Uses the Icosahedron script from whosawhatsis, which was
kindly shared under a CC-BY-SA license also. Original script is available here:
thingiverse.com/thing%3A12097

This is a model of Bacteriophage T7, a model organism in genetics that has
been used for decades in labs. Through studying the behaviour of T7, we have
learned enormous amounts of information on basic genetics of bacteria. In times
gone by, elegant experiments with T7 helped us to map the E.coli genome, in the
days before we could just "read" the DNA with sequencing techniques.

These days, T7 doesn't get nearly as much attention, but it's still an incredible
micro-organism; a futuristic, spaceship-shaped virus that can lie in wait for generations
hidden in the genome of an unsuspecting E.coli cell, awaiting the day that it erupts
into infectious disease.

This model is available on Shapeways for purchase:
shapeways.com/model/452247/bacteriophage_t7_model.html

There are plenty of quick guides out there on the internets that'll show you how to convert a cheap & cheerful webcam into a DIY microscope. Basically all that's required is to screw out the focus lens, flip it, and somehow stick it back on.

My approach was to mangle the case and remove the logic board, and then design and print a little mount to hold the lens and the board together.

It's awkward, but it works. I've included two shots of the pixels from my HTC Hero taken with this microscope, and a picture of the microscope itself.

Someone in the lab heard I had a 3D printer and asked me to make a replacement part for a broken PCR machine. The part was a flat black rail that was used as a lid interlock by the machine, to hold the heated lid down on samples during PCR.

Because the part was just screwed down, I measured the dimensions of the lid interlock and the screws for the original part, and threw something together in OpenSCAD (after much procrastination).

It's not as sturdy as the original part, but as anyone who works in a lab will know, the costs of getting anything technical repaired often exceed the price of a new machine. So, I'll just print 20 of these so the machine can have a nice long life!

The machine was, to be precise, a big red Biometra T-gradient machine, which the lab was using to do 96-well plate PCRs. The heated lid was essential for the task or the samples would all evaporate.

I got featured on Thingiverse! Also, now for sale on Shapeways!

A fairly simple sculpture of DNA, built on a stand so you can use it as a nerdy desk ornament or as a teaching aid. Or as an aspirational goal, if you're anything like me ("I will best you yet, DNA!")

The Makerbot-printed versions are not technically correct, but all told, it's a modestly accurate representation, although the real thing is more dense and complex. And constantly under assault/revision by proteins and nosy scientists. I've included a version of the molecule which roughly corresponds to the common, active form in cells, called "B-DNA".

If you've only ever seen those pictures of DNA that look like a ladder twisted along its virtual axis, welcome to the slightly quirkier reality! If you like this kinda stuff, check out DIYbio.org. If you live on the West Coast and want a Bio-Hackerspace to play in, support "Biocurious" on Kickstarter!

I have put this model on Shapeways for those who might want a premium model in acrylic, glass, steel or plated gold!
shapeways.com/model/134213/dna_sculpture.html

In the spirit of Open Source Hardware, this design is now compliant with the freedomdefined.org/OSHW definition of "Open Source Hardware"! Derivatives are expected to be likewise free.
Gel Electrophoresis is a staple procedure in modern genetic and molecular biology practise. It involves casting a "gel" made of Agarose (super-pure Agar, it is possible to just use Agar-Agar also) which contains a dye that binds DNA, and then forcing lengths of DNA through the Gel with a voltage so that they separate by size and collect dye. They can then be photographed and analysed.

Electrophoresis requires Agarose/Agar, a Dye (such as the commonly available methyline blue, or the more hazardous Ethidium Bromide or Sybr-Safe/Sybr-Green), and equipment that should only cost about €50 but is in fact priced closer to €500 at least. The least of this equipment is the casting set used to make the gel and sit it in the tank of conductive buffer, which is what this Thing comprises.

The HobbyGel Casting Kit is composed of a small Gel Boat (with a footprint of 5cm X 6cm) and a selection of "combs" used to cast the "wells" into which the DNA is injected prior to applying voltage. Depending on the number of samples needing to be Electrophoresed, one can print combs with more teeth or multiple combs.

Also included in this Thing is the larger cousin of the HobbyGel, the LabCompat Gel Casting Kit, which is sized to fit the somewhat-standard "Bio-Rad Mini-Sub Cell-GT" Electrophoresis Rig.

Both sets are available from my shop, Labs From Fabs;
shapeways.com/shops/labsfromfabs
I have priced them as competitively as I can, so that a full HobbyGel kit comprising a 7-Well Comb and a Casting Boat should cost $59.73 in Europe, less elsewhere.

I intend to have both available for order in a choice of either opaque, tough plastic or transluscent acrylic. It is my hope that the latter is UV-permeable enough to allow easy transillumination, while the former will be much cheaper but will call for the trivial additional step of removing the gel from the cast before illuminating with UV. (If required! See below for links to home-brew DNA extraction/visualisation projects requiring no such UV and no Agarose!)

