- A Nature Communications paper demonstrated desktop nanofabrication at 120 nm line-width using a DLP chip, scanning-probe array, and sub-wavelength apertures, while a separate 2014 paper showed Blu-ray optical heads repurposed for sub-micron laser lithography with the entire pickup module costing < $100; reproducibility concerns were raised due to missing BOM and actuator pricing.  
- DIY lithography alternatives discussed included LIGA electroforming for steep sidewalls, commodity DVD/CD sled optics, PowerPoint slides as microfluidic lithography masks, 35 mm film negatives for >50 µm features, and a UT Austin protocol for low-cost microfluidics fabrication.  
- nmz787 shared a GitHub project retrofitting a DLP projector with a 405 nm laser and MSP430 control board for ~2 cm micro-scale exposures; TI app note dlpa031c confirmed standard DMD mirrors survive >90 % UV transmission at 365–400 nm, alleviating durability worries.  
- Georgia Tech’s “Direct Digital Manufacturing of Airfoils” was highlighted, showing tiled projector images photopolymerizing meter-scale ceramic-filled resins to cast single-crystal jet-engine turbine blades.  
- Open-source optical resources circulated: Zemax LED-collimator files (zmxoct repo), Foldscope origami microscope delivering micron resolution for <$1, Ted Pella “Evolution” portable scope, and vintage 5-head prism-based microscope designs.  
- The legacy NanoEngineer-1 CAD/simulation suite was dissected: it offloads energy minimization and MD to GROMACS, GAMESS, and MPQC via Python glue, uses the NanoHive engine with REBO/AIREBO potentials for mechanosynthesis, but struggles with arbitrary metal bonding and new atom types.  
- kanzure and dpk outlined a refactor of the paper-scraper system into a Node-based framework wrapping Zotero translators, caching HTTP requests, and exposing a clean API, with a commitment to port all scrapers by 30 June.  
- ParahSailin offered NGS data and assemblies for “Candidatus Liberibacter,” the citrus-greening pathogen, to the DIYbio community.