I was inspired by the XYZ nanopositioner built by @EdwinHwu‘s group and wanted to build one myself, but close the loop
Nanopositioner Details:
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Independent X/Y control
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Closed loop (using PID)
- uses relative positioning, so homing requires stalling instead of limit switches
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500 nm resolution
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Max speed is 3 mm/s
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Small volume (8 cm x 8 cm x 3.1 cm)
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Travel range of 25 mm
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Uses piezoelectric actuator
- mounted on water jetted steel flexure
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BOM costs ~$800
Background:
I needed precise positioning to raster scan samples for my scanning confocal microscopy. However, my budget was limited so I chose to make a positioner myself.
Next Steps:
As I finalize the design and code, I plan on open-sourcing my work (most likely through Github) and lower the cost of electronics to bring the overall price down to $500.
Would appreciate any feedback and would be interested in learning what performance specs and features would be most useful for people in this space.
For a demo video of resolution, check out my X: https://x.com/bwnzhng2003/status/1900252376201904129
