- A DIY STM/AFM project was discussed as a stepping-stone toward diamondoid mechanosynthesis; participants debated whether STM (easier) or AFM (more general) should be built first.  
- Zyvex’s patterned atomic-layer epitaxy (hydrogen depassivation + silylene gas growth on Si) was proposed as a more scalable alternative to the nine-tooltip Minimal Toolset for positional diamond mechanosynthesis.  
- Sacrificial-layer strategies for releasing nanoscale parts were compared: Zyvex uses a Ge layer etched away with 90 °C water, whereas diamondoid parts would require a tall, manually-built Ge sacrificial layer.  
- Stee| described a university nano-lab costing ~$70 k with 2 nm noise detection and hinted at unpublished actuator IP; antipragmatist aims to replicate similar capability on a <$10 k self-built budget.  
- A proposal to retrofit a RepRap for layer-less stereolithographic printing was floated as a route to rapid prototyping of micro/nano structures.  
- kanzure pointed to an open repository of conference transcripts (http://diyhpl.us/wiki/transcripts/) and a Freitas mechanosynthesis notes file (http://diyhpl.us/~bryan/papers2/nanotech/freitas_process/notes.txt).  
- The need for open-source microfluidic design software that outputs SVG layouts and for low-cost syringe-pump hardware was highlighted.  
- NanoEngineer-1 was praised for mechanosynthesis design but criticized for lacking integrated ab-initio or molecular-dynamics engines to validate tooltip chemistry.