Submitted by Jack Ripper on Thu, 09/01/2011 - 23:42
Posted in
Project Chronos, a DIY motion control platform for timelapse.
Project Chronos 1.0 is no longer supported and replaced by Project Chronos 2.0
Please check my project page on sourceforge.net for more information on this DIY full featured timelapse system
https://sourceforge.net/p/projectchronos/home/Project%20Chronos%20Home/
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/ProjectChronos2/photos_stream
Website
http://thechronosproject.com/
OK SO, wiring this thing
OK SO, wiring this thing bipolar really speeds it up, doubles the speed, and it still has plenty of torque as well.
went from about 70rpm to 150rpm. Then the motor controller just loses its steam, so were not skipping steps due to loss of torque, so the motor could probably go faster with a better driver.
My apologies to everyone, when i was first experimenting with this board ilet the smoke out of 2 easydrivers and a AFmotor shield. lol. I was unable to get this to work bi-polar, to be fair there were mitigating circumstances and i was distracted.
Anyway, wiring it bipolar doubles the top speed.
Still not quite fast enough for video, using a 16 tpi rod will get you about 4 min end to end.
Updated article
Updated the project information
SO i somehow cannot edit the
i can also be reached at projectchronoshelp@gmail
I am new to DIY and electronics and programming and to all etc.
When I was watching Vincent Laforet talking about the gear he is using he had showed up a nice time-lapse movie which was from timescapes.org mainly that attracted me into here.. The lower cost of DIY is my sole solution at this time. However to clarify things a bit further I don't want to start building my own rig.. Your rig looks awesome with no doubt...
What I want to do with my rig is:
1. Time lapse photography (anywhere from few minutes to few hours)
2. DSLR video (motorized and handheld (by gliding manually the camera on the rail))
3. Rig should allow me to go inclined at any angle or even vertical
4. The rig should allow me to position the camera as low and high as possible
5. I hear some people talking about SMS and continuous motors. I have no idea which one to use..
6. Do I need an intervalometer for my camera to do the shooting?
7. I live in Romania and amazon DO NOT ship almost any of the items nor any other retail store on the web here.
8. Will your rig allow you pan/tilt as well?!
For the moment I have these questions in mind and as soon as they are answered and I will be ready to start assembling my own hopefully.
Kind regards,
What I want to do with my rig
What I want to do with my rig is:
1. Time lapse photography (anywhere from few minutes to few hours)
Chronos is perfectly capable of this!
2. DSLR video (motorized and handheld (by gliding manually the camera on the rail))
Handheld yes, loosten 2 screws and the carriage comes loose and can be pushed by hand. Motorized for video, not so much, it just wont go fast enough
3. Rig should allow me to go inclined at any angle or even vertical
No problem there, i have lifted as much as 25lbs vertically with chronos with ease. It can run any angle, horizontal, vertical, on its side, or even upside down.
4. The rig should allow me to position the camera as low and high as possible
Thats where you are getting into peripherals. I use a manfrotto magic arm and i can hover the camera 1/4inch from the ground, if i need more height i replace the feet with tripods using the quick release plates.
5. I hear some people talking about SMS and continuous motors. I have no idea which one to use..
SMS and Continuous are shooting modes, continuous moves down the track slowly, SMS is shoot-move-shoot where the carriage is moved and pauses, the cameras shoots, then the carriage moves again. Chronos is capable of speeds of 15min to 1.5 hours on continuous movement, and it can do SMS exceptionally well getting down to precise movements of 1/2000th of an inch.
6. Do I need an intervalometer for my camera to do the shooting?
No, The current posted design for chronos in the coding and schematics include a shutter release port, you just need a camera release cable that ends in a standard 2.5mm headphone jack to plug into chronos.
It will trigger the camera during SMS, ill probably rework the code so it will do this with velocity ramped and continuous as well
7. I live in Romania and amazon DO NOT ship almost any of the items nor any other retail store on the web here.
I think the IGUS slider will be the hardest part to get, most everything else can be purchased at a hardware store, if you want to buy brackets off my machinist he can ship worldwide.
