A one-piece 3D printed microscope and flexure translation stage

A high-performance microscope consists not only of optics but also mechanics; a useful instrument must be able to precisely focus on the specimen, and to translate the sample to find or track features of interest. We demonstrate a monolithic 3D printed flexure translation stage, capable of sub-micron-scale motion over a range of $8\times8\times4\,$mm. An Arduino microcontroller can be used to automate the stage with inexpensive stepper motors. The resulting plastic composite structure is very stiff and exhibits remarkably low drift, moving less than $20\,\mu$m over the course of a week. This enables us to construct a low-cost microscope with excellent mechanical stability, perfect for timelapse measurements in situ in an incubator or fume hood. Utilizing the Raspberry Pi camera module means very little power or space is required, enabling experiments to be run in parallel. The low cost of this microscope lends itself to use in containment facilities where disposability is advantageous, and to educational work where a large number of microscopes must be obtained. High performance mechanisms based on printed flexures need not be limited to microscopy, and we anticipate their use in other devices both within the laboratory and beyond.