I got the X and Y limit switches working. Not perfect, but good enough to move forward. Spent yesterday coding “go home” “go center” and a preliminary “scan slide”.

Slide Center is currently hard-coded based on “eye balling” one of my sample slides. I’ll have to come up with something more scientific. 🙂

The level of magnification determines the steps per photo — inverse ratio (lower the mag, higher the # of steps). It follows the mag values, but I’ve tweaked to give some additional overlap. The steppers and gearing are good enough for over 1000x (the optics, not so much).

I’ve also directly connected the camera to the microscope (not going through an eyepiece). These images are roughly 300x. 3D printed a little 32mm adapter tube.

As I play with it, I’m coming up with a list of stuff to do: add a Cancel/Abort/Panic button (hooked to an interrupt). Allow user to set scan ranges. Allow user to set center. Save default values?

Also thinking through a proper case for it.

Of course, also working through how I’m going to trigger cameras.