Public Lab Wiki documentation



Community Microscope Kit

This is a revision from November 17, 2018 01:17. View all revisions
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« Back to Microscopes

Using simple materials, we’ve developed a microscope kit you can build yourself - the result of many teams’ work coming together!



Introducing the Community Microscope

Explore the invisible microscopic world around you with an affordable microscope kit you construct yourself!

When you get a kit, please use the hashtags #communitymicroscope and #communityscience to post your unboxing and build photos -- and tag us with @PublicLab on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram


Questions

Title Author Updated Likes Comments
What is an estimated cost for this project? @pdhixenbaugh over 3 years ago 3
Microscope not focusing right @Meculus about 4 years ago 5
How do I get the USB camera to work on an Android phone @pietervanboheemen almost 5 years ago 1
Would it be possible to make our own microscopic scale rulers (micrometers) using optical discs (DVDs?) @warren almost 5 years ago 6
How do I...troubleshoot my webcam's focus? @Bonnieralston almost 5 years ago 1
How do I build the Deluxe Microscope Kit @aps about 5 years ago 2
Is there a step by step to building the super pi Microscope kit @Hightower77 over 5 years ago 2
How can you calculate microscope magnification with just a calibration slide? @Bronwen over 5 years ago 5
Which objectives do you use? @aquiles over 5 years ago 6
What types of slides would be good for working with the basic microscope? @stevie about 6 years ago 2
What is the best light source to use for the basic microscope? @stevie over 5 years ago 9
What information should be posted with images taken with a microscope? @stevie over 5 years ago 3
How could the new basic microscope project be used in building towards advocacy outcomes? @stevie over 5 years ago 0
Where can microscope lenses (objectives) be bought? @warren over 6 years ago 14


preview.png

Assembly








Add an activity or request an activity guide you don't see listed

You can also find lasercut and 3d printing files for the kit here: https://github.com/publiclab/community-microscope


Using your microscope

Purpose Category Status Author Time Difficulty Replications
Testing and Calibrating Your Microscope - - @partsandcrafts - - 0 replications: Try it »
Looking at Dust (and other things) - - @partsandcrafts - - 3 replications: Try it »
Infrared Insect Microscopy - - @MaggPi - - 0 replications: Try it »
Imagining & testing Polarized Light Microscopy for Silica dust speciation - - @mathew - - 0 replications: Try it »
Raspberry PI NoIR close-up Imaging - - @MaggPi - - 0 replications: Try it »
Use of a 5$ bill for microscope calibration - - @amirberAgain - - 0 replications: Try it »
Microscope calibration overlays… What’s the best approach? - - @MaggPi - - 0 replications: Try it »
Experiment with polarizing filters to view crystalline dust - - @warren - - 0 replications: Try it »
A Prototype Paper Stage for the Microscope - - @mimiss - - 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.


Challenges



Prototyping

Ongoing work on the design of the Community Microscope Kit can be found here:



Media

final.png IMG_20180510_190544_862.jpg IMG_20180516_093247_808.jpg nice.jpg microscope-drawing.jpeg cards.jpg sketch.jpg tiny2.gif card.jpg three.jpg sketches-bw.jpg workspace-green.jpg flow3.gif


Want to remix your own? Here's a link to a shared document where you can compose your own images for sharing:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1sNET-Ifnu95n1X6SoYAAWH0B-9l5Md8bgH-2Dg4b7eQ/edit#slide=id.g37c06b9e15_2_15

Please use the hashtags #communitymicroscope and #communityscience -- and tag us with @PublicLab on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram

Also see this larger collection of images in Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gyznzckh53u0255/AAAY5iuo3LyWFUmELugGQNR0a?dl=0

Some Google Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/d1RxsTY8R5kF6d1J9