Where to Get Optical Breadboards?

[RobertOToole]

Found the old Baselabs tools board images:

On the first try they shipped an 18x18x0.5 plate in a 18x18x8 cardboard box! All 4 corners were torn open since there was zero protection for the board.



Second try and a few weeks later in a proper 24 x 24 x 10 crate:



Best of luck!

Robert

[Deanimator]

I just thought I'd throw this out as an example of insanity:

https://www.amazon.com/Newport-SA2-06x0 ... breadboard

It says "aluminum", but the price screams "unobtanium"...

[billjanes1]

I have the following for my main setup base:

MB1236 1/2" thick Aluminum 12" by 36" base (1/4-20 taps) This might be back ordered, so I would get the 48" long version MB1248 if so.
XT95SP-1000 95mm One -Side Slide Rail 1000mm
XT95P11 95mm Drop On Rail Carrage (1/4-20 taps)
XT95P12 95mm Rail Plate (1/4-20 taps)
AV6 45mm Sorbothane Feet (1/4-20 threads)



My camera/lens is mounted to a Stackshot, WeMacro or modified THK KR-20 focus rail by a ARCA type adapter. The focus rail attaches directly to the XT95P11 sliding clamp carriage.This is a very sturdy fixture that allows the camera/lens assembly & focus rail to easily slide and be removed. I did have to drill and tap some holes in the carriage for the direct focus rail mounting for the various focus rails I use.

Best,

Mike

Mike,

This is an old post, but your equipment list is similar to what I have been contemplating. Could you post a picture of your setup using these components?

Thanks,
Bill

[mawyatt]

I have the following for my main setup base:

MB1236 1/2" thick Aluminum 12" by 36" base (1/4-20 taps) This might be back ordered, so I would get the 48" long version MB1248 if so.
XT95SP-1000 95mm One -Side Slide Rail 1000mm
XT95P11 95mm Drop On Rail Carrage (1/4-20 taps)
XT95P12 95mm Rail Plate (1/4-20 taps)
AV6 45mm Sorbothane Feet (1/4-20 threads)



My camera/lens is mounted to a Stackshot, WeMacro or modified THK KR-20 focus rail by a ARCA type adapter. The focus rail attaches directly to the XT95P11 sliding clamp carriage.This is a very sturdy fixture that allows the camera/lens assembly & focus rail to easily slide and be removed. I did have to drill and tap some holes in the carriage for the direct focus rail mounting for the various focus rails I use.

Best,

Mike

Mike,

This is an old post, but your equipment list is similar to what I have been contemplating. Could you post a picture of your setup using these components?

Thanks,
Bill

Bill,

Here are couple old images, they show the optical base and sliding rail that bolts to the optical base. The other fixture that holds the Stackshot focus rail slides on the rail, as does the fixture that hold the subject mounts.

Note the rubber bands for holding the lens to a ARCA type fixture.

I also have a vertical setup I use, it's based on the Vertical Stand from WeMacro.

Hope this helps, best,

Mike

[billjanes1]

I have the following for my main setup base:

MB1236 1/2" thick Aluminum 12" by 36" base (1/4-20 taps) This might be back ordered, so I would get the 48" long version MB1248 if so.
XT95SP-1000 95mm One -Side Slide Rail 1000mm
XT95P11 95mm Drop On Rail Carrage (1/4-20 taps)
XT95P12 95mm Rail Plate (1/4-20 taps)
AV6 45mm Sorbothane Feet (1/4-20 threads)



My camera/lens is mounted to a Stackshot, WeMacro or modified THK KR-20 focus rail by a ARCA type adapter. The focus rail attaches directly to the XT95P11 sliding clamp carriage.This is a very sturdy fixture that allows the camera/lens assembly & focus rail to easily slide and be removed. I did have to drill and tap some holes in the carriage for the direct focus rail mounting for the various focus rails I use.

Best,

Mike

Mike,

This is an old post, but your equipment list is similar to what I have been contemplating. Could you post a picture of your setup using these components?

