Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
der online with next-day shipping. The value of timely access to experimental equipment can
hardly be overstated for researchers as delays due to out-of-stock equipment and shipping
are well-known problems for all researchers doing advanced experimental work. If a critical
component is out of stock from suppliers, designing and printing it within a lab can literally
save weeks. As the components of the open-source optics library are parametric, customizing
the part and having a finished design ready for printing is extremely fast and easy. However,
it should be pointed out that time savings are highly component specific. Three-dimensional
printing in general is more time-consuming on a per-part basis than any mass manufacturing
process, but there are savings associated with ordering, stocking and shipping for self fabrica-
tion. In addition, if a new component of significant complexity needs to be designed from the
beginning, this can be more time-consuming than simply ordering a commercial component.
However, if the component needs to be customized, self-fabrication again can be and is likely
to be much faster and normally is far less expensive.
Although some of these optical components are less precise than commercial versions (as
will be discussed in the next section), often experimental setups contain overly engineered
components and the open-source tools described in this topic provide more lexibility. For ex-
ample, eliminating an optics table in exchange for using magnetic bases, a steel plate or repur-
posing an existing steel case desk, not only radically reduces the setup costs but also enables
far more flexibility, time-saving and ease of reconfiguring an optical experimental setup.
It is important to note the benefit of this approach for international scientists. Experimental
science is severely underfunded in most of the developing world as compared to Europe, the
United States and Japan. 32 At the same time, the majority of humanity still lives in these re-
gions and they possess talented scientists. Their training and theoretical background often
rivals the preparation found in the West. Yet these scientists are severely handicapped by not
having access to experimental equipment. This open-source approach would thus help enable
more scientists to join the experimental side of the world scientific community, which I think
is intuitively obvious to presume that it will be a benefit for everyone.
Finally, it should also be pointed out that there is a burgeoning collection of 3-D printing
services, where users can upload a design and receive a 3-D printed part in the mail. These
services can be used for more complex parts, components needing to be printed out of more
advanced materials like metals, or for research programs interested in trying out the potential
of 3-D printing for the science labs before embarking on 3-D printing themselves.
6.2.2
Benefits
of
the
open-source
approach
for
physics
education
The open-source optics library provides an example of an easy way to design and conduct
educational experiments while saving for schools tremendous amounts of money. Partic-
ularly, for teachers and lab instructors, planning multiple educational optical benches for
classes using the open-source optics library would provide substantial savings. For example,
to outfit an undergraduate teaching laboratory with 30 optics setups including 1 m optical
tracks, optical lens, adjustable lens holder, ray optical kit, and viewing screen, the total cost
would be <$500 using the open-source optics approach as compared to $15,000 for commer-
cial versions, providing over $14,500 in savings. Thus, using the approach described in this
book, the total cost can be reduced by an order of magnitude, allowing access to experiment-
al setups in far more locations (e.g. countries with developing or transitional economies, eco-
nomically depressed public school districts, and home schoolers) and levels of education (e.g.
high schools, middle schools or even elementary schools). For some fortunate educational sys-
 
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