V-slot frame for macro rig (COMPLETED).

soldevilla · Post by **soldevilla** » Fri Jul 05, 2019 11:33 am

I can understand you perfectly. My hard disk is full of 3D projects that I may never get to build. But designing is very fun.

Yawns · Post by **Yawns** » Sat Jul 06, 2019 6:00 am

Deanimator wrote:It's an interesting design and should probably work well.

In philosophy if not execution, it's similar to mine, especially how the camera and subject stage are mounted.

The main difference with mine is that the extrusions are only used to mount the camera and subject, whereas you use them for the basic structure. You probably don't have my severe vibration issues. Also mine is designed for quick and easy conversion between horizontal and vertical.

Helo.. it would be nice to see a picture of yours if you have it.

I saw this ( T-slot) one many month ago made by the user Gino Blanckart at Extreme Macro (Facebook) and I liked the idea .. except his dimensions are overkill .. lot'ts of empty space behind the camera
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =3&theater.

I hope my structure is rigid enough...

Yawns · Post by **Yawns** » Sat Jul 06, 2019 6:04 am

kaleun96 wrote:Haha yeah it's a tough problem to solve. I will try take a photo of my setup tonight so you can see what I did. I think my setup will add too much height for what you're trying to achieve here but maybe gives you an idea. Playing with those SmallRig parts is a bit like Lego

You just need to find somewhere to mount that dual rod clamp to whatever the #1674 (I think you typed #1764 in your CAD drawing by mistake) baseplate attaches to. Maybe if you had a long cheese plate (e.g. #904) that mounts directly to the top of the Wemacro stage and extends far enough out for the dual rod clamp to attach down to. And your #1674 base plate would also sit on the cheese plate, so that base plate + rod system has two anchor points at a reasonable distance apart.

I think this will do the trick .. found some bits of "L" shaped aluminum in the shed (4,5 cm x 2,5 cm). I will cut and drill something like this (green)

Screenshot 2019-07-04 at 20.47.05 by antonio caseiro, on Flickr

Yawns · Post by **Yawns** » Sat Jul 06, 2019 6:12 am

cmagno wrote:Hi Yawns,

My rig is also based on OpenBuilds (from ratrig.com) with an 2080 T-slot extrusion where my mjkzz industrial rail THK KR2001 is fixed and a V-Slot Gantry as a slider with an XYZ Stage.

In the images can still be seen some SmallRig components in the specimen holder that is being expanded to allow the vertical use of the rail.
This construction proves to be very solid and in the current configuration I do not detect any type of vibrations.

The mobility of the v-slot proves very useful in adjusting the different working distances of the lenses or in the preparation of the specimen and the lighting system.

I hope this short presentation helps in collecting ideas.

Best regards/Abraços
Carlos Magno

Olá Carlos ...

Looks massive

.. but's only the perspective and close distance photo.
You don't show much of your work .. still doing the tiny fossils?

I still having to figure the insect positioner thing.. I have to wait till the parts arrive .. the XYZ still in the mail from Germany... I don't even know how to screw it to the plate.. I never saw one for real ..

Can you get a picture more distant with a better overall look?

Obrigado, António

Deanimator · Post by **Deanimator** » Sat Jul 06, 2019 2:46 pm

Yawns wrote:Helo.. it would be nice to see a picture of yours if you have it.

I'm in the process of cleaning up the "highway of death" reinactment which is my living room. I might get enough debris and wreckage out this weekend to allow for pictures.

kaleun96 · Post by **kaleun96** » Mon Jul 08, 2019 2:03 am

Yawns wrote: I think this will do the trick .. found some bits of "L" shaped aluminum in the shed (4,5 cm x 2,5 cm). I will cut and drill something like this (green)
Screenshot 2019-07-04 at 20.47.05 by antonio caseiro, on Flickr

Nice! I think that will work just fine.

I finally took a picture to show what I did (and what you initially suggested for your rig). Minimising those long-leverage points has really helped reduce vibration for my setup. You can't see it well in the photo but I had a ~20cm Arca plate attached to the Arca clamp below the camera and that was a big source of vibration (it had a screen mounted on the far end) until I moved it to a more stable part of the structure.

