Macro Table

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Deanimator
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Macro Table

Post by Deanimator »

I'm in the process of cleaning up my living room where I do my macrophotography.

I've been doing my photography on a card table with a sheet of plywood on top of it. On the plywood are clamped my lights and camera mount.

Behind my card table against the wall is a filing cabinet on top of which is a large (bigger and thicker than the plywood sheet) sheet of particle board.

This board was formerly mounted on this and an identical filing cabinet, and used for years as a computer desk.

I'm considering retiring the card table. In its place I would restore the second filing cabinet and using the combination as a photography table.

This would give me significantly more space, as well as an even more stable work surface onto which the lights and camera could be clamped. In addition, this would give me storage space for tools and accessories.

I however have some concerns:
  1. The filing cabinets are sheet metal. While they're sturdy, should I be concerned with vibration?
  2. The tops of the filing cabinets are smooth metal. The top is quite heavy, but it can be slid. Would the addition of rubber strips/feet be sufficient to prevent movement (and possibly vibration)? In addition, I could glue/screw wooden cleats to the bottom of the sheet. Would this be sufficient.
Ultimately, I plan to build a purpose built macro table out of thick plywood and plumbing pipe. However, my most recent job contract expired last week, so I can't afford to spend much money.

Any comments, concerns or suggestions?

Smokedaddy
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Post by Smokedaddy »

Just a thought. I picked up a solid oak desk, super heavy, on Craigslist for $40.00 a while back similar to the one in the picture. It was in excellent condition but I did refinish it. Mine had 3 drawers on each side and one in the middle, so it's a little wider than the one below. They will always take less than the asking price. I do all of my microphotography on it and it's super stable. Matter of fact I've been looking for another to match the one I currently have.

https://cleveland.craigslist.org/fuo/6089860246.html

-JW:

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Post by Deanimator »

Smokedaddy wrote:Just a thought. I picked up a solid oak desk, super heavy, on Craigslist for $40.00 a while back similar to the one in the picture. It was in excellent condition but I did refinish it. Mine had 3 drawers on each side and one in the middle, so it's a little wider than the one below. They will always take less than the asking price. I do all of my microphotography on it and it's super stable. Matter of fact I've been looking for another to match the one I currently have.

https://cleveland.craigslist.org/fuo/6089860246.html

-JW:
That's definitely a possibility, at least for the future.

Right now, I can't afford to spend much more than the cost of non-slip rubber tape/strips. Right now, I don't have any way to move something like that either.

At least for the short term, I'm going to have to go with the table top and filing cabinets.

Still, it's a possibility which I didn't consider.

ray_parkhurst
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Post by ray_parkhurst »

I use a big old oak desk that I got at a Salvation Army store long ago. I love Thrift Stores, always something interesting to buy.

Deanimator
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Post by Deanimator »

While cleaning off the particle board top yesterday, I measured it and the plywood top. They're actually of the same area. The difference is that the particle board is 1/2" in thickness vs. 1/4" for the plywood, and quite a bit heavier.

I hope to finish cleaning off the particle board top and the second filing cabinet today, and get the second one under the top at least by tomorrow.

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Post by ChrisR »

If you know any kitchen fitters, ask if they're cutting a piece of granite out for a hob or sink.
When your magnification goes up, you may well need something "massive" , isolated on rubber/ an air bag, from any direct connection with the floor.
Chris R

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Post by Deanimator »

ChrisR wrote:If you know any kitchen fitters, ask if they're cutting a piece of granite out for a hob or sink.
When your magnification goes up, you may well need something "massive" , isolated on rubber/ an air bag, from any direct connection with the floor.
I unfortunately don't, although I used to work for somebody who imported rail car parts from India and China. Reject corner caps and blocks would be very stable, but would require welding and or drilling and tapping.

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Post by Deanimator »

Here's my interim rig, set up on thicker veneered particle baord/MDF.

I still plan to build a table, probably from structural pipe, kee clamps and a 3/4" 2 x 4 sheet of MDF.

Image
Image

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Post by ChrisR »

This is upstairs? I realise it's not all there yet, but If I put that in my house I wouldn't get blur-free pictures in continuous light, closer than about 1:1. If it's an apartment block with concrete floors you should do somewhat better - I hope so!
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Post by Deanimator »

ChrisR wrote:This is upstairs? I realise it's not all there yet, but If I put that in my house I wouldn't get blur-free pictures in continuous light, closer than about 1:1. If it's an apartment block with concrete floors you should do somewhat better - I hope so!
it's on a sort of "mezzanine" floor of an apartment building. It's basically between the 1st and 2nd floors. There are only two units on that level.

I took the camera off of the tripod and mounted it on the table top when relative movement between the tripod and the work surface became apparent.

That's as good as it's going to get until I can afford to build a solid table, which is going to run me upwards of $100.

mawyatt
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Post by mawyatt »

You might try placing the board on a bean bag chair. It's cheap and may work in the interim to isolate some vibration.

Best,

Mike

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Post by ChrisR »

Paving slabs are very cheap - about £2, and I've noticed a lot of variants of inflatable cushion thing - like ebay 222424637990, which is cheaper than a tire/tyre inner tube.
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Post by Deanimator »

mawyatt wrote:You might try placing the board on a bean bag chair. It's cheap and may work in the interim to isolate some vibration.

Best,

Mike
So far, I haven't seen issues with vibration, even when it was on the card table. The real problem was differential movement between the tripod and the table. I ditched the tripod and fixed the camera to the table.

Deanimator
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Post by Deanimator »

My first image from the new table.

A gnat that managed to get into my freezer and freeze to death.

Taken with a Minolta 50mm manual reversed onto a full set of manual extension tubes. ISO 400.

A stack of four, processed with CombineZP.

Image

dy5
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Post by dy5 »

A couple of other slightly more elaborate vibration reduction strategies:
- if you have a table with legs, you can put each leg in a small bucket of sand to reduce coupling to floor-borne vibrations.
- to reduce coupling table top vibrations, a heavy plate sitting on a vibration damping layer helps. We used to use squash balls with good success. You can use different 'squishiness' balls (red dot, yellow dot, etc.) depending on the weight of the plate. Different thicknesses of sorbothane should also work.
Although the physics of vibration isolation is way beyond me, I do know that it is important to match the characteristics of the isolation layer with the weight it will be carrying. Maybe someone else can add specific details to that idea.

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