Abstract
Many laboratories utilize different types of opto-mechanical positioning devices in their experiments. Such devices include lateral stages, which provide 1-dimenstional translational movement, 3-dimensional translation stages, and laboratory jacks, which provide a convenient way of changing the vertical position of a sample. Recent advances in and affordability of 3-D printing have opened up a variety of possibilities, not only providing versatile and custom-designed laboratory equipment but also reducing the cost of constructing typical laboratory opto-mechanical positioning stages. Here, we present the possibility of printing typical linear stages, thereby constructing a full XYZ stage. In addition, a vertical laboratory jack, which utilizes a scissor format, has also been printed using polylactic acid (PLA) filament. The design of these systems required modeling the strength of material to estimate the deflection, which was conducted by finite element analysis. The effectiveness of the proposed 3-D-printed positioning devices was tested by measuring the stroke and the repeatability. As an example of application, a multispectral reflection imaging device was constructed with the help of 3-D-printed linear stages and a laboratory scissor jack.
Highlights
Many laboratories utilize different types of opto-mechanical positioning devices in their experiments
Parts required for a laboratory scissor jack are as follows: top and bottom platforms, scissors type 1 and type 2, short rods with and without female thread, 12 screws, a handle, and a central threaded rod
The circular variety of fully assembled linear is shownopening in Figure which includes a 1-D linear stage, holes were designed to connect the platform and scissor while the rectangular opening was designed a low-profile 2-D linear stage, and a 3-D linear stage
Summary
Many laboratories utilize different types of opto-mechanical positioning devices in their experiments. Applications of 3-D printing range from conventional opto-mechanical lab experiments [2,3], biomedical applications, which include dental and special instruments [2,4,5,6,7,8], to biological and pharmaceutical experiments, which require a wet laboratory [9,10,11,12]. For these applications, laboratory translation stages are a common piece of equipment used to accurately position samples and instruments. This stage can position samples or instruments linearly in 3 dimensions
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