LabCrafter

A bunch of 3D printed components, wires and screws are lying on a cutting mat. There's an orange Engineer PA-09 crimping tool in the foreground, as well as some screwdrivers and an allen key.

Crimping a connector for a fluorescence add-on we're collaborating on for the OpenFlexure microscope.

Soon to be open kaleidoscope

Andy and bri celebrate with shirts snd people making pcbs

Happy Gosh Gathering from Dinacon!! 10 years ago @goshcommunity.bsky.social made a goal to make open science hardware ubiquitous by 2025!

The time has arrived and we are celebrating #opentools here with 53 people at Dinacon!
#openscience #opensource

Gerrit and Margriet showing the OpenFlexure Microscope to a group of nursery children.

Being self-employed means we can do more of what we love. Recently we volunteered at our local children's nursery and brought the OpenFlexure Microscope. We had a great time hunting for garden creatures and viewing pre-prepared slides. The hairy fly legs were definitely the biggest hit!🪰

Reviving the Spirit of Open Science Hardware: Highlights from the 2025 Open Hardware Summit Since starting our open science hardware company, LabCrafter, last year, I’ve been reflecting on the current state of open-source hardwar...

Gerrit wrote a blog post about his experience at the 2025 Open Hardware Summit in Edinburgh, organised by @oshwassociation.bsky.social .

gerritniezen.com/reviving-the...

#oshw #openscience #OHS2025

YouTube video by The Open Source Hardware Association Gerrit Niezen: Growing Food with Electricity: Sustainable Protein Production

Gerrit gave a talk last week at the Open Hardware Summit in Edinburgh about our collaboration with the AMYBO community to grow food with electricity! Thanks to @oshwassociation.bsky.social for organising this amazing summit and hosting it in the UK.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI_2...

Oooh we are getting sooo antsy to see you all at the Summit in just FIVE days! We've even got a handful of tickets left if you want to join us: ohs2025.eventbrite.com

Beautiful micrographs from the OpenFlexure microscope, showing off its ability to create huge stitched images: images.openflexure.org/viewer/

Photo of a sensor box that has been opened, with LabCrafter's 5V boost converter visible on the bottom right of the board.

Photo of a sensor box that has been opened. An antenna is attached to the lid, and all the electronics inside the box are visible. There's a small e-ink display showing readings from the various sensors.

A school in the Netherlands used our 5V boost converters (labcrafter.co.uk/products/5v-...) for their sensor boxes, and gave a presentation on their inspiring project at The Things Network Conference: www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3B2...

From Microscopes to Microbes: What’s New at LabCrafter At the beginning of September last year, my wife and I co-founded a new open science hardware company - LabCrafter - in Wales. We started by offering open science tools to folks in the UK, and recentl...

We wrote a post for the Open Science Shop newsletter, a network of open science hardware vendors that we're part of: www.openscienceshop.org/labcrafter/

Pioreactor The Pioreactor is an accessible and affordable bioreactor - ideal for teaching biology & biotech to students, scaling up a lab, and more. The Pioreactor can grow and experiment with yeast, algae, and ...

I’d never heard of the Pioreactor before! For anyone else curious:
Pioreactor: pioreactor.com
Electropioreactor: amybo.org/docs/electro...

Sandrine, an AMYBO volunteer, explaining how the Pioreactor works to a group of students sitting around a white table. There is a Pioreactor, an OpenFlexure microscope, a laptop and a screen on the table.

Gerrit giving a presentation on biotechnology and sustainable protein to a group of students sitting on black chairs. There are two large screens showing the presentation.

Rob, an AMYBO volutneer, handling a vial from the Pioreactor, surounded by a group of students sitting at a white table. There is a Pioreactor, laptop, kitchen roll and a box with purple disposable gloves on the table.

Two smiling students, one looking directly at the camera, with a Pioreactor and OpenFlexure microscope in front of them. There is an extension cord with a power supply next to it.

We're working with the AMYBO.org community to extend the Pioreactor for sustainable protein experiments. 🦠
A couple of weeks ago, we ran a hands-on session at the Cambridge Festival Schools Days! 🧪🌱
KS3 students used the Pioreactor and @openflexure.bsky.social microscope to explore cyanobacteria.

OpenFlexure Microscope Open tools for open science

OpenFlexure microscope and high-resolution upgrade kit now back in stock! labcrafter.co.uk/collections/...

