Full Device Assembly
Prev: Part 10: Using Components in a Device
This final modeling step builds a complete microfluidic device and introduces advanced techniques:
- Bezier curve routing
- Polychannel routing
- Stubbing unused ports
- Relabeling subcomponent labels
- Rendering to a file
Device plan:
- Two inlets → 20 px valves → Y‑junction mixer
- Mixer output → serpentine → expanded viewing area → outlet pinhole
- Each valve control line connects to a pinhole on one side and a stubbed external port on the other
Step 1 — Component context + labels + bulk
Preview the bulk block.
Step 2 — Add subcomponents
Preview the device at this stage.
Step 3 — Relabel subcomponents
Subcomponents bring their own labels (and colors). If you leave them as‑is, you’ll end up with many label names like valve_a.pneumatic or mixer.void. Use relabel() to merge and normalize those labels into a small, consistent component‑level set (e.g., fluidic, pneumatic, membrane, bulk).
This keeps the visualizer clean and makes downstream settings (like slicer regions) much easier to manage.
For more information see Extra 1: Customizing Subcomponent Labels and Colors
Preview again to confirm labels after relabeling.
Before
After
Step 4 — Route fluidics (autoroute)
route_with_polychannel() is just like regular polychannel construction, but the router automatically inserts the start and end port cross‑sections for you. You only need to describe the shapes in between. It can be used when more advanced routing with multiple cross-sectional shapes/sizes are needed.
Preview the device after autorouting.
Step 5 — Polychannel routing (expanded viewing area)
This step creates a wider viewing region after the serpentine using a polychannel.
Preview the device after polychannel routing.
Step 6 — Pneumatic control lines (Bezier routing)
While there’s no functional requirement to use Bezier curves here, we use them simply to introduce the technique. Bezier routing is helpful when you want smooth curves or graceful detours.
Preview the device after Bezier routing.
Step 7 — Add external flushing ports (autoroute only)
First add the external ports and autoroute the connections
Preview the device after adding the external ports.
Step 8 — Stub unused ports
If a port exists but isn’t used in this build, or is only used internally like the flushing channes, stub them so they don’t appear as unconnected.
Preview the device after stubbing.
Step 9 — Render device
Rendering exports the device as a portable 3D model file so it can be used outside the pymfcad ecosystem. Any component can be rendered. The output is the final bulk‑void model, ready for other CAD tools and manufacturing pipelines. We support common formats like .glb, .stl, and .3mf, so your design works across most 3D workflows without relying on our custom printers. Advanced settings (which we will introduce shortly), will not be exported.
Full example
Notes
- Bezier routing is great for pneumatic lines and smooth curves.
- Polychannel routing lets you expand or taper channels mid‑path.
- Relabeling keeps all geometry under a small, consistent set of labels.
- Stubbing hides unused ports without deleting them.