3D Printed Microscope: Hunting for Tardigrades

3D printing and building a microscope in the hunt for tardigrades (water bears). The cheap but powerful 3D printed microscope is the OpenFlexure delta stage: https://openflexure.org

Here, I used the 3D Printed delta stage, and a Raspberry pi camera v2 as optics, which is more than enough for microbes and microscopic life in pond water or moss.
The hunt for tardigrades using the 3D printed microscope started by collecting some moss from the backyard, soak it in rainwater for a few hours and then looking at in on a microscope slide.
It took me few hours but at the end, after tens and tens of rotifers, ciliates, and nematodes, I managed to find a single, beautiful, tardigrade.

00:00 Introduction
00:50 3D printing
01:15 Assembly
05:03 First tests
05:39 Microbial life in moss
08:36 Finally a tardigrade

Printed with an Ender 5 Pro in PLA Real Filament
Raspberry pi 4 (2gb) and camera v2

Music by C. Breemer (piano), bits and pieces of Nutcracker, Tchaikovsky.
http://www.pianosociety.com/pages/Nut...