The Make Your Own Cytometer is constructed of strong yet lightweight materials, allowing it to be carried as checked luggage to any destination.
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The system uses carbon fiber breadboards from Carbon Vision. The top is a single sheet of laminated carbon fiber, with stainless steel M6 threaded inserts. The board is much lighter than an aluminum breadboard of comparable size.
The cytometer components are attached to the instrument using micro rail. Heavier components like the flow cell assembly are attached using precision locking mounts that can be locked and unlocked by hand. The mounting base shown here is from OptoSigma. Its other half is attached to the flow cell assembly.
We use titanium M6 screws (dull silver) for any device with a load, and aircraft aluminum screws (colored) for less sensitive components. Both screw types are much lighter than the usual steel screws used for optical assembly.
The instrument legs are 3D printed ABS plastic. We have also experimented with 3D printed ABS and PLA carbon fiber composites, which are lighter and stiffer than plastic alone. The PMT holders are also 3D printed ABS plastic (below).
The rod stock used here for the camera and the forward scatter detector are actually titanium, almost half the weight of steel and much stronger than aluminum. Wherever possible, lighter materials are substituted for heavy ones.
The beam steering prism is held by a small two-axis mount manufactured by ThorLabs. This mount allows coarse adjustment with fingers, then is locked down and fine adjusted using the actuators. It is very compact, yet can be easily adjusted by students.
The forward scatter detector also uses extremely small translational platforms (less than 25 mm to a side) to allow fine adjustment of the forward scatter detector in a small and lightweight mount. These platforms are also available from ThorLabs.
The instrument travels in Nanuk 935 and 950 hard cases. These cases are lighter than comparable brands, but equally strong.
The system packs neatly inside.
Our laser source is a Stradus Lite 488 nm unit from Vortran Laser Technology. It is one of the smallest 488 nm laser diodes available in a self-contained unit.
All electrical components in the system are dual voltage, allowing it to operate almost anywhere in the world. Plug adaptors allow it to run almost anywhere.
This cytometer can use almost any airtight bottle as a sheath tank - we have cap adaptors to fit almost any container (even a 2 liter Coke bottle!). Regular tap water can be used as sheath buffer. This cytometer can operate anywhere that has a power source.
