New Macro Setup - Making Progress.

[georgedingwall]

Hi All,

I've been trying to put together a new macro setup to help me do better stacking sequences. I've taken inspiration from Rik Littlefield's setup as he described he used for those fly eyes.

I managed to get a more accurate two axis table which is adjustable, on both axes, in increments of 0.02 mm. One full rev of the adjuster is 1 mm with the scale marked off every 0.02 mm.

It seems to be very accurate. In the image of the Phillips screw head below, the depth of the cross slot is exactly 2.8 mm. (I measured it with a depth micrometer). The stack I used for this image was of 28 frames made with an adjustment between each of 0.1 mm. Which aslo gives a total movement of 2.8 mm.

I also picked up an adjustable lab jack on ebay to help with centering in the "Z" axis. It works very well and is more than accurate enough for what I want to do.

To hold the specimen, I've used a Jem Clamp that came with the Dark Gound Attachment I have for my stereo microscope. The Lab Jack has a threaded hole on the top plate and, with the use of a tripod adapter, the Jem Clamp screws nicely into place.

I haven't decided yet whether to put in any fixed lighting on the right side of the setup. I use flash at the moment, and that gets me enough light on the subject for an F8 exposure. I use 3 flash heads most of the time, but have another 2 slaves I could add to the setup. Until I get my bellows mounted, I wont know if this will be enough light.

I have a set of 4 floods that came from an old copy stand, and I may mount them on the baseboard if the flash isn't powerful enough to use when I add a bellows into the mix. I'm just waiting on a couple of adapters I picked up on ebay which will allow me to fit My Nikon gear onto the Pentax bellows.

Anyway, I've still got a bit of work to do, but this is where I'm upto in the first image below. The second image is of the crosshead screw I used as a test piece.

[rjlittlefield]

Looking good, George! I'll be interested to see how this one evolves. Where'd you pick up that 1mm/rev table?

--Rik

[georgedingwall]

Hi Rik,

Looking good, George! I'll be interested to see how this one evolves. Where'd you pick up that 1mm/rev table?

--Rik

Thanks Rik. I still have a few ideas to improve things a bit.

I tried to find a similar table on ebay, but had no luck. I then went to a UK based tool supplier I had used before, and they had the one you see. It cost a little more than I wanted to spend, but I think it has been worth it in the end, as it gives me so much more control over the image sequence.

Bye for now.