GelIS- Final Prototype
The Gel Integrated System is done. I have packed an electrophoresis power supply, illumination, and casting system into one tiny box. All the parts, other than the enclosure, are off the shelf parts. It can be shipped flat and assembled with only a screwdriver. This all comes in at a sale price that is an order of magnitude lower than commercial systems, with a bench footprint an order of magnitude lower than commercial systems.
Test Run
It has been tested, and it is completely functional. The gel is bright enough that you can take pictures of it with your cell phone. If you want to get one, I will be selling the first batch of ten here for $200 a piece. Use that link to contact me if you need a large batch, or find me on the diybio mailing list. I will hopefully have an assembly video (and feature video) soon, but until now you can see my instructable on assembly here.
AyLo 
Oh, I wish I had spare money. 🙂 And time.
Things that are always welcome in life :). I hope people in need of money and time get some good use out of this systems- most systems cost upwards of $400 just for the box! The power supplies cost about $300 and lights cost upwards of 1k!.
After checking out your blog it looks like you are into education- specifically homeschooling young children. This link shows a way to do electrophoresis with a few 9 volts and food dye in a margarin tub with grocery store materials. It might be worth checking into if you want to show kids how electrophoresis works!
Hey,
nice one, I like it!
One question, though: It looks like you’re using an LED array for illumination – how did you get the lighting to look so smooth in the gel photo? Are you using some kind of diffuser? Also, which DNA dye did you use?
The gel tray has a built in diffuser to help even out the light. It can be seen in the pictures of the gel tray.
I used gel green as a dye.