MIT 3D printed key components of mass-spectrometer

[Jan Panteltje]

Researchers 3D print key components for a point-of-care mass spectrometer
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/04/240404113429.htm
pdf:
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jasms.3c00409

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Summary:
Researchers 3D printed a miniature ionizer, a key component of a mass spectrometer. Their device could someday enable an affordable, in-home mass spectrometer for health monitoring.

[Martin Brown]

Post by Jan Panteltje
Researchers 3D print key components for a point-of-care mass spectrometer
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/04/240404113429.htm
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jasms.3c00409
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Researchers 3D printed a miniature ionizer, a key component of a mass spectrometer. Their device could someday enable an affordable, in-home mass spectrometer for health monitoring.

It is complete nonsense. Making the hard vacuum needed for ions to move
freely in mass spectrometry and sample handling to introduce the sample
into the unit without losing vacuum are fundamentals that won't go away.

The closest to a quick dirt cheap MS is time of flight laser ablation if
your sample is a solid or can be put on one. Liquid samples are really
messy and water vapour is the bane of vacuum systems.

Selective ion probes offer a much better alternative for bio samples (I
suppose the MIT PR department has to justify its existence somehow).

[John Larkin]

On Mon, 8 Apr 2024 10:23:24 +0100, Martin Brown

Post by Martin Brown

Post by Jan Panteltje
Researchers 3D print key components for a point-of-care mass spectrometer
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/04/240404113429.htm
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jasms.3c00409
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Researchers 3D printed a miniature ionizer, a key component of a mass spectrometer. Their device could someday enable an affordable, in-home mass spectrometer for health monitoring.

It is complete nonsense. Making the hard vacuum needed for ions to move
freely in mass spectrometry and sample handling to introduce the sample
into the unit without losing vacuum are fundamentals that won't go away.
The closest to a quick dirt cheap MS is time of flight laser ablation if
your sample is a solid or can be put on one. Liquid samples are really
messy and water vapour is the bane of vacuum systems.
Selective ion probes offer a much better alternative for bio samples (I
suppose the MIT PR department has to justify its existence somehow).

I'd expect 3D printed stuff to outgas forever.

3D is super slow, too. I've heard of modestly complex parts taking
days to fab. The upside is that it can make things that are impossible
to machine or mold.

[Phil Hobbs]

Post by John Larkin
On Mon, 8 Apr 2024 10:23:24 +0100, Martin Brown

Post by Martin Brown

Post by Jan Panteltje
Researchers 3D print key components for a point-of-care mass spectrometer
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/04/240404113429.htm
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jasms.3c00409
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Researchers 3D printed a miniature ionizer, a key component of a mass spectrometer. Their device could someday enable an affordable, in-home mass spectrometer for health monitoring.

It is complete nonsense. Making the hard vacuum needed for ions to move
freely in mass spectrometry and sample handling to introduce the sample
into the unit without losing vacuum are fundamentals that won't go away.
The closest to a quick dirt cheap MS is time of flight laser ablation if
your sample is a solid or can be put on one. Liquid samples are really
messy and water vapour is the bane of vacuum systems.
Selective ion probes offer a much better alternative for bio samples (I
suppose the MIT PR department has to justify its existence somehow).

I'd expect 3D printed stuff to outgas forever.
3D is super slow, too. I've heard of modestly complex parts taking
days to fab. The upside is that it can make things that are impossible
to machine or mold.

3D resin printers are super cheap nowadays, and can do beautiful things.
They're basically contact printers made with 8k display LCDs and UV
LEDs, and give you nice repeatable 17-micron voxels.

It doesn't matter so much that something takes a day to print, if you
can have a shelf full of printers for $2k.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

[Glen Walpert]

Post by Phil Hobbs

Post by John Larkin
On Mon, 8 Apr 2024 10:23:24 +0100, Martin Brown

Post by Martin Brown

Post by Jan Panteltje
Researchers 3D print key components for a point-of-care mass spectrometer
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/04/240404113429.htm
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jasms.3c00409
Researchers 3D printed a miniature ionizer, a key component of a mass
spectrometer. Their device could someday enable an affordable,
in-home mass spectrometer for health monitoring.

