This fixture is made to hold a 45x75x0.1mm microscope slide on the print bed of a 3-D printer to analyze the warping of prints. This is especially useful when printing with polymers such as polypropylene, which have a tendency to warp at the edges. The slide holder has two feet on the bottom that allow it to sit flat on the print bed and a connection across the top so the fixture is one piece. There is a slot in the middle for holding the slide in place. The slot is 0.5 mm wide, to ensure it is large enough to be 3-D printable but not too large that the 0.1mm thick slide will move around too much. The cutout is 1mm thick near both of the feet to address issues with slot filling in during printing. Part is printed upside down (with feet pointing up) and no support should be necessary.
Additional software[edit | edit source]
This design works with a Jiusion USB microscope and a Lulzbot Taz 6 3-D printer. The microscope ranges from 40-1000x. For this purpose, the lower range (~40x) is recommended. The focal distance for 40x is about 2 inches. For this reason, it is recommended to make the print within 2 inches from the edge of the print bed.
The microscope comes with lighting, but this lighting reflects off the slide and may make measurements difficult. Overhead lighting may be better. Install Amcap and CoolingTech from Jiusion The slide w/ holder is to be positioned next to the print for calibration (might have to take two separate images, just make sure the region of interest and the slide are equal distances from the microscope)
