Eight axes from wood, aluminium and a used slewing ring
What the Motion-Control Rig V3 is made of, what each axis does, and what I still have to measure.
The Motion-Control Rig V3 is the machine behind my miniature photography. My father and I built it from wood, aluminium, pillow-block bearings and a second-hand slewing ring. This entry is the inventory: what it is made of, how it is driven, and what is still open.
The job
A miniature is photographed in several passes. For the passes to line up, the camera has to take exactly the same path each time. That is all the rig is for.
Eight axes
| No. | Axis |
|---|---|
| 01 | Base pan |
| 02 | Tilt |
| 03 | Radial |
| 04 | Pan 2 |
| 05 | Tilt 2 |
| 06 | Roll |
| 07 | Travelling counterweight |
| 08 | Dolly |
The radial arm reaches 1.2 m and the dolly 1 m. The camera is a Fujifilm X-S20.
Two computers
The work is split in two. A Raspberry Pi 5 solves the kinematics of the camera path with damped least squares. An ESP32 with TMC2209 drivers turns the result into stepper movement.
Open
Repeatability is not measured yet. It is the one number that says whether the rig does its job, so it is the next thing I will measure and log here.
The rig is used for KORETH and the ALIVE pipeline. Its project page is Motion-Control Rig V3.