It is complete nonsense. Making the hard vacuum needed for ions to
move freely in mass spectrometry and sample handling to introduce the
sample into the unit without losing vacuum are fundamentals that won't
go away.
The closest to a quick dirt cheap MS is time of flight laser ablation
if your sample is a solid or can be put on one. Liquid samples are
really messy and water vapour is the bane of vacuum systems.
Selective ion probes offer a much better alternative for bio samples
(I suppose the MIT PR department has to justify its existence
somehow).

I'd expect 3D printed stuff to outgas forever.
3D is super slow, too. I've heard of modestly complex parts taking days
to fab. The upside is that it can make things that are impossible to
machine or mold.

3D resin printers are super cheap nowadays, and can do beautiful things.
They're basically contact printers made with 8k display LCDs and UV
LEDs, and give you nice repeatable 17-micron voxels.
It doesn't matter so much that something takes a day to print, if you
can have a shelf full of printers for $2k.
Cheers
Phil Hobbs

Not all 3D printers use resin, for instance:

<https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/nasa-tests-3-d-printed-rocket-part-
to-reduce-future-sls-engine-costs/>

This isn't the first 3D printed part in the RS-25 engine (evolved from the
SSME), just the largest so far. The printer for beach-ball size titanium
parts might cost a bit more than $2k and probably won't fit on a shelf,
but I bet those helium-tight components don't outgas much :-).

(I did the detail, process and tooling designs for the HP oxidizer
turbopump shaft seals for the original SSME ~1980, per proposal design and
design rules by the late Dr. Philip Stein, PhD in metallurgy from MIT 1927
IIRC. LOX on one side, hot H2 and steam on the other, lube oil mist and
bearings in between, ~28k RPM shaft with play and significant thermal
movement, engines shut down automatically if either seal fails. So I
check now and then to make sure none of my parts have failed :-).

Glen

[Phil Hobbs]

Post by Glen Walpert

Post by Phil Hobbs

Post by John Larkin
On Mon, 8 Apr 2024 10:23:24 +0100, Martin Brown

Post by Martin Brown

Post by Jan Panteltje
Researchers 3D print key components for a point-of-care mass spectrometer
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/04/240404113429.htm
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jasms.3c00409
Researchers 3D printed a miniature ionizer, a key component of a mass
spectrometer. Their device could someday enable an affordable,
in-home mass spectrometer for health monitoring.

It is complete nonsense. Making the hard vacuum needed for ions to
move freely in mass spectrometry and sample handling to introduce the
sample into the unit without losing vacuum are fundamentals that won't
go away.
The closest to a quick dirt cheap MS is time of flight laser ablation
if your sample is a solid or can be put on one. Liquid samples are
really messy and water vapour is the bane of vacuum systems.
Selective ion probes offer a much better alternative for bio samples
(I suppose the MIT PR department has to justify its existence
somehow).

I'd expect 3D printed stuff to outgas forever.
3D is super slow, too. I've heard of modestly complex parts taking days
to fab. The upside is that it can make things that are impossible to
machine or mold.

3D resin printers are super cheap nowadays, and can do beautiful things.
They're basically contact printers made with 8k display LCDs and UV
LEDs, and give you nice repeatable 17-micron voxels.
It doesn't matter so much that something takes a day to print, if you
can have a shelf full of printers for $2k.
Cheers
Phil Hobbs

<https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/nasa-tests-3-d-printed-rocket-part-
to-reduce-future-sls-engine-costs/>
This isn't the first 3D printed part in the RS-25 engine (evolved from the
SSME), just the largest so far. The printer for beach-ball size titanium
parts might cost a bit more than $2k and probably won't fit on a shelf,
but I bet those helium-tight components don't outgas much :-).

