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Lets get to know each other better. Here's a forum to post images and short autobiographies of ourselves as well as any other info you would like to post about yourself.

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canonian
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Post by canonian »

CGeezer wrote:BTW I love your AV pic..
Sorry , which AV pic ?

If you like to toy with DVD drives and motor have a look at what this fellow came up with.:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeXjpZpaZns
It inspired my to make one too (once) but not as advanced as his.
If you want to show AV material you can always park it on Vimeo or the likes and link it in your post.
I guess I will take in all the advice I can get and read a lot in this forums threads :)
One advice, start with the stickies, it offers a lot of condensed info on various subjects.

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

For some discussion of how to use microscope objectives, see FAQ: How can I hook a microscope objective to my camera?.

For an assortment of ways to adjust focus when stacking, see FAQ: What's the best way to focus when stacking?, in particular the post HERE where I link to a bunch of different setups.

Since you already have a microscope, you might give particular consideration to THIS SETUP, which utilizes the stage's XY and focus adjustments without modifying the scope at all. It's a very simple and effective approach that I've adopted as a part of my own arsenal, in combination with the scheme HERE to drive the fine focus knob of the microscope with a stepper motor.

--Rik

Chris S.
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Post by Chris S. »

John, welcome!

Having cut several focus blocks out of microscopes, I'd highly recommend incorporating one into your rig for stacking movement. (An additional screw drive on the same axis is also helpful for rough positioning, and plenty of people use one for stacking movement--but it's hard to beat a microscope focus block for fine work).

But is the block in your Swift M3200 block a good choice? From what I'm seeing online, I don't think so. (Correct me if I'm wrong--I don't have personal experience with Swift models). The value of the scope seems appropriate for dissection--sub $200, if my quick eBay search is any guide. But if the brochure I'm looking at is correct for your model, the fine and coarse focus knobs are not coaxial. What you want is a focus block with coaxial coarse and fine knobs, with the fine adjustment running the entire length of the block's movement. Then you can use the fine control for stacking, and the coarse control for returning your rig to starting position. You can probably also remove one of the fine focus knobs and couple a motor to the rod underneath it. Many Nikon and Olympus are good candidates.

Regarding stepping motors: Since a good, off-the-shelf stepping motor can be had for something around $15--ordered to spec with the characteristics of your choice--it's hard to justify compromising much to repurpose an old one. My motor is a Kysan 1040071. It lists at $15.50 and has 0.9 degree full steps--so 400 steps per rotation. Shipping did add to that price, and it took a while--so you might check out suppliers closer to home.

Must agree with Pau that the optical arrangment you show seems very odd. Are you really shooting through both objective and eyepiece, all on extension? What happens if you place the objective alone on that extension? You might well get rather bad chromatic aberration (I don't know if Swift objectives rely on the eyepiece for correcting CA, but suspect that they do). Or it might work. :)

Cheers!

--Chris
Last edited by Chris S. on Mon Jun 25, 2012 1:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

CGeezer
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Joined: Fri May 25, 2012 2:20 pm

Post by CGeezer »

Image

Here is my Plan A .. If I can work out.... err I mean con my friend to wire it up :)

Thanks for the links chaps. I honestly didn't expect so many ideas and so much help quite so quickly..

I'm off for a read with my head now swimming with some new excellent ideas :)

CGeezer
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Post by CGeezer »

Thanks Chris,

Although I may look like I have a clue I'm afraid it is all being done on a wing and a prayer so any tips will be more than welcome. My budget is close to zero as I can't work any more but I plod along and take great pleasure getting results on a shoestring budget when my friends always throw their cash at a problem to solve it. I do feel that the motor is the most important after the glass so may well take up your recommendation for a new stepper motor.

Thanks for taking the time to post

I'm going to try it without the eyepiece first..

Chris S.
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Post by Chris S. »

John, you definitely look like you have a clue. Sorry if I threw things at you with rather little explanation. If anything doesn't make sense, just ask. Since you just recently discovered this forum, you probably feel as if you have your lips to a fire hydrant (most of us have been in your shoes).

Good luck!

--Chris

Rylee Isitt
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Post by Rylee Isitt »

As for the Arduino, I can vouch for its awesomeness. I enjoy everything about it - but it does come with a caveat. You need both electronics and programming experience to get the most out of it. But, you don't need to be an expert. You'd learn fast.

For my system, I use the Arduino Uno, which is a pretty handy tool, but I'm starting to lean more towards smaller Arduino devices these days (that lack the built-in USB and require a seperate programming card).

Anyway, I have my Arduino attached to a stepper motor controller that I assembled using a dual half bridge driver IC. This in turn drives a stepper motor and a gear train so that I can get lots of torque and fine movement. I also have it controlling a reed relay to trigger my camera shutter automatically.

For the field, I am working on building this: http://www.circuitsathome.com/camera-co ... -build-log

Those blobs/distortions you are seeing is probably not dust. As others have said, it looks like your stacking software did that - perhaps with suboptimal settings or movement between shots. But I ended up using Zerene Stacker instead of Helicon Focus and my familiarity with Helicon has gone downhill.

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