DIY Projects Collection

I've redesigned mount for this light. I've removed tripod mount from old film camera and mounted onto this light.

I built a macro slide setup for my brother (Dave Anderson here) using a Nikon microscope stage, and set up to be driven via stepper motor. He's got plans for a very nice controller, when he has time to build it.

I don't have time, and electronics isn't exactly my thing. After a lot of pondering and weighing many design approaches, I came up with the slide featured below.

Based on an ultra precision ground lead screw (25 millionth's accuracy) and Rexroth precision linear slides, I was pondering how to index. I have a 1" travel micrometer head that reads directly to .0001. But that's pretty fine. Looking at gears and gear reductions, possibly using some sort of ratchet setup to index a set amount each time, when I came up with the idea of using a one-way clutch on the end of the lead screw.
This looks like a needle bearing, but transfers rotary motion in one direction while slipping in the other. Voila!

Here is a side view of the overall setup. It's a Vivitar bellows, modified. I cut it up and bolted to a base, indexing to insure the axis of the bellows is parallel to the base.


MacroRail-1 by janders1957, on Flickr


This view shows the indexing. Not visible, is a stop pin that the handle rests on. Each threaded hole is 3.6 degrees and provies .0005 linear motion. Set the stop to the desired travel. Lift and let go, take the shot, repeat! I can index directly to .005, larger distances by some combination of lower indexes (.007 would be .0035 twice)
How do I back it up? I slide the lever off the end of the screw, retract the adjustable stop screw, and place the lever back on the shaft inverted. The slot on the front clears the fixed stop screw, allowing me to wind it back. I set this up in my mill with an indicator, and it's dead on, .0005 index, no accumulated error over .030 travel.


MacroRail-2 by janders1957, on Flickr

This view looks down the end of the tube, you can see the end of the lead screw, the nut and the carrier clamped to it. A short spacer takes up the distance from the carrier to the slide above.


MacroRail-3 by janders1957, on Flickr

The indexing plate can be removed and replaced with one fitted for a stepper motor come the day I can sweet talk my brother into building me the digital controller. But, this requires no batteries and is foolproof. In a rush to finish this as in mere weeks, I move to Australia and it will be a long time before I have a machine shop at my disposal again. Not the best job of photographing this, but, in a rush. Now to take it back apart for black anodize!

Is this overkill? I'd have to admit it is. But I have always had a thing for what I think of as elegant mechanical solutions.... :)

EDIT: Took a bit to figure out I was grabbing the wrong code, text was grayed out making it hard to read and leading me to believe there was no choice available...

Edited by janders1957 - 04 March 2014 at 02:14

Thanks Rick, but it's already apart to send out for anodize.
I am permanently departing for Australia hopefully by mid-April, and have far too much going on to play with it. It was a case of finish it now, or wait years. Also wanted to photograph it in the raw, as black anodized parts are harder to shoot and show the details.
I'm not even sure I can take it with me. 3 checked bags max, and even if I go to the max 70lbs overweight, that's all I'm going to have down there for the 8-12 months it'll be before I can ship the rest of my stuff over. Space in those bags is going to be tight. If it won't fit in carry on with the rest of my camera stuff, I might ship it to myself in a flat rate box right before I leave...

Will post some updates once I get a chance to use it!

SteadyCam on the cheap....

End of autumn here on the northern hemisphere, so we have to make the garden ready for winter (... is uw tuin winterklaar??).

Removing the planter from the fence gave me an idea;



combine this with a table-tripod, handheld ballhead bought from the thriftshop for just € 1,-



add some 0,5 Kg weights bought at the sportshop for workouts € 1,50 each;



find a way to connect it firmly;



Add your 'never used tilt-head of your Benro monopod' and the job is done! Your own SteadyCam on the cheap!



Add more weight (and use a longer screw-bolt) for a more heavier camera/lens combination. What is shown above is suitable for my NEX-F3 with a standard lens.

Edited by der dickgg - 08 November 2014 at 13:45

A few years ago I messed around with Lego Mindstorms NXT and a simple circuit to trigger the shutter from one of the Lego sensors. The results weren't particularly sharp but it proved the concept quite nicely.


Youtube video

NXT Camera Trigger by floydbloke, on Flickr

NXT Camera Trigger by floydbloke, on Flickr

NXT Camera Trigger by floydbloke, on Flickr
NXT Camera Trigger by floydbloke, on Flickr

Miranda F wrote: What circuit did you use?

The Lego NXT brick supports I2C. When the light beam is interrupted by the toy truck the software sends a signal to the I2C output. This is fed into a PCF8574 to divvy up the individual channels. One of these connects to one of the control pins of a 4066. The respective input/output pins are plugged into the remote shutter port (pins 1 & 3 if I recall, this was years ago) and effectively shorts them to trigger the shutter when the control pin goes high.

Miranda F wrote: Okay, a micro needed

Yes. Although, I'm sure it could be achieved fairly cheaply with an Arduino and a few peripherals.