Fun. The resin printers start at around $100, though. I’m very willing to
trade off the ability to print titanium for that. ;)

Post by Glen Walpert
(I did the detail, process and tooling designs for the HP oxidizer
turbopump shaft seals for the original SSME ~1980, per proposal design and
design rules by the late Dr. Philip Stein, PhD in metallurgy from MIT 1927
IIRC. LOX on one side, hot H2 and steam on the other, lube oil mist and
bearings in between, ~28k RPM shaft with play and significant thermal
movement, engines shut down automatically if either seal fails. So I
check now and then to make sure none of my parts have failed :-).

An excellent idea.
I do the same with my body parts. ;)

Post by Glen Walpert
Glen

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

[Bill Sloman]

Post by John Larkin
On Mon, 8 Apr 2024 10:23:24 +0100, Martin Brown

Post by Martin Brown

Post by Jan Panteltje
Researchers 3D print key components for a point-of-care mass spectrometer
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/04/240404113429.htm
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jasms.3c00409
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Researchers 3D printed a miniature ionizer, a key component of a mass spectrometer. Their device could someday enable an affordable, in-home mass spectrometer for health monitoring.

It is complete nonsense. Making the hard vacuum needed for ions to move
freely in mass spectrometry and sample handling to introduce the sample
into the unit without losing vacuum are fundamentals that won't go away.
The closest to a quick dirt cheap MS is time of flight laser ablation if
your sample is a solid or can be put on one. Liquid samples are really
messy and water vapour is the bane of vacuum systems.
Selective ion probes offer a much better alternative for bio samples (I
suppose the MIT PR department has to justify its existence somehow).

I'd expect 3D printed stuff to outgas forever.

It wouldn't be much use in a mass spectrometer if it did.
Out-gassing vaccuum systems always involves getting them hot for quite a
while and pumping them hard. Maybe you have to laser fuse a thin layer
over the entire surface while maintaining a high vaccuum.

Post by John Larkin
3D is super slow, too. I've heard of modestly complex parts taking
days to fab. The upside is that it can make things that are impossible
to machine or mold.

As Phil Hobbs says, the printers are cheap so you can put a lot in
parallel. The post-processing to get the outgassing down might not be so
easily paralleled.

[Martin Brown]

Post by John Larkin
On Mon, 8 Apr 2024 10:23:24 +0100, Martin Brown

Post by Martin Brown

Post by Jan Panteltje
Researchers 3D print key components for a point-of-care mass spectrometer
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/04/240404113429.htm
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jasms.3c00409
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Researchers 3D printed a miniature ionizer, a key component of a mass spectrometer. Their device could someday enable an affordable, in-home mass spectrometer for health monitoring.

It is complete nonsense. Making the hard vacuum needed for ions to move
freely in mass spectrometry and sample handling to introduce the sample
into the unit without losing vacuum are fundamentals that won't go away.
The closest to a quick dirt cheap MS is time of flight laser ablation if
your sample is a solid or can be put on one. Liquid samples are really
messy and water vapour is the bane of vacuum systems.
Selective ion probes offer a much better alternative for bio samples (I
suppose the MIT PR department has to justify its existence somehow).

I'd expect 3D printed stuff to outgas forever.

Some of the exotic very crosslinked UV polymers from resin baths might
not outgas but the sintered stuff would be very problematic. Using 3D
printing for a variant of lost wax metal casting would be OK though.

Back when I was involved the only polymers allowed in hard vacuum were
PTFE (which creeps) and PEEK (which is a good engineering plastic).
Nothing else could stand up to the aggressive baking procedures needed
to dry them out to hard vacuum.

Post by John Larkin
3D is super slow, too. I've heard of modestly complex parts taking
days to fab. The upside is that it can make things that are impossible
to machine or mold.

My favourite toy demo on 3D printers is a digital sundial which shows
the time in a 7 segment style display with 10 minute resolution.
Adjusting it for summertime is a trivial rotation.