Simple fabrication of complex microfluidics devices (ESCARGOT)

[@gumshuda24]

@ V. Saggiomo, Congratulations and Bravo for such a novel work. This is the key which has opened the door to fabricate numerous amazing and unique microfluidic PDMS devices. Thanks a lot. Great Job!!

[@asmaobaid3050]

I love it. Simple, great and save a lot of time.

[@penguinkothe8323]

that's wonderful! i always assumed that embedding something in the pdms wouldn't work, as the surface area would be too low to dissolve it, but i guess i'm wrong! brilliant work.

[@v_saggiomo]

thanks :) and it really depends on the amount and the length of the ABS to be dissolved. The process can take 10 minutes as well as few days depending on the amount of materials. if you use a little bit of pressure, the dissolving is quite fast: kzbin.info/www/bejne/inebo62nm8hmsMk

[@LongHairedFreakyDude]

A piano cover of Dvorak's Serenade for Strings? Love it

[@troygardner1610]

curious how would you design a one way check valve using this approach?

[@fluidmechanics5870]

What is the ABS filament brand you used? How come it does not snap back as you make it into a helix?

[@v_saggiomo]

+Fluid Mechanics I used the verbatim one or the RS- brand, the spiral were shaped on an hot (100C) solder iron, so that they will keep the shape.

[@NickyDana]

Oh i think im going to love this technology:) Thanks great work!

[@rslbach]

Do you know some polymer substrate that can resist to organic solvents (without swelling) and can be used in your microfabrication approach? Thanks! With Regards!

[@v_saggiomo]

+Renato Lima hypothetically any organic resistant glue should be fine with it. But i would say it highly depend by the organic solvent we are talking about. PDMS is fine with acetone, ethanol, methanol, DMSO

[@rslbach]

+Vittorio Saggiomo I'm talking about organic solvents like hexane, toluene, and benzene that swell PDMS. Herein, do you know any glue that resist against these media? Thanks and best regards!

[@The9988111309]

how did you manage to print such a fine coil structure with FDM printing? I am planning to do some resistance measurement tests with different spiral structures in a PDMS device. The method shown is awesome and quite easy to adapt. Spiral and circumvented structures lead to a lot of pressure losses making the fluid flow slower so it would be very helpful if you can get back. Thanks

[@v_saggiomo]

Hey Akshit, sorry for the late reply. That's a common question and I'm preparing a FAQ video on the process :) Meanwhile, for those ones, we just extrude a filament and the coil it using a solder iron (at low heat). This video shows the process kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3uofnp8gN9pl9k If it's academia related you can contact me at vsaggiomo at gmail com

[@R00567]

What material are you using as your sacrificial moldable shape? Work looks awesome!

[@v_saggiomo]

Standard ABS filament for 3D printers

[@Spirit532]

That is quite cool. What exactly did you patent? The process as a whole? P.S - try smooting the ABS shapes with acetone BEFORE you fill them in, so that you have much smoother microfluidic channels.

[@v_saggiomo]

+Spirit we submit the patent for the process and the materials, interested? :D

[@Spirit532]

***** A little :) I have absolutely no use for this, but it looks quite cool and I'd like to replicate it later. Maybe make a microfluidic clock or something.

[@v_saggiomo]

+Spirit well, i guess that if you are not going to sell it, you can do whatever you want :)

[@Spirit532]

***** It's always nice to have approval from the creator! :>

[@v_saggiomo]

+Spirit well, the paper, the video and everything related to this project is open access. The patent is only because well, if someone wants to get money out of it, that should be us :D

[@fernandoontiveros7126]

Awesome. Does it work with PLA? Does the PDMS in contact with the ABS filament cure well?

[@v_saggiomo]

+Fernando Ontiveros Sorry for the late reply, we are currently working on different plastics, and PLA work worst than ABS. And yes the PDMS cure properly when in contact with ABS (they don't have any chemical group that interfere with the PDMS)

[@fernandoontiveros7126]

Thanks Vittorio. My concern with PDMS curing around ABS has to do with heat transfer; when I use vinyl, PDMS has a hard time curing right next to it. Right now I would love to find an easy way to dissolve PLA, or the resin used by the Form 1+ printer. Thanks again!

