6 Axis Motion Control Camera Rig (PAN, TILT, ROLL, SLIDE, FOCUS, ZOOM)

This project started with the roll axis. It's based on 2x $25 lazy susan bearings I found on Amazon. The lazy susan bearings replaced my original design, that suspended the roll axis gear between 3 pinion gears. That design went down in flames.

Main rig is constructed of C-Beam liner rail. The plates are machined HDPE. The MDF plates have HDPE replacements, just haven't installed them yet. I've taken this rig apart and re-assembled again many times. It's not fun, but eventually I'll install the HDPE plates. Or maybe not and just move on to the next better design all-together. The fact that this rig is being posted in this unfinished state is a strong indicator that I may just move on from it.

There was no real rhyme or reason why the base is black and the pan/tilt mechanism is silver. Just happened to be what I had here at the house. I'm pretty sure the slider wheels are OpenBuilds as well, can't remember why I had them but I did so I used them. The linear bearings that came with these rails were horrible but I didn't throw them in the trash. They may come in useful.

You can see on the end plates for the rig, many empty holes. These were machined into the HDPE for the original lead screw design. The lead screw worked really well but it was just too slow for 1500mm of travel. It would take almost a 60 to move the platform end to end. This drive rack design in the pictures can do it in less than half that, even faster if I wasn't worried about how smooth it would look on camera.

I also created a YouTube video of the rig in action.