Micropipette Carousel

thingiverse

Carousel stand for Nichiryo micropipettes. This whole project was born out of need and used parts I had lying around and my little workhorse Ender 3, so apologies in advance for ill fitment. The base was originally designed as a hematocrit rotor that failed in execution, but I didn't want to waste the print. Should go without saying that this is a work in progress! For the center axis I used a 13" steel rod I had laying around from a Bissell vacuum cleaner brushroll, but any sufficiently rigid metal rod will do. It was an odd diameter but 5/16" rod stock should be usable, you may just need to shim the base to rod fit with tape (this will be epoxied together anyway, see assembly instructions below). For the top I made an icosahedron to resemble a capsid (which serves as a convenient "handle" to move the carousel around), and to cover the bare metal I created sleeves with an i.d. to match the rod's o.d. The sleeves also serve to keep the bottom and middle sections of the carousel at the appropriate heights along the center rod. Assembly: Take your metal rod and insert into the hole in the carousel base. If the fitment between these or any subsequent sections is too loose, shim with tape (I used aluminum foil tape) until the fit is snug. Use a 2-part epoxy to secure them permanently. Assemble the rest onto the center rod in the following order: bottom sleeve --> carousel middle --> middle sleeve --> carousel top --> top sleeve --> carousel head. Take special care to align the notches in the carousel middle with the skinny ends of the "teardrop" cutouts in the carousel top. Again, shim and epoxy as needed or desired. Subsequent versions I upload will need to do a better job of matching the hole i.d. of the parts to a commonly-found rod stock. Remixes should do this to conform to whatever will be used for the center rod.