Building an MRI scanner for under £5k (emf2026)

I built an MRI scanner. In my garage. And it actually works.

A year ago I decided to find out if you could build an MRI machine from off-the-shelf parts, at home, without a physics PhD or a hospital budget. Spoiler: you can.

This is the story of that journey; the moments where it all clicked, the moments where it absolutely did not, and everything I wish someone had told me before I started. I'll walk you through the physics of how MRI actually works (I promise: no maths degree required, just curiosity), what you'd realistically need to build one yourself, and what we've managed to scan so far; from eggs to 3D printed models.

If you've ever looked at a piece of technology and thought "but how does it actually work?" Then this talk is for you.

Disclosure: I built this scanner as part of my work on a startup in the medical imaging space.

Licensed to the public under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
about this event: https://www.emfcamp.org/schedule/2026/207-building-an-mri-scanner-for-under-5k