In this Fablab workshop, we will repurpose a 3D printer as a fully automated motorised imaging device to follow growth as well as fluorescence reporter of blue-green algae colonies on petri dishes. We will walk the participants through all necessary knowledge about how a standard 3D printer is built and driven by G-code. We will identify useful commands for the completion of our project and test them step by step on a real printer (2 pcs) or a 4 axis 3D printer simulation that accepts real commands sent from python over the serial port. Once the participants can take control of all printer axes, we will add simple python commands to manage stage illumination and image acquisition using a low cost camera device.