Table for macro rig

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leanderborg220
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Joined: Tue Sep 29, 2020 7:53 am

Table for macro rig

Post by leanderborg220 »

I am building a wooden table to support my macro rig.
This weekend I will be pouring 100kg of concrete to have it finished with a solid heavy table top.
Attachments
IMG_20210420_202001.jpg

Deanimator
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Re: Table for macro rig

Post by Deanimator »

Looks solid, on a solid floor.

My previous apartment had floors so unstable, you could see camera and subject move relative to each other if they weren't on the same platform.

I ended up building a heavy table out of structural pipe and fittings, with a steel and aluminum camera rig on top.

ray_parkhurst
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Re: Table for macro rig

Post by ray_parkhurst »

I'd love to have a dedicated space for something like this. We have a small house, with small garage, and a lot of stuff accumulated over the years. I suppose it's not a bad thing since I've focused on building very compact systems for that reason, but I could put all my macro stuff and more on that table. The local surplus store (Excess Solutions, the only one left in the greater Bay Area) has a nice metal table with a 24x36x4 precision granite machinist's block on it that I'd love to buy, but no place to put it.

Deanimator
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Re: Table for macro rig

Post by Deanimator »

ray_parkhurst wrote:
Thu Apr 22, 2021 8:32 am
I'd love to have a dedicated space for something like this. We have a small house, with small garage, and a lot of stuff accumulated over the years. I suppose it's not a bad thing since I've focused on building very compact systems for that reason, but I could put all my macro stuff and more on that table. The local surplus store (Excess Solutions, the only one left in the greater Bay Area) has a nice metal table with a 24x36x4 precision granite machinist's block on it that I'd love to buy, but no place to put it.
I don't really have room for the one I built when I lived in a flimsy apartment next to an interstate. My steel and aluminum camera rig fits almost perfectly on the table I built for still life, that's probably a third the size of the old one. I'll probably either cut the big one down to use in a closet as a reloading bench, or just break it down entirely and store the parts.

leanderborg220
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Re: Table for macro rig

Post by leanderborg220 »

Deanimator wrote:
Thu Apr 22, 2021 6:11 am
Looks solid, on a solid floor.

My previous apartment had floors so unstable, you could see camera and subject move relative to each other if they weren't on the same platform.

I ended up building a heavy table out of structural pipe and fittings, with a steel and aluminum camera rig on top.
That`s in my "car garage". But now It is dedicated as a workshop :D Car has to sleep outside now. Floor is pritty solid, my only concern is that sometimes cars pass by in front of my house that is about 10m from the rig. I custom built 2 vibration sensors on my setup that make the system pause from automaticaly shooting photos.

Lou Jost
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Re: Table for macro rig

Post by Lou Jost »

Nice, but from an engineering standpoint, I don't see any cross braces on the legs. That much weight high up on the table seems like a very bad idea without cross-braces on the legs. A failure would kill whoever was sitting at it. Even a very small earthquake would take it down.

leanderborg220
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Re: Table for macro rig

Post by leanderborg220 »

The top border is so tick that it would serve as a brace for all legs. Do worry it is fixed using glue and screws, I feel that it can take a ton of weight on it without breaking :wink:
Lou Jost wrote:
Thu Apr 22, 2021 1:33 pm
Nice, but from an engineering standpoint, I don't see any cross braces on the legs. That much weight high up on the table seems like a very bad idea without cross-braces on the legs. A failure would kill whoever was sitting at it. Even a very small earthquake would take it down.
Last edited by leanderborg220 on Sat Apr 24, 2021 1:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

leanderborg220
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Re: Table for macro rig

Post by leanderborg220 »

Ready for mixing concrete
Attachments
2.jpg
1.jpg

Lou Jost
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Re: Table for macro rig

Post by Lou Jost »

Still looks potentially deadly to me. What if someone accidentally shoves it or braces himself or herself on it without thinking? I don't see the legs going up into the cement.

micro_pix
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Re: Table for macro rig

Post by micro_pix »

I’m with you Lou! 100kgs and the moment from those long legs would make short work of glue and screws!