You can also see the flash mounted to the two vertical rods that I mentioned earlier and moving the flash off the main structure also helped to reduce vibration. That was mainly because the flash had a lot of leverage, with the centre of gravity far from the mounting point, as I was using a magic arm, whereas in your setup your flashes are mounted very close to the rods so shouldn't pull the CG too far away from the mounting point.

And before someone points out, the plate joining the rod clamp to the bellows does prevent the bellows from being moved forward on its X rail (but not the front/rear bellow mounts) but I can loose the clamp and then moving the bellows will move the clamp along the rails, after which I can tighten them again.

cmagno · Post by **cmagno** » Mon Jul 08, 2019 8:39 am

Viva António,

Yawns wrote:Olá Carlos ...
Looks massive .. but's only the perspective and close distance photo.
You don't show much of your work .. still doing the tiny fossils?

A way to join two passions: photomacrography and amber inclusions. The inclusions are an excellent and challenging target for testing my rig.

Yawns wrote: I still having to figure the insect positioner thing.. I have to wait till the parts arrive .. the XYZ still in the mail from Germany... I don't even know how to screw it to the plate.. I never saw one for real ..

There are some sizes of XYZ stage among which with a base of 40x40mm, 60x60mm or even 80x80mm.
The dimension of the base will determine the distance of the four screws that will fix the stage.

My XYZ stage has a 60x60m base and to fix it in the V-Slot Gantry I used a MJKZZ Open Source Rail Mounting Kit without the Arca Swiss plate:

It proves to be an excellent universal base and can serve as an adapter for various situations.
Recently we can buy MJKZZ material from the site within the EU, for some competitive prices, avoiding the customs clearance costs:

https://www.mjkzz.de/collections/focus- ... 5818685555

Yawns wrote: Can you get a picture more distant with a better overall look?

No problem. I will prepare a set of pictures that give a better idea of my setup.
The previous photos were intended to show the installation of a XYZ stage on a 2080 extrusion with a V-Slot V-Slot Gantry Set.

Abraço,
Carlos Magno

mawyatt · Post by **mawyatt** » Mon Jul 08, 2019 11:39 am

kaleun96 wrote:
Yawns wrote: I think this will do the trick .. found some bits of "L" shaped aluminum in the shed (4,5 cm x 2,5 cm). I will cut and drill something like this (green)
Screenshot 2019-07-04 at 20.47.05 by antonio caseiro, on Flickr
Nice! I think that will work just fine.

I finally took a picture to show what I did (and what you initially suggested for your rig). Minimising those long-leverage points has really helped reduce vibration for my setup. You can't see it well in the photo but I had a ~20cm Arca plate attached to the Arca clamp below the camera and that was a big source of vibration (it had a screen mounted on the far end) until I moved it to a more stable part of the structure.

You can also see the flash mounted to the two vertical rods that I mentioned earlier and moving the flash off the main structure also helped to reduce vibration. That was mainly because the flash had a lot of leverage, with the centre of gravity far from the mounting point, as I was using a magic arm, whereas in your setup your flashes are mounted very close to the rods so shouldn't pull the CG too far away from the mounting point.

And before someone points out, the plate joining the rod clamp to the bellows does prevent the bellows from being moved forward on its X rail (but not the front/rear bellow mounts) but I can loose the clamp and then moving the bellows will move the clamp along the rails, after which I can tighten them again.

Is that the Redrockmicro 5X Macro, used as a tube lens? If, so how does it perform?

Best,

kaleun96 · Post by **kaleun96** » Mon Jul 08, 2019 1:51 pm

mawyatt wrote: Is that the Redrockmicro 5X Macro, used as a tube lens? If, so how does it perform?
Best,

Yup that's the one. I haven't done any extensive testing with it but it seems to work well as both a tube lens and in a stacked setup (with another reversed on the front of it). It definitely has a lot of promise but I don't have anything at a similar FL to compare it with, though I do have a Raynox DCR-150 on the way.

