Getting ready for science weekend: Tardigrade hunting!!

We're now selling Mothbox Pro kits in the UK and EU. 🦋 It's an open-source light trap from @dinalab.bsky.social that photographs every insect that lands on it. 20% of profits go back to them. Batch 1 is small and we'd love your feedback. labcrafter.co.uk/products/mot... #OpenHardware #teammoth

Mothbox now available as a kit in the UK and EU!

Starting today, LabCrafter is selling the Mothbox, an open-source insect monitor, as a kit in the UK and EU. It's a light trap that runs unattended, photographing every moth that lands on it so you ca...

labcrafter.co.uk

Making some vial caps for the electroPioreactor, an open-source bioreactor that generates its own hydrogen.

Prof Joshua Pearce's lab at Western University turned failed 3D prints into edible protein. They shredded PLA waste with an open-source shredder, then used lye to break it into something baker's yeast can eat. The yeast grew in a Pioreactor - the open-source bioreactor we sell. #OpenHardware #DIYBio

Preliminary Investigation of Upcycling Polylactic Acid 3-D Printing Waste to Candidate Single-Cell Protein Feedstock

Polylactic acid (PLA) is the most common extrusion-based distributed 3-D printing material. Unfortunately, large amounts of PLA are wasted from failed prints, support materials, material changes for m...

sciltp.com

We recently stopped by @billerbecks.bsky.social's lab at Imperial to see them using our electroPioreactor - open-source hardware that grows alt-protein bacteria using electrolysis - in action. v0.2 is underway (github.com/amy-bo/elect...), a big step toward our website launch. #SynBio

Our first #FreeCAD Community Design competition asked makers to design a pinch valve for the Open Science community. Winner: DesignWeaver with a clever N20 worm drive design. Check out all winners: blog.freecad.org/2026/07/06/freecad-community-design-competition-2026-the-results/ #CAD #OpenSource

FreeCAD Community Design Competition 2026: The Results!

Recently we ran our first FreeCAD Community Design competition. Our idea was to challenge people to use FreeCAD to design something useful for another open source community. We chose the theme of O…

blog.freecad.org

The Mayfly open-source data logger is now available in our online store! If you're doing environmental monitoring, the Mayfly is a rare find. It is a data logger that is genuinely open-source, well documented, and field-proven over years of real-world deployments. labcrafter.co.uk/blogs/news/b...

Mayfly Data Logger

The EnviroDIY Mayfly data logger is an open-source, Arduino-compatible data logging board designed by the Stroud Water Research Center.

labcrafter.co.uk

Spotlight on customer creativity! 🔬 A customer bought our @openflexure.bsky.social kit, printed his own parts & sent this great photo. Love the colour choice! We print in Black, Blue, & Green using recycled Filamentive PLA. We want to add a new colour - what should it be? Let us know! #3DPrinting

Read about how @openflexure.bsky.social has helped us develop new live-cell imaging capabilities in financially constrained settings openflexure.org/live_cell_im... Thanks @wellcometrust.bsky.social + BBSRC for supporting research in this area @globalbioimaging.bsky.social @bioimaginguk.bsky.social

Live Cell Imaging for Everyone Using the OpenFlexure Microscope - OpenFlexure

From Cat 3 biohazard labs in South Africa to parasitology in Brazil, an adapted OpenFlexure Microscope is proving that capturing dynamic cellular processes doesn't have to break the bank.

openflexure.org

📖Published📖 In this recent practical tools article, authors introduce Mothbox, an automated light trap designed for scalable insect monitoring, and Mothbot, a platform for automated light trap data processing and validation 🦋 🌍 🧪 Read more here 👇 buff.ly/eb7tBk0

The rad folks over at FreeCAD Project Association are running a contest! This one is focused on Open Science and partnering with LabCrafter with ca$h prizes and the knowledge that you're helping advance the world of openness. Check out the call right here: blog.freecad.org/2026/05/01/f...

FreeCAD Community Design Contest 2026: Open Science

The FreeCAD Project Association (FPA) are really pleased to share our first community design competition. We really want to see how people are using FreeCAD and thought a competition might be the w…

blog.freecad.org

Parts starts coming in, PCBs ordered, the 3D printer up and running: It’s mothbox replication time!!! @dinalab.bsky.social

Hey look we got a cool new paper out in @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social all about the MOTHBOX! Hubert put together a really nice paper with our team including Bernat Fortet, Daisy H. Dent, @wellreadpanda.bsky.social and @briannaljohns.bsky.social besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

Mothbox and Mothbot: Automated light trap and data processing system for scalable insect monitoring

Insects represent the most diverse group of organisms on Earth and comprise the majority of known species; yet they are seldom accounted for in large-scale biodiversity monitoring systems and cons...

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

📌 Οur friends at @freecad.org are launching the first-ever community design contest, in partnership with @labcrafter.co.uk. The 2026 Contest focuses on #OpenScience hardware, inviting participants to design an open hardware pinch valve. Find out more at: blog.freecad.org/2026/05/01/f...

