Configure and test your printer
Difficulty: Easy
Time required: 40 minutes
Skills required:
- 3D printing
If you have bought the plastic parts you can skip this step!
Step 1: Set your printer settings
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All microscope parts can be printed out of PLA filament on most RepRap-style printers.
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Set your slicer to the following printer settings:
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Material | PLA |
| Layer height | 0.2mm or less |
| Supports | None |
| Infill | Printer default |
| Brim | Recommended for all parts without built in brim |
| Slice gap closing radius | 0.001mm Slicer dependent - see note |
Do not print with supports.
The microscope has been designed to print without supports. Supports will damage the mechanism.
The microscope body has a custom brim included in the STL, and the condenser lens and optics module also contain small gaps. This may require you to set the slice gap closing radius.
As a general rule, strength is more important than surface finish, so very thin layers (less than 0.15mm or so) are unlikely to result in a microscope that performs any better, though it may approve the appearance.
Step 2: Test your print settings
- Now test whether your printer can print the bridges in the microscope and the custom brim on the main body
- Download the leg test file
- Slice and print the file. Do not add brim in your slicer. This will only use about 5 grams of PLA
Step 3: Check your print
- Check that the bridge at the top of the leg test has crossed the gap cleanly
- The thinner support bridges in the middle of the legs do not need to be complete, but problems there can be an indicator of more hidden printing issues
- Check that the brim has printed as a separate object around the leg
- Check that the brim is easy to remove. If it is difficult to remove, check that it has not been joined to the leg when sliced