Re: Help please I am so lost just need pointing in the right direction
If I was really strapped for cash, I'd approach it like this...
Use Mach3 - their free demo will be sufficient & it already has a nice interface (saves having to write the code from scratch in picbasic)....it also has options to 'trigger' stuff (cooling fluid etc) which could be brought into play to trigger your camera/flash etc)
GCode is easy enough to program yourself (which is what MAch3 requires)
For the slide itself....well bearing in mind cost is significant factor, I'd be inclined to build it with bog standard M10 threaded rod - since you're only going in one direction, then backlash shouldn't be an issue.
If you can lay your hands on some old dot matrix printers (boot fairs, s/h shops etc), they'll likely have some 13mm hardened rod & some basic method of running stuff along these rods (ie the carriage assembly), not to mention stepper motor and switches. In fact you could probably use the whole carriage assembly itself...which in one master stroke saves a massive amount of work as to how to get the carriage running smoothly & square.
You only need a one axis driver ...perhaps use something like a dedicated stepper driver chip (eg an allegro) or there's a few basic one axis driver schematic/layouts on the net.
I reckon this could be done for about £50....but a lot of your own time!
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