8. Will your rig allow you pan/tilt as well?!
Hey folks. Im working on a
Hey folks.
Im working on a step by step assembly guide, im doing it on video, i may make a PDF.
its gonna be long, and boring. lol So far the rail prep/assembly is about 40 min long.
I have some editing to do.
Bolt Inquiry
Hello Chris. Thanks for sharing your work with everyone. Most inspiring. What bolt size did you use to hold the motor bracket to the Igus rails?
3/8 - 16 x 1, uses a 7/32"
3/8 - 16 x 1, uses a 7/32" hex key
Awesome!
Just a week or two ago, I started to get back into experimenting with time lapse. I made my own simple motion rig with a servo and the results weren't what I expected...So I thought...Arduino can help!! Then a friend sent me a link to your project after I told him what I was planning on doing. Now I see this and I am glad you've shared it with the community!
Thanks!
Awesome project! I still wish there were a way to make these cheaper, but I think that you are down about as low as can be for the functionality the slider has. Thanks for sharing!
I was wondering if you considered using an acme rod with multiple starts? It seems like that would allow for faster end-to-end movement, if desired... I'm not sure how it would affect the precision, but my impression is that if the stepper can handle smaller movements without trouble, it would be fine. (I know that http://www.mcmaster.com/ sells acme rods with different numbers of starts.)
right now my fastest travel
right now my fastest travel from end to end with the velocity ramped mode is about 16 minutes, the longest ive tested is an hour 40 min, and i know it can go much much longer, im still trying to get a rage of speeds listed but it takes a while.
for the continuous movement the shortest travel is about 10 minutes.
if i went with a double threaded head i or a 10 TPI rod i could cut those times down in half, but i am more interested in getting this thing to move as slow as possible, say my longest velocity ramp speed sits in at 2.5 hours, if i go with a double thread o 10 tpi thread, thats is 1hr 15min. that kind of sucks.
to be fair, i did not have video in mind when building this, it is timelapse specific. ive found making things move fast is super easy, making things move painfully slow on the other hand is pretty hard.
:)
I'm most interested in
I'm most interested in timelapse as well - was just wondering if a different rod might give you speed and slow... but I'll leave that in your much more experienced hands! :)
Thanks!
i was doing some speed
i was doing some speed testing with chronos last night, if i stretch the speed out to say 2 hours, the stepper really gets hot. i dont know if it has an thermal protection switch, stepper motors are awesome but sometimes dont have the greatest range in speed. For continuous movement you can go from about 10 minutes to 1.5hrs. For Shoot move shoot you can break that down to days if you need. Also i have SMS setup to release the motor between movements, it SHOULD stay relativly cool for extended periods
i reccommend against going with a faster screw, generally i suspect you wont be doing many timelapses that only cover a 10 minute span of time. I understand the desire to use it as an automated slide for video, if that was the case a 10TPI rod would probably be better, using continuous movements mainly for video, and sticking with SMS for timelapse.
i suspect it would reduce the amount of weight it could handle, but i think it would be sufficient
Just one thing...
I reckon I could build everything here apart from the lexan brackets, which need specialised equipment to make. Would your machinist (or you) be able to quote for those specifically? :-)
Also, I wasn't clear on your choice of motor..unipolar/bipolar, which is best? Also what is your power source? What current does the motor take, and how long does your battery last? I am also a bit hazy about the anti-backlash nut..is that in any of the pictures?
cheers
Slay
Cnc guy i correct, it is a
Cnc guy i correct, it is a spring loaded nut, there should be a link to a gallery with TONS of pics of it.