Dave

Adalbert
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Re: Table for macro rig

Post by Adalbert »

Hello Leanderborg220 ,
Respect!
I took the easy way out and got myself a camera with the fully electronic shutter.
Best, ADi

leanderborg220
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Joined: Tue Sep 29, 2020 7:53 am

Re: Table for macro rig

Post by leanderborg220 »

Adalbert wrote:
Mon Apr 26, 2021 12:57 pm
Hello Leanderborg220 ,
Respect!
I took the easy way out and got myself a camera with the fully electronic shutter.
Best, ADi
Hi Adalbert, what do you mean exactly? The a6400 I will be using for this project also has a full electronic shutter, and I intend to use it to benefit from not premature wearing out the mechanical shutter. But I guess it is still a must to have a solid base to put equipment on as even the tiniest vibration may be induced to the subject or equipment and that would ruin photo stacks.
I believe that unless you have a very expensive camera like the A1 or the sort, when using only electronic shutter with an ordenary camera like mine you cannot use flash to freeze any vibration, you are resticed to set only long exposure times in my case 1/22s or below as sensor read time are in the magnitude of around 44ms.
Last edited by leanderborg220 on Tue Apr 27, 2021 12:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.

leanderborg220
Posts: 58
Joined: Tue Sep 29, 2020 7:53 am

Re: Table for macro rig

Post by leanderborg220 »

micro_pix wrote:
Mon Apr 26, 2021 12:40 pm
I’m with you Lou! 100kgs and the moment from those long legs would make short work of glue and screws!

Dave
I intend to fit a unit under that table that`s why I did not put any braces underneath , else I would not be able to take advantage of some space were I would need to store my equipment. This project is the biggest one I`v build so far and it has been more than a year of work so far. Most of the equipment is custom made by me, electronics, software, automated rigging. excluding camera and lenses obviously :wink:
Wish me luck :wink: Hope that table would not break and fall on my feet as I`m pooring concrete {-o<

Adalbert
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Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2015 1:09 pm

Re: Table for macro rig

Post by Adalbert »

Hello Leanderborg220,

Yes, I keep hearing that the vibrations triggered from outside can be disturbing.
Probably my house is very solidly built, because I have never been able to observe this.
Or is it the case with my setup that the external vibrations are transmitted evenly to the camera and the object,
so that there is relatively no displacement between the two things.

On the other hand, I have noticed that the camera and the rail can cause disturbing vibrations.
With the camera, the problem is easy to solve with the fully electronic shutter.
With the rail, however, you have to pause after each step to let everything settle down before releasing the camera.

The problem with vibrations, however, only really becomes noticeable at high NAs.
In such cases, I trigger the flashes from the rail. They are fired shortly after the shutter is opened.
With my M6M2 this works wonderfully with the exposure-time 1/10 s.

BTW, some flashes offer a delay mode, e.g. the Jinbei MSN Pro.

Best,
ADi

leanderborg220
Posts: 58
Joined: Tue Sep 29, 2020 7:53 am

Re: Table for macro rig

Post by leanderborg220 »

Adalbert wrote:
Tue Apr 27, 2021 12:57 pm
Hello Leanderborg220,

Yes, I keep hearing that the vibrations triggered from outside can be disturbing.
Probably my house is very solidly built, because I have never been able to observe this.
Or is it the case with my setup that the external vibrations are transmitted evenly to the camera and the object,
so that there is relatively no displacement between the two things.

On the other hand, I have noticed that the camera and the rail can cause disturbing vibrations.
With the camera, the problem is easy to solve with the fully electronic shutter.
With the rail, however, you have to pause after each step to let everything settle down before releasing the camera.

The problem with vibrations, however, only really becomes noticeable at high NAs.
In such cases, I trigger the flashes from the rail. They are fired shortly after the shutter is opened.
With my M6M2 this works wonderfully with the exposure-time 1/10 s.

BTW, some flashes offer a delay mode, e.g. the Jinbei MSN Pro.

Best,
ADi
Thanks for your reply Adalbert.
This is still new territory for me, and I`m still learning some things out. I thought it was not possible to trigger flash when using only electronic shutter at least from the camera interface.
What i`v come up with is a system I build myself using arduino software that is connected and controlled with a small computer that runs the user interface from which the user sets all the parameters needed to run the stack automation. This controls all automation ie. focusing rail movement / triggering of camera / triggering of flash leds etc etc .
I will be using cheap flash/continueous light Leds, one 100w top led and two 50w side leds powered by a diy non-pwm powersupply that can have the intensity vairied according to needs. These will be switched on a little before camera shutter is triggered to open and switched off after the desired exposure time. I`m happy that you mentioned the 100ms exposure time as that was around those numbers I was also thinking to start with.
What objective magnification do you usualy use when setting 1/10s ?

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