Projects like this need to be their own sub-field of science. Work put into creating methods and designs for science to be done at simpler and cheaper levels is incredibly important and deserves more recognition.
it kinda is. its usually referred to as citizen science, or simply DIY lab gear. The trade off is repeatability, reliability, useability, resolution, etc. But that being said, not everyone that would like to make use of, say an atomic force microscope, needs a just push a button and go repeatability and resolution on the finest levels possible. We just need SOME level of repeatability and ease of use, that is relatively reliable. Even if that comes at needing to start with a datum every run to zero everything. The problem is labware is made for the complete other side of that equation. The research labs with grants and such. Places that dont think twice about buying a machine that is 6 or 7 digits, comes with an install crew, and optional construction of a new building to house it, and a weekly maintenance plan for 10 years, plus a 6 month course in how to use it for the lab techs. Yeah, citizen scientists dont need that. And they wont sell them to us at a reasonable price.....so we figure out how to hack our way around the problem. You should check out the laser scanners made from old dvd drives ;)
@@zombieregime That's pretty true but what I mean is that that type of science needs formal recognition and a subgroup of research teams with some funding. We should have proper papers coming out in the field and helping push for simplification as well as advancement in official ways.
@@LanceThumping I kinda get what you're saying. But its not necessarily a 'research' problem. And when someone DOES come up with a novel scientific way of hacking a piece of equipment together it usually does make the rounds on hack-a-day, the various science magazine outlets, reddit, maker, etc. And I absolutely agree there is some gear that is just unapologetically ridiculously you are taking the piss priced. Just....like, no. But since the only places that regularly buy these things have massive budgets and they buy 10 at a time, coupled with the fact that only selling to those kinds of places means they have a niche market so they're not exactly making a whole lot of turnover, even though they're not exactly rushed and stressed building them to get them out the door, the market forces just aren't there to bring the prices down. So we hobbies down here on the bottom either get toys or stuffed too expensive for the average person to own. Leaving only those cursed with the overactive tinkering mindset to attempt building something vaguely capable of those kinds of readings out of whatever we have laying around. The thing is, in order to cobble together something, like just for sake of argument, the dvd laser scanners, youd first have to know how A) a optical pickup for disk based media works, and B) how a scanning laser microscope works. You have to be at least vaguely familiar with the kinds of performance that is required to composite readings taken from the photodiode array in the optical pickup, supposing you could capture enough detail reliably you then have to stitch them together in a meaningful way, which means very fine control of the stage and sample (most projects ive seen use speakers and high resolution DACs to very finely move the stage in steps over the focal point). So basically you need to understand not just how a given piece of data is produced, but physically how that machine mechanically works and the kinds of effects varying degrees of precision will have on the output. What im saying is its not a science problem. Its an engineering problem. And when you get to the level of needing a scanning laser microscope in uni, a home lab build, from scratch, and all the troubleshooting that goes with developing a robust design eventually hits the "aaaand I've moved on" stage. Evidenced by the fact that I have yet to see a number of these home made devices be brought to a robust state. They usually make big head way then die at the actual hard part, tuning in the precision. There is a reason why the lab stuff is so expensive, because it's precision ground, guaranteed square, (usually) set up perfect. The manufacturer has done all the hard parts for you, just drop your sample in and go. When you get to that painted yourself into a corner stage you just kind of lose interest when you realize you have to remake the whole thing but this time using brand new blocks of aluminum that you have to machine yourself because the optical pick up carriages you were using are just a little too flimsy..... Hell, a PCR incubator digester hot cold cycle plate thingy (I forget what they're called) is just a offset bearing and a pelter device. A pc fan can easily be press ganged into covering a good percentage of centrifuge tasks. Hot plates are just .... Uh, hot plates. But when it comes down to it, are you going to spend a couple months chasing down gremlins, or are you going to just spend the $200 and buy a used one on eBay that has a bad power cord? I mean, there's a RUclips video that just went up not too long ago of a guy that got a scanning electron microscope for free after going to look at it when it was $800, it was a little steep for him at the time but he said if you need someone to haul it to the dumpster give him a call a couple months later they gave him a call and he wound up with a free scanning electron microscope. Granted and needed some work but considering the sale cost of that model much less anything anywhere near those outdated capabilities these days he made out like a freaking bandit! There's no need to reinvent the wheel when if you look around you'll find something you can roll on just fine. That's not to say you can't make rough approximations of a wheel should the mood strike you, and you have the familiarity with the parts of the sum.
As someone who has worked with stm i can guarantee you that your results are insanely good. The Maschine i worked on was a giant multi ton monster and the results were similar.
