Hello everyone, I am working on a project that I could really use some help on. Does anyone post jobs for cash here? I am willing to pay for the help if someone can help make a camera slider that can move along the x-axis as well as the z-axis. It is slightly more complicated than this but feel free to message me if you would like to help tackle this solution! Thanks for taking a look! B
Hi I have added some words to the title so people have some idea about what to help with (-: I would start with a couple of linear rail kits. maybe a 1 meter C-beam X and a half meter belt&pinion Z. join them together at 90 degrees. you will need some spare bits of rail to make wide 'feet' so it cannot tip over. now, how to drive it.... there are many Instructables and videos on making camera sliders along with all the electronics and software to do some nice systems. However, we can do it with simple off the shelf stuff like a Blackbox or Xpro and a little thought. The Blackbox and Xpro and similar controllers run GRBL as firmware. GRBL interprets Gcode. Gcode is normally used to tell one or more axes to move at a given speed. G1 X1000 F1000 will tell X to move at 1000mm/min to the position 1000 from wherever it is now. If it is now at 0 then this move will take one minute. So, we can easily figure out a feedrate for the length of travel needed. GRBL has a lower limit of about 40mm/min. So 1 meter would take 25 minutes. (this can be lowered but is a somewhat complex to do) There is an alternate mode set by G93, this is inverse time mode where we tell it how long to to take to make the movements given. This helps us when we want the X and the Z to move together for a specified length of time. So if we want to move the full X and Z over 20 minutes we can give the commands G0 X0 Z0 ; make sure it starts at zero G93 G1 X1000 Z500 F0.05 0.05 = 1/20 in general 1/minutes gives us the F number. (of course you can do other moves, zigzag Z while X moves, etc, if you can draw the path you can make Gcode for it) All this can run off a laptop power brick and a laptop, or if you want portable maybe a Raspberry Pi and a 12v gell cell all built into a control box. I know Gcode seems complicated but it is easily learnt and once you have figured out some moves they can be stored as files and recalled at any time so we dont have to remember everything. (and yes, GRBL can work in inch mode)
David, Thanks so much for getting back to me! That second camera system you sent to me looked really awesome! I definitely do not need anything near that complex though. I honestly just need a system like my 3D Printer. But on a larger scale. With that I know how to manipulate the G-code to get the results I am looking for. At first I was thinking the most cost effective option would be to buy a 3D printer and then cannibalize it for my purposes. However, the more I think about that the more I realize that the wiring harnesses that come with those are usually very short. I am a psychologist by trade and self taught with Fusion360 and Simplify3D and 3D printing. I might not be the best with Fusion360 but I can make or recreate pretty much anything I can think of at this point so I am fairly well versed. The program I am trying to make is much more simplistic than what these camera systems are doing. While they are insanely awesome, that is engineering on a magnitude orders above what I am needing. I pretty much only need the camera to move and pause at 4 equal intervals 24 hours a day 7 days a week back and forth. The camera itself will be responsible for the picture capture functions so all programming with respect to that will be native. The other part I will need is the z-axis movement. With my 3D-printer I can jog each axis manually which would suffice for my application. If I did use the 3D printer type setup it would allow me to store the camera out of the way and then bring it in over the specified field using the y-axis. That would be a beneficial addition to some degree. I would theoretically never need to have an automated z-axis movement so having that axis free to jog manually at any time would be the most efficient solution I believe. As for the message you sent, THANK YOU SO MUCH!! That is a wealth of knowledge that will be invaluable in this project. What are your thoughts on using a 3D-printer for this application? I am not familiar with the CNC realm (other than what it is and the basic mechanics). Thank you again for this help, if I can get this project figured out and a reasonable build list completed, I will put it together and let you guys freely share the final product! I hope you are well, B
Hiya I think you need to look at the ACRO kits which give you a large but lightweight XY frame to start with. Machine Bundles - ACRO System - OpenBuilds Part Store They are designed as laser cutters so the expected head load is in the 'light' category. So think GoPro or other small camera rather than DSLR with 200mm glass lens (-: So if you need something stiffer the previously mentioned linear rail kits are easy to work with and available up to 1.5meters long. One of them could be used to add your manual/semiauto Z axis. Given your time interval needs I would run the thing off a Raspberry Pi from a Python (or other) script. There is already a simple Python script for sending Gcode to the controller, so extending it or using it as part of another script is pretty easy. The thing to avoid is thinking that a G4 command will give you accurate long term (6 hours?) delays so sending pure Gcode is not going to work. So I would let a custom script do the timing and then send the Gcode as needed every 6 hours. Why Raspberry Pi? Small, cheap, networkable, and runs Linux which gives us great scripting tools. It won't even need a screen or keyboard for this application (-: Hard to say, 3D printers tend to be very lightweight and small and I sense you need something a bit larger. So, look at the ACRO systems in the part store and the linear rail kits and all the other bits and bobs, once you are familiar with the Openbuilds universe you will see the possibilities (much like looking at all the Lego bricks in the box breeds ideas of what can attach to what) The camera on a robot arm is amazing and also a bit of a family joke. My son-in-law programs robots and was envious of their use of an XBox controller for positioning, he says the industrial controllers are much harder to use.
