title: A Primer on Prototyping.
abstract: Standard mechanical components, such as adapters or mounts, are ubiquitous in research laboratories, C. elegans labs included. Recently, in-house prototyping and fabricating both standard and custom mechanical parts has become simple and cost effective. Here we describe the basic steps, equipment, and considerations required for rapid prototyping of a handful of simple yet useful designs. These examples were chosen for their simplicity, as well as for demonstrating specific practicalities. They are thus appropriate as training exercises.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, The James Franck Inst., The Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, The University of Chicago, 5801 S. Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA. djlynch@uchicago.edu.
authors.forename: Dylan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lynch
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, The James Franck Inst., The Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, The University of Chicago, 5801 S. Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Biron
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans; D004867:Equipment Design; D007834:Lasers; D066330:Printing, Three-Dimensional / Q000295:instrumentation*
keywords: 3D printing; Fabrication; Laser cutting; Prototyping