- Build the high-resolution microscope
- Build the low-cost microscope
- Build the upright microscope
- Customisations and alternatives
- Troubleshooting
- Knowledge base

# Test your printer

Difficulty: Easy
Time required: 40 minutes
Skills required:

- 3D printing

If you have bought the plastic parts you can skip this step!

## For this section you will need:

### Tools

- 1 RepRap-style printer

### Materials

- 5 g of PLA filament

## Step 1: Set your printer settings

All microscope parts can be printed out of PLA filament on most RepRap-style printers.

We recommend the following printer settings:

Setting | Value
--- | ---
Material | PLA
Layer height | 0.2mm or less
Supports | None
Infill | Printer default
Brim | Recommended for all parts except main body.
Slice gap closing radius | 0.001mm

Do not print with supports.

The microscope has been designed to print without supports. Supports will damage the mechanism.

The microscope body has a custom brim included in the STL, and the condenser lens and optics module also contain small gaps. This may require you to set the slice gap closing radius.

As a general rule, strength is more important than surface finish, so very thin layers (less than 0.15mm or so) are unlikely to result in a microscope that performs any better, though it may approve the appearance.

## Step 2: Testing your printer

Now we will test whether your printer can print the bridges in the microscope. Download and print the leg test file this will only use about 5 grams of PLA:

The result should look like this (this has been printed with a brim):

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