6 Manufacturing Protocol
6.1 Designing the Lab-on-a-Disk
The designs used in this protocol were created in the commercial drawing program
“SolidWorks”; however, other programs which allow the drawings to be saved as a.
DXF file can be used. This Lab-on-a-Disc is fabricated using dissolvable film and
multi-layer manufacturing to create a three dimensional internal structure that can
control the movement of fluid with a high degree of accuracy (Fig.5.12).
The SolidWorks programme is well suited for creating the architecture of a
Lab-on-a-disk; yet, the code can be difficult to operate at first glance. For this
reason, there is a large quantity open source material and instructional video content
available online to help beginners learn how to operate the programme. With a
rudimentary understanding of the software, it will be possible to create a prototype
design in a few hours. This is a key quality of our method of design and fabrication
as it allows rapid prototyping of new Lab-on-a-Disc designs (Fig.5.13).
Fig. 5.12 The dimensions of the Lab-on-a-disk platform are similar to that of a compact disk
(CD), the outer diameter is 120 mm with the inner diameter set to 15.5 mm. Each disk contains
alignment holes used later in the fabrication process to ensure correct alignment of the layers, these
holes are 57.75 mm from the centre of the disk (Centre of Rotation) and are 1.05 mm in diameter.
The disk itself is 6 mm in width however these dimensions are purely a guideline and may be
modified to suit a particular application
5 The Centrifugal Microfluidic: Lab-on-a-Disc Platform 133