I’m absolutely blown away by what you’ve done here! Building a 3D-printed Scanning Tunneling Microscope that can literally see atoms from a home setup-this is the kind of thing that feels like science fiction, but you’ve made it real. This is pure genius! The creativity, the engineering, and the sheer determination it took to pull this off is nothing short of legendary. You didn’t just build something cool-you’ve pushed the boundaries of what we thought was possible with DIY science. It’s inspiring to see how your curiosity and persistence have led to such a groundbreaking achievement. You’ve set a whole new standard for what’s achievable with passion and ingenuity. I’m genuinely excited to see what comes next-this is the future, and you’re leading the way!
High-quality project, low quality video. Im tired of these ai voiced and written videos. I think this is the first ive seen it on a video with this impressive of a project, and it breaks my heart in way i didnt expect
Wow. A functional STM from 3d printed parts and low-cost off the shelf components. Great project and thanks for sharing. As the saying goes, “What a time to be alive”!
The channel "Breaking Taps" created a tungsten wire electrode with a fine point via a chemical etching process. This is discussed at the timestamp 13:50 in a video about creating a camera sensor (not directly included to avoid the comment getting nommed). Hopefully this is helpful and helps with the reliability issue!
@@Wackylemon64 Cut PtIr wire works pretty well in air because PtIr does not oxidize. You can etch PtIr, but it is more difficult because gas bubbles form on both the PtIr and the other electrode, so the nice tip formation that happens with tungsten does not happen as easily with PtIr.
"was harder than I expected" haha I don't know at which point you thought that building a sub atomic microscope would be anything but hard ;) truly an outstanding project, I would have never expected that one could do this kind of machine with DIY methods, let alone produce results comparable with extremly costly commercial machines, that are produced by dozens of engineers with uncomparable resources. Once again - amazing job!
Pretty cool what you did! About 20 years ago I did interns and later worked on the microscope department of the University of Leiden and later TU-Delft in the Netherlands. I have played around with the portable STM to get familiar with the matter and after that did a big project of overhauling and modifying an experimental Variable-Temperature-STM. They have made lots of scientific research with publications with my microscope. Later on I designed probe holders for some more years for Transfer-Electron-Microscopes. But chose an other path in life. Still your video journey brings me back every step I made back then.
I literally added this to favorites as soon as I saw the thumbnail. We've come to an age in manufacturing and information where brilliant people like you can build what would take universities many months and funding. Congrats !
at our institute we sometimes created the tips using a chemical etching process with a current flow detection to immediatly retract the tip when etching is done
Finally a new real good science channel. About the tungsten wire, you can sharpen it with a lighter, I think "the thought emporium" did it to replicate gecko tape. Incredible work, can't wait to see your next projects
I love it ! Wondered for a while if that was possible and you proved it in the best possible way ! Well done, you did such a nice work ! It opens a lot of possibilites :D
Hey, at least you live close enough to BART for it to be convenient for everything except operating an STM in your living room! This is great, thanks for sharing it. It showed up on my home page, so the algorithm seems to be smiling upon you. I hope this video gets the views it deserves!
"building an stm with 3d printed parts was harder than i expected."..no fucking shit. who would have thought. amazing work though, very hopeful there will be more content on this channel. cheers
“3D printing a STM was harder then expected” I kinda find that a wild statement to make. I find it insane you succeed at all. Honored to be your 4 subscriber. Why didn’t you use gold for the tip? gold welds at normal conditions so it’s great for creating nano wires, not that I know if it’s actually good for this use case, but I’ve done quantum conductance experiments with it.
Glad you like it! Re STM tip material: Gold is very stable but it is too soft and cannot form a sharp tip point. Pt alloy is a better material due to its similar stability and often used in ambient STM. Unfortunately it is too expensive and outside my budget...
I was like, you're the 4th subscriber? then I checked how many subs he has, he has like not even 300 subscribers? I am shocked this really doesn't feel like something a small channel would do (I subscribed BTW this is epic)
Incredible project. Is that your first ever RUclips video? Your filming and video editing skills are top notch. I look forward to your future videos and witnessing your success on RUclips
This is so beautiful and well documented. I love it when i See people build on what others have learned or done. And this video? Sweet quality and a touch of humour 😊 SUBBED 🎉
Normal engineer: "I used a short segment of RG-316, since I didn't want to add potential variables to the project" An absolute chad: "I made a miniature coaxial cable [since I had the copper tape handy]"
Epic. I have some plans to build a scanning electron microscope at home, but with a bit of a twist from a normal one. Just have hard finding time with children in the house :D
if you want to understand the cost associated with laboratory precision instruments.... here is a little anecdote. i once tried to price a *used* 600mhz NMR. the dewer/primary superconducting magnet assembly (the most "immediate" visually identifiable part) - $3,000 the air assisted spinning sample probe - $1500 the supeerconductive RF pickup/probe - $1500 the "NMR cabinet" (other names exist), which looks like a generic "box of electronics", usually standalone (to mount it far from the NMR and the pesky human user ) $80,000 its ALWAYS the electronics, with the software/control sometimes 2nd
hey, I feel bad bringing up the AI voice because you just built the most insane diy projects I have ever watch, and that is infinitely more deserving of attention than the voice, and I also see you did it because english isn't your native language which is fine for me... but the voice is a bit off-putting. I really hope this doesn't hinder your visibility, because again - the project is insane and I'm amazed you got something working in the end ! I subscribed snd am definitely looking forward to what'll be next :)
Amazing project and video! I didn't think it would be possible to get something this good with just 3D-printed parts. I think the tip is probably a major thing holding it back, there is a nice article and video on the "Zyrus Etcher" which might be a good fit for this project.
