Re-homing · 2018–2020

Retired Microscope & Scanner Back to Shine

Labs replace microscopes and slide scanners long before they stop working, and the old ones end up in a cupboard. Somewhere else, a pathologist, a vet student or a science teacher has none. This page is about closing that gap: what X-WOW did, a cheaper way to do it, and who does it well today.

The old idea · 2018–2020

What X-WOW did

From December 2018, X-WOW asked labs and individuals for retired microscopes, slide scanners and accessories that still worked. People who needed one, whether pathologists, oncologists, microbiologists, students, teachers or hobbyists, sent a short application explaining how they would use it. X-WOW matched the two and paid for packing and shipping.

By the old site's count, seven microscopes found new homes. A few of the stories:

  • The first donation came from a pathologist (A. Ż.), whose own microscope went to CHAM in Malawi.
  • In June 2019 a microscope went to a Nigerian pathologist (O.), as thanks for the teaching content they shared online, and to help encourage African medical students into pathology.
  • A microscope from X-WOW went to a veterinary student in Abuja, who went on to found the Future Vet Pathologists Club.

Thank you

A. Ż. gave the first microscope.

Z. M., of an imaging core facility at a US research institute, offered five microscopes for re-homing: an American Optical 1810, a Zeiss Axioskop, a Nikon Optiphot-2 and two Nikon Labophots.

L. S., of a US hospital's digital-pathology department, offered three slide scanners for re-homing.

Everyone who gave to the 2019 fundraisers for the Malawi slide scanner and for the Nigerian pathologist's microscope. The old Hall of Fame listed you by name, and we haven't forgotten. (People are credited here by initials or role: X-WOW names no private person without their permission.)

The new idea · proposal untested

Ship the optics, not the stand

Most of a microscope's weight is the stand: the cast base, the pillar, the stage and the lamp. Most of what makes it see is small and light: the objectives, the eyepieces and the camera.

So post the light part. A padded parcel of objectives should cost far less to send than a crated stand and be easier to re-home (predicted, not measured; customs rules vary by country). The receiver builds or 3D-prints a stand locally. One ready-made answer is the open-source OpenFlexure Microscope: a 3D-printed stage that can take standard RMS-threaded microscope objectives or low-cost webcam optics, with a Raspberry Pi camera.

A microscope split in two: the heavy stand stays, the light optics travel in a small parcel. stand: stays optics: travel
Gold travels, grey stays.
  1. Donor: unscrew the objectives, cap or wrap both ends, and photograph the markings on each barrel (magnification, numerical aperture, tube length or ∞, thread). Add eyepieces and the camera if there is one.
  2. Post a small padded parcel instead of arranging freight.
  3. Receiver: build or print a stand, fit the objective, then check focus and illumination on a known slide.
  4. The stand stays local: offer it to a nearby school, or recycle it properly.

Don't post lamps. Mercury and xenon arc lamps from fluorescence microscopes contain hazardous material and pressurised gas. Leave them with the stand and dispose of them through proper hazardous-waste routes. Immersion oil travels only sealed and labelled.

This is a proposal X-WOW hasn't tried; the postage savings are estimated, not measured.

Doing this today

Have equipment, or need it? These organisations re-home it now

Who else re-homes lab equipment

Each one was checked against its own website on 9 October 2026 cited. X-WOW has no partnership with any of them; they are here because they do the work.

Organisation Serves What it does
LabAid (UK) Schools in developing countries; in 2024/25, schools and colleges in Cameroon, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Uganda and Zimbabwe Volunteers check and refurbish surplus science equipment from UK schools, microscopes included, and give it free to schools that request it.
Seeding Labs (USA) University scientists in under-resourced settings worldwide Its Instrumental Access programme ships donated research equipment and supplies to labs abroad.
EquipSent (Zurich) Schools and labs that can't afford equipment; projects listed in Nigeria, South Africa, Cameroon, Malawi, Kenya, Chile, Mexico, Pakistan and elsewhere A non-profit association that collects unused lab equipment and transfers it to the schools and labs that apply.
Project C.U.R.E. (USA) Hospitals and clinics in resource-limited countries Volunteers pack and deliver ocean containers of donated medical equipment and supplies.
MedShare (USA) Underserved facilities worldwide and in the USA Collects surplus medical products from hospitals, distributors and manufacturers and redistributes them; also repairs biomedical equipment.