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The DIY Macro Rail
This is a guest post by Ken Stewart, a real DIY pioneer. Having recently gotten into macro photography with a set of Raynox close-up lenses, I found myself wanting a macro focusing rail so I could smoothly and precisely vary the distance between my camera and the subject to get the focus right. A quick check of the web showed me that the cheapest Manfrotto slide I could find was $80 (plus tax and shipping, of course), but I figured I could do better with a little ingenuity, and an obligatory trip to Home Depot.
I wasn't certain what I was looking for, but I knew the ideal donor item would have to be cheap and sturdy, and reasonably precise. If I had been willing to settle for two of those three properties, I would have had multiple options, but given that I wanted all three, I ended up settling on a cheap, benchtop vise for a drill stand, courtesy of Home Depot.
It passed the first test - $16.86 - was eminently sturdy due to its forged-steel construction, and although not very precise at first, offered a useful 4 1/2" of back-and-forth travel under screw-thread control, and looked as though it could be easily shimmed to improve the smoothness and precision of the movement.
I figured I would use the moving jaw as the camera carriage, and in my case, knowing I planned to put an old tripod head on top, chose a 3/8" stud as the most appropriate mounting point for it. I found the shortest (3/4" long, I think) hex-head 3/8" bolt I could find at HD (about 16c, I think) and mounted it, upside down, on the jaw as shown using JB Weld "epoxy steel" adhesive.
The top of the head on the bolt had some markings on the top so I filed them down to make it nice and flat so it would make good contact with the jaw of the vice.
I said the vice in its initial state is not very precise because a $17 vice is not a precision tool. Manufacturing tolerances are pretty low, and when you flip the vise over and remove the retaining plate, you can see that the carriage fits pretty sloppily between the guide rails (circled area in the pic below), so with the tripod head and camera mounted on top, you'd get the camera lined up on your subject, go to back up the camera just a fraction and the carriage would wobble around so much you would lose sight of the thing you were pointing the camera at.
Flipped vice
No Plate
I eyeballed the amount of play in the carriage and figured some thin steel would make a good shim, so off I went to the roofing section where I found the perfect thing - pre-bent galvanized steel flashing, with a nice, sharp 90 degree crease already made in it, and just about the right thickness to fill the gap, and to be cut with tinsnips.
I measured the rail to be 1/2" deep and the opening to be 5 1/2" long, so I cut a piece of flashing to size, slipped the shim into place, and then reattached the retaining plate. For me, that one, simple shim eliminated enough of the play from the mechanism - your mileage may vary, so be prepared to experiment with multiple shims.
Still Flashing
Flashing Attached to Retaining Plate
With those steps completed, you can attach a tripod head or quick release bracket to the 3/8" stud (or both as I have done in the next picture).
Here is a sample shot made with this rig (click to enlarge):
Lastly, if you liked this article, make a jump to Ken's flickrstream, and say hi.
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More Macro:
- Reverse Macro Ring
- The Origami Studio (An Extrapolation to The $0.02 Macro Studio)
- Back to Basics - Depth Of Field
If you need less precision and wanna go with a real DIY macro lens, watch the flick
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Comments
Afterthoughts -
Hey, it's Ken - two things I meant to add:
1) The vise will be covered with a thin layer of grease - it's a good idea to clean the whole thing with paper towels and some rubbing alcohol before you get grease on your hands from the rig and then smear it all over your expensive gear
2) If you make shims from thin metal - wear some heavy-duty gloves when cutting and working with the metal as the edges will be sharp and jagged. You can smooth them down with a metalworking file or some emory cloth if you like, but once you've installed the shim(s), your fingers will not normally come anywhere near the sharp edges.
Thanks!
metalworking suggestions
I have one of these vises and use it quite a bit in the drill press. This is a really interesting application, and is a good budget leadscrew fixture. For just a little more than what a tube of JB weld cost, a 1/4"x20 tap, drill bit, and tap handle can be had and used to get a rock steady mount into the metal. Steady pressure and low speed with a hand drill with a few drops of about any kind of oil, and a hole can be drilled through the cast iron. Then tap out threads in the hole and a threaded rod can be inserted between the vise jaw and the camera base. A bolt and washer snugged onto the vise will hold things extra steady. With these same tools a couple of mounting bolts can be installed to hold a springs between the vise jaws. I think this is called pre-loading the screw threads to avoid backlash. In in any case it will help bias the nut tight against the screw as it is turned to aid in very fine adjustments. If drilling and tapping for springs is a bit much, rubber bands might do the trick as well. Anyhow, I hope this didn't come off as being critical of the design - it certainly isn't my intent. I've just done a bit of metal working and thought I would throw in how I would do the same project.
Re: metalworking suggestions
James - thanks for taking the time to comment. You're right about a tapped hole & stud being more secure - but I already had the tube of JB Weld, and it was simply the path of least resistance. I'm guessing, but I think buying the tap and a tap handle would probably have doubled the cost of the project for me, not to mention increasing the complexity of the project & therefore number of things I could screw up :)
Also, there's certainly (still) some backlash in the system, and the preloading springs/rubber bands ideas are interesting, but the bigger and more immediate problem was the tendency of the carriage (movable jaw) to rotate and wiggle and jerk as the leadscrew was adjusted, which is what the shimming addressed. At this point, the backlash is a minor annoyance whereas the wiggling was a potential deal-breaker.
Once again, thanks for your ideas, and no offense taken regarding my "design", mostly because there wasn't one :)
metalworking suggestions
James, would you mind providing a drawing showing the best way to mount the spring between the vice jaws? Thanks.
Neal
I tried the macro lens form
I tried the macro lens form the binoculars, it works like a charm, you should warn people to use a big lens, because a small one will give you trouble, but you can get it with an adator ring and a small piece of cartboard cut out like a donut.
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