Thanks,
Bill

Bill,

Here are couple old images, they show the optical base and sliding rail that bolts to the optical base. The other fixture that holds the Stackshot focus rail slides on the rail, as does the fixture that hold the subject mounts.

Note the rubber bands for holding the lens to a ARCA type fixture.

I also have a vertical setup I use, it's based on the Vertical Stand from WeMacro.

Hope this helps, best,

Mike,
Thank you very much for your reply and the pictures. It gave me some good ideas for a setup that I am planning.

Regards,

Bill

[ztt74]

one option that I took was to buy a 14x20 inch half inch thick piece of aluminum plate (if you are in US/Canada, then https://www.metalsupermarkets.com/ - they have outlets all over north america). Then I got a local CNC shop to drill 1/4-20 holes into it in a pattern that I designed. The plate was $110 Canadian, and CNC work was $90, which worked out to be about half the price of a commercial board here in Canada.

Jon

[mawyatt]

Jon,

Good idea if you can find a reasonable CNC shop that will do small stuff. Did you black anodize your base? Please provide some images of the setup.

The Thor extruded rail with sliding clamps are really good for our horizontal use, they make setup and initial fixture alignment much easier IMO. I mount the Stackshot/WeMacro/THK focus rail to a sliding clamp and also the subject fixture as you can see in the images.

BTW the blue tubs you see are RubberMaid storing boxes. I use these to attenuate high frequency vibrations (low pass) coming from my floor (rug over concrete foundation). Some folks laugh at this use, but they do work for me. Foundations can act as a conduit for vibrations around the house/office/lab. Long ago in 1999 I had to set up a semiconductor wafer probe station in our new small facility and did a sensitive vibration map of the floor. I found out that vibrations found their way to just about anywhere around the floor.

Best & Happy Holidays,

Mike

[mawyatt]

I have the following for my main setup base:

MB1236 1/2" thick Aluminum 12" by 36" base (1/4-20 taps) This might be back ordered, so I would get the 48" long version MB1248 if so.
XT95SP-1000 95mm One -Side Slide Rail 1000mm
XT95P11 95mm Drop On Rail Carrage (1/4-20 taps)
XT95P12 95mm Rail Plate (1/4-20 taps)
AV6 45mm Sorbothane Feet (1/4-20 threads)



My camera/lens is mounted to a Stackshot, WeMacro or modified THK KR-20 focus rail by a ARCA type adapter. The focus rail attaches directly to the XT95P11 sliding clamp carriage.This is a very sturdy fixture that allows the camera/lens assembly & focus rail to easily slide and be removed. I did have to drill and tap some holes in the carriage for the direct focus rail mounting for the various focus rails I use.

Best,

Mike

Mike,

This is an old post, but your equipment list is similar to what I have been contemplating. Could you post a picture of your setup using these components?

Thanks,
Bill

Bill,

Here are couple old images, they show the optical base and sliding rail that bolts to the optical base. The other fixture that holds the Stackshot focus rail slides on the rail, as does the fixture that hold the subject mounts.

Note the rubber bands for holding the lens to a ARCA type fixture.

I also have a vertical setup I use, it's based on the Vertical Stand from WeMacro.

Hope this helps, best,

Mike,
Thank you very much for your reply and the pictures. It gave me some good ideas for a setup that I am planning.

Regards,

Bill

Bill,

Your welcome sir

Keep us posted on what you build for your setup.

Best & Happy Holidays,

Mike

[Daniel_Han]

Best place would be either https://www.edmundoptics.com/ or https://www.thorlabs.com/index.cfm

Thorlabs offers one of the best in class honeycomb breadboards, the Nexus breadboard, which I stand by and highly recommend -- if one can justify the cost.

Even their aluminium breadboards are rather expensive. Cheap boards can be had from places like China, by simply putting "optical breadboard" into google.

It will be extremely costly to get thorlabs items if you are not in the USA. I live in Australia and shipping is $150 for some small items, I shipped the stuff to a friend in the states and had her forward to be, which saved a significant amount of money.