I'll update this thread when I've tested it a bit more:
https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/ ... hp?t=39586

Yawns · Post by **Yawns** » Tue Jul 09, 2019 5:33 pm

Thank you for the replies that keep coming .. I will read / reply personaly later (it's very, very late now)

I'm just coming here very brefly to say I got the parts now (stll waiting for a order coming from Germany)

I had a problem with the order.. they did a mistake with my order, ... I ordered one thing they sent me another.. similar but not the same. Because of the mistake I had to go to the hardware shop and buy "taping" tools .. I had to tap manually a nut in both edges of almost all the bars.. like 48 "tapings" . 24 holes tapped twice with different diameter tools.

Of course I found a couple of minor problems I could not figure in the CAD... but nothing serious .. like the gantry cart not working because it was touching the weight .. only for a couple of milimeters...

I'm going to abandon the SmallRig poles.. it looked a good idea but it's just complicating everything.. with the frame assembled I can see I can place the flashes in the top bars simply with a ballhead and if I use the 4 sides of the bars I can place the flashes where I want and in any position I want.. as simple as that....

The structure is very sturdy and stiff.. I'm happy

Thank you...

IMG_20190710_002945 by antonio caseiro, on Flickr

IMG_20190710_002815 by antonio caseiro, on Flickr

This one is not finished but I'm already brewing another

with a large 21x21 working plate.
(Openbuilds V-slot and parts..except for the 60/120º angle connections, from Makerlink ..100 euros to build.

Screenshot 2019-07-07 at 14.09.10 by antonio caseiro, on Flickr

kaleun96 · Post by **kaleun96** » Wed Jul 10, 2019 12:59 am

Nice to see it come to life! A shame about the part mix up on the order, did you prefer to tap 48 holes rather than send it back and wait for new parts?

I wonder if there would be any value in filling the hollow aluminium with a dampening material like sand. Just thinking of a stepper motor + hollow frame = small reverberating vibrations but perhaps the added weights mostly take that all out of the system.

mawyatt · Post by **mawyatt** » Wed Jul 10, 2019 9:24 am

Very nice looking setup, well done!!

Best,

mawyatt · Post by **mawyatt** » Wed Jul 10, 2019 9:30 am

kaleun96 wrote:Nice to see it come to life! A shame about the part mix up on the order, did you prefer to tap 48 holes rather than send it back and wait for new parts?

I wonder if there would be any value in filling the hollow aluminium with a dampening material like sand. Just thinking of a stepper motor + hollow frame = small reverberating vibrations but perhaps the added weights mostly take that all out of the system.

I've considered sand, small rocks or even lead pellets, but haven't tried any of that yet. My Thor Labs based setup has a large 95mm square vertical bar that has a large diameter hole in the middle, ideal for filling.

Can't bring myself to doing this though, with the thought of all that filling sitting there waiting to get out and make a huge mess.

Hopefully someone will attempt this and report back the results

Best,

Yawns · Post by **Yawns** » Sat Jul 13, 2019 11:13 am

It's final ... everything in final position and wired.

The whole thing weight's
10kg = 22lb 0.7oz with equipment / accessories
25kg = 55lb 2oz with the weights.

Including my old carcass in the picture to give it a sense of scale. The base area is no bigger than 2 sheets of office paper.

IMG_20190713_174422 by antonio caseiro, on Flickr

Tomorrow .. testing. It's a longtime I do nothing. I will need to sort a diffuser, a tube, clean the sensor etc...

I'm glad it's finished .. did not do anything else in the evening for the past couple of weeks...

IMG_20190713_173915 by antonio caseiro, on Flickr

IMG_20190713_173533 by antonio caseiro, on Flickr

IMG_20190713_173610 by antonio caseiro, on Flickr

mawyatt · Post by **mawyatt** » Sat Jul 13, 2019 7:48 pm

That looks really nice, very clean and well thoughout.

Should perform well also!!

Best,