Three axis manipulator

[EUGEN]

Hi guys

I am building a 3-axis manipulator for our project (LIBS). It will be an experimental device. The manipulator is needed to move the sample/sample holder:

travel X Y+/- 50 mm
travel Z +/- 25 mm

I have the basic design of the manipulator, as well as the main elements (ball screws, cross-roller guides and support bearings, stepper motors). However, I am not very happy with my design and would like to improve it before putting it into production.

My manipulator is somewhat reminiscent of electron microscope manipulators. I would be grateful if you could share photos of electron microscope manipulators with me, as well as express your opinions regarding the design of my manipulator.

[Probeman]

I had to look up LIBS (Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy).   Really interesting.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser-induced_breakdown_spectroscopy

By "manipulator" do you simply mean a three axis stage?  I assume this project is for automating the acquisition of emission spectra?

Why are you building your own stage? I would have thought there are many optical microscope motorized stages available on the market. E.g.

https://www.optics-focus.com/motorized-xy-translation-stage-p-861.html#.YhKendKIZaQ

[EUGEN]

By "manipulator" do you simply mean a three axis stage?

Yes, it should be a three axis stage.

I assume this project is for automating the acquisition of emission spectra?

Quite right. For reliable results, it is necessary to make measurements at different points of the sample.

Why are you building your own stage? I would have thought there are many optical microscope motorized stages available on the market.

The main requirement is a compact design (it may be necessary to place the table in a vacuum chamber). Standard solutions do not meet these requirements. There are several specialized solutions, for example:

https://lightigo.com

https://www.atomtrace.com/products/libs-interaction-chamber/

However, this is not what we need.

We have several CNC machines and we can try to develop and manufacture a manipulator that meets all our requirements on our own. However, this is not such an easy task as it seemed at first glance.

At the moment, the manipulator looks like this.

[Probeman]

Here's a pretty nice design:

https://www.intellidrives.com/XY-tables-XYZ-Systems/XY-Stages-XYZ-Stages-Compact/XY-XYZ-Direct-Drive

[Jacob]

Compactness is usually only achievable with tight integration of componentry, which means you're not going to get there doing your own integration with off-the-shelf actuators.  You're better off buying something unless you plan to spend years iterating, especially given the requirement for vacuum compatibility.

Maybe try these drives from Smaract: https://www.smaract.com/high-precision-positioning

Most are available with a vacuum compatible option.

If you can forgo vacuum compatibility you could try Ludl (https://ludl.com/) who can likely do custom work.