Notice: This is a project in development, and I intend to improve it over time. This draft will work, but it's hardly ideal. Caveat Emptor!

Update Jan 31st: I've uploaded Version 2, which is pretty much the same as 1.5 (which I've removed as a result) but comes with the "Hex Key Holder", which can be fitted with a standard screwdriver bit from a powertool to act as a crude "center". My experiments with using two such centers to drive the lathe weren't great, as one invariably ends up spinning and the piece stops. So it looks like the required parts at present are: Two Bearing-End-Body Sections, two Bearing-And-Tool-Fittings, A Boltplate and a Hex tool holder. You'll also want a Dremel Rest and a length of MDF/wood to bolt it all down to. And you'll need googles, and perhaps gloves, and a lot of sense.
For now, it is left to the user to figure out spacing of the body sections and how to align them. I'm working on improving that. :)

More Update: Really bad video of me demoing Microlathe: youtube.com/watch?v=6XXN6UkrnIw and a shot of the finished piece of dowel on my Twitpic: twitpic.com/y8jnl
Also, Microlathe was featured on Makezine! blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/01/tiny_printable_dremel-powered_lathe.html

Microlathe is a little dremel-powered woodturning/watchmaker's lathe that can be printed and bolted together with all those leftover M3 nuts and bolts that came with your Makerbot. In addition to the M3 nuts/bolts, you only require a 608 bearing (I got an extra one with my Makerbot) and an 8mm diameter spring to fit the bearing-end. You probably don't even need that spring.

So, if you have a Dremel handy, you can consider this "The Lathe That Came Free With The Makerbot"!

Microlathe is Parametric, and makes use of a "Global Parameters" script from which the others derive shared traits such as the radius of the bolt plates, etc.. you could try printing a larger one, but bear in mind the limited space you have to print the body portions, which are already quite large for a Makerbot.

MicroLathe makes use of shapes.scad, which was kindly released to the community under the GNU General Public License by Catarina Mota. Permission was explicitly granted for shapes.scad to be considered released under an Attribution, Sharealike license additionally in this case, to facilitate licensing crossover. Thanks a million Catarina!
Microlathe also makes use of teardrop.scad, which was provided kindly by Erik De Bruijn. Teardrop.scad is released under the GPL2 license, with the inheritance clause generously waivered in this case to permit release under a non-GNU license. I'm very grateful Erik, thanks!

I'd appreciate a small donation via Paypal if you find yourself using this to generate a profit (selling turned items, etc.), or if you just love it and want to show your appreciation. Otherwise, it's all yours to print for yourself or others! Just don't charge for it without asking me and informing the buyer that it's available freely here.

RotaVac is an experimental "centrifugal compressor", designed to be printable as a single piece and spun in a drill or machine to generate a negative pressure gradient.

RotaVac is designed to fit a standard 608 bearing like the sort used in Makerbots, so that a small nozzle (printed separately?) can be fitted through the bearing interior.

This is a pure experiment, and I'll post more when I have a chance to test it!

In the spirit of Open Source Hardware, Dremelfuge is now Open Source Hardware, according to the 0.3 standard found here: freedomdefined.org/OSHW

DremelFuge is a printable rotor for centrifuging standard microcentrifuge tubes and miniprep columns. Compared to the cost of a new centrifuge (priced by a fellow Thingiversian at $500 minimum on Froogle), a Dremelfuge is incredibly cheap. It can be used for DIYbio ( diybio.org ) or for some culinary uses. It requires industry standard 1.5ml/2ml Eppendorf/Microcentrifuge tubes.

* Used with a drill at 3000 RPM, the Dremelfuge will deliver over 400g, enough to comfortably spin down Miniprep samples (proven personally). It will likely achieve acceptable results at lower speeds, too.
* Used at 10krpm, on a Rotary tool for instance, a Dremelfuge should deliver over 4400g, more than enough to spin down bacterial cells.
* At 16krpm, Dremelfuge matches commercial centrifuges.
* On a Dremel 300, a maximum speed of 33krpm equates to a force of over 50,000 times earth's gravity, which puts it into so-called "Ultracentrifuge" territory. The latest version (as printed by Shapeways) has successfully spun tubes at this speed.

To see some picures of Dremelfuge used to spin down cells, see here:
letters.cunningprojects.com/?p=85

Quick Video Intro to Dremelfuge: youtube.com/watch?v=86WnXeTZO_Y
(Update: This video hit over 1900 views! Thanks Makezine/Bre!)

A video of me using Dremelfuge practically in a tent, to extract DNA from a banana: youtube.com/watch?v=ZnyFwupk5KA

Dremelfuge is available for sale as a high-quality, robust print on Shapeways.com in two editions, each suited for up to six samples at a time: Dremelfuge Recessed Edition, to fit the cutting-tool-holder commonly found with rotary tools (5mm diameter bore), and Dremelfuge Chuck Edition, which can be quickly adapted for use in any machine with a chuck grip. They are both available here on my Shapeways shop:
shapeways.com/shops/labsfromfabs

Dremelfuge, as with any high-speed rotary tool, may cause personal harm or damage to property or persons in case of failure, and no guarantee, warranty, promise or suggestion of safety is made or offered by me (Cathal Garvey) with regard to DremelFuge.

