Looking for spectrophotometer, any good DIY options?

[betanic]

I'm looking to buy or build a spectrophotometer for my lab. I would like to use it to determine DNA, RNA, protein, and cell culture concentrations. Based on my research I think a nanodrop style is better because of the low volume, but whatever works is fine.

The only DIY option I have found is the build here:

https://hackteria.org/wiki/DIY_NanoDrop

With a video and modification done by Justin Atkin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIk8I10ZmYY

Anyways, both the hackteria build and Justin's modifications seem incomplete, especially for the full set of uses I would like.

Has anyone here built there own spectrophotometer or have any advice on building one?

I might end up just buying a nanodrop but considering how expensive it is I'm obviously considering all options, and definitely willing to build my own if I can get together a blueprint.

[Jacob Beal]

The iGEM 2014 team from Aachen put together a nice low-cost DIY OD & fluorescence cuvette measurement device.

I don't know if that satisfies all of your specifications, but it's well documented and might be a nice starting point: http://2014.igem.org/Team:Aachen/OD/F_device

Thanks,

-Jake