[@v_saggiomo]

vinyl is a different story, it has some reactive groups that will react with PDMS itself (alkenes), this is why is not curing properly, it reacts with PDMS. We are working on PLA as well, you can dissolve it in chlorinated solvents but the swelling of PDMS is extremely huge, so you risk to destroy the channels during the swelling. Good luck with any photocurable polymers (Form1) that stuff is cross linked and you may "destroy" it, but not "dissolve" it

[@fernandoontiveros7126]

+Vittorio Saggiomo Thanks, glad to have input from someone that knows his chemistry.

[@yaleiqiu7687]

great video! I am new to this field microfluidics

[@ShopperPlug]

what are some practical applications of using this other than dosing?

[@v_saggiomo]

those are for microfluidic applications, not really for dosing. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microfluidics

[@rslbach]

Beautiful, science is art! Congrats by nice research!

[@zackjones8802]

Wouldn't this be millifluidics instead of microfluidics? The channel at 2:35 seems like it would be micro, but the rest are labelled as 1mm, which I would assume is the diameter. Still, great video!

[@v_saggiomo]

usually depends on the volume, and not the size of the channels. For example Nanofluidics is because you can handle nanoliters, not because the channel are in the nanometer range :)

[@jacobmueller3585]

Does anyone know of a cheap PDMS source and or substitute? (Sorry if this happens to be a silly question)

[@v_saggiomo]

Actually it's a very good question. And the answer depends by your application. If for "real" microfluidics, i would stuck on PDMS as it is the most well known in literature and the most reliable. For other applications you can check "encapso K", but pay attention that is very very very brittle, or "sorta clear" that is little bit better in terms of strength. Both are from the company "smooth-on". And those are for clear silicones. The method works with practically any silicone based plastic. Cheers

[@jacobmueller3585]

Vittorio Saggiomo thanks for the information.

[@Fanlh]

This is really cool. I am curious how do you make the heating wire work? Thanks

[@v_saggiomo]

+Heng Li it's a simple heating (resistance) coil. You flow current in it and it will dissipate heat. Check the paper for the set-up :)

[@Fanlh]

+Vittorio Saggiomo thanks for your reply. Yes, you are right. I have checked the paper. Nice work!

[@v_saggiomo]

thanks. The next paper on selective microfluidic heating is almost submitted :)

[@lumisan8414]

Hi sir, this is a very interesting process. What kind of problems have you encountered using this method?

[@v_saggiomo]

The "problems" are described in the paper. So far the minimum size possible is 200um, this is related to the minimum size of the commercially available nozzles. Sooner or later this will go down yo 100um. The surface of the channels is not as flat as the replica molding fabrication method. Due to the extrusion process of the ABS, the internal channels have a roughness of 5/10 microns.

[@adamengberg6187]

Brilliant work! I am in the process off acquiring the parts needed but i have osme questions i would be very glad if you could answer. What is the driving force of the fluid? A syringe pump? Do you have any plans on applying this design for something functional, for example a microfluidic PCR platform? If so, let me know! :D

[@v_saggiomo]

+Adam Engberg Thanks, and yes the fluid is driven by syringe pumps, but with larger channel it can also be driven by gravity. We are doing quite a lot of "functional" stuff at the moment :)

[@adamengberg6187]

+Vittorio Saggiomo I realize now my wording appears a bit degrading, did not mean to sound simplify your work! Exciting, really looking forward to the coming papers

[@v_saggiomo]

+Adam Engberg was not degrading, and I didn't take like that :) it's just that i cannot really disclose what we are doing at the moment before publishing it. are you in science as well?

[@adamengberg6187]

+Vittorio Saggiomo Good! I absolutely understand. Im on my way into it atleast, Im doing my bachelors thesis on peptide synthesis of cyclic peptides, and starting my master in molecular biology this fall. Just acquired a 3D-printer so i figured I´ll try this out to get to know the field and get some hands on experience. I've built an open source syringe pump im planning to use, but i´m searching for a suitable entry project to try out

[@v_saggiomo]

+Adam Engberg there were a couple of open source syringe pumps and pipettors done with 3D printers and arduino on thingverse or instructables. That's a nice way to start.Were you in the igem 2015?In my course I'm teaching how to do the same kind of arduino/fluorimeter you did there. check our lab here www.biont-wur.com and send me an email for more privacy :)

[@Bass007]

how do you take such complex objects out of the PDMS???