Большое спасибо за видео! Это именно тот контент, которого мне не хватает в RUclips. Хотелось бы видеть масштаб на изображениях. Я думаю, это нетрудно сделать, когда для движения используются шаговые двигатели.
Stepper motor is only used for Z positioning. XY movement is all from the piezo actuator. Unfortunately, i don't think stepper platform is viable, a single step off a stepper will be much larger than the scanning field. So stepper couldn't be used to calibrate the piezo movement.
Ive only watched the first 2 miniues of your video and i wanna congratulate for explaing how tunnellung microspoce works in such clever and easy to understand way, much better than 4 of proffesors at my univeristy. They all use some 144p schematic image and pretend its so complicated that we probably cannot understand it so why even bother... Now i can watch the rest, thank you for your work.
This is wonderful. I've never ever tought it's possible to diy such equipment! As somebody who works with AFM on a daily basis, I can assure you that most of the scans on actual scientific equipment are comparable in quality to yours. Btw, feel free to contact me if you want to get some samples scanned with scientific equipment.
You can add additional vibration isolation by adding a more plates with viton o-rings in between on the base on the springs. Other fun air stable systems you can scan include MoS2 and TaS2 (though this one will slowly degrade in air after fresh cleaving).
I think to make the needle you're supposed to strongly pull the wire so that it tears (also try annealed copper wire). Steel springs aren't that dampening, they're used in analog audio reverbs. Try rubber strips. Also I remember that burning a graphite rod with electric current creates a supersharp needles. But carbon has hexagonal molecules so that's a problem..but it's easy to do, so worth trying.
Very cool result. How did you calibrate the magnification? Sometimes it can look like you're imaging individual atoms with STM, but what you're actually observing is a much larger scale moire pattern caused by a slight misalignment between the carbon layers in the graphite.
would placing the STM in a temperature controlled 'oven' be a good way to deal with thermal expansion issues? Maybe at ~30degC for instance (above room temperature). That way HVAC / room variation doesn't affect things.
a question plz don't mind thus this only work on substances that conduct electricity like metal and graphite or it could work with silicon and other elements
The electromagnetic damper seems like it would feed the BART's vibration back into the platform thanks to induction. Also, a question: When you ground the copper shielding... don't you vice versa feed all the noise from everything else attached to your house's ground (computer, AC, fridge, you name it) into the system?
Very cool project. At first, the video it felt like one of thousands 'let me read the Wikipedia article out loud, but pretend I've invented it'. This is likely due to the use of the AI voice? The STM looks great, and I'm looking forward to seeing your design files and publication. I would have the repository with these files linked AND live at the same time as the video, though. This greatly increases the interaction with your audience. For example, I have to remember to get back to this video in the future to observe if the files are releases yet. I'm likely not going to build one, but I just want to play with the files and learn a bit more about your construction.
@@andyburns He has also another channel and that one is in Mandarin with English hardsubs, and an occasional video where he speaks English and is struggling a fair bit.
I, too, love the project, hate the AI voice. I'd rather listen to a heavy accent, speech impediment, untrained voice, anything with soul. Good job on the project, tho, this is incredible! Amazing how people here on RUclips are making STMs and semiconductor devices in their home labs!
I'm also conflicted on this point - I am uncomfortable consuming media made with AI, but this creator has accomplished something astounding, and to complain about the voice seems like such a quibble. I end up reasoning that this is one of the good things that these new AI systems can accomplish, unfettering the transfer of knowledge. I will be honest, I didn't detect that the voice was AI until it put a comma in between "scan" and "head" at 9:35. I might have assumed that this was a brilliant inventor with a radio voice, who was probably handsome as well. 'Better not let my wife see this,' my caveman brain says. 'this guy is obviously pretty good genetic material and probably has access to resources as well'.
@@Jerguu AI voices make me question the legitimacy of a video and whether it is or is not stolen content. Given this is the only video on the account, I suspect it is not their content.
@@AnaphylaxisMan Why is machine voice a problem for you? Ethical constraints like unlicensed material are not a problem with TTS API, since the voices are licensed from voice actors. It is also really a rather small network which doesn't consume substantial electrical power or material. It is not similar to generative AI as used for bulk text generation or image generation.
