Summary

Lightweight orbital shaker powered by a stepper motor for agitating cultured cells. Suitable to be placed in an incubator with variable-speed control panel on the outside.
View the animation in OpenSCAD if you want to see how it works.

Instructions

Planar shapes are laser cut from acrylic - other parts are 3D printed. Stepper motor driven by EasyDriver board and Ardunio.

Requirements

Materials

ABS/PLA for 3D printing the following
- 4x spindles
- 4x joiners
- 1x motor cog
- 1x spindle cog
- 12x rotational bearings
Acrylic to laser cut (or manually produce)
- 2x lower plates
- 1x shaking plate
- Pillars to go between the two lower plates (3D printing is also possible here)
Optional extras
- 'Dashboard' sticky pads to stick down culture flasks
- Rubber feet to reduce vibrations
  Elect(ron)ic
1x stepper motor with reasonable torque
EasyDriver board
Arduino (with keypad shield recommended)
Suitable DC power supply
What's not yet included in the SCAD
How to attach motor to base-plate. This depends on exact motor dimensions. I just glued on acrylic offcuts to contain my motor as a temporary strategy. In due course I hope to produce a design where it's bolted on.
The pillars. You can use almost anything for these (e.g. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:27736/#instructions )
Video demo at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr4ByE6NLZ4
Some more info and at http://splasho.com/orbit.

OpenOrbital - parametric orbital shaker