An open source toolkit for 3D printed fluidics
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An open source toolkit for 3D printed fluidics Adam J. N. Price 1
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Andrew J. Capel 2
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Robert J. Lee 1
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Patrick Pradel 3 & Steven D. R. Christie 1
Received: 14 August 2020 / Accepted: 16 September 2020 # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract As 3D printing technologies become more accessible, chemists are beginning to design and develop their own bespoke printable devices particularly applied to the field of flow chemistry. Designing functional flow components can often be a lengthy and laborious process requiring complex 3D modelling and multiple design iterations. In this work, we present an easy to follow design workflow for minimising the complexity of this design optimization process. The workflow follows the development of a 3D printable ‘toolkit’ of common fittings and connectors required for constructing basic flow chemistry configurations. The toolkit components consist of male threaded nuts, junction connectors and a Luer adapter. The files have themselves been made freely available and open source. The low cost associated with the toolkit may encourage educators to incorporate flow chemistry practical work into their syllabus such that students may be introduced to the principles of flow chemistry earlier on in their education and furthermore, may develop an early appreciation of the benefits of 3D printing in scientific research. In addition to the printable toolkit, the use of the 3D modelling platform – Rhino3D has been demonstrated for its application in fluidic reactor chip design modification. The simple user interface of the programme reduces the complexity and workload involved in printable fluidic reactor design. Keywords 3D printing . Additive manufacturing . Flow chemistry . Fluidics . Open source
Introduction Increased accessibility to affordable 3D printing equipment, as well as a broader acceptance of 3D printing within academic environments, has led to a rapid increase in the development Article Highlights • We show how to design and prepare a full set of interconnections suitable for preparation of a chemistry flow kit • We provide, free to download and use, a a full set of printable files for these interconnections • We show, and provide free to use, a simple technique for generation of printable flow chips Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s41981-020-00117-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Steven D. R. Christie [email protected] 1
School of Science, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU, UK
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School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU, UK
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Design School, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU, UK
of new approaches for both research [1–3] and education [4]. This increased access, as well as the iterative design process afforded by 3D printing, has resulted in design and print methodologies being made freely available to download from numerous open access online repositories [5–7]. This concep
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