Now that's exactly what I need!
Imagine this job: Move the camera. Position a test chart. Turn on a lamp. Take a photo. Now do this a few hundred times. Mind numbing, and just perfect for a robot. I needed some optical positioning equipment, so I turned to Thor Labs and Newport, my favorite suppliers of optomechanics. After hours of designing my positioner, the best design I could come up with using the standard parts was going to be a huge, expensive Rube Goldberg contraption. I spoke to technical support at both companies, and they were great, and they helped me work out several potential solutions, but the equipment was still going to be big and expensive, and I would still need some custom machine work.
For the custom machine work, I looked into eMachineShop.com. They have a nice online tool for 3D cad. I was able to quickly sketch out the parts I needed. The tool also provides pricing, so I could see how design and material choices would impact the design as I went along. After a little work, I found I could completely redesign the positioner using more custom parts, and I could reduce the size, cost and complexity. I could also use off-the-shelf parts and fit the mix of Metric and Imperial sizes. I used eMachineShop's built-in center of gravity tool and its weight estimates to determine the correct balance. I verified that Newport's rotation stages could handle the expected loads by using the excellent data sheets they provide. I wrote tech support at eMachineShop a few times with questions and for help when one of my blueprint files had some problems. Their support was great and very prompt.
Now that's exactly what I need!
As soon as my design was drawn up I had a quote for all of the parts which made the approval process go smoothly. After 40 days I got my parts, and they look great. They have the precision and finish of the standard parts, and they only cost around 3 or 4 times as much as a mass produced part would have cost. Even though these parts cost more, the resulting design had a big cost savings and it does exactly what I wanted it to do. After putting 10 parts together with 23 screws, the whole thing came together just as I had hoped, and it all works great.
All buttoned up and ready to roll!
