While I have not been posting, I have only been doing more in the background !

Here are new tools I have been building in the last few weeks. These will help.

The first one is an even more powerful light source for the Leica microscope.

The light source is an RGBW 260W fan can cooled COB LED. The 100w version I built has already given stunning image improvements beyond my expectations. This version betters that by bot only having increased light output, but by covering wider RGB wavelengths. The imaging response of exciting materials using broader wavelength will enable more accurate viewing of colours and material which may not of presented itself as clearly before. These fine tuned modifications need refocusing as well as requiring frosted glass lenses plates to scatter the individual RGB diodes light positioning. The result is a more evenly mixed colour emission. Before I can use this i will need a heatsink that is 3 times larger to dissipate the heat. The 4 large discontinued LT1083 LDO power regulators add to the heat since I mounted them on the side, I forgot. Each one can handle 7.5 Amps, but I require only 1.7 Amps for each colour channel. 5k trim pots allow adjustment of each light channel. The light source can be measured with a spectrometer and knowing that light wave frequency can be used for other forms of microscopy too.

The light is so intense that even while it was functioning at only 2/3rds output I thought I could see dead people for an hour after only catching a few glimpses. Making sure heat does not reach the sample beyond certain temperatures may require an infra red filter to remove the hottest waves. A thermal shutdown system will be installed later so that the scope can be left unattended at night recording morphological features. Without a watchdog to shut it down any fan failure would result in a nice big fire. Once this is perfected I may possibly sell some kits with mounting instructions for microscopes that have full glass optics only. The components used are not cheap, but they are great choices for what I want

Above is the typical spectrum of separate RGB LED’s. And below is the spectrum coverage of the average modern white LED. as you can see there is one major peak with white LED’s but there is much missed in other ranges. Using a combination of RGBW in the right balance we can get closer to that response seen with separate arc light sources. This will be an interesting upgrade once I have the new heatsink block to keep it cool with bigger fans.

The other project will save my back from leaning over to the microscope which is mounted on a white lab cabinet to house all the electronics, laser systems and lighting systems. Two Neima 11 stepper motors are controlled by 1.8amp step and direction IC’s which are in turn controlled by an Arduino Atmega 328p microprocessor. A USB footswitch will be butchered and the chip will be removed so I can wire the triggers to take images in Toupview microscope imaging software. The footswitch was a gift from

David Nixon

and makes my life easier. What would be nice if I get time is to be able to add an LCD display with buttons to store position locations. This way I can hit a button to go back to a site of interest in a sample the next day. Leica and other brands make an option for this on their expensive fancy scopes. Only this will cost me very little. I will now have to draw a way to attach these motors to the scope deck so that we can control X-Y positioning without me getting arm cramp :D.

The most important designs on the bench are the laser system which will output RGBUV while being reflecting from a high speed galvo mirror head system. After hitting the sample we can then use long pass filters to establish the wavelength of fluorescing materials. Furthermore we will be able use the spectrometer Board I ordered which for now is limited to 18 channels across the visible, UV, and infra-red spectrum. It is capable of reading from very low wavelengths up to around 1100nm. about the average of a standard spectrometer used for liquid analysis. The device employs 3 sensors that work uniquely in the respective ranges of UV, VIS, and infra-red. I have made a proto jig to align the lasers and test code. The galvo driver boards needed a DAC (Digital to analogue converter to translate 0-5v processor signals into +-10v differential outputs just like an AC wave almost. The DAC is running off of an Arm processor so it can output enough speed to scan a sample where ever movement must be clocked at certain speeds. It may not be fast enough, but hopefully that can be fixed with a faster processor if I need it. This system will give me more options than most scopes that utilize lasers since I can customize it to work in different technique modes. I would like to use fluorescence stains on samples such as DAPI, Fluorescein and others.

The next post will show you microscopy of the warfare that will blow your mind. None of this would be at all possible without the help i’ve had so far from those who contributed, And we absolutely have learnt more, and we absolutely have some thunder coming soon. Please continue to help if you can. See the link below as always.

BIG THANKS, AS ALWAYS !