January 9, 2026
Fringe wars, anyone?
The (likely?) cheapest home-made Michelson interferometer
Cheapest DIY laser gizmo? Internet cheers, nerds nitpick
TLDR: A maker 3D-printed a super-cheap interferometer that measures tiny distance changes with light, sharing designs online. Commenters split between “LIGO at home” excitement, nitpicks about alignment and explanations, and cheeky ideas like watching 3D-print plastic sag—proof that backyard science inspires both awe and arguments.
A maker 3D-printed a budget Michelson interferometer—a light-splitting gadget that shows stripey patterns when distances change—and the internet instantly split into wow vs well, actually. Built with Amazon parts and open CAD in Python, the designs are on GitHub and headed to Thingiverse and Printables. The hype squad showed up fast: one fan yelled it’s basically LIGO at home (that’s the giant LIGO observatory that listens for ripples in space), and another praised it as “on a different level” compared to random eBay lab gear.
Then the nostalgia crew rolled in, reminiscing about physics labs that “disproved ether” and measured the speed of light in plastic, while dropping terms like IMUs and quaternions like spicy seasoning. Cue jokes about printing a printer to print science and turning the living room into a laser carnival.
But the pedants had smoke coming off their keyboards: a commenter declared the explanation “incomplete,” diving into alignment perfection and fringe behavior, sparking a classic makers vs nitpickers showdown. Meanwhile, the practical jokers proposed using the setup to watch PLA creep—aka plastic sagging—in real time, basically turning this laser experiment into materials science reality TV.
The mood? Equal parts starry-eyed and side-eyed. Whether you came for cosmic vibes or calibration wars, this cheap, home-built laser rig made everyone feel a little more science-y—and a lot more opinionated.
Key Points
- •The author built a low-cost Michelson interferometer using a 3D printer and components sourced from Amazon.
- •The finished setup produced visible interference fringes, confirming operational success.
- •All CAD design was done in Python with the build123d library, and STEP files are available on GitHub.
- •The project is intended to be shared on Thingiverse or Printables for community access.
- •A high-level explanation describes how a Michelson interferometer measures tiny distance changes through constructive and destructive interference.