Loops aren't needed, but would be nice. It's the old need or want issue. A manual head is all I need, but I want better toys

KreAture wrote:

I want to combine the image storage with the pano data points.
Basically use my cam's offline storage mode to save directly to the controllers memory instead of internal, or push the xml file to cam while controlling the cams folder system so it organizes the panos into folders. That would be sweet!

Now you are dreaming

A little progress report;

All the raw materials have arrived, the dc servo motor is in Lawrence's hands for testing, he claims he can't stop the darn thing from turning with his hands and it only show 750ma draw at that. Some of the parts have been machined, I just have to see if I can get the lathe work done soon since I'll be out of parts to mill soon. I am hoping my Nokia N800 will be here early next week so I can try communicating to the Arduino.

If people are looking for a source for remote cords for the Nikon D300 I picked mine up on eBay from these guys http://stores.shop.ebay.ca/Suppere-Store__W0QQ_armrsZ1 very inexpensive and easy to deal with.

Greg, you should first try to implement a simple firmware, with low-level commands (like drive, read, stop...), and use Papywizard (or any external program written with a high-level language) to feed it and build the sequence; I can write you a plugin to do that.

Then, once all works fine, you can add higher-level commands, for loops, tests and so.

In order to be used with Papywizard, you should implement asynchronous commands: as soon as the firmware receives a command, it executes it in background, and keeps listening to the bus for new incoming commands. Here is the list of mandatory commands:

COMMAND    PARAM1    PARAM2       RETURN VALUE
read       <axis>    ---          current position
drive      <axis>    <position>   ---
stop       <axis>    ---          ---
startJog   <axis>    <direction>  ---
getStatus  <axis>    ---          driving status (mainly to know if a
                                  previous drive command is over or not)

Some useful parameters can be added, like the jog speed, and all accell/decel params. Just hard-code them at first.

You should also implement a special error code, when the command can't be executed (bad syntax or any other internal problem). But this error code should be returned immediatly; if something occurs during a drive, it should be only reported in the status.

I have a few parts to show, most of the mechanical components are shown including both mounts for the stepper and dc servo motor.


All the aluminum parts will be anodized black.

Now I will start the electronics for it. Hopefully that wont take too long

Waou !!! Greg:)

Greg Nuspel wrote:

I'm not sure if this is the place for this question

Hi Greg,
definetely the best place for questions around arduino is the arduino forum:
http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl

you may try it here too ...
http://chiphacker.com/

a BT-module for Arduino: search ebay for partnumber 320438167955

and a great stepperdriver is the easydriver from sparkfun
(I have some codesnippets to run it with an arduino with ramped acceleration / deceleration)

Last edited by Paul (2009-11-02 08:03:11)

Found another DIY project with an interesting innovation. http://www.flickr.com/photos/robin_w/40 … 2724177502

He is using the flash hotshoe output to let the controller know that the photo is finished, I think I want to implement this myself.

This is all I could see Phil sent me a link to it, he might have more information.

I just came across some interesting steppers http://www.phenostream.com/products/OSM_01.aspx I haven't had time to check out exactly what it is capable of.

Last edited by Greg Nuspel (2009-11-04 14:10:47)