@@SianaGearzThat's good. That makes me feel better. I did a little bit of searching to see what this is all about turns up multiple TTS APIs, is there a standard one that I'm not aware of?
Could you please update your video description to include the links to the reference blog you mention as well as the links to your open sourced design data?
Well done. I made one of these awhile back but I ran into a problem that I was wondering if you can comment. I used the same stepper motor for coarse approach as you did and found by monitoring the stage with a fiber fabry perot interferometer that a motor step had a huge spike on the stage of the order of 0.5um. Since my piezo travel could sweep a larger distance than this I decided to step than sweep the whole piezo range looking for the current. Then retract and then step again. This was awkward. I also noticed these same spikes on professional New Focus inch worms. Can you comment whether you saw this and how you prevented crashing the probe on approach.
I uses the similar method (sweep and retract). I believe it is a common method often seen in research equipment. I am working on designing an AFM recently and thinking to use full piezoelectric motors to replace stepped motors and maybe it will be better
It‘s amazing how you managed to build one at home using 3D printed materials and getting such great images and atomic resolution! How much did the materials cost you?
You should look into using copper tape rather than solder, that way you don’t need to heat the piezo ceramic and it should still be a good enough electrical connection.
The copper tape i bought somehow didn't always give me good electric connect on the glue side (i guess it is a quality issue) I also tried silver paint but it can't form a strong connection. So i ended up using soldering
@@MechPanda-tt2gb Not all copper tape has conductive adhesive. So make sure the kind you ordered is actually the kind with conductive adhesive (its really just adhesive with tiny conductive beads in it that bridge the gap between the tape and your surface)
@@MechPanda-tt2gb OK i have experience with silver paint Kemo L100. It will sometimes fail to connect. To make it reliable, you need to shake the vial vigorously for several minutes, it needs to be thoroughly mixed. Then you uncap it, and quickly paint your connection. If it's taking you more than 20 seconds, you cap the vial again and shake it for half a minute. If the liquid isn't thoroughly mixed, it may look the same, but will be electrically bad. The connection is robust enough if not subject to major forces.
Projects like this need to be their own sub-field of science.
Work put into creating methods and designs for science to be done at simpler and cheaper levels is incredibly important and deserves more recognition.
it kinda is. its usually referred to as citizen science, or simply DIY lab gear. The trade off is repeatability, reliability, useability, resolution, etc. But that being said, not everyone that would like to make use of, say an atomic force microscope, needs a just push a button and go repeatability and resolution on the finest levels possible. We just need SOME level of repeatability and ease of use, that is relatively reliable. Even if that comes at needing to start with a datum every run to zero everything. The problem is labware is made for the complete other side of that equation. The research labs with grants and such. Places that dont think twice about buying a machine that is 6 or 7 digits, comes with an install crew, and optional construction of a new building to house it, and a weekly maintenance plan for 10 years, plus a 6 month course in how to use it for the lab techs. Yeah, citizen scientists dont need that. And they wont sell them to us at a reasonable price.....so we figure out how to hack our way around the problem. You should check out the laser scanners made from old dvd drives ;)
@@zombieregime That's pretty true but what I mean is that that type of science needs formal recognition and a subgroup of research teams with some funding.
We should have proper papers coming out in the field and helping push for simplification as well as advancement in official ways.
@@LanceThumping In general this falls into the field of metrology
@@LanceThumping I kinda get what you're saying. But its not necessarily a 'research' problem. And when someone DOES come up with a novel scientific way of hacking a piece of equipment together it usually does make the rounds on hack-a-day, the various science magazine outlets, reddit, maker, etc.
And I absolutely agree there is some gear that is just unapologetically ridiculously you are taking the piss priced. Just....like, no. But since the only places that regularly buy these things have massive budgets and they buy 10 at a time, coupled with the fact that only selling to those kinds of places means they have a niche market so they're not exactly making a whole lot of turnover, even though they're not exactly rushed and stressed building them to get them out the door, the market forces just aren't there to bring the prices down. So we hobbies down here on the bottom either get toys or stuffed too expensive for the average person to own. Leaving only those cursed with the overactive tinkering mindset to attempt building something vaguely capable of those kinds of readings out of whatever we have laying around.
The thing is, in order to cobble together something, like just for sake of argument, the dvd laser scanners, youd first have to know how A) a optical pickup for disk based media works, and B) how a scanning laser microscope works. You have to be at least vaguely familiar with the kinds of performance that is required to composite readings taken from the photodiode array in the optical pickup, supposing you could capture enough detail reliably you then have to stitch them together in a meaningful way, which means very fine control of the stage and sample (most projects ive seen use speakers and high resolution DACs to very finely move the stage in steps over the focal point). So basically you need to understand not just how a given piece of data is produced, but physically how that machine mechanically works and the kinds of effects varying degrees of precision will have on the output.
