Building a WheeTrometer Spectrometer
Related pages: Spectrometer Optics Electronics Firmware User Interfaces Lamps
In the video below, I disassemble a WheeTrometer spectrometer. Assembly is the same process, but in reverse.
What you will need to build a WheeTrometer
To build a WheeTrometer you will need the following:
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a plan - this means you should know what wavelength range you are interested in and the specific optics that will allow you to study that range.
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optical elements - your plan needs to include your choice of grating and the focal length of your focusing mirror.
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The stl files for 3d printing
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If you purchase a kit with a Teensy 4.0, I will flash the code for you. If you do not, you will need the ino files for firmware.
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and pde files for the user interface.
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The easiest way to get all the files is to download them from the WheeTrometer-Teensy Repository page on GitHub. Clicking on the green "Code" button opens a dropdown where you can select "Download Zip" (figure below).
Once you have the files, 3d print the .stl files. You can do this yourself or get a commercial source to do it for you. You will notice that there are two files for "inner grating mount". You only need one. I think the one called mountB-1 was made cover the red and near IR while mountA-2 is for uv-vis (please let me know if I got that backwards). The file called "tool" is used to hold the grating & its mounts so that you can press on it and don't get finger prints on the grating.
Hardware availability
To make a WheeTrometer Teensy, you will need a Teensy 4.0 development board (available here for $20), an optics kit, a WheeTrometer teensy shield, a TCD1304 CCD and our software.
Stuff that we sell on this web site has limited availability. We just do not have the cash to keep a lot of stock on the shelf. We are also not currently set up to be a 3D printing farm. There are plenty of these out there and they will undoubtedly do a better job than we would. The kit with the Teensy shield is available, but we have limited stock. Once we sell out we will order more, but the re-supply time scale will be dictated by supply chain issues beyond our control. If you wish to assemble a circuit board yourself, we will be happy to share our most recent design on OSHPark (or another manufacturer of your choice). You could then have the pcb fabricated and sent to you.
Software availability
We are working on the software. Let me know if you would like to help. Once we have the software refined to our liking, I will publish on our GitHub page. Like any instrument, the WheeTrometer is comprised of hardware and software. We make the optical and electronic hardware available through our store, but you will have to arrange to have the plastic parts (body, lid, optical mounts, etc.) fabricated. Hardware available through the store includes the optical kit and the Teensy spectrometer electronics kit. We will also have kits for attaching fiber optics, and kits for uv and visible lamps. I have hardware for exactly three (3) uv lamps. If you want one, let me know early.
To build a WheeTrometer you will need a number of files. These include stl files for 3d printing, ino files for firmware and pde files for the user interface.
The easiest way to get all the files is to download them from the WheeTrometer-Teensy Repository page on GitHub. Clicking on the green "Code" button opens a dropdown where you can select "Download Zip" (figure below).
Once you have the files, 3d print the .stl files. You can do this yourself or get a commercial source to do it for you. You will notice that there are two files for "inner grating mount". You only need one. I think the one called mountB-1 was made cover the red and near IR while mountA-2 is for uv-vis (please let me know if I got that backwards). The file called "tool" is used to hold the grating & its mounts so that you can press on it and don't get finger prints on the grating.
Instructions for assembling the optical parts are in a video embedded in the optics page of this website.