Where Can I Find a 1 mm Cube for Visual Demonstrations?

[BillTre]

I am looking for a nice looking 1 mm cube to use in a video I want to make.
I am looking for suggestions about possible sources. I don't really want to mess around with making one right now and I would prefer (at least now) practical effects to using a 3D animation program.

So far I have only found 1 mm cubes in beads (like for making necklaces etc.).
Many beads have rounded edges and most have holes in them (not optimal) which I would rather avoid, but they can be made to show up well with lighting (many are shiny and/or refractive which is visually good).

A cubic mm to a cubic m is a 1: 1,000,000,000 relationship, which is what I want to demonstrate visually.

 

[Borek]

I know that's not the kind of answer you are looking for, but I would cut one myself. A sharp knife and a 1 mm plywood, or paperboard, or piece of styrofoam and you are ready in under a minute.

 

[Nidum]

How many do you want ?

 

[BillTre]

I know that's not the kind of answer you are looking for, but I would cut one myself. A sharp knife and a 1 mm plywood, or paperboard, or piece of styrofoam and you are ready in under a minute.

I was thinking of the wood approach, but I want to be able to light it up well (on a dght workark background) since it would be small compared to a meter.
White Styrofoam might work well though.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Better get a lot - they will be easy to lose.

It might be easier to find latex spheres with volume of 1 mm.

 

[Nidum]

1 mm square abs plastic strip is available from hobby stores and online . https://www.expotools.com/acatalog/1.00-x-1.00-PMS40.html#SID=190

 

[Andy SV]

I think your probably going to have to make them

 

[BillTre]

How many do you want ?

Just one, but having extras would probably be a good idea (anticipating losses).

I think your probably going to have to make them

Maybe, but it nice to get a bunch of other ideas to consider.

I'll probably check out a bead store (there are several around here) and a hobby store on Monday to follow up on some of the ideas.

Or might just use a 3D animation program.

 

[Andy SV]

Well good luck then
I hope you find something nice

 

[phyzguy]

It's pretty easy to grow table salt crystals up to 1 mm size, and they are very nice cubes. If you get a shaker of sea salt, it tends to be coarser and more varied, and you may find some crystals that are 1mm in size right out of the shaker.

https://sciencenotes.org/grow-table-salt-or-sodium-chloride-crystals/

 

[newjerseyrunner]

A 3D printer should be able to create that, do you know anyone who has one?

 

[BillTre]

Interesting idea.

I have a 3D printer. Its a fused filament type printer, which is like a CAD driven heat glue gun.
I could send a file for printing to any of several companies though, which makes finer resolved printing and would make more of a variety of materials available including more choices of clear materials and metals. This might be worth doing if I can't find what I'm looking for.

I want something shiny or clear for lighting purposes, for doing the photography. The materials I've used have just been opaque plastics (ABS and PLA).

 

[Andy SV]

you can get square fiber optic cable in a 1mm size some fast easy work with a razer you can have all you want I have used it so I know it's available
Snip snip snip

 

[BillTre]

I've been looking around for materials and have found that although beads exist that are called 1 mm., they are in fact larger. Some are as large as 1.5 mm! I think their larger sizes are probably more accurately sized.

I will probably end up cutting a square rod into cubes eventually. Maybe sanding the ends.

I got some 1 mm square rod (styrene) from a hobby shop that was supposed to be 1 mm square. It is better 1.17 x 1.25 mm.
I think I'll go back and see what smaller sizes they have.

I am now considering how it might be illuminated (I am concerned about such a small thing showing up well (a mm cube in a meter cube)):

• reflected normal incident light.
• use fluorescent plastic and illuminate with UV, making it an emitter.
• connect a clear cube to a fiber optic fiber and illuminate from with in (also making it an emitter).
  I guess this could be but with UV and Fluorescence also.

If a fiber optic fiber is painted black, will it still act as a fiber optic fiber or will it lose its internal reflectance?
If so I would want to put a black tube around it.

 

[Nidum]

You really need to have some additional texture in a sheet of assembled cubes to make individual cubes visible .

For bigger blocks I'd say chamfer the edges of the blocks so as to get mini grooves at all the joins .

Maybe for these tiny blocks you could scribe grooves down all the joint lines .

Derivative thought - could you use sheets or blocks of material instead of individual cubes and just scribe the cubes on the faces ?

 

[Andy SV]

I've been looking around for materials and have found that although beads exist that are called 1 mm., they are in fact larger. Some are as large as 1.5 mm! I think their larger sizes are probably more accurately sized.

I will probably end up cutting a square rod into cubes eventually. Maybe sanding the ends.

I got some 1 mm square rod (styrene) from a hobby shop that was supposed to be 1 mm square. It is better 1.17 x 1.25 mm.
I think I'll go back and see what smaller sizes they have.

I am now considering how it might be illuminated (I am concerned about such a small thing showing up well (a mm cube in a meter cube)):

• reflected normal incident light.
• use fluorescent plastic and illuminate with UV, making it an emitter.
• connect a clear cube to a fiber optic fiber and illuminate from with in (also making it an emitter).
  I guess this could be but with UV and Fluorescence also.

If a fiber optic fiber is painted black, will it still act as a fiber optic fiber or will it lose its internal reflectance?
If so I would want to put a black tube around it.

Yes you can paint it black and it will still work fine. We painted the full length of exposed fiber and the LEDs themselves to control color purity for a photo printer head

 

[robphy]

https://www.supermagnete.de/eng/cub...magnet-1mm-neodymium-n45-nickel-plated_W-01-N
https://www.supermagnete.de/eng/cub...agnet-10mm-neodymium-n42-nickel-plated_W-10-N

https://supermagnetman.com/collections/neodymium/products/c0010?variant=11410227139

paint over this?
https://www.learningresources.com/product/plastic+base+ten+components-+10+x+10+x+10+cm+cube.do

 

[BillTre]

I've ordered some of the 1 mm magnets.
Have not gotten them yet.

Meanwhile, I also got some 1 mm square strips of styrene (plastic model plastic) from a local hobby shop.
Of the 10 pieces, only two were reasonably square (within 5% of 1.00 x 1.00).
It get the length right and have the cuts somewhat at right angles, I made a little microtome:

I used the micrometer on the microtome stage (which I salvaged) to push (via bent wire) a piece of plastic forward.
The plastic square rod is taped to the plastic with double sided tape.
A razor blade is held between the two metal blocks

Everything is held in place by two sided tape and heat glue.

This is one of the resulting cubes.