My homemade spherical panoramic head design (w/ pics)

[Freff]

Great stuff, many thanks for the info.

[Baker1444]

I'm just wondering where there is no adjustment for fine tuning the nodal point your measurement must have to be very accurate. How do you go about finding the nodal point of a given lens? How about you have different lenses, then what do you do?

[5teve]

Originally Posted by Baker1444

I'm just wondering where there is no adjustment for fine tuning the nodal point your measurement must have to be very accurate. How do you go about finding the nodal point of a given lens? How about you have different lenses, then what do you do?

There is a very small adjustment that could be made. I made the holes for the screws that hold the verital arm slightly larger in diameter than the screw, just like how Dr. Sean Parkin did on his original design. Doing this allows a slight adjustment of about 1mm in either direction.

I only use one lens, so was not concerned about making the head adjustable.

Its easy to find the nodal point of a lens. Do a google search on 'find lens nodal point' and some pretty good results come up.

[Baker1444]

5teve,

Did you get my message about the measured drawings? I was wondering if you would send me the Visio diagrams that you done. I really want to give this thing a shot.

Rob

[evilryu530]

i love sketchup. it's an awesome program. first time seeing someone on this forum using sketchup a 3D free and easy to learn program, for photography.

[Freff]

Here is my attempt inspired by 5teve
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/...d.php?t=729461

[Baker1444]

I'm having trouble finding the thick washer needed for inside the needle bearing, used in the base. McMaster-Carr has them but I can't find one that has an outside diameter of 45mm, and a thickness of 5mm. I'm guessing I need 5mm because the needle bearing is 3mm and the two washers are 1mm each. What did you guys use and where did you find it?

Also what kind of thread for the bolts should I get? Do you need something with a course thread to grab the aluminum a little better where it is a soft metal?

[Lowner]

You are an amazingly resourceful fella.

May I ask a couple of questions about your home anodising? I have a machined aluminium part I'd like to black anodise.

1. Is there any particular type of dye I'd need to use

2. How long does it need to sit in your home made anodising plant.

[5teve]

Originally Posted by Baker1444

I'm having trouble finding the thick washer needed for inside the needle bearing, used in the base. McMaster-Carr has them but I can't find one that has an outside diameter of 45mm, and a thickness of 5mm. I'm guessing I need 5mm because the needle bearing is 3mm and the two washers are 1mm each. What did you guys use and where did you find it?

Also what kind of thread for the bolts should I get? Do you need something with a course thread to grab the aluminum a little better where it is a soft metal?

i didn't use a washer for the inside the needle bearings. I ended up using a thick piece of plastic and cut it out into the perfect sized circle. I used a router and a circle jig to get the washer to approximately the right size, and then stuck it on a drill and sanded to fine tune the size.

I mostly used 1/4-20 bolts and they work fine. Any sized thread should work though, as I wouldn't worry too much about stripping the threads.

[sparkin]

Originally Posted by Baker1444

I'm having trouble finding the thick washer needed for inside the needle bearing, used in the base. McMaster-Carr has them but I can't find one that has an outside diameter of 45mm, and a thickness of 5mm. I'm guessing I need 5mm because the needle bearing is 3mm and the two washers are 1mm each. What did you guys use and where did you find it?

You don't need metal for this part unless you want to use it for a detent-stop mechanism. Any sort of plastic, wood or even stiff cardboard would work just as well because all it does is to prevent the thrust bearing from slipping sideways. The rotator that 5teve made is basically a copy of a rotator I made a few years ago, which itself was my own attempt to make something as sturdy as that on the 360 precision head. It works incredibly well, so I'm glad the design has been picked up by so many fellow panoramists. A fairly detailed description has been on my website for years, here:

http://xray.uky.edu/people/Parkin/pa.../panohead.html

Or you could just Google "homemade panoramic head".

Originally Posted by Baker1444

Also what kind of thread for the bolts should I get? Do you need something with a course thread to grab the aluminum a little better where it is a soft metal?

This is as good of a reason as any. I chose 1/4-20 threaded bolts because I had the thread tap handy, but you're right about grabbing the soft aluminium.

Hope this helps, Sean

[sparkin]

Originally Posted by Lowner

May I ask a couple of questions about your home anodising? I have a machined aluminium part I'd like to black anodise.
1. Is there any particular type of dye I'd need to use
2. How long does it need to sit in your home made anodising plant.

There are plenty of useful recipes for home anodizing on the web, here are a couple of examples:

http://www.bryanpryor.com/anodizing.php
http://www.focuser.com/anodize.html

The second of these URLs sells kits with the materials you need. I think the machine shop in Chemistry-Physics where I work uses the same dyes, and there's an example of the results back on post #56 of this thread, here:

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/...=679708&page=4

Hope this helps, Sean

http://xray.uky.edu/people/Parkin/pa.../panohead.html

[Baker1444]

Thanks 5teve and Sean for your help.

I have all my parts ordered from McMaster Carr and the should arrive in the next week or two. I post some picks of my progress as I work along.

Everything came to about $75.00 American not including shipping. So I'm expecting that everything shouldn't cost more than $100.00 by the time I'm finished.

[sparkin]

Originally Posted by Baker1444

Thanks 5teve and Sean for your help.

I have all my parts ordered from McMaster Carr and the should arrive in the next week or two. I post some picks of my progress as I work along.

Everything came to about $75.00 American not including shipping. So I'm expecting that everything shouldn't cost more than $100.00 by the time I'm finished.

Before you start to build, you should know that it is not difficult at all to make something that works exceedingly well, but it could take a good bit of time to make it look pretty. Having said that, it does not need to look pretty to work well.

For future reference, there are much cheaper sources for stock Al than McMaster-Carr. I don't know what there is in Canada, but here in KY if I can't scrounge some scrap, I use the Metal Supermarket. Here's their URL:

http://www.metalsupermarkets.com/

There's also a much better way to make the connection between the upright piece and the base arm. There's a story behind why my original build was done that way. PM me and I'll fill you in on the details.

Cheers, Sean

http://xray.uky.edu/people/Parkin/pa.../panohead.html

[Baker1444]

Thanks Sean for the info.

Yeh in my design I have modified the connection between the Base Arm and Vertical Support Arm to closely match yours. I don't have access to a CNC machine and found that yours was a much more simple approach that works just as good.

[Baker1444]

This sucks!! I placed an order with McMaster-Carr last week and assumed that it was being processed and shipped and I just got an email that reads

"Thank you for your inquiry. Unfortunately, due to the ever increasing complexity of United States export regulations, McMaster-Carr will only process orders from a few long-established customers in Canada. We sincerely regret any inconvenience this causes you.



Thank you,



David Ulam

McMaster-Carr Supply Co

330-995-5929"

Does anyone know of a similar website that would sell to Canada? Perhaps I could buy the aluminum here but I will pay more and the few other things that I need, but I think finding the Needle Bearing will be hard to find here.