Custom photomacrography stand, v3

This page describes a custom stand I built in late 2025.

On an earlier page, I discussed a custom stand (which I refer to as the v1 stand) I used for a few years, roughly between 2010 and 2015.

I never got around to writing a page on the v2 stand, which was based on a Zeiss measuring microscope stand. I used it roughly between 2015 and 2025. It is discussed in passing on this page.

The main purpose of this page is to discuss the successor to the Zeiss stand, which I call v3.

I believe the above figure is the only picture of the v2 stand I have available. The main limitations of my v2 stand are the limited amount of vertical travel of the camera attachment (only about 30 cm) and the extreme weight of the stand once its main parts are assembled (around 50 Kg). A further problem with the Zeiss stand is that it is an industrial product and not designed to be modified. My past experience with this stand formed the basis for the general specifications of my v3 stand:

The v3 stand needs to be both taller and lighter. More than once I wished I could have a much taller column, to place on the subject board a resolution target with its trans‑illuminator, or to photograph the entrance pupil of a telephoto lens for measuring and calculations, or to place the subject on a tall 6‑way micrometric stage (x‑y‑z shift, x‑y tilt, z rotation). The new stand would also need to be easily disassembled (at least into 2‑3 major parts for easier transportation) and its parts re‑purposed.

• Load‑bearing frame built with standard materials, specifically heavy‑duty modular aluminum profile.
• Easy to assemble and disassemble, no permanently attached or glued parts.
• Easy to modify (both by adding new parts, and re‑using existing parts).
• Only requiring an absolute minimum of drilling and machining (ideally none, but this is not entirely feasible).
• In addition to the aluminum profile parts, additional third‑party components (optical breadboards, Arca‑type rails and clamps, etc.) should be as easy as possible to integrate with the main load‑bearing frame.
• Vertical orientation of the stand column, in order to save desk space, and because this is how I am used to work. Potentially modifiable for use in horizontal orientation, but not necessarily built as such right from the start.
• Realistically usable down to a minimum magnification around 0.1‑0.2x (i.e. in the close‑up range).
• Realistically usable up to a maximum magnification around 10x (I have better solutions than a stand for work at higher magnification).

In the last 10 years or so, I used modular channel profile of aluminum alloy for several projects. One of the first projects was a heavy‑duty small table for placing the v1 stand at a convenient height for imaging work while standing. Through this experience I developed an appreciation for work with this type of material, which is ubiquitous in custom‑built industrial enclosures and industrial equipment frames, especially CNC machinery. Many amateurs are now familiar with the 2020 type of profile, so called because of its 20 x 20 mm cross‑section. A typical 2020 rod has a square cross‑section with one C‑shaped slot running on each side. This slot accepts a variety of nuts and "hammer" bolts for attaching the rod to other parts of the same system.

I do use 2020 parts in my constructions, but only for small structures. Although the 2020 system also contains thicker rods (e.g. 40 x 40 and 40 x 60 mm cross sections), the slots remain of the same size, accept at a maximum M5 screws, and the walls roughly remain of the same thickness. Therefore, the 2020 system does not scale well for building large structures. For the latter use, it is far better to use other standard systems built on the same principle: 3030, 4040, 4545 and lately also 6060. Among these, the 4040 (40 x 40 mm) looks to me a little too "skinny" for structural elements like table legs, and the 6060 (60 x 60 mm) a bit too thick and heavy. The 4545 system, instead, feels just right with the 45 x 45 mm cross‑section and 10 mm slots of the thinnest components.

It can be problematic to combine 4545 parts with parts of other systems, like 2020, without resorting to drilling and machining, so one should not mix different systems without good reasons. Within the 4545 system, in addition to 45 x 45 mm rods there are also thicker and stronger cross‑sections (45 x 90, 90 x 90, and 90 x 180 mm). In addition, 4545 elements are generally available in a "lightweight" and a "heavy" type, differing in wall thickness and types of internal stiffening and bracing. Bolts and screws used in 4545 slots are typically M8 and M6.

M8 is generally used in 4545 angle joints and other heavy‑duty parts. M6 hammer bolts and slot nuts are also easy to find, and M6 is close enough to the standard 1/4"‑20 bolts used in camera fixtures (except for the incompatible thread pitch) that "hybrids" mixing both types of threads in a system built with 4545 elements are feasible, as long a one can tap or re‑tap the appropriate holes with the required thread.

