DIPLE - the REVOLUTIONARY microscope for any smartphone
Created by SMO SmartMicroOptics
Explore the microscopic world around you with the most powerful, compact and easy-to use microscope for any smartphone or tablet!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Update 12
about 5 years ago
– Sat, Jan 16, 2021 at 02:45:16 AM
Dear backers,
Thanks for your patience and support.
We have already shipped out more than 1000 DIPLE pledges and we keep working to fulfill all your requests. As mentioned in previous updates, the list depends on some main factors: purchased items, destination Country and pledge number.
This Winter is giving us extra challenges: most of the shipments are in delay, some of them with unexpected long delays, due to the mix of massive on-line orders (as a huge number of people placed orders for Christmas presents from home), longer procedures due to Covid and, in some cases, limited number of personnel at the shipping companies or customs. In particular, we are waiting parts/accessories for our second batch of production (we split the supplying of goods in 2 groups, each group with parts for making about 1200 units) that was sent out from our supplier in China during the first half of November. The normal lead time would be 3 weeks, but the shipment arrived in Europe only on Dec 24th, and it is still stuck at the customs. We are experiencing an extraordinary condition in the shipments; it is affecting all the World (https://www.dw.com/en/christmas-canceled-covid-blamed-for-delivery-delays/a-55944074) and it is out of our control.
We are confident that it is matter of few days to get those parts (the shortage of available boxes is now our main bottleneck). Meanwhile we are preparing everything available in order to be ready to pack and send all the remaining orders with a high fulfilling rate.
Delays in the shipping time were also reported from some of you: the way of some DIPLE units took very long time through tracked postal service (sometime twice the normal shipping time). But we think that this problem should get better in the next weeks, as the peak season of global parcel shipping is now behind us.
We are getting some remarkably interesting feedback from you, thank you 😊!
And we got enthusiastic feedback from students of the University of Wisconsin that used DIPLE for the course of advanced microscopy. Here you can download and see some of their shots, examples of their creativity, taken with DIPLE units. (and thanks to the Professor, for accepting to share these files!)
UPDATE 11
over 5 years ago
– Sat, Dec 12, 2020 at 02:31:21 AM
Dear backers,
First of all we want to thanks who received DIPLE and spent time for sharing their positive feedback with us. It is not obvious (while it is normal to get comments when something is wrong), and it is extremely appreciated 😊.
It’s been a little while since our last update because we have experienced long delays to receive the shipments from our suppliers (in some cases even more than 3 weeks of delay on the estimated date) and we’d like to share updates with some relevant information. These delays are side effects of the pandemic, according to the shipping companies. However, even if we are still waiting some material, we got this week a good number of parts to process. We received few days ago the last, missing components to assembly the first DIPLE Lux!
DIPLE Lux was the last item not yet ready. We are preparing the first DIPLE lux units (plus many other DIPLE Black & Fine kits) to ship in the next days.
DIPLE Lux (as well as the main version of DIPLE) has been developed during this year, and now it is significantly better than the prototype showed in the Kickstarter campaign. Here below you can see the current DIPLE Lux in use; comparing it with the previously presented prototype, you can see the improved design and, most important, the chance to adjust the light intensity.
We ship a batch of DIPLE (at least 150-200 units) approximately every 10 days. If we’ll not have new problems (like lock-down, quarantines or issues with parts not yet received), we plan to complete the shipment of all the pledges within the end of January; so, we are almost there😊. The order list of shipping depends on the destination Country, items ordered and pledge number. For example, we plan to ship in December all the goods addressed to the UK, for avoiding the possible issues (already anticipated from our shipping partners) related to the Brexit.
Update 10
over 5 years ago
– Sun, Nov 08, 2020 at 09:57:13 AM
Dear Backers,
The DIPLE project is very live, and with important updates!
The main news:
1. Today we shipped a first, little group of DIPLE units with Fine Stage (all those with Standard Stage have been already delivered; DIPLE units with Standard Stage are now ready to ship, for those of you interested in getting it too 😊…).
This last group of DIPLE has inside the first lot of Fine Stages that we received, right this week, from our partner in charge for assembling them. The assembling process has improved, so in the next days/weeks our partner will mount and send to us many other fine stages to add into the DIPLE kits already in our headquarters.
Some kits already packed, some ready to pack, and other DIPLE units that will be sent in the next shipping batch
We recently faced new issues, but problems are part of any new project... Some of them: non-compliant components from one of our suppliers; reduced workforce, due to quarantine of collaborators; shipments delayed of many days, due to Covid effects (according to the courier…); the pandemic is back, and quite strong again, here in Italy.
2. We have not sent units to the USA in this shipment. In order to offer a good service with express courier, we had to ship to the US a group of pieces of 100kg. Therefore, we will start to ship again in the USA from the next batch. However, using Fedex we should be able to ensure a fast and efficient delivery.
