V0 complete assembly render — V0 — full assembly render

V0 test section with camera and torque sensor in ambient light — V0 — test section, ambient light

V0 test section illuminated by red laser sheet with particle seeding — V0 — test section, laser sheet illumination

Close-up of V0 test section with red laser and seeding particles — V0 — test section close-up, laser PIV

Top-down view of V0 test section with dye-flow visualization and ArUco markers — V0 — dye-flow visualization, top-down

Close-up of V0 torque measurement setup with stepper motor and encoder — V0 — torque measurement and Maxon motor actuation

Hardware V0

First hardware iteration of a low-cost tabletop water channel. Manufacturing, manuals, and CAD are all open and reproducible from the files below.

What's in this version.

V0 is the first publicly documented build of the water channel. The mechanical channel can be manufactured with only a laser cutter and an FDM printer; reproducing the torque-measurement setup and the electronics cabinet additionally requires a machinist workshop (waterjet, 3-axis CNC, lathe).

Manufacturing

Laser cutting. All parts in the DXF are cut from 3 mm acrylic glass.
3D printing. Tested with black PLA on a Bambu Lab X1E. Full channel: ~110 h of print time and ~5.1 kg of filament.
Metal components. The torque-measurement setup and the electronics cabinet need a workshop. All required files are bundled in the metal-components zip.

Assembly

The build is organized into independent sub-assemblies that combine into the complete system at the end. Each sub-assembly has its own manual, render, and print package — links are below.