Microscope Case with Folding Handle

Microscope Case with Folding Handle

[July 29, 2014]

More pictures of the microscope and illuminator:

The Case with Folding Handle

Since I don't plan to use the microscope all the time, I wanted to make a case to protect it, and also make it more portable. I settled on making a "basic box" out of pine boards fastened with wood glue and biscuits, and with a sliding front panel. The box is internally segmented into compartments for each of the three major components, with wood blocks glued in place to keep the microscope and illuminator from sliding around if the box is inadvertently tipped over.

The outside of the box was sanded, coated with two coats of polyurethane (sanding after each coat), and then spray painted with two coats of gloss black. The inside of the box is left plain:

About that folding handle

Initially, I was planning to buy a handle for the box at the local hardware store. However, the handles I could find locally were very plain, and after all of the effort I put into making the box just didn't seem right. Even looking at handles online, I just couldn't seem to find one I liked. So I decided to make my own - I searched online for some existing designs, but again I came up empty. Finally, I created a handle of my own design, to match the look of the microscope case.

I was very pleased with the way the handle turned out - it was one of those rare cases when the paper design and the actual build came together exactly as I had envisioned. So even though the handle is really a fairly simple project in it's own right, I have included the plans for making it here:

• Handle design in LibreOffice Draw format: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bykt5WZ092aWRlUxalZOM2xuNUE/edit?usp=sharing
• Handle design in PDF format: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bykt5WZ092aWN1hBSVh0SWs0SEU/edit?usp=sharing

The basic components of the handle are a 3/4" wooden dowel (spray painted black), aluminum for the handle sides and hinges, 3/16" brass rod for hinge pins, stainless steel sheet metal screws to fasten the sides to the handle, and stainless steel #8-32 socket head screws to fasten it to the case.

Note: I also made a "knob" for the sliding panel - this is just an aluminum disk with an indent in the front to make it easier to slide the panel upward; the back of the disk is glued into a recess cut into the panel with a Forstner bit. You can see the finished "knob" in the picture above right; it makes a nice match to the handle.

Here are some close-ups of the finished handle: