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Looking for advice about spanning VSlot rails with actuator

Discussion in 'General Talk' started by aromanempire, Jan 11, 2019.

  1. aromanempire

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    Hey, first time posting here hope someone can offer some advice on a project i'm working on. I'm building a rail system for high speed cameras and am attempting to mount a camera on a 7 foot rail horizontally, which will then be mounted on a vertical 7 foot rail– theoretically giving the camera a 7 foot by 7 foot range to shoot, by sliding it and it's rail along both the x and y axis.

    Does this sound structurally possible?
     
  2. Rob Taylor

    Rob Taylor Master
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    I've tried to bridge rails together for camera use before and unless you have a way of perfectly mating the ends- milled, ground, maybe even lapped, you're gonna get a jerk where the rails meet. Could you do a rail-on-rail telescopic extension arm somehow instead?
     
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  3. aromanempire

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    Hey Rob, thanks for the suggestions. To make my idea a little clearer, here is a preliminary rendering of what I'm thinking about doing.

    The camera would be mounted on the horizontal rail, which in turn is mounted to the vertical rail.
     

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  4. Rob Taylor

    Rob Taylor Master
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    I understood the concept perfectly, but the rails only come in 6ft lengths?

    Disregarding the length and answering the larger question, no, I definitely wouldn’t mount any camera I owned to that! Far too much cantilevering and leverages at play, especially for high-speed work. It needs to be mounted on a larger chassis.
     
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  5. SugarJ

    SugarJ Well-Known
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    I get what you're trying to do, but the weight of a camera 7' out will probably not be supportable with a single plate and a few wheels. You'd be better off with 2 vertical rails and one continuous 7' rail between them. Like a big H where the cross piece moves up and down.

    Edit: ninja'd by Rob.
     
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  6. aromanempire

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    This H system seems perfect! My next question is as far as moving along the vertical axis on two rails, is one motor sufficient?
     
  7. GrayUK

    GrayUK Openbuilds Team Elder
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    Just one motor on one of the uprights would simply jam the crossbar as it got out of horizontal.
    A motor on each vertical is no real problem, and would be easy to keep in sync.
    I think your H format is going to need additional structural support as well.
     

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