FreeCAD Community Design Contest 2026: Open Science

The FreeCAD Project Association (FPA) are really pleased to share our first community design competition. We really want to see how people are using FreeCAD and thought a competition might be the w…

blog.freecad.org

I need to try FreeCAD sometime 👀 Maybe this is the excuse I need (to procrastinate from everything else...)

FreeCAD@freecad.org · 5mo ago

FreeCAD design contest! Design an open hardware pinch valve for the open science community. Cash prizes: $500, $250 and $100. Share the post and enter now! blog.freecad.org/2026/05/01/freecad-community-design-contest-2026-open-science/ #FreeCAD #CAD #OpenSource #OpenHardware #Design #Contest

Big news! 🔬 The OpenFlexure Project just won the GW4 Alliance Open Research Prize! 🏆 We’re honoured to be recognised for our commitment to making microscopy transparent, reproducible, and accessible to all. Open Research is at the heart of everything we do. Read more: gw4.ac.uk/orw/

What did you do during the Easter break? Gerrit has been working on building a @mothbox.bsky.social ! 🛠️🌍 We’ve been looking for a project that resonates with our passion for #CitizenScience, and we think the Mothbox is it. If all goes well, we'll be adding these to our store lineup.

Post on the OpenScienceShop blog about using the OpenFlexure microscope in educational settings. #OpenScience #OpenHardware #OScH www.openscienceshop.org/the-openflex...

The OpenFlexure microscope in educational settings

The OpenFlexure microscope (OFM) has already been established as a technology of the future being featured in the "WHO compendium of innovative health technologies for low-resource settings" (page 69)...

openscienceshop.org

Last year @wildlabs.bsky.social and ARM gave us another amazing prize to make a new, mass-manufacturable version of the Mothbox! We spent this time learning how to design industrial PCBs with @kicad.org , and now have a wonderful version we are distributing around the world! Check out its specs!

📜 Project Showcase 🛠️ OpenFlexure microscopes: a 3D printed flexure translation stage. 👨‍🔬Joe Knapper 👀 To learn more about OpenFlexure: open-neuroscience.com/en/post/open... #OpenScience #OpenNeuroscience #OpenHardware #OpenSource

A new LabCrafter newsletter just appeared! labcrafter.co.uk/blogs/news/n...

Newsletter: A Year of LabCrafter - Updates, Upgrades & a Few Surprises

We’re delighted to share that, since our last newsletter, we celebrated our 1st anniversary! We want to send a huge thank you for your support - we are grateful for every single order received over th...

labcrafter.co.uk

As per our previous post, here is the link to the Raspberry Pi article featuring LabCrafter and the Pioreactor! 🧪 Full kits are ready to ship, and the latest XR upgrade kits are arriving shortly! 🛠️ www.raspberrypi.com/news/pioreac...

Pioreactor: An automated Raspberry Pi bioreactor - Raspberry Pi

Run automated bioreactor experiments on your desk with Pioreactor, designed for use with any model of Raspberry Pi.

raspberrypi.com

Back from FOSDEM, where Gerrit joined the @openflexure.bsky.social team at their stand! It was a brilliant opportunity to connect with the open-source hardware community. The perfect homecoming awaited us: the latest Raspberry Pi magazine featuring Pioreactor and Gerrit's work on the AMYBO project!

Heading to FOSDEM in Brussels at the end of the month? So are we! 🇧🇪 Gerrit is joining the OpenFlexure Microscope stand at FOSDEM, and he isn’t coming empty-handed. He’ll have a limited supply of LabCrafter OFM kits available for purchase on the spot! First come, first served. #FOSDEM #OpenFlexure

Our revamped OpenFlexure website is live! 🎉 openflexure.org Big thanks to PenDigital Ltd for the redesign 🙌 Check out our new pages about our community, funding, and how the microscope is built and used. #OpemFlexure #OpenSource #website

OpenFlexure Microscope - OpenFlexure

The OpenFlexure project is an open-source initiative focused on development of 3D printed, laboratory-grade digital microscopes and positioning stages, making high-quality microscopy accessible to all...

openflexure.org

Mothbox updates: I figured out some hacks that make starting up and configuring a mothbox WAYYYY easier! Also spent the whole end of the year and beginning of the year whittling away at little refinements to the manufacturing process! forum.openhardware.science/t/new-firmwa...

New Firmware 4.16.5 and usuability updates

I have been cranking during the limbo period between years to get you a lot of cool new improvements and refinements for the Mothbox! I am very excited about these updates because they make a LOT of t...

forum.openhardware.science

The electronics of the new Mothbox are so wonderfully easy to put together!

The Open Science Shop is working to develop a distributed manufacturing network of open science hardware. I am excited to share that the Open Science Shop has now documented the steps you can take to become an open science hardware vendor. Check it out here: www.openscienceshop.org/new_vendors/

New Vendor Information

Information and resources for new Open Science Shop vendors

openscienceshop.org

Our meeting with the Open Science Shop's group of manufacturers went even better when @wellreadpanda.bsky.social shows up with sloth friends.