Dremelfuge featured on Makezine:
blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/12/laboratory_centrifuge_attachment_fo.html

Please let me know if Dremelfuge is of use to you! Please upload pictures of any printed Dremelfuges in the wild! :)

== License Stuff ==
DremelFuge makes use of the Shapes.scad script kindly released by Catarina Mota, which is released under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation. Many thanks to Catarina for this great workhorse script, as well as for letting me sidestep the "Inheritence Clause" of the license.

DremelFuge itself is released under an Attribution, Sharealike License. It's already available on Shapeways, and you're entitled to print it for yourself or someone else for free if you have a printer handy. As a personal favour, don't go undercutting me on Shapeways please, unless you have a significantly better version. And don't call it "Dremelfuge" if you do.

This is a simple 1.5ml Eppie, in both parameterised form (for making alternately sized microcentrifuge/PCR tubes, and unparameterised and appropriately scaled form.

I've included a simple and "high res" form of the STL.

This stuff is Creative Commons, Attribution, Sharealike.
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

With Parameters for everything, including spoke number and whether to include an axle or not!

One script does cylindrical spokes, another does rectangular spokes for ease of reprapping/makerbotting.

Hope it's handy to someone.

This is my prototype Holistic Heaterbarrel.

Update 15/01/09: I got the Metal Heater Barrel today from Shapeways, and although it is beautiful and lovely to hold, the Barrel Bore is filled in about 2/3 cms in, and there is no sign of an aperature at the end. As this means it would have to be drilled out carefully by the end user, I'm afraid this means a buy-and-plug-in replacement for the Makerbot extruder isn't yet possible.

The idea behind this was to improve the reliability of the Makerbot heating/extruding assembly by having the heater barrel as a single enclosed unit. No more ABS plugs forming at the insulator junction, no more leaking plastic from the nozzle or insulators, and no more shattered insulator retainers.

The assumption is that the radiator fins will help to dissipate heat before it can climb the barrel and damage the Acrylic of the motor mount. Hopefully this will also help to keep the heat gradient between the nozzle and the upper barrel fairly steep, which may help reduce plastic expansion, melting and increased friction within the barrel.

Please note: This design is Attribution - Non Commercial - Sharealike

A little prototype for something I'd like to have in the lab! Gilson Pippettemans are very popular models for working with small amounts of fluid, which is pretty much what cell biology is all about nowadays. Having somewhere convenient to keep your gilson at the bench is no problem, but what about on the move?

This design is supposed to be slotted into the Generic Belt Clip Adaptor:
thingiverse.com/thing:1077

It has a 3cm gap to fit a standard Gilson (I think), 9mm holes for 1ml pippette-tips, and it's supposed to print the spine at an angle so the Pippette is held snugly at a sliding angle towards the belt.

Because I'm considering several different clippable things for belts, I figured a basic, modular part for clipping things was in order.

This clip has a slot at the top which is continuous through its length, in addition to a deep cutout for the belt itself. This should make it easy to design things that slot into this gap for clip-on functionality. Click the thumbnail to the left for a better view with the default dimensions (assuming the export plugin worked correctly)

* Update: I've added a correctly-sized "plug" to the sketchup file and as an .stl. It should fit quite nicely, and could either be printed independently of another item and glued/welded on, or attached to a model before printing.

Ever been carrying a coffee cup and wished you had both hands free?
This design is clearly not perfect; I'd rather have the holding ring at the other end so the centre of gravity is better placed, or to have a second ring to hold the base of the cup, too. Later iterations may see some design improvements! Or, do it yourself to spare me the trouble! ;)

Hope it doesn't spill on you! I make no promises.

Very slightly adapted from Travis77's fine original design, simply to add depth and export the parts as .stl.

These should print just fine on a makerbot, but make sure to check the size first as I haven't had a chance to. The depth of the pieces is very slightly less than the exact fit (1.27mm) to allow for printing error and ease of fit.

Thanks to Travis77 for this great classic puzzle and the Sketchup source file!

For those Biohackers and frugal lab-workers out there, here's a model of a Gel Boat and a comb for moulding wells and performing Gel Electrophoresis!

Given the huge price associated with commercially available gel boats, I hope this will find a few good homes where it'll be put to good use.

For those unfamiliar with Lab Gels, this rig is used to create jelly-like blocks of agar/agarose gel with special wells moulded in; into these wells, one injects DNA or Protein. When an electric current is applied through the Gel Longitudinally, the DNA (or charged protein) is dragged through the well in order of size, smallest fragment first. This allows separation of DNA based on size, which is a pretty essential lab technique for Biohackers.