r/chemistry • u/SuddenPain5960 • 1d ago

Is it possible to make an atomic force microscope less than 4000usd?

2 Upvotes
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56

u/AussieHxC 1d ago

You know a new one costs like £500k right?

10

u/DeletedByAuthor 1d ago

Well... If you buy it.

I wonder how much it costs them to manufacture (just materials and labour, not the research and upfront costs for machinery etc.)

Can easily see a 100x mark-up for scientific equipment.

(Of course it would be nearly impossible to produce the same thing at home)

1

u/ElegantElectrophile 1d ago

Ok, but is it possible?

32

u/Cydonia-Oblonga 1d ago

Well here is a crude attempt for less than 100

https://stoppi-homemade-physics.de/atomic-force-microscope-afm/

9

u/Marco45_0 Organic 1d ago

What the hell

1

u/Cydonia-Oblonga 1d ago

They also build a gas chromatograph.

1

u/master_of_entropy 5h ago

This is what the CIA calls "weapon-grade autism".

28

u/dr_reverend 1d ago

You know that if you are not that concerned with magnification you can just touch things with your finger. It’s practically free!

4

u/tomatoesrfun 1d ago

As someone who did AFM during their masters, this is priceless advice! Hahaha

4

u/futureformerteacher 1d ago

How can you tell the difference between a social and anti-social chemist?

The more social chemist will look at you while mocking you.

9

u/zeocrash 1d ago

I know breaking taps on YouTube built one, but I'm not sure how much it cost

https://youtu.be/2Kv6KwADn7Q

6

u/The_Real_RM 1d ago

Possible? Yes. Possible for someone who isn't intimate with the technology? Probably not. In many fields you'll find that professionals with intimate knowledge of the machines and their principles of operation can find cost shortcuts that yield a no-frills but still functional device, laypeople have to pay the premium to get something working. So my advice is: find someone who designs and services AFMs for a living and ask them what it would take to make something that demonstrates the principle

Later edit: just the tip cartridge is a few hundred USD and can go into the 1000+

5

u/LynxJesus 1d ago

giving as much detail as your initial question: maybe

2

u/tears_of_a_grad 1d ago

You can build a 1D line profilometer with micron level resolution. It isn't trivial though.

It is exponentially harder to extend a micron level line profilometer to nanometer level 2D imaging.

https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/1a96d977-7444-4ae8-88a7-117b44f9187b/content

1

u/stupidshinji Nano 1d ago

I wish

1

u/HankySpanky69 1d ago

Is this in 1500s money? Or today money?

1

u/South_Leather_4921 1d ago

Yes but its resolution will be only about 10x.