If you are interested in a set of brackets contact my Kyle at the following email address, h and i both check this and can answer questions on stuff.
eval(unescape('%64%6f%63%75%6d%65%6e%74%2e%77%72%69%74%65%28%27%3c%61%20%68%72%65%66%3d%22%6d%61%69%6c%74%6f%3a%50%72%6f%6a%65%63%74%43%68%72%6f%6e%6f%73%48%65%6c%70%40%67%6d%61%69%6c%2e%63%6f%6d%22%3e%50%72%6f%6a%65%63%74%43%68%72%6f%6e%6f%73%48%65%6c%70%40%67%6d%61%69%6c%2e%63%6f%6d%3c%2f%61%3e%27%29%3b'))
right now the battery is just a battery used for alarm systems and such, it is from a company called powersource, it is a 12v 5ah rechargable battery, it is big, weights several pounds and about to be replaced by a chinese li-ion 4800mah 12v battery listed on ebay, those run 23 bucks and are from hongkong, look for the blue ons.
as long as it is 12 volts that the most important thing, i ran chronos with that 5ah battery and got about 5 hours of constant use when camping about a month ago. but i hear if you let these old lead batterys drain they are DOA. i have no idea how long a 5ah battery will last, but it seems to last damn near forever.
ill keep this updated as far as the chinese battery.
Keep your eyes open,. im finishing some stuff up ( know i know i kep saying that) but i plan to sort of revamp this entire article and get rid of the old stuff.
as for the motor, i THOUGHT it was bipolar but i ordered a unipolar motor. Bi-polar is more efficient and has more torque, but this unipolar motor seems to work just fine, and that is what this code is written for. You COULD replace it with a bi=polar motor but will need to probably test around with the speeds.
Anti-backlash nut
If you look in the gallery link on page 5 you can see pics of the anti-backlash nut. Basically a spring loaded nut.
Wow
Your design looks fantastic, and the functionality sounds superb!
I cannot wait to see a copy of your code - perhaps you could upload versioned increments of it so that we may see where it is at?
On another note, how are you powering the motor? What sort of battery/connections/etc?
Thank you! 12 power source
Thank you!
12 power source powers everything, the motor is driven by an AFmotor shield. but to get enough power you have to piggyback the chips so one is soldered directly on top of another.
I need to set up an account with sourceforge or whatever it is called and get the code put up.
i will probably end up with several versions of the code.
Right now chronos uses an i2c bus to trigger a triggerbox. I want to develp a code version that has a wired shutter release built into chronos. Then the third version which im working on now has a far more sophisticated control box.
That part, is Project Zeus. Which i spent a lot of time this weekend working on.
Zeus is a control box with a 2x16 LCD screen, and a bunch of buttons. it is a more menu-driven system that will have a wired shutter release port, wireless IR triggers (for both nikon and canon, maybe sony too), a built in intervalometer, controls for chronos including SMS, Continuous, and velocity ramped with much much more flexability and control, as well as a lightning trigger, and im thinking about a sound trigger that would trigger a PC port, for high speed trick photography. I like to cram as much functionality into it as possible. it would work as a stand alone unit, or as a control system for whatever tools i develop.
Getting Started
Awesome Project! I have thoroughly enjoyed watching you post updates to the design. I want to make something similar to your design but I am having trouble figuring out what kind of motor I need. I want to make sure it has enough power and is easily configurable to be attached to the lead screw and is robust enough to handle a broad range of speeds/functionality. Any ideas or thoughts? I really don't have a specific use in my mind for the rig. I just want to get something going and make it as robust as possible to start playing with.
why not build a chronos rail?
why not build a chronos rail? :)
the one i went with is a SOYO stepper, there is a link to a seller in the article, it works well but does not hit very high speeds. i think about the best i can do is 10min from end to end before it starts stalling on me.
however it is pretty strong, i have managed to life 25lbs vertically with this setup, but it was all held by my tripod so i got nervous around 25lbs and decided not to push further, im sure it would liftover 30-40lbs veritcally, probably over 100lbs horizontally.
Absolutely amazing design and open source cooperative.
Hello there, I wanted to say how fabulous your design is!
