Completely 3-D Printable Centrifuge

Build instructions, videos, and software to use are available in the paper: Salil S. Sule, Aliaksei L. Petsiuk and Joshua M. Pearce. Open Source Completely 3-D Printable Centrifuge. Instruments 2019, 3(2), 30; ( https://doi.org/10.3390/instruments3020030)

All the rest of the STLs and source files are available from links here; https://www.appropedia.org/Open_Source_Completely_3-D_Printable_Centrifuge

Abstract: Although there are commercial and open source centrifuges, the costs of the former and the required electricity to operate the latter limit accessibility in resource-constrained settings. There is a need for low-cost, human-powered, verified, and reliable lab-scale centrifuges. This study provides the designs for a low-cost 100% 3-D printed centrifuge, which can be fabricated on any low-cost RepRap-class (self-replicating rapid prototyper) fused filament fabrication (FFF)- or fused particle fabrication (FPF)-based 3-D printer. In addition, validation procedures are provided using a web camera and free and open source software. This paper provides the complete open source plans, including instructions for the fabrication and operation of a hand-powered centrifuge. This study successfully tested and validated the instrument, which can be operated anywhere in the world with no electricity inputs, obtaining a radial velocity of over 1750 rpm and over 50 N of relative centrifugal force. Using commercial filament, the instrument costs about U.S. $25, which is less than half of all commercially available systems. However, the costs can be dropped further using recycled plastics on open source systems for over 99% savings. The results are discussed in the context of resource-constrained medical and scientific facilities.