On day 1 of #OHS2025 you can catch Gerrit Niezen of @labcrafter.co.uk talk about harnessing hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria, creating an open-source bioreactor for small-scale protein production, making microbial protein fermentation accessible! Get your ticket today: 2025.oshwa.org/attend/

Tickets are ON SALE NOW for the Open Hardware Summit 2025 in Edinburgh, Scotland! Get your ticket today right here: ohs2025.eventbrite.com

Growing Food with Electricity: Sustainable Protein Production with a Kitchen-Table Bioreactor

Very excited to be giving a talk at the upcoming Open Hardware Summit in Edinburgh on May 30th: https://2025.oshwa.org/talks/070-gerrit-niezen/

Whooo ill be there talking about Moths and Robots and robots to look at moths!

5V boost converter with true shutdown – LabCrafter This compact (17x12mm) step-up converter provides a reliable 5V output with true shutdown, perfect for battery-powered applications like environmental monitoring. If you're using a 3.7V Li-Ion battery but need 5V to power your air quality sensor, this converter is an ideal solution. Unlike most boost converters that on

New Product Alert! 🚨 Our in-house designed 5V Boost Converter is now in stock! Perfect for battery-powered environmental monitoring, it delivers 5V while fully disconnecting when disabled.

Learn more: https://labcrafter.co.uk/products/5v-boost-converter-with-true-shutdown

#OpenHardware

A bunch of small PCBs being depanelled and cleaned up

Busy preparing a new product for launch!

We are having a blast at #FOSDEM, showcasing the OpenFlexure Microscopes and chatting with loads of other open-source enthusiasts!!

Come and see us in Hall H to get a demo of our microscope, and come along to our talk tomorrow at 15:20 CET in H.1309 (Van Rijn)!

#OpenSource

Screenshot of LabCrafter website showing OpenFlexure microscope is out of stock

Our OpenFlexure Microscope kits proved very popular, and now you can be notified when we're back in stock. We wrote our own code for this to eliminate use of third party Shopify Apps that share customer details.

Since Prusa decided to move away from open-source, it made it much easier to decide which 3D printer to buy next. Voron Design is similar to the OpenFlexure Project, in that a core team creates the design, and a network of vendors sell kits to build it. Looking forward to building this Voron 2.4!

OpenFlexure Microscopes are more available than ever. It is really exciting to see so many businesses helping our community buy microscopes.

@labcrafter.co.uk have a new Hi-Res upgrade kit.

Fieldworkers in Japan are also selling a kit!

The true power of Open Hardware is that anyone can sell it.

A man looking at a computer screen, about to send an email newsletter

Sending out our first newsletter! Subscribe on our website if you'd like to read the next one: labcrafter.co.uk

An OpenFlexure Microscope wearing a Santa hat.

Merry Christmas from the OpenFlexure Project.

Did Santa get anyone a microscope? 🔬🎅🎁

Shipping box containing a variety of Pioreactor parts

New stock from @Pioreactor@mstdn.science just arrived and is available in our store right now: https://labcrafter.co.uk/collections/pioreactor

Have you looked at Pioreactor? They've got pretty nifty open-source OD algorithms for their open hardware.

Scientists in Latin America struggle to get key chemicals and other reagents for experiments. A group has begun to help Several leaders of a multinational effort expanding access to essential lab materials discuss its impact and a major funding boost

Getting reagents is a nightmare for scientists in Latin America. But now, a group—Reclone—has begun to help. I spoke with Reclone leaders for a new Q&A in @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Shout if you need an Open Colorimeter - we make and sell them in the UK and are a registered supplier to the University of Cambridge 😉

CO2 Sparging | AMYBO A simple CO2 sparging protocol by Gerrit Niezen

Wrote up how to use a Sodastream cylinder to flush the Pioreactor with carbon dioxide: https://amybo.org/docs/experiments/co2-sparging/

A dozen plastic bags of components, washers etc from UK company Labcrafter to build a 3-D printed microscope designed by OpenFlexure. Image from Labcrafter, at https://labcrafter.co.uk/products/openflexure-microscope

Now this is pretty cool 🤓🧪. Anyone for a microscope?
BYO objective lens.

Openflexure via @labcrafter.co.uk
#StayCurious