What im saying is its not a science problem. Its an engineering problem.
And when you get to the level of needing a scanning laser microscope in uni, a home lab build, from scratch, and all the troubleshooting that goes with developing a robust design eventually hits the "aaaand I've moved on" stage. Evidenced by the fact that I have yet to see a number of these home made devices be brought to a robust state. They usually make big head way then die at the actual hard part, tuning in the precision. There is a reason why the lab stuff is so expensive, because it's precision ground, guaranteed square, (usually) set up perfect. The manufacturer has done all the hard parts for you, just drop your sample in and go. When you get to that painted yourself into a corner stage you just kind of lose interest when you realize you have to remake the whole thing but this time using brand new blocks of aluminum that you have to machine yourself because the optical pick up carriages you were using are just a little too flimsy.....
Hell, a PCR incubator digester hot cold cycle plate thingy (I forget what they're called) is just a offset bearing and a pelter device. A pc fan can easily be press ganged into covering a good percentage of centrifuge tasks. Hot plates are just .... Uh, hot plates. But when it comes down to it, are you going to spend a couple months chasing down gremlins, or are you going to just spend the $200 and buy a used one on eBay that has a bad power cord? I mean, there's a RUclips video that just went up not too long ago of a guy that got a scanning electron microscope for free after going to look at it when it was $800, it was a little steep for him at the time but he said if you need someone to haul it to the dumpster give him a call a couple months later they gave him a call and he wound up with a free scanning electron microscope. Granted and needed some work but considering the sale cost of that model much less anything anywhere near those outdated capabilities these days he made out like a freaking bandit! There's no need to reinvent the wheel when if you look around you'll find something you can roll on just fine. That's not to say you can't make rough approximations of a wheel should the mood strike you, and you have the familiarity with the parts of the sum.
As someone who has worked with stm i can guarantee you that your results are insanely good. The Maschine i worked on was a giant multi ton monster and the results were similar.
Wow, I really would not have guessed that it'd be possible to achieve this level of accuracy with 3D printed parts! Super impressive
I’m absolutely blown away by what you’ve done here! Building a 3D-printed Scanning Tunneling Microscope that can literally see atoms from a home setup-this is the kind of thing that feels like science fiction, but you’ve made it real. This is pure genius!
The creativity, the engineering, and the sheer determination it took to pull this off is nothing short of legendary. You didn’t just build something cool-you’ve pushed the boundaries of what we thought was possible with DIY science.
It’s inspiring to see how your curiosity and persistence have led to such a groundbreaking achievement. You’ve set a whole new standard for what’s achievable with passion and ingenuity. I’m genuinely excited to see what comes next-this is the future, and you’re leading the way!
"as we learned in kindergarten" 😂
Wow man, this is some high quality video and an insane project
Glad you think so!
High-quality project, low quality video. Im tired of these ai voiced and written videos. I think this is the first ive seen it on a video with this impressive of a project, and it breaks my heart in way i didnt expect
Nicely done. Kudos! I built one of the first STMs after IBM in the 80's and it took me months until the first images HOPG atoms appeared.
Wow. A functional STM from 3d printed parts and low-cost off the shelf components. Great project and thanks for sharing. As the saying goes, “What a time to be alive”!
The channel "Breaking Taps" created a tungsten wire electrode with a fine point via a chemical etching process. This is discussed at the timestamp 13:50 in a video about creating a camera sensor (not directly included to avoid the comment getting nommed). Hopefully this is helpful and helps with the reliability issue!
The short of it, is to apply a voltage to the tungsten wire, the tip dipped in a solution of potassium hydroxide, to electrochemically etch it
Tungsten tips oxidize in air, you can only reliably use tungsten etched tips in an ultra high vacuum.
@@BairdBanko What form factor for the tungsten tip would work best in the context of this STM? Is the "wedge" the only conformation which works, here?
@@Wackylemon64 Cut PtIr wire works pretty well in air because PtIr does not oxidize. You can etch PtIr, but it is more difficult because gas bubbles form on both the PtIr and the other electrode, so the nice tip formation that happens with tungsten does not happen as easily with PtIr.
You can do this by buying the stuff at any welding store - it's chemical sharpening of tungsten electrodes.
Having this as a first project on your channel is insane. Love the quality and can't wait to see your next projects.
"was harder than I expected" haha I don't know at which point you thought that building a sub atomic microscope would be anything but hard ;) truly an outstanding project, I would have never expected that one could do this kind of machine with DIY methods, let alone produce results comparable with extremly costly commercial machines, that are produced by dozens of engineers with uncomparable resources. Once again - amazing job!
Pretty cool what you did!
About 20 years ago I did interns and later worked on the microscope department of the University of Leiden and later TU-Delft in the Netherlands. I have played around with the portable STM to get familiar with the matter and after that did a big project of overhauling and modifying an experimental Variable-Temperature-STM. They have made lots of scientific research with publications with my microscope. Later on I designed probe holders for some more years for Transfer-Electron-Microscopes. But chose an other path in life. Still your video journey brings me back every step I made back then.
