Finished project. No planned enhancements at this point.

Inoculating Loop. Sweet and simple.

A deceitfully simple and commonly used instrument. There are very cheap ones on e-bay etc and some very expensive ones that run into hundred of dollars. There are plastic disposable ones that end up costing a lot in the long term and metal one. A good one has to have the proper dimensions, be light and be sterilizable in a flame. The metal is usually aluminum as it's very light. The loop itself is made of nichrome or platinum (guess which one is more expensive) and nichrome is used in expensive medical labs too. Sometimes the handle get hot in the hand so some loops are insulated. The cheaper commerce ones are usually shorter than they should and they are not insulated. So we decided to make one.

We had the aluminum handle and the wire but we needed to connect them and insulate them. So we cut 4 Teflon wedges and we made an adaptor wire to handle on a lathe own by one of our members. You can see the result below. The picture was hard to focus but you could see the Teflon wedges.
So we ended with a Cadillac inoculating loop.
We forgot to take pictures during the milling of the aluminum adapter but the design should be quite clear when you see the picture. We made a hole at the tip, inserted the wire and we use a crimping tool to crimp the wire in place.
If you need more details or dimensions please contact us. The Teflon is the white part. The wire is 28 gauge Nichrome but it could be 25 gauge. We ordered the 25 gauge and we'll make more when it arrives. The loop diameter is about 2.5 mm which is quite middle of the road.