't seen yet, Thorlabs offers very detailled information about their modular confocal platform:

https://www.thorlabs.com/newgrouppage9. ... p_id=10647

franc0_c
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Re: Home built laser scanning confocal microscope

#18 Post by franc0_c » Tue Jul 26, 2022 2:18 am

Microscopy_is_fun wrote:
Mon Jul 25, 2022 8:18 pm
franc0_c wrote:
Sat Jul 23, 2022 2:46 am
The commercial confocal microscope is tooooooooo expensive for personal use, so, i try to make it in low cost using used parts.(Just for prototype~) :D :D :D
Do you already have an idea which galvoscanner and which photomultiplier tube you would like to use?

If you haven't seen yet, Thorlabs offers very detailled information about their modular confocal platform:

https://www.thorlabs.com/newgrouppage9. ... p_id=10647
Thank you so much~ :D I have bought some galvos and different types of photomultiplier tubes (like Hmamatsu HC120, R928 and R1617).

Now, i am focusing on scanning head modeling. After the system finished, i will test the confocal imaging quality between different photomultiplier tubes, and try to use SiPM module designed by Vincent et al. as detector.

Here is the paper published by Vincent et al. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-84522-0

abednego1995
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Re: Home built laser scanning confocal microscope

#19 Post by abednego1995 » Tue Jul 26, 2022 5:18 am

This is fantastic work, great job! How did you couple the pickup fiber output to your PMT?

Cheers,
John

Microscopy_is_fun
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Re: Home built laser scanning confocal microscope

#20 Post by Microscopy_is_fun » Tue Jul 26, 2022 6:41 am

franc0_c wrote:
Tue Jul 26, 2022 2:18 am
Now, i am focusing on scanning head modeling. After the system finished, i will test the confocal imaging quality between different photomultiplier tubes, and try to use SiPM module designed by Vincent et al. as detector.
Very interesting! Here are some more links that might be relevant for the project you are looking at:

https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01141210/document

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/artic ... ne.0110475

http://www.cyto.purdue.edu/archive/flow ... /index.htm

franc0_c
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Re: Home built laser scanning confocal microscope

#21 Post by franc0_c » Tue Jul 26, 2022 8:53 am

abednego1995 wrote:
Tue Jul 26, 2022 5:18 am
This is fantastic work, great job! How did you couple the pickup fiber output to your PMT?

Cheers,
John
Hi, John. I used original Nikon C1 Detection Module, the optical fiber transmits the fluorescence directly to the PMT through the fiber collimator, and every PMT has its own collimating lens. :D

Here are some pictures about it.

Collimator.jpg
Collimator.jpg (119.59 KiB) Viewed 5511 times
nikon_detector.jpg
nikon_detector.jpg (74.29 KiB) Viewed 5511 times

franc0_c
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Re: Home built laser scanning confocal microscope

#22 Post by franc0_c » Tue Jul 26, 2022 8:56 am

Microscopy_is_fun wrote:
Tue Jul 26, 2022 6:41 am
franc0_c wrote:
Tue Jul 26, 2022 2:18 am
Now, i am focusing on scanning head modeling. After the system finished, i will test the confocal imaging quality between different photomultiplier tubes, and try to use SiPM module designed by Vincent et al. as detector.
Very interesting! Here are some more links that might be relevant for the project you are looking at:

https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01141210/document

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/artic ... ne.0110475

http://www.cyto.purdue.edu/archive/flow ... /index.htm
:D :D :D Yes, I have read all the links you mentioned before.

abednego1995
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Re: Home built laser scanning confocal microscope

#23 Post by abednego1995 » Tue Jul 26, 2022 1:37 pm

Ah, I see you got the whole kit!! Good way to go. Looking foward to your results with SiPM conversion!

franc0_c
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Re: Home built laser scanning confocal microscope

#24 Post by franc0_c » Tue Jul 26, 2022 1:59 pm

abednego1995 wrote:
Tue Jul 26, 2022 1:37 pm
Ah, I see you got the whole kit!! Good way to go. Looking foward to your results with SiPM conversion!
Thanks for your attention, John :D :D :D

rogeliomoreno
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Location: Panama

Re: Home built laser scanning confocal microscope

#25 Post by rogeliomoreno » Wed Aug 10, 2022 6:36 am

Franco,

Congratulations. ;)
Amazing job! :o

I am also trying to implement confocal on my Nikon TE300.

Rogelio

franc0_c
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Re: Home built laser scanning confocal microscope

#26 Post by franc0_c » Wed Aug 10, 2022 9:45 am

rogeliomoreno wrote:
Wed Aug 10, 2022 6:36 am
Franco,

Congratulations. ;)
Amazing job! :o

I am also trying to implement confocal on my Nikon TE300.

Rogelio
Thank you Rogelio. :D :D :D

I am looking forward to your results!

rogeliomoreno
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Re: Home built laser scanning confocal microscope

#27 Post by rogeliomoreno » Wed Aug 10, 2022 3:39 pm

Franco,

I would like to know the length (in mm) of the white tube (your picture shows the scan head is inserted in silver adapter then the silver is inserted in the white tube)?

In your picture where is the 200mm tube lens?

Rogelio

franc0_c
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Re: Home built laser scanning confocal microscope

#28 Post by franc0_c » Thu Aug 11, 2022 1:49 am

rogeliomoreno wrote:
Wed Aug 10, 2022 3:39 pm
Franco,

I would like to know the length (in mm) of the white tube (your picture shows the scan head is inserted in silver adapter then the silver is inserted in the white tube)?

In your picture where is the 200mm tube lens?

Rogelio
Rogelio

The white tube size is about 25mm and i use 180mm tube lens.
white tube.jpg
white tube.jpg (79.77 KiB) Viewed 4978 times

rogeliomoreno
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Re: Home built laser scanning confocal microscope

#29 Post by rogeliomoreno » Thu Aug 11, 2022 6:09 am

Franco,

Thanks for the answer.

On what microscope are you planning to use the confocal system?

Rogelio

franc0_c
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Re: Home built laser scanning confocal microscope

#30 Post by franc0_c » Thu Aug 11, 2022 6:34 am

rogeliomoreno wrote:
Thu Aug 11, 2022 6:09 am
Franco,

Thanks for the answer.

On what microscope are you planning to use the confocal system?

Rogelio
I just use C1 system for prototype because i haven't got the nikon microscope. Now i am designing my own scanning head couple with olymupus IX-51. :D

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