Respect from Kharkiv, Ukraine!
👏👏👏
I literally added this to favorites as soon as I saw the thumbnail. We've come to an age in manufacturing and information where brilliant people like you can build what would take universities many months and funding. Congrats !
You deserve an honorary PhD! Awesome!
at our institute we sometimes created the tips using a chemical etching process with a current flow detection to immediatly retract the tip when etching is done
Literally only one video on this channel and it's an absolute banger. 100/10, sir.
Open source science rocks
I've been wanting someone to measure atominically with sound for awhile. This is amazing. Great job! 👏
This is fufing next level and absolutely amazing
Outstanding job dude
How are you not more popular???
RUclips serving me a new incredible tech and open knowledge channel! Subscribed ! and incredible job!
words cannot describe how much i love this! thanks
Finally a new real good science channel. About the tungsten wire, you can sharpen it with a lighter, I think "the thought emporium" did it to replicate gecko tape.
Incredible work, can't wait to see your next projects
I love it ! Wondered for a while if that was possible and you proved it in the best possible way ! Well done, you did such a nice work ! It opens a lot of possibilites :D
This is incredible to see produced DIY
Hey, at least you live close enough to BART for it to be convenient for everything except operating an STM in your living room!
This is great, thanks for sharing it. It showed up on my home page, so the algorithm seems to be smiling upon you. I hope this video gets the views it deserves!
Instantly subscribed, I love these types of open source projects, its crazy how far we gone that now days we can make atomic microscope in our house
"building an stm with 3d printed parts was harder than i expected."..no fucking shit. who would have thought. amazing work though, very hopeful there will be more content on this channel. cheers
The crash out at the beginning is crazy
I'm impressed. Learned a lot too.
What a time to be alive ;) great work and can’t wait to see your next moves
Thank you for the wonderful video! In the future, I'm definitely gonna have a crack at making an STM myself!
i am always excited to find new channels worth subscribing to!
Sometimes I think I am smart and do cool stuff. This is so humbling.
“3D printing a STM was harder then expected”
I kinda find that a wild statement to make. I find it insane you succeed at all. Honored to be your 4 subscriber.
Why didn’t you use gold for the tip? gold welds at normal conditions so it’s great for creating nano wires, not that I know if it’s actually good for this use case, but I’ve done quantum conductance experiments with it.
Glad you like it!
Re STM tip material: Gold is very stable but it is too soft and cannot form a sharp tip point. Pt alloy is a better material due to its similar stability and often used in ambient STM. Unfortunately it is too expensive and outside my budget...
I was like, you're the 4th subscriber?
then I checked how many subs he has, he has like not even 300 subscribers? I am shocked this really doesn't feel like something a small channel would do (I subscribed BTW this is epic)
@@MechPanda-tt2gbyou can get a sharper tungsten tip if you oxidize it rather than mechanically deform it.
Congratulations on building something amazing! Very inspiring
Incredible project. Is that your first ever RUclips video? Your filming and video editing skills are top notch. I look forward to your future videos and witnessing your success on RUclips
This is so beautiful and well documented. I love it when i See people build on what others have learned or done. And this video? Sweet quality and a touch of humour 😊 SUBBED 🎉
This is art.
This is awesome!! Love these kind of videos! Subscribed and looking forward to your next project!!😊
Probably the first *3d printed* one, but certainly not the first.
Edit: I'm not knocking! It's a stellar project.
Absolutely incredible!
That’s very impressive
This is what RUclips should be used for. Not some stupit skibedi Toilet or Cat Videos. Great Work! Thanks for sharing ♥️
Incredible work! I really like this side of RUclips.
Vraiment impressionnant ! Bravo 👏
This video is full of knowledge ❤love from India ❤
Incredible project and your first upload! I’m looking forward to your next project
Great work man, thanks for sharing with the world!
This is incredible.
It's one of those videos when you click like before watching. Thank you that goes on my to do list.
Normal engineer: "I used a short segment of RG-316, since I didn't want to add potential variables to the project"
An absolute chad: "I made a miniature coaxial cable [since I had the copper tape handy]"
You missed an opportunity to use STM microcontroller to build an STM)
Anyway, great video!
That's a good one!
amazing, its inedible what you accomplished , i hope to see more in the future :)
Epic. I have some plans to build a scanning electron microscope at home, but with a bit of a twist from a normal one. Just have hard finding time with children in the house :D
That will require High Vacuum and will be quite a project!
holy shit that's insane, don't stop doing projects like this
Thanks I was just looking for a cheap one of those 🤩
Amazing work! You mentioned you open sourced the design? Where can i find the files? Thanks!