Optical breadboards are available in imperial and metric sizes, i.e. 1/4"‑20 sockets on a 1" x 1" grid, and M6 sockets on a 25 x 25 mm grid, respectively. The attachment holes spacing of both grid types is incompatible with the 4545 system, so I had to make allowances for this when designing the stand (see below).

All profile families based on the 2020 system are strictly metric in cross‑section dimensions, and I am not aware of similar profiles using imperial units. However, profiles purchased on the US market may differ from European ones in important details like slot width, and hole diameter on the ends of the profile.

A broad variety of 90° joints are available for the various 4545 profile sizes, as well as other types of joints, anchors and fixtures. 4545‑specific caster wheels, adjustable feet and hinges are also commonly used. Plastic covers are used to hide the cut ends of rods (especially to protect the users' fingers from the sharp edges) and to cover the bolts and nuts used for joining parts. Plastic profile can be used to cover exposed slots, and to hide electrical cables running in the slots.

I initially though about running electrical cables through the unused slots, but changed my mind because most of the time the unused slots were not optimally placed for the cables. The sharp edges at the cut ends of the profile pieces also risk damaging electrical cables. I used a thin self‑adhesive plastic cable channel instead, and placed it right where it was needed.

Initial decisions

The process of designing and building a new stand was not as straightforward and brief as one could imagine from the above discussion. Changing priorities and moving house multiple times since my retirement in 2017 complicated things. Quite a few years ago I decided to use the 4545 system and ordered a 90 x 90 mm, 800 mm long profile section to use as the vertical column of the stand, together with multiple sections of 45 x 45 and 45 x 90 mm of various lengths. I ended up using most of the smaller parts for other projects, and the column, left unused, followed my house‑moving to at least four different parts of Sweden. It was only in late 2025 that I decided it was time to replace the way‑too‑heavy Zeiss stand with something both more manageable and more useful.

Disassembling and storing away the Zeiss stand left a custom vibration‑absorbing base available, 400 x 400 mm wide, consisting of a 4 mm thick aluminum sheet laid on top of a 20 mm thick industrial floor tile cut to the same size, made of rubber with a very fine closed‑bubble structure. The aluminum sheet on top of the rubber acts like a "snow‑shoe" that distributes the weight of heavy objects laid on the vibration dampening base, and prevents them from sinking into the rubber.

I use this rubber material to absorb vibrations transmitted by the building, and know from past experience that it works well, especially when placed under heavy equipment and in buildings with floors and bearing structures of reinforced concrete. It was not effective at a single location, where the combination of heavy lorry traffic on a nearby street and an old load‑bearing floor structure made of wood beams caused vibrations of very large amplitude. I decided to re‑use this vibration‑dampening base, without modifications, for the new stand.

Over the years, I bought almost all modular profile parts from www.dold‑mechatronik.de. This company offers both pre‑cut standard lengths and custom lengths, at slightly different prices. The next major part of the stand I chose is a horizontal beam with a 90 x 180 mm cross‑section, 500 mm long. This is a little longer than the 400 x 400 mm base, and the extra length is necessary to provide more surface at the rear of the column for a large angle joint connected to both column and horizontal beam. The length of the beam also makes sure that there is enough space, with room to spare, available in front of the column for a Thorlabs 350 x 250 mm optical breadboard, also salvaged from the v2 stand. This breadboard is of the imperial‑units type (1/4"‑20 threaded holes), since it is meant for surrounding the subject with various types of photographic illumination equipment and fixtures.

Two transverse sections of 45 x 90 mm profile, each 400 mm long, are attached underneath the horizontal beam. I simply laid them on the vibration‑dampening base, without attaching them to the latter.

To allow fastening of the breadboard to the structure without drilling new holes in the breadboard, I added two more 45 x 90 mm profile sections, each 500 mm long, at either side of the horizontal beam. To match the mounting holes of the breadboard, they ended up at a distance of 14 mm from the beam. All these parts are joined by angle connectors of different sizes (either 45 x 45 or 90 x 90 mm), some of them not visible in the above figure. The cut ends of these profiles are not yet covered by plastic caps in the above figure. A few covers will also be needed for the slots that will contain electrical cables.

