publication reference in the Journal of Neural Engeneering
scale: 5mm
The TetrODrive consists of two parts: the main body (lower part) and the head (upper part). Printing was performed on a low-cost desktop printer using LCD technology (Photon, Anycubic). This printer hardens successive layers of resin (Cherry, HarzLabs) by transilluminating an LCD panel (50 µm resolution) with UV light (405 nm). Layer thickness was 50 µm, layer cure time 16 s for normal layers and 90 s for the six bottom layers. The pieces were printed orthogonally to the build plate and on thin supports. During one run (approximately 2 hours), the printer can print dozens of drive parts in parallel. Given the design of the parts, they can likely be printed on virtually any resin printer but not on the more common filament-based printers. If a printer is not available, online 3D print services can be used.
Following printing, parts were briefly washed in isopropanol (< 1min). It is critical to limit dwell time in the isopropanol as it facilitates stress cracking later on. Residual liquid was removed from the parts and holes using compressed air. The parts were post cured for 15 min under a UVA lamp and 2 h heating in an oven (50 °C).
Find the general wiki HERE
Find the Step-by-Step Assembly wiki HERE
3D printer Given the design of the parts, they can likely be printed on virtually any resin printer but not on the more common filament-based printers. If a printer is not available, online 3D print services can be used.
more details on 3D printing for microdrives and its impact Headley et al. 2015
Both 3D printing files (.stl) for the two TetrODrive parts (body and head) are uploaded. In one print run, many of those can be printed in parallel.
The TetroDrive design can be modified to the experimental needs. We uploaded the computer-aided design (CAD) files in the CAD folder. Both a Autodesk Fusion 360 (.f3d) and a universal CAD file format (.step) can be found. Autodesk provides their software free of charge for non-commericlal applications in academia. The STEP file format makes it also possible to load the design into other CAD software applications.
All necessary custom design files for the PCB (Printed Circuit Board)/ EIB (Electrical Interface Board) are found in the PCB folder with proposed vendors to fabricate.
We milled custom-made head plates for our head-fixation setup that we uploaded here