3D printed rodent stereotaxic device

I've designed a few stereotaxic clamps for holding a drill or other equipment.  Editable 3D files are available here!

These will require a few metal parts to put together.   The M2.5 thumbscrews and brass inserts, and 8mm steel rods (~$3 each on Amazon).

Assembled drill clamp:

Stereotaxic clamp

8mm to 6mm rod clamp:

We've recently gotten a sweet resin printer (the EnvisionONE from EnvisionTec) and it's producing amazing parts.  I printed the gas mask and bite bar and they are coming out much nicer in resin.  The threaded holes took the 1/8" threading perfectly with zero post-processing.  There are multiple online services that print parts in resin if you'd like to try without purchasing a printer.

Lastly, if you've read this far and want some resin parts to try please drop me a line and I'll print some and mail them to you :)

I've started thinking about manipulators for this stereotax.  There's a good review on open-source approaches for manipulators here:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327737857_Approaches_to_Open_Source_3-D_Printable_Probe_Positioners_and_Micromanipulators_for_Probe_Stations

I doubt I'll design my own, but it might be possible to bolt one of the open-source designs in that paper onto the side of this stereotax.  The aluminum base-plate is easy to mount things on.  Here are some photos of the 3D stereotax with some ThorLabs optical posts mounted to the base plate:

Based on testing information from Niko Massaly (it works!), I made a few modifications: the anesthesia vaccuum line now comes out of the side of the mask, the platform is a bit larger, and the ear bars are a bit pointier.  The base mounting holes are now positioned to mount onto an optical breadboard with 1/4"-20 Taps like this one, to give it a more stable base:

https://www.thorlabs.com/thorproduct.cfm?partnumber=MB612F

A colleague of mine at Wash U, Niko Massaly, hooked the device up to an anesthesia machine today and we were happy to find out it worked great!  He had some suggestions for improving the mask design but the device worked well in this first test.

Still needs testing but it looks good!