Team:Madrid-OLM/ProManufacturing

Madrid-OLM

Manufacturing Protocols

Manufacturing Protocols

Texto de explicacion/ resumen de la pagina.

Chip

1- Mold making

  • Laser engraver hacking

    Laser engraver hacking

    Bill Of Materials: You could see a complete BoM here (upload the bill).

    Amount of time: 3 hours.

    Total costs: 100 €.

    The laser usually come with a proprietary software that only allow you to engrave images. As the chips are going to be cuttered as a vector we’ll need to install a new laser firmware (into the laser) to be controlled with other software (into the PC connected to the laser).

    1. Check if your laser could be directly flashable (flash = installing the new firmware) in this link.If the answer is yes, skip to the “software workflow” step. If the answer is no, just continue reading.

    2. When the Arduino UNO and the CNC Shield with the drivers arrive, substitute the old electronics of the laser with the new ones following the tutorial of the previous link. The software that you will need to follow this tutorial will be:

      1. The official Arduino IDE that you could find in their own page.

      2. The open-source laser firmware (GRBL). You could find the version that we have used (v1.1) in our GitHub repository.

      3. TThe program which control the laser and is going to send the designs from the PC (Universal GCode sender). You could find the version that have worked with us in our GitHub repository (same link as the previous step).

      CAUTION: We have uploaded a different version of the laser firmware to the one described in the tutorial. The only connection that you have to do differently is connecting the laser to Z+ pin instead of SpnEn.

      Disclaimer: The programs that we have used in these step are not developed by our group and are hosted in our Github just to keep the version that have worked for us.

  • Software workflow

    Software workflow

    Bill Of Materials: You could see a complete BoM here (upload the bill).

    Amount of time: 2 hours.

    Total costs: 0 €.

    1. You only need two applications to run your laser engraver:

      • Inkscape (for creating the design and and the.gcode file). A .gcode file stores the required machining orders for the laser to cut the designed geometry.

      • Universal Gcode Sender (send the .gcode file to the Arduino).

    2. In order to create the shape of your microfluidic chip, you need to have a feasible design. There are many open software applications, as:

      • DraftSight (2D): although you could design directly with Inkscape, an specific software for design may result handy at some point of despair.

      • Freecad (3D).

      CAUTION: Alternative versions of a .dxf file will not be imported successfully.

    3. If the design is made in a software different to Inkscape, you should export the file as a .dxf file (R2013). Inkscape can import this sort of files.

    4. Once the design is created and imported into Inkscape, you should place it within the canvas with the required proportions. For NEJE laser engraver, the dimensions of the bed is 38 x 38 mm. You should find how Inkscape work area relates to the effective area of the bed.

    5. Once the dimensions have been corrected and fixed, you should convert the lines to a “path” format, clicking in the “path” tab and selecting “stroke to path”. We have tried to omit this step, and it seems it does not matter skip this step.

    6. Click on “extensions” tab and select “generate laser gcode”, and set the cutting parameters. These parameters should be set experimentally. Speed, laser power, passes vary depending on the specific tape selected, or the surface where you stick the tape. We encourage you to set your desired parameters, based on your specific scenario.

    7. Once the .gcode file has been successfully created, open the Universal Gcode Sender and and set the ports and baud rate (115200 bps).

    8. Now you need to set your “Zero machine coordinates”. From “Machine control” tab, move the X- and the Y- to the coordinates that you want to set as (0,0). And click on “Reset Zero”

    9. Import the file. (File mode tab -> Browse). And finally send it to the laser engraver.

  • Calibration
  • Cutting


Back to Mold making Index

2- PDMS casting

  • Preparing PDMS
  • Making a vacuum pump and vacuum chamber
  • Degassing
  • Polymerization process


Back to PDMS casting Index

3- Plasma bonding

  • Modding a microwave
  • Calibrating the microwave
  • Baking the PDMS


Back to Plasma bonding Index

4- Closing the microfluidic circuit

  • Choosing the pump, the tubing and the connectors
  • Troubleshooting the leaks


Back to Closing circuits Index

Assemblies