[3dem] 3D printed cryo-grid boxes

Tue Jun 11 08:05:31 PDT 2019

We tried 3D printing boxes here a few years ago with mixed success.  The standard 3D filament (ABS) made a nice, robust box which would invariably crack once under LN2 and any torque was applied to the closing screw.  We tried a couple different materials, including a squishy rubber (not certain anymore what the material was) that exploded once immersed in LN2.  In the end, there really wasn’t a cost savings.

Andy

--

Andrew Kehr, PhD
IRTA Fellow
Structural Cell Biology, LCMB, NIDDK, NIH

From: Eric Hanssen <ehanssen at unimelb.edu.au>
Date: Tuesday, June 11, 2019 at 1:20 AM
To: Davide Zabeo <davide.zabeo at gu.se>
Cc: "3dem at ncmir.ucsd.edu" <3dem at ncmir.ucsd.edu>
Subject: Re: [3dem] 3D printed cryo-grid boxes

Hi Davide,
what I do is I bring the empty grid boxes that comes with the grids we purchase (the blue kind) to our workshop and they cut the boxes and lids in little 4 grid squares, add a little screw (Teflon, but my last batch was metal and they are much better) et voila!  Cost $1 per grid box for the labour
Assoc. Prof Eric Hanssen
Head - Advanced Microscopy Facility
Honorary Principal Fellow – Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

President Australian Microscopy and Microanalysis Society

Bio21 Molecular Science and Biotechnology Institute - 30 Flemington Road - The University of Melbourne - Victoria 3010 - Australia
email: ehanssen at unimelb.edu.au<mailto:ehanssen at unimelb.edu.au> | Office: +61 3 83442449 | Microscope: +61 3 83442509
Web: www.microscopy.unimelb.edu.au<http://www.microscopy.unimelb.edu.au/>

On 11 Jun 2019, at 12:46, John Crum <jcrum12 at cox.net<mailto:jcrum12 at cox.net>> wrote:
Davide,

I have modeled and printed cryo grid boxes. I have not used them, though. I decided not to pursue making and selling them because the cost was about the same as the commercially available ones (about USD 9). I'm not sure that the plastic from any 3D printer type would stand up to LN2 temperatures, over the long run. I do make and sell a manual plunge freezing workstation. You can see it on the 3D printer service "Shapeways" at:

https://www.shapeways.com/product/HZSNAVE4B/plungefreezeinsert-base-v5-1-3

Let me know if you have any questions...

jc

John Crum
JC Designs/California

On June 10, 2019 at 2:22 AM Davide Zabeo <davide.zabeo at gu.se<mailto:davide.zabeo at gu.se>> wrote:

Dear all,

In our lab we would like to try 3D-printing cryo-boxes to store plunge frozen cryo-grids (attached photo as reference).

Has anyone tried this before? Does anyone have a blueprint of it?

Any help is appreciated! Thank you.

Best wishes,

Davide Zabeo

PhD student

Johanna Höög Lab

Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology

University of Gothenburg
Visiting Address: Medicinaregatan 9 C, 41390 Göteborg
Postal Address: Box 462, 40530 Göteborg SWEDEN

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