Great project! Regarding the tips try to look into electrochemical etching to get a sharp tip pretty consistently
Yes, I was wondering if that would be a better approach. I know it gets used for TIG, but don’t know how well it would work for STM tips.
This is high end DIY, I Love it! Very good Video, now I want tomake one, too 😂
MechPanda this is incredible
if you want to understand the cost associated with laboratory precision instruments.... here is a little anecdote.
i once tried to price a *used* 600mhz NMR.
the dewer/primary superconducting magnet assembly (the most "immediate" visually identifiable part) - $3,000
the air assisted spinning sample probe - $1500
the supeerconductive RF pickup/probe - $1500
the "NMR cabinet" (other names exist), which looks like a generic "box of electronics", usually standalone (to mount it far from the NMR and the pesky human user )
$80,000
its ALWAYS the electronics, with the software/control sometimes 2nd
hey, I feel bad bringing up the AI voice because you just built the most insane diy projects I have ever watch, and that is infinitely more deserving of attention than the voice, and I also see you did it because english isn't your native language which is fine for me... but the voice is a bit off-putting. I really hope this doesn't hinder your visibility, because again - the project is insane and I'm amazed you got something working in the end ! I subscribed snd am definitely looking forward to what'll be next :)
Yeah, the content was so engrossing that I found it trivial to ignore the AI aspect of the voice. Great job MechPanda! 👍👍👍
didn't even notice the voice is not real 🤷🏻♂️
What, it was an IA voice?
@@SetKat-AlexI was tipped of by how the voice said 3D and amperes.
Agree 100%, it’s disrespectful to the hard work done here. Worth hiring a voice actor.
Amazing project and video! I didn't think it would be possible to get something this good with just 3D-printed parts.
I think the tip is probably a major thing holding it back, there is a nice article and video on the "Zyrus Etcher" which might be a good fit for this project.
Awesome. Definitely worth a sub. 👍
Brilliant stuff!
Большое спасибо за видео! Это именно тот контент, которого мне не хватает в RUclips.
Хотелось бы видеть масштаб на изображениях. Я думаю, это нетрудно сделать, когда для движения используются шаговые двигатели.
Stepper motor is only used for Z positioning. XY movement is all from the piezo actuator. Unfortunately, i don't think stepper platform is viable, a single step off a stepper will be much larger than the scanning field. So stepper couldn't be used to calibrate the piezo movement.
Ignoring the STM, that magnetic dampener is pretty fucking cool. The STM as well of course :)
Ya that's brilliant.
Genius !!! World need mire content !!!!!!!!!
Ive only watched the first 2 miniues of your video and i wanna congratulate for explaing how tunnellung microspoce works in such clever and easy to understand way, much better than 4 of proffesors at my univeristy. They all use some 144p schematic image and pretend its so complicated that we probably cannot understand it so why even bother... Now i can watch the rest, thank you for your work.
This is wonderful. I've never ever tought it's possible to diy such equipment! As somebody who works with AFM on a daily basis, I can assure you that most of the scans on actual scientific equipment are comparable in quality to yours. Btw, feel free to contact me if you want to get some samples scanned with scientific equipment.
You can add additional vibration isolation by adding a more plates with viton o-rings in between on the base on the springs. Other fun air stable systems you can scan include MoS2 and TaS2 (though this one will slowly degrade in air after fresh cleaving).
I think to make the needle you're supposed to strongly pull the wire so that it tears (also try annealed copper wire). Steel springs aren't that dampening, they're used in analog audio reverbs. Try rubber strips.
Also I remember that burning a graphite rod with electric current creates a supersharp needles. But carbon has hexagonal molecules so that's a problem..but it's easy to do, so worth trying.
I always wanted to make one .great video
Incredible!
great work!
Very cool result. How did you calibrate the magnification? Sometimes it can look like you're imaging individual atoms with STM, but what you're actually observing is a much larger scale moire pattern caused by a slight misalignment between the carbon layers in the graphite.
That is totally right! I did not have access to a calibrated sample so it is a bit hard to conclude.
Awesome ❣️
amazing job
I'm glad you like it
Excellent
would placing the STM in a temperature controlled 'oven' be a good way to deal with thermal expansion issues? Maybe at ~30degC for instance (above room temperature). That way HVAC / room variation doesn't affect things.
Well done!
a question plz don't mind thus this only work on substances that conduct electricity like metal and graphite or it could work with silicon and other elements
Brilliant.
This is amazing!
But to cosplay as reviewer 2: your images should include a scale, so we can compare the different resolutions
😂that is true
the piezo actuators could be used to move a laser dot very precisely over a long distance, maybe to project an image using a mirror on the piezo ?
The electromagnetic damper seems like it would feed the BART's vibration back into the platform thanks to induction. Also, a question: When you ground the copper shielding... don't you vice versa feed all the noise from everything else attached to your house's ground (computer, AC, fridge, you name it) into the system?
