Assembly instructions - low cost optics and nano-sangaboard work around
Copying here some comments from a thread on the Forum, https://openflexure.discourse.group/t/first-build-basic-low-cost-microscope-v7-0-0-beta1/1365 .
Comments on building version 7.0 beta 1:
I was concerned about the printing process because this is my first attempt at FDM printing. I was gratified that within 6 hours of opening the box I was able to assemble and get pretty decent prints out of a stock original Ender3. Printing all the parts took about a week without any major issues or notable failures. This basic printer is perfectly adequate to print the microscope.
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It’s a bit hard to know what orientation the camera board should have relative to the pi_camera_platform part, since the screws are in a rectangular pattern it could be mounted wrong. Perhaps the side of the part could be marked with some text or image to denote the direction the camera connector should point.
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I used the motor controller workaround, and found that even with an extra-long camera cable it was VERY hard to connect everything together in the recommended order. I found that connecting the cable to the Pi first, and then fishing the loose end of the cable up to the camera later after the electronics drawer was closed, was much easier than trying to wire things up with the drawer tethered half-shut by the delicate ribbon cable. I also cut a slot for the camera ribbon into the mounting board that sits on top of the Pi, similar to how the Sangaboard is laid out.
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There wasn’t an obvious place to feed in the external power cable destined for the motor controller boards. I ended up just making a hole and mounting a female micro-USB socket to accept external power.
Addressing 1. may be helped by the dimple on the optic axis that is introduced in MR !309
- Take the camera platform and note the position of the dimple which marks the axis of the microscope.
- Take the Pi Camera and place it on top of the pi camera platform, with the camera sensor above the dimple.
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Is something I have also noticed in builds. Plugging in to the camera last might change a lot of the build sequence, and there might be a similar issue inserting the optics module after the motors are connected. I have not found teh need for a slot in the convertor plate, but it is something to look at.
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This needs to be in the instructions. We could have a knock-out hole in the electronics drawer, but this version is a work-around so a bit of hacking is not too bad.