Hello everyone, I am new to this forum, and I am seeking some advice and a push in the right direction. I am a photographer and I need to move a tabletop with a motorized XY system. I am doing very high resolution, art reproduction photography. I have built a vacuum table prototype where I can place a piece of art and the vacuum can vacuum the art down perfectly flat onto the table. A camera is independently hovering over the table and I want to be able to create something with motorized XY movement to support the table and move the vacuum table under the camera. currency I am using a prototype platform which is a 900 x 1300 x 15 mm sheet of plywood. in the center, I cut out a 500 x 500 mm opening with a rabbet ledge. in that opening I slotted in homemade 500 x 500 x 10 mm plywood vacuum box. what I want to do now is motorize the entire stage. it seems like I can use some sort of XYCNC style structure, but as opposed to CNC machines, there’s no tool on top being moved around. Instead, the entire table top is going to be moved around. my idea is to build some sort of a wooden ladder base to hold the initial two rails of the system. And then finally on top will be the large table top that gets moved around. For distance of travel I need about 500 mm in one axis and 750 mm and the other axis. These amounts of travel will be doubled because it should go 500 on one way and 500 on the other way. Basically when the table is in its center position the center of the table underneath the camera. Now I need the table to move so that the camera can see the edges when necessary. I have never ventured anywhere with these XY systems before this is completely new to me. Could someone help me out with a basic understanding of how to begin or take me under their wing and give me some advice? Thank you very much! I have added some pictures of the prototype that I built in my studio. I was thinking to get the motorized equipment next and even apply the motorized equipment to my current prototype vacuum table platform. The next step will be to get a much larger vacuum table not just a little 50 x 50 cm insert. my idea is to build a box that is 1000 x 1500 x 100 mm which will be one large, continuous, vacuum table, supported by the XY rail system thank you! - Mark
What you seek to do is fairly simple but you lack a bit of clarity in your dimensional requirements. What is the exact field size you wish to cover? What is the exact size of the moveable tabletop?
Thank you! tabletop (vacuum box) 1000x1500x120 mm Camera fixed above center Table movement 500mm in both directions short side; 750mm in both directions long side
It is your use of the phrase "in both directions" that I am unsure of. 500mm in both directions is 1000mm of movement. Are you wanting a scan area of 500 x 750 or a scan area of 1000 x 1500? The difference between the two is significant in the structural requirements.
yes, sorry for my non-engineering language! OK here’s what I mean. The table is 1000 x 1500 mm. The camera is centered over the center of the table via separate structure, the visible area of the lens over the table has the potential to be quite small ( as a small as 100 x 250 mm). so, I need to be able to move the table enough so that virtually all of it at some point is visible to the camera. That means that if it’s centered, and I want to see the edge, the short dimension of the table needs to move 500 mm to be able to bring the edge to the camera field of view. so for my amateur way of saying this, from the Central point, it needs to move 500 mm in One Direction along the short axis and 500 mm in the other direction from center along the same axis. In the long axis, it will need to move 750 mm in one direction and then when it comes back to center, 750 mm in the other direction. There is some flexibility to this, I can deal with not going quite exactly so far. I can certainly deal with 10% less movement. but that’s more or less what I’m trying to do.
Okay, got it. 1000x1500 viewable area. Let me think on it a bit as this is a fairly substantial build.
Thank you very much. I have been searching online for inspiration and I found these two systems that I thought looked like possibilities. Both are quite different. Of course, I am also looking for relative simplicity. I certainly do not want to over engineer anything for the obvious reason that I have never done this before and also for budget reasons. I don’t mind a manual system at all, but if cost and complexity are similar, I may prefer a motorized version.
Have you considered moving the camera instead of the table? At that size it might mean moving less mass. Alex.
Attached is my best suggestion. Right now, motion is limited to around 850 mm x 1350 mm due to the limitations of 1500 mm extrusions. The two long rails on the upper section and the drive rail on the lower section will need to be increased to about 1650 mm in length to achieve the full 1000 x 1500 mm range of motion requested. Increasing the drive rail to 1650 mm in length does present some issues with the lead screw whipping but as this is a low-speed endeavor, it hopefully won't be a problem. There are solutions however if it is. You will need to verify if you can get 1650 mm C-Beam extrusions and 1690 mm lead screws in your market. Sketchup files attached below. Note: there is a minor conflict at the non-motorized end of the lower lead screw. The end plate sticks up a bit too far to clear the upper framing even with the 15mm plywood shims shown on the gantry plates. You will either need thicker shim plates to provide clearance or trim off the top of the end plate.
