LDTC+Labs Team Microfluidics Mini Kit

At some point LDTC+LABs was offering a Microfluidics Mini Kit. I can't seem to find the page for purchase, but they still show the step by step instructions on how to get the kit working. This might be helpful for people looking to make there own Microfluidics devices.  

LDTC+LABs Step by Step instructions: 

Parts List

In addition you will need some rubbing alcohol, you can purchase this at any pharmacy. It doesn’t matter which type. 

What’s a microfluidic chip?Microfluidic chips allow us to manipulate very small amounts of fluid in a specific way. This permits the fluid to interact with reagents that can produce analytic results at a very small scale.  The first step in understanding is knowing how assemble your own DIY microfluidic chip.Fluid will flow between a layer of laser cut silicon sandwiched between a plastic base and a polyester cover slip. When you pipette fluid into the chip it will behave like this:

Putting it TogetherStep 1: Remove the protective coating from the White Base.

Step 2: Add some alcohol onto a dish. Soak the white base with alcohol but do not fully submerge it. We want the white base to have some alcohol on its surface to lower the surface tension of material. This makes fluids wick a lot easier.

Step 2: Soak the Cover Slip and Fluidic Layer in alcohol for a few seconds.

Step 4: Align the Cover Slip and the Fluidic Layer one on top of another. The three holes of the Cover Slip align with the Fluidic Layer.

Step 5: Place the Pieces on the base in the following order:Top (Cover Slip)Middle (Fluidic Layer)Bottom (White Base)

You are essentially using the Fluidic Layer, which is made of silicon, as a gasket. The alcohol film between each layer will keep them together.Make it go!Step 6: Aspirate some food coloring into the pipette.

Step 7: Very gently, begin to deposit a drop of food coloring into the port. The fluid should easily be drawn into the channel. It takes some practice, but you should be able to feed it fluid in a smooth motion.

Your results should look like this.

Some experiments:If you have another substance with another color, you can also add it. We used red coloring. Notice that the red food coloring “pushed” the blue food coloring instead of mixing it to become purple. These are important properties of microfluidic flow. There is a little leakage of red coloring. Sometimes this is a normal thing that we have to correct.

We added some magnets to apply pressure. You could also add something transparent and solid on the top to produce downward force across the entire chip.

Use some binder clips and try to use them to apply even force. The result should look something like this: