Build your own fully-functional LEGO microscope

This should further magnify LEGO's versatility: a working microscope made from—what else?—LEGO bricks.

 

But LEGO artist Carl Merriam, who created the small wonder last year, now needs support to have an official version built and sold.

 

Merriam said he got his inspiration for the microscope from the LEGO X-Pod sets, when it occurred to him that the pod resembled a deep petri dish.

 

"I used a planetary gear system to allow both coarse and fine adjustment of the objective 'lens.' A little more tinkering and I connected the focus to a magnifying glass and fiber optic light in the eyepiece, so adjusting the focus knobs would actually bring the writing on a LEGO stud in and out of focus," he said on his blog when he first built the device last year.

 

On the LEGO Ideas page for his microscope, he said it is possible "to make a fully functional version."

 

Merriam's kit uses stock LEGO magnifying glasses to magnify objects. Its play features include:

 

 

As of July 23, the project has 783 supporters - and Merriam needs 10,000 supporters to have LEGO take a second look at the project. He has 280 days to gather the needed supporters.

 

A report on tech site Mashable noted Merriam is known for his intricate LEGO renderings of mythical creature Cthulhu and other custom creations.


 

— Joel Locsin/TJD, GMA News