FieldStops

Problem Statement

I want darkfield and oblique with my low and medium magnification objective lenses. I want them to be repeatable and easy to use. They need to fit in the filter tray. I also don't really know what sizes I need so I want a way to generate a laser cuttable geometry that can sweep a variable over whatever range.

Solidworks

First I made a few patterns in solidworks but I wanted to be able to change things like arm spar geometry and swept range really fast and painlessly. That is not solidworks. I wanted to change one thing and have it carry through the entire swept set. And kerf compensation because the laser at HSL doesn't automatically apply it. Yikes... Onward towards a better solution...

OpenSCAD

OpenSCAD is a dream. I wrote the following script which even includes kerf compensation. It auto generates and even neatly tiles the two pattern sets. Then I can export right to DXF. This is my first openSCAD project. I think I am hooked...

Results

I still need to actually laser these out of black cardstock the next time I am at the lab but...

Here is the openSCAD script. [1]

And here is what it spits out (DXF) [2]

And here is a render of what it spits out (PNG)

And here is a CorelDraw render of the DXF

And here is a pdf file you can use to laser your own set but really you should just load the openSCAD script and customize it yourself! CMON LAZY BONES! Microscope_stops_0kerf15mm.pdf