The idea with the overhanging front of the stand base is to distribute more weight in this region on the contact surface with the dampening plate. Without this geometry, most of the weight of the stand would be concentrated at its rear, under the vertical column.

My Stackshot controller will be used to drive the motorized THK rail. Power supplies for the Stackshot and small LED panels attached to the breadboard via small arms are hidden in the empty space under the center of the stand base.

Figure 3 shows the final shape of the stand. It also shows that an additional 45 x 45 mm profile, parallel to the column, is attached at the front of the vertical column. This is the only connection of components that required drilling and tapping a few screw holes.

Figure 3 also shows that a few large Arca clamps are attached at either side of the column. This was an afterthought motivated by the fact that, for reasons I do not quite understand, over the years I ended up purchasing more than twice as many of these clamps as actually needed for the stand. The idea with these additional clamps is to hold a few more long Arca‑type rails (which I also collected over the years) to use as a "parking lot" for about a dozen frequently‑used Arca‑type clamps, plates and adapters (as opposed to simply jumbling them together in a box). These parts will also increase the mass of the stand, and hopefully will help to absorb vibrations, besides keeping these accessories tidy and easily accessible.

Three large Arca‑type clamps are attached at the front of the modified column. When the stand is in use, these three clamps hold in place two 400‑mm long Arca‑type rails. I have been unable to find Arca‑type rails of the required length (800 mm), so I used two rails instead of a single one. The central clamp holds the abutted ends of both rails and guarantees that they will remain perfectly aligned.

For this purpose, I initially used a Haoge HQR 400 rail I purchased on Amazon and have owned for a few years, and added a newly‑purchased rail of the same brand and type, also purchased from Amazon. It turned out that the two rails have a different thickness (14.4 versus 14.1 mm), which is enough to stop the smooth gliding of a slightly loose clamp across the joint between the two rails. The old and new rails also differ slightly but visibly in the blackness of their finish.

To solve this problem, I was forced to purchase a third "identical" rail, also from Amazon. The two newly‑purchased rails are similar enough to each other to solve the mechanical problem. Probably, Haoge or one of its subcontractors changed the source of these items at some point in the past few years, and the new source uses different production processes, tolerances, and/or sizes. This is ordinarily not an important matter if the items are not used together in applications that require tightly controlled sizes, but for my specific application it was enough to prevent their planned use together.

The lesson to learn, in this case, is that items sourced from the same Chinese company, with the same inventory/model number, and purchased through the same channel, may turn out to differ in physical size and finish if purchased at different times. Many labs and individuals purchase precision lab equipment parts (e.g. optical bench parts) at different points in time, as their needs change or expand, and do implicitly expect the physical size of old and new parts not to suddenly change without a notice from the seller, or at least a change in model number. Hopefully, companies with a reputation as sources of lab equipment (e.g. Thorlabs) are aware of this problem, and items purchased from them may be expected not to change in size if purchased at different points in time.

It is also worth noting that there is no such thing as an Arca "standard size" for rails and clamps, and that virtually all "Arca‑compatible" items on the market are produced without a license from Arca‑Swiss. In fact, Arca‑like clamps and Arca‑like rails/plates may differ in width and thickness by up to a few mm. In extreme cases, some Arca‑like clamps may be too wide to tighten around rails from a different manufacturer, or too narrow to accept third‑party rails altogether.

These rails are double‑sided, i.e. they have slits that allow attaching clamps on the two opposite sides of the rail. This allows me to attach focusers and camera fixtures to the front side of the rail, and to manually adjust their height over the base of the stand. In a typical focus‑stacking configuration, the column is equipped with a motorized THK KR20 rail (Figure 4), or alternatively a future motorized microscope focusing rack.

Conclusions

Modular slotted aluminum profile can be used to build lab and industrial furniture, industrial enclosures and, in a photomacrography lab, specialized stands for digital imaging.

These stands can be built and upgraded with easily swapped and re‑used parts, and components like Arca‑type clamps and rails, motorized micrometric rails and optical breadboards can be integrated into these stands, most often without any drilling and machining involved, if some planning is done in advance when selecting suitable profile types and a sensible design for the stand.