Lego Spectrometer
This is the latest version of Public Lab's DIY Desktop Spectrometry Kit -- the Lego Spectrometer. It addresses issues of rigidity, sourcing, modularity, and image quality over previous versions.
We've been making and distributing Do-It-Yourself spectrometers since 2011, and have been through 4 major kit versions and hundreds of different community contributed modifications, new versions, changes, and more.
Get a kit
This is an open source kit, so you can just build your own -- but to order parts for a kit, visit the Public Lab Store:
Design goals
Over the years, we've identified a few really critical improvements that have been tough to solve:
- rigidity
- easy to source parts
- modularity - working together
- image quality
Our mission is to make it easier, cheaper, and more accessible to do environmental monitoring, and to do that as an open source, collaborative community. And of course part of that is cost -- while people build upon our kits with more expensive options and upgrades, we want the basic kit to be extremely affordable.
Quick start
Questions
Building your Lego Spectrometer
| Purpose | Category | Status | Author | Time | Difficulty | Replications |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assembling the Public Lab Lego Spectrometer | - | - | @warren | - | - | 1 replications: Try it » |
| Preparing a DVD-R to act as a diffraction grating | - | - | @MrBumper | - | - | 1 replications: Try it » |
| Prepare an SD card for a Raspberry Pi camera from scratch | - | - | @warren | - | - | 1 replications: Try it » |
| Setting up the Raspberry Pi Camera for Wireless Streaming | - | - | @partsandcrafts | - | - | 0 replications: Try it » |
| Raspberry Pi spectrometer GUI | - | - | @cedarlodge | - | - | 0 replications: Try it » |
| An evolution of the 3D print version of the Spectrometer | - | - | @ajy00 | - | - | 0 replications: Try it » |
| DIY-spectrometer episode 2 (using LEGO) | - | - | @TakeshiMatsumoto | - | - | 0 replications: Try it » |
| Spectrometer 3.0 add-on v2 | - | - | @programmer1200 | - | - | 0 replications: Try it » |
Activities should include a materials list, costs and a step-by-step guide to construction with photos. Learn what makes a good activity here.
Spectrometry activities
Activities should include a materials list, costs and a step-by-step guide to construction with photos. Learn what makes a good activity here.
Spectrometer calibration
| Purpose | Category | Status | Author | Time | Difficulty | Replications |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calibrate your spectrometer in Spectral Workbench | verify | review-me | @warren | 15m | easy | 5 replications: Try it » |
Activities should include a materials list, costs and a step-by-step guide to construction with photos. Learn what makes a good activity here.
Tinkercad model, below
Parts
3D models
- Tinkercad: https://tinkercad.com/things/43IqCTHE7Iz
- Thingiverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2711528
3D brick models
Lots of great brick models are available here: https://printabrick.org/ and on http://thingiverse.com
- assorted standard bricks: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2626413
- holey bricks: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1095326
- sloped brick: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:527185
- corner L brick: https://printabrick.org/bricks/2357
- brick w/ peg: https://printabrick.org/bricks/2458 (I used this instead of a 1x2 hole brick + a friction peg, because I couldn't find a model for the brick)
Brick dimensions are nicely described in this diagram from Wikipedia:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lego_dimensions.svg
Print files for the black cardstock insert can be found here.