I'm new to motion time lapse slider phenomena and I wanted to join the 'movement'. :-) Having done my research and I have come to the conclusion I need help in creating something like your DYI project. I could amass the everything but I do not posses the knowledge to put it all together.
Will you build me one of these lower cost sliders? Thanks in advance,Boris
email me
email me at and we can discus futher
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- Chis
Nice
I like your choice of slider, I have one sitting here in front of me also although my project is not as advanced as yours. They have nice smooth operation and are quiet, bang for buck you cant go past them. My project has many similarities to yours but also a few key differences, The major been that I wanted to be able to use the slider for real time moves as well. I will watch your project development with interest.
thanks for posting
D
Code
Amazing! I can´t wait for new updates! Could yo put to download the code?
Regards.
Hugo.
Thank you! I will post the
Thank you!
I will post the code, but i want to finish it first. The current code is based off the AFmotor library, it is pretty easy to get it running, . I just want to get the SMS portion done and a trigger for a camera added in. No biggie i just need the time to do it, hopefully i should have it in the next few days.
Speed Ramping & Anti-Backlash
Jack,
Thanks very much for your contribution, we can't wait to see your future updates!
I did want to address something you mentioned here:
Quote:Plus I don’t need speed ramping or Antibacklash compensation on this design (hint hint, there openmoco….)
The TLE and similar components are designed to be generic therefore anti-backlash is required to allow for different drive trains (for example, a lead-screw design won't work for pan and tilt) thus the anti-backlash feature is required to support these different drive trains.
As for speed ramping, are you referring to velocity ramping (maybe we call this 'easing'? =) for torque maximization and smooth movement at high speeds, or output speed ramping? Even my CNC with ballscrews takes good advantage of velocity ramping to make effective torque while maximizing the available speed of the motors. Additionally, the feature extends capable speed ratings for most motors, as it is incorrect to attempt to run a motor at anywhere near full speed and full load without easing into it. Every stepper I've touched will malfunction when attempting to hit near its highest speed, even without load, without bring up to speed over a number of steps first.
The output speed ramping has been one of the most requested features of any moco system I've seen - and certainly the TLE and others have a long history of people wanting it. Which leads me to ask - do you not intend to use it in your films, or have you not determined a need for it yet? A good portion of the people I've spoken to find it essential once they start making their videos, as smooth transitions from one movement to another are pretty much de rigour these days.
!c
Sorry, i think i should
Sorry, i think i should re-write that i think what i said was misleading, i have no issue with the antibacklash or speed ramping, that "hint hint" is because im just not smart enough to figure out how to implement the openmoco code, a dummys guide would help. lol
ill re-write that because the way it is worded certainly leads to something i dont mean to suggest.
but when i refer to speed ramping i meant the velocity ramping, not the output ramping, the output ramping would be sweet!
I would love to use the openmoco software but i am not sure how to tailor it to my system.
No sweat!
I was just trying to figure out if you were asking me to remove those features =)
As for the clarity of the code, I completely understand. It's all going through a huge re-write right now for the nanomoco hardware that's coming out soon (will still work on traditional arduino + external driver setup), that will ultimately make it much easier for new guys to come in and figure out. Namely, it's going to go from one big sketch to a series of libraries that provide key levels of functionality, and then the actual sketch will simply be an example of how to use all the libraries together in conjunction. Additionally, there's a Qt library being worked on, which will make it much easier for those writing GUI applications to communicate with any number of nodes.
Hopefully the new code will be much easier for you to figure out, and will solve a lot of the basic problems for you so you can focus on the cool new stuff you want to do! Of course, if you want to drop me a note in private (or in public =) telling me about some of the areas that were most difficult for you, then I can use that when re-packaging things to make it easier.
!c
wow
Great project man! Unfortunately for me, the shipping costs alone would make it too costly. Still - couldn't not appreciate the design, thought and craftsmanship. The fact that you wrap this up with a detailed explanation for all to gain from is the icing on the cake! Thanks. :-)