Very cool project. At first, the video it felt like one of thousands 'let me read the Wikipedia article out loud, but pretend I've invented it'. This is likely due to the use of the AI voice? The STM looks great, and I'm looking forward to seeing your design files and publication. I would have the repository with these files linked AND live at the same time as the video, though. This greatly increases the interaction with your audience. For example, I have to remember to get back to this video in the future to observe if the files are releases yet. I'm likely not going to build one, but I just want to play with the files and learn a bit more about your construction.
Yes, I find the AI voice detracts from the video, the creator may have their reasons though and the project is certainly cool
@@andyburns He has also another channel and that one is in Mandarin with English hardsubs, and an occasional video where he speaks English and is struggling a fair bit.
I, too, love the project, hate the AI voice. I'd rather listen to a heavy accent, speech impediment, untrained voice, anything with soul.
Good job on the project, tho, this is incredible!
Amazing how people here on RUclips are making STMs and semiconductor devices in their home labs!
The AI voice is definitely very distracting - I can see it as a reasonable option if they can't speak English?
I'm also conflicted on this point - I am uncomfortable consuming media made with AI, but this creator has accomplished something astounding, and to complain about the voice seems like such a quibble. I end up reasoning that this is one of the good things that these new AI systems can accomplish, unfettering the transfer of knowledge.
I will be honest, I didn't detect that the voice was AI until it put a comma in between "scan" and "head" at 9:35. I might have assumed that this was a brilliant inventor with a radio voice, who was probably handsome as well. 'Better not let my wife see this,' my caveman brain says. 'this guy is obviously pretty good genetic material and probably has access to resources as well'.
@@Jerguu AI voices make me question the legitimacy of a video and whether it is or is not stolen content. Given this is the only video on the account, I suspect it is not their content.
@@AnaphylaxisMan Why is machine voice a problem for you? Ethical constraints like unlicensed material are not a problem with TTS API, since the voices are licensed from voice actors. It is also really a rather small network which doesn't consume substantial electrical power or material. It is not similar to generative AI as used for bulk text generation or image generation.
@@SianaGearzThat's good. That makes me feel better.
I did a little bit of searching to see what this is all about turns up multiple TTS APIs, is there a standard one that I'm not aware of?
I remember someone etching tungsten needles
Can't quite remeber who that was, but a quick search should help^^
Could you please update your video description to include the links to the reference blog you mention as well as the links to your open sourced design data?
Will do! RUclips does not allow me to link to external link for now....
thats a project i wana try
Well done. I made one of these awhile back but I ran into a problem that I was wondering if you can comment. I used the same stepper motor for coarse approach as you did and found by monitoring the stage with a fiber fabry perot interferometer that a motor step had a huge spike on the stage of the order of 0.5um. Since my piezo travel could sweep a larger distance than this I decided to step than sweep the whole piezo range looking for the current. Then retract and then step again. This was awkward. I also noticed these same spikes on professional New Focus inch worms. Can you comment whether you saw this and how you prevented crashing the probe on approach.
I uses the similar method (sweep and retract). I believe it is a common method often seen in research equipment. I am working on designing an AFM recently and thinking to use full piezoelectric motors to replace stepped motors and maybe it will be better
Bro came out of the blue, dropped amazing video, and left without elaborating.
It‘s amazing how you managed to build one at home using 3D printed materials and getting such great images and atomic resolution! How much did the materials cost you?
For creating a sharp tip, what if you used a highly conductive needle? the tips are hollow but I think fine medical ones might be useful
Incredible
Great job , 😎
You should look into using copper tape rather than solder, that way you don’t need to heat the piezo ceramic and it should still be a good enough electrical connection.
The copper tape i bought somehow didn't always give me good electric connect on the glue side (i guess it is a quality issue)
I also tried silver paint but it can't form a strong connection. So i ended up using soldering
@@MechPanda-tt2gb Not all copper tape has conductive adhesive. So make sure the kind you ordered is actually the kind with conductive adhesive (its really just adhesive with tiny conductive beads in it that bridge the gap between the tape and your surface)
@@MechPanda-tt2gb OK i have experience with silver paint Kemo L100. It will sometimes fail to connect. To make it reliable, you need to shake the vial vigorously for several minutes, it needs to be thoroughly mixed. Then you uncap it, and quickly paint your connection. If it's taking you more than 20 seconds, you cap the vial again and shake it for half a minute. If the liquid isn't thoroughly mixed, it may look the same, but will be electrically bad. The connection is robust enough if not subject to major forces.
You can use Pt/Ir or Pt/Rh wire (85/15 or 90/10) and you won't damage your wire cutters.
I didn't find a reasonably priced Put alloy tip at that time 😂
Amazing project, but I would like to know why you chose a pid loop for the feedback system. I don't think it's a very good fit for this application