[billjanes1]

I have the following for my main setup base:

MB1236 1/2" thick Aluminum 12" by 36" base (1/4-20 taps) This might be back ordered, so I would get the 48" long version MB1248 if so.
XT95SP-1000 95mm One -Side Slide Rail 1000mm
XT95P11 95mm Drop On Rail Carrage (1/4-20 taps)
XT95P12 95mm Rail Plate (1/4-20 taps)
AV6 45mm Sorbothane Feet (1/4-20 threads)



My camera/lens is mounted to a Stackshot, WeMacro or modified THK KR-20 focus rail by a ARCA type adapter. The focus rail attaches directly to the XT95P11 sliding clamp carriage.This is a very sturdy fixture that allows the camera/lens assembly & focus rail to easily slide and be removed. I did have to drill and tap some holes in the carriage for the direct focus rail mounting for the various focus rails I use.

Bill,

Here are couple old images, they show the optical base and sliding rail that bolts to the optical base. The other fixture that holds the Stackshot focus rail slides on the rail, as does the fixture that hold the subject mounts.

Note the rubber bands for holding the lens to a ARCA type fixture.



Mike,
Thank you very much for your reply and the pictures. It gave me some good ideas for a setup that I am planning.

Regards,

Bill

Bill,

Your welcome sir

Keep us posted on what you build for your setup.

Best & Happy Holidays,

Mike

Here are 3 images of my setup. The breadboard is a Baselabs 12 * 36 inch with sorbothane feet on top of a Gladiator workbench. The Stackshot is mounted on a Desmond DRB-40 16 inch double dovetail rail with a Desmond DCB-50 double subtend clamp attaching the Stackshot to the rail. A RSS B2 FABF is necessary to change the direction of the dovetail to mount the camera (the Gognisys clamp is fore and aft). The specimen is positioned via a two way focus rail attached to a home made stand. Illumination is via a Nikon flash hooked up to an inexpensive magic arm. Diffusion is not shown.

Since I am just beginning to do extreme macro photography, I wanted to get a usable setup with reasonable cost. I have yet to use the setup due to a lack of suitable specimens in mid-winter in northern Illinois. Comments and suggestions are most welcome.

Regards,

Bill

[mawyatt]

Bill,

Great looking setup, should be very stable indeed!!

As far a specimen goes, why not some coins to get things going? Or a pen/pencil tip, tiny screw, or a plane pin head. lots of stuff around that can make good subjects until you can find some insects!!

Best,

[mawyatt]

Bill,

Looks like you've got a Mitutoyo 5X in front of an old Nikon 200mm F4?

Best,

[billjanes1]

Bill,

Looks like you've got a Mitutoyo 5X in front of an old Nikon 200mm F4?

Best,

Mike,

Thanks for your help and comments. You are correct. That is a Mitutoyo 5x in front of an old Nikon 200 mm f/4 Ai. I also have the Mitutoyo10x. The Nikon tube lens seems to be working well, but I have no basis for comparison. I also have the Zeiss 135 f/2 apo and will try it as a tube lens. Do you have any experience with this lens?

Regards,

Bill

[mawyatt]

Bill,

Looks like you've got a Mitutoyo 5X in front of an old Nikon 200mm F4?

Best,

Mike,

Thanks for your help and comments. You are correct. That is a Mitutoyo 5x in front of an old Nikon 200 mm f/4 Ai. I also have the Mitutoyo10x. The Nikon tube lens seems to be working well, but I have no basis for comparison. I also have the Zeiss 135 f/2 apo and will try it as a tube lens. Do you have any experience with this lens?

Regards,

Bill

Bill,

I don't have the Zeiss 135 f2, but have the old Zeiss 135 f3.5 Jena & Vivitar 135 f3.5 (Komine build). Both work well with the 5X & 10X, I haven't tried with the 20X or 50X though. You will see some vignetting on a full frame but not so much on a smaller sensor, but IQ is very good.

Best,

Mike

[Deanimator]

The specimen is positioned via a two way focus rail attached to a home made stand.

I like that idea.

I've got a similar unit which the Wemacro replaced.

I will look into building something similar.