• Question: What do the machines that you design and develop look like, and how much can they cost?

    Asked by chemistry654 to Tim, Mike, Pip, Tom on 23 Jun 2012. This question was also asked by daisyfenn.
    • Photo: Tim Stephens

      Tim Stephens answered on 23 Jun 2012:

      There are several different types of system that I work on. I can’t post pictures directly in my answer here, so you’ll need to look at my profile to see the photos. http://ias.im/u.21460

      The ones for measuring sprays look like a cabinet on a trolley. We use them to test things like inhalers for asthma to make sure that they are working properly. The cabinet is to protect the person operating the machine from the drugs that they are working on and the laser beam, which could damage their eyesight if they looked in it.

      Another type of machine is for looking at the size of small droplets or particles. It looks more like a trolley that you might keep a computer on. It contains a laser and computer, and some control electronics. There’s a separate camera that we put into the spray to make the measurements with.

      You can see all the different types of systems that I work with on my company’s website: http://www.oxfordlasers.com/imaging/systems

      In terms of how much they cost, our systems range in price from £25,000 to £125,000 depending on what the machine needs to do.

    • Photo: Tom Lister

      Tom Lister answered on 5 Jul 2012:

      Some of the machines I use, or study, are in my profile pics too. They are from about 70k to 120k

Comments

  • Photo: Pip

    Pip commented on :

    You can see a bit of it on my profile. They look like a load of mirrors on a table, and some lenses on a platform. We are trying to build a new one at the moment and it costs approximately:

    Laser £10000
    Objective £4000
    Condenser £4000
    XYZ stage £18000
    Camera £1400
    Other bits and bobs £2000
    = £39,400 approx