Frequently Asked Questions

What material is best to print with? What about print settings?

This should be covered in the instructions and is also discussed a little bit in builds. Short answer: use PLA, without any support material or adhesion layer. Layers of 0.1-0.3mm should be fine, I usually use 0.24.

What's the best place to get STL files for a particular version of the microscope?

We're working on building nice pre-packaged zip archives of each version, but this is trickier than you'd think. In the meantime, the builds folder has a readme that describes how to pick the right STL files.

Are there nice simple instructions available for ?

At the moment, the instructions try to cover all the options. Customised instructions are a work in progress and if you can help, please join in on that issue thread.

What's the magnification (or resolution, or field of view)?

See Resolution and Field of View.

How can I download an STL file from GitHub?

This is explained in downloading STL files from GitHub.

What's the best way to contact you with questions about the microscope?

I encourage everyone to raise an issue if you have found something confusing or need more information - it means the answer stays online so others can find it. If there's something that, for whatever reason, isn't appropriate for GitHub, contact Richard Bowman at the University of Bath (no emails here to avoid spam, but I'm quite googlable).