Re: [DIYbio] Beta Test My Gel Box

"Plain banana jacks don't satisfy safety requirements, but some as are used on DMM's have an insulating shield
that keeps conductors covered until connection is broken, and those could be good."

It sounds like you are talking about banana plugs (male) connectors.  I am talking about recessed female connectors (jacks), which generally have much better insulation.

"Seems like basic laser cutting, right?"

It is basic laser cutting.  The PITA part is the material.  It turns out to be cheap to make enough acrylic-rubber laminate for these parts a box since it uses so little.  However, its a pain to make the laminate.

"How is it "production" quality of design , yet we haven't heard much about the details of it"

Let me talk about the design a little.  I am not doing any hardcore electrical or mechanical engineering here.  If I were going to put it in the most boring way, I would say I am basically choosing parts and putting them in a box.  So a design that gets finished now is essentially a "production" design.  It should be able to be produced, at a target cost of 150 (first 10 units will definitely be at 150).  It should be designed to scale to more units.

But it also needs to be thoughtful and not gimmicky.  An example of a gimmick are the "watch dna as it runs" gel boxes with tight fitting lids- they just don't work.  Water condenses on the lid, and all you get to see are water droplets.  If you want to use the box as your filter, you then have to disconnect everything and wipe the lid.  You may as well have a separate box for that!  This design is going to incorporate all kinds of gel-goodness and cheap, and usable.  An example of thoughtful is making the gel tray cheap so you can keep a fridge full of gels on deck, and making sure it is pretty tricky to zap yourself.

This kind of design takes a little while and a lot of sketching.  By the end of the week I should know which illuminator I am "glowing" with, and hopefully on Saturday I will have a prototype to run and show off.

RE power supply and safety:

When i said that I meant touching a live wire with 120V running through it at 1A- in that case, it depends on your skin resistance, and how lucky you are.  The PSU is a boost converter running off 12 volts.  Conveniently, a lot of things run off of 12 volts :)

So keep an ear to the list for a post on illumination later this week, and for a video on Saturday or Sunday.

--A