[@v_saggiomo]

+Ben Stuart After curing the elastomer (PDMS) you dissolve the plastic (ABS) scaffold in an acetone bath

[@Bass007]

Yeah I realized that I missed the letters abs. Any way to 3d print abs?

[@v_saggiomo]

+Ben Stuart ABS is one of the common 3D printer plastics, almost any commercial FDM printer can print it. 1kg of ABS cost around 20/30 €, and a cheap FDM printer is around 200/400 €

[@fanxm9886]

Great method! Have you ever tried polyurethane or epoxy resin?

[@v_saggiomo]

+Fan Xiaoming working on that :) "somehow" they work, but not as good as PDMS.

[@v_saggiomo]

+Fan Xiaoming working on that :) "somehow" they work, but not as good as PDMS.

[@MrHakimsabri]

Hi sir ! can i know how you put the arduino in the pdms ? can i just pout the pdms on arduino board? are the still working thank you .

[@v_saggiomo]

yes, you can embed all the electronics you want in (liquid) PDMS and then cure it. The electronics will still work as the PDMS is an insulator. Cheers

[@MrHakimsabri]

Thank you very much for the information, one more can i know whats viscosity of PDMS that you used ? Thank you :)

[@v_saggiomo]

We used the standard Sylgard 184 PDMS. It's viscosity is 5500 mPa.s . And, as always with PDMS, for a perfect spreading, we used vacuum.

[@MrHakimsabri]

Thank you very much , one more do i need another reagent to make pdms cure ?

[@MrHakimsabri]

Vittorio Saggiomo one more sir ! Is it when i already open the microfludic bottle i must use all of it , or i can keep the leftover of the pdms so i can use it later , im worried its also will cure.

[@blower05]

what is the applications?

[@benhadman2812]

What is your microcontroller and sensor detecting?

[@v_saggiomo]

it's (so far) a colorimetric sensor, so either for color (concentration) detection or flow reactions.

[@davidkwon4461]

where did you buy the ABS wire from?

[@afbennett3038]

David Kwon it’s filament extruded from a 3D printer

[@bettercoffeewithpowertools539]

this is beautiful art and science kinetic sculpture

[@sephiroth0733]

combination of art and tech

[@gelmintolog2]

That is incredibly cool !

[@mrigankgupta3490]

A very dextrous and inventive solution. But how to remove the mould

[@v_saggiomo]

just Acetone, which will dissolve the ABS

[@mrigankgupta3490]

@@v_saggiomo thank you sir

[@tinkeringengr]

Great work!!

[@stainlesley2ride]

Nice work. my question is how did you take the wire out?

[@v_saggiomo]

+Edidiong Inyang you dissolve the plastic (wire) with acetone.

[@stainlesley2ride]

+Vittorio Saggiomo That makes a lot of sense. what type of plastic wire did you use? Also, do you have a paper on your works? I would like to read them and also follow your progress. Thank you

[@v_saggiomo]

+Edidiong Inyang paper is here (open access): onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/advs.201500125/abstract the plastic used is ABS, one of the standard in 3D printing

[@stainlesley2ride]

+Vittorio Saggiomo Thank you. I am wondering if there is a way an endothelial cells can be grown using this model to mimic biological environment

[@v_saggiomo]

+Edidiong Inyang most probably yes, endothelial cells are fine on the PDMS (www.nature.com/articles/srep07955), don't know for how long though

[@mohammadaminaghazadeh9995]

More than GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@karlosbrown]

Simply awesome

[@AbdurRahman-nq5nb]

Excellent

[@baohodang5734]

amazing ideas!

[@aonoymousandy7467]

I like the music

[@miron__]

you can't have "open technology" and "patent pending" together

[@v_saggiomo]

of course I can and actually I am having it. Do you want to use the technology? It's so easy that you can do it at home practically. Are you doing it for yourself, for research and so on? Still free as a bird. the only thing you cannot do, and this is why we patented it, it is that you cannot sell it and gain money from it.

[@mactheknife4786]

Brilliant, but that music is ear cancer.

[@klausbrinck2137]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/eYPGk3eDnJppr8k