3. DIPLE Lux. While the samples of plastic parts that we received weeks ago were good, the first production batch had a deep shrinkage near one corner that must be fixed. For this reason, the production has been postponed of some days. The new samples showed to us right yesterday seem ok, so we are confident to can mount and ship the first group of DIPLE Lux within this month.
Top part of circuit cover (and handle) of DIPLE Lux, from injection molding
4. On our website, at this page, you can find a link to download a little manual that we created in the last months with Science experiences that you can do with DIPLE.
Update 9
over 5 years ago
– Thu, Oct 01, 2020 at 12:00:49 PM
Dear Backers,
Here a new update about the progresses on DIPLE
The main news:
1. On last Friday we completed to ship the DIPLE kits with Standard Stage. :-)
Moreover, most of the DIPLE units shipped some weeks ago has been delivered.
We are receiving pleasant messages of feedback, and this makes us very happy, after the efforts faced in the last period; a period with many difficulties indirectly generated by Covid (unpredictable also during the first months of this crisis, at least for us and for a so long period). Thanks!
2. About the kits with Fine Stage, in the previous update we reported problems with few of its components; in the last weeks it seems that we solved these issues, in collaboration with our suppliers. We made some minor changes in the design and our supplier sent us, for validation, first components obtained from mass production process (not prototyping). Here a link with the use of the fine stage in its final design.
Now, all the parts for the fine stage are in mass production. Most of the DIPLE’s components have been already made and on their way to our headquarters, where we will assembly them. Other parts will be assembled from our main partner in China and then shipped to us. We are working with them in these days to limit the delay due to the Chinese national holiday of the first week of October, when also many shipping companies stop their activities. In these days we are also intensively working in our headquarters assembling lenses and in preparing/pre-packing add-ons; indeed, the proper packaging of the mixed orders of the last shipment took us more time than expected. If everything will go as we expect, we should start shipping the DIPLE units with fine stage in October.
Fine stage with parts from mass production processes
3. DIPLE Lux: we received all the assembled PCB a couple of weeks ago. We got samples from injection molding of the containers of the circuit last week, but they needed more precise threads. These parts are in mass manufacturing right now and they should be shipped to our headquarters soon, together with other parts from the same supplier.
Bringing the sun's superpower in your pocket & backpack. Be ready for anything, anywhere.
The Photon is, as its name suggests, highly compact. When folded down, the entire device is roughly the size of your wallet, and can slide easily into backpacks, purses, or even pockets. Open it out, however, and its 5 solar panels let you channel the energy of the sun into your devices. The Photon comes with 5 durable, weatherproof panels that capture solar energy no matter what the weather. Engineered to capture twice as much solar energy as conventional solar chargers of similar size, the solar panels found on the Photon come with high efficiency, highly optimized back-contact monocrystalline solar cells that help grab more energy, efficiently converting the harnessed light into electricity, and do it in a format that’s robust enough to last for years.
UPDATE 8 - The first DIPLE units are leaving our headquarters
over 5 years ago
– Thu, Sep 03, 2020 at 12:45:01 AM
Dear Backers,
Here the monthly update about the progresses on DIPLE
We have some important news:
1. We will start shipping a first group of units in the next 2-3 days. We are packing them now. First, the early bird with standard stage, almost 200 pieces.
3. About the kits with Fine Stage, we are waiting some parts to test from one of our suppliers. Indeed, while we validated the representative samples of all the components some weeks ago, a couple of type of components coming out from the mass production process are out of tolerance. Therefore, we are working to solve these issues in the shortest time, refining and changing some minor details. We are confident to solve these problems in the next weeks and to start shipping the first group of DIPLE kits with fine stage before the end of September; we will communicate every important information about this issue.
4. DIPLE Lux: we will receive all the assembled PCB in the next few days. The containers for the circuit are under production now and they will be delivered to us in two weeks, so we should be ready to ship the first units before the end of this month, too.
Assembled PCB for DIPLE Lux
In addition:
We are very proud to inform that 2 independent professors at the University of Wisconsin and at the Cornell University (two top Universities in the World University Ranking) tested and selected the DIPLE kits (with standard stage, the only version available also for tests, rights now) for their remote courses of the next Fall. 😊
Thanks for your support in these extra-tough days and Stay Safe!
The SMO Team
Follow us on Instagram @diplemicro, Facebook @diplemicro, Youtube: https://bit.ly/2TBfhct
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This time we want also let you know about a couple of interesting projects (one very scientific, the other very portable, both features in common with DIPLE):
The Microcosm in Glass is a collection of 3D laser etched models of viruses, bacteria and cells.
The microscopic cracks inside the glass reflect light and turn these solid glass cubes into beautiful and educational decorative objects.
Choose from Covid-19, water bears, bacteriophages and many other interesting models.
