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DIY Stack and Stitch System

Started Nov 26, 2018 | Discussions thread
mawyatt2002
OP mawyatt2002 Contributing Member • Posts: 502
Re: DIY Stack and Stitch System

mvbk wrote:

Such a great and developing setup! I have a NOS marzhauser motorized microscope stage I want to do the same thing with. I expect I'll have to swap the motors out though for compatibility... I have no experience with the motors/controllers/interface components and assembly other than reading and researching on and off for a year or so. So, a novice!

The hardest part has been trying to figure out what hardware I should go with. High accuracy is important but on a budget unfortunately! could you suggest from your work on your project a grocery list from motor to computer by any chance?

Your custom boards sound so cool! The current probe made me think a proximity probe could be a life saver for microscope work.

Thanks!

Mark

Hi Mark,

Follow all the threads over on the Photomacrography site list in this thread, this should help you get an idea of things. Also spend some time on the many useful threads and notes there.

Wemacro has some very good and reasonable macro use devices, including the Micromate which be useful for your application.

I have various NEMA 11, 14 and 17 motors I use. If precision is paramount, then the quality motors from Lin Engineering and Oriental Motor are very good, but not cheap. The eBay ones from Wantai and Moon are pretty good and very inexpensive. Try to get 400 step motors, with 2 phases if you want to use inexpensive controllers.

Various controllers are available, from Cognisys, Wemacro, MJKZZ to name a few. The custom controllers I've developed utilize the Trinamic core chips, which are quite involved but extremely powerful controllers, these all run on the Raspberry Pi. Pololu also has some drivers that I've used (Tic-500), but all these require custom developed software to control.

Best,

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