Sketch-I

Sketch-II

Step (1): I started by designing the gear & both rails which are the straight top rail that provide smooth motion & the geared one that works as a guide for the gear.

Step (2): Then I extruded them by 6mm which is used plywood thickness that I would use.

Step (3): Then I designed rails' supports that would connect both rails together to avoid deflection of rail.

Step (4): I extruded it also by 6 mm thickness as well.

Step (3): Then I designed the carriage that would carry the motor & mobile holder & added slots instead of holes to be able to control the distance of pulley manually.

Step (4): Then, I extruded it with 3mm thickness which is plywood thickness that I would use for these parts.

Step (5): Then, I moved to design control boxes that would carry all the components & support the rails & I increased its height to provide higher view for shooting.

Step (5): Then, I moved to design control boxes that would carry all the components & support the rails & I increased its height to provide higher view for shooting.

Step (7): Then, I designed the other side control box that support the rails & I increased its height too to provide higher view for shooting.

Step (6): Also, I extruded these parts to 3mm thick as there is no need to use the thicker wood for these parts.

Step (1): I downloaded some components from grabcad.com, as Arduino Uno model, Nema 17 stepper motor, a4988 stepper motor driver, a large breadboard & idler pulley, I used the STEP file format, which is the most suitable for me, so I downloaded models in it.

Step (2): I uploaded components to Fusion 360, then I imported them to my design file.

Step (3): Then, I check that components fit in the created enclosure's dimensions & created joints between them & the base of control box.

Step (4): After that, I got the exact screw holes that needed to be added to the base to fix the components later.

Step (1): I copied parts that would be duplicated in the design to complete the enclosure & added some adjustments for them just to suits its functional place.

Step (2): Then, I created joints between its parts together form T-slots to ensure that it fits perfectly.

Step (3): I check that all part fits each other perfectly after assembly for both of those enclosures.

Step (4): So, after doing the same process over and over, I got a fully enclosure boxes.

Step (5): After that I did jointing for both rails, spacers & gear to get fully assembly & also to get accurate position for the motor on the carriage & the gear.

Step (6): Then, I added T shape wooden parts to create a lock for rails into the control box to avoid it from getting off.

Step (1): I had to create a printed part to transfer motor motion to the gear so, I sketched it on the top face of the gear & projected the motor shaft to create a hole for it.

Step (2): After that I created a hole on the print upper part for a nut to fix the shaft position in the print by screws.

Step (3): And that's the motor supporter shaft that I got :"D

Step (3): another thing was creating adjustable mobile holder that would accept any phone size I had to create it by 2 parts that fits in each other's, so I started by lower part.

Step (4): I added a hook to hold a rubber band so the stand can grip the phone & holds it tightly.

Step (5): Then, I did the same steps for the upper part just changed its dimensions to create it fits on the lower part.

Step (6): Also, I had filleted all parts to provide smooth edges only for more friendly user experience.

Step (1): I exported all parts to DXF files to prepare it for laser cutting machine, I used DXF for laser cutting plugin.

Step (2): Then, I used Rhino to arrange all drawings together to provide the minimum the waste for wooden sheet.

Step (3): I had to separate the drawings into a couple of groups to be 3mm files & 6 mm files to cut each of them on its required wood thickness sheet.

Step (4): I exported STL files for each of the motor shaft control & mobile holder by saving the body as mesh.

Software, machines & materials used 

Step (1): I started by importing all of the DXF files to Laserworks to create gcode for the machine.

Step (2): Then, I had to choose which lines are to be cut & which ones are to be scanned, in my case all of my lines were to be cut, so I picked cutting mode. 

Step (3): After selected the cutting mode, I determinate the speed to be 20m/s & 50% for the power for and that was according to the fab lab specialist.

Step (4): After that, I sent the file with its unique name to the laser cutter, tracked a frame to ensure the laser will stay within the boundary of the wooden board & started to cut.  

Step (5): After that, I had to change boards to get one with 6mm thick & change parameters of cutting to be 15m/s for the speed & 55% for the power to fits thickness of wood.  

Step (6): Vola, here is all parts that had been cut & now it's almost ready for assembly process.

Step (1): I started by uploading the STL file of the motor supporter to Ultimate cura to slice & create a gcode.  

Step (2): Then, I sat the layer height to be 0.3 mm, with 3 permitter walls & 40% infill density just to provide high support for the motor motion without break the print.

Step (3): Also, I sat the temperature to 215°C & 60°C to the bed which suits the PLA filmant that I would use.  

Step (3): After that, I sliced the model & previewed it before exporting the gcode file.  

Step (4): After that, I sat a unique name for the gcode that contains grams, time, color of the filament before transferring it to the printer using SD card reader as the printer only accept SD cards, then I start printing.

Step (5): The print is done & it took about 3 grams of filament & 15 mins only to be printed.

Step (6): I repeated the previous steps for the holder & sliced it & previewed it before exporting gcode file.

Step (7): The print is done & it took about 15 grams of filament & 70 mins to be printed.

Step (1): I joined motor supporter to the gear using 3m bolt.

Step (2): I joined holder parts together using rubber band.

Step (1): I started by including the LiquidCrystal_I2C library to control the LCD using the I2C connection protocol. 

Step (2): Then, I sat names for pins to be easier to be called through the coding process.

Step (3): the next step was to define pins depends on their role in the circuit whether they are an output pin, an input pin or an input pullup pins. 

Step (4): I had to initiate the serial monitor to troubleshoot anything that would happen unexpectedly, then I started the LCD then its backlighting.

Step (5): the next step was to control the speed of slider & that's by creating mapping for the potentiometer to change its range from 0 to 1023 to be from 100 to 2000 to control the carriage speed. 

Step (6): Then, to change the motion direction mode, it would be by pressing the button the carriage would change its direction from right to left & vice versa.

Step (7): I sat the lcd to print a sign that shows the direction of the motion of the carriage so, this sign >>> refers to moving towards the big box & that one <<< refers to moving towards the small box. 

Step (8): Then, I moved to a next line & let the lcd print the value of the potentiometer that shows the delay value which refers to the carriage's speed to be more useful for the user & I sat a delay of 10 milliseconds so that the LCD doesn't refresh so quickly to appears number clearly.

Step (9): Then, to control the stepper motor I created if condition that flipping motor direction depends on condition & stop it from moving if the IR sensor reads a true value that means that the carriage is close to the box. 

Step (10): That's the function which is called move I customized it to controls the stepper motor with its two directions by taking integer value stored at t which is taken from Potentiometer & moves the motor depends on that.

Step (1): I started by connecting both rails together with spacers, I used rubber mallet hammer to do so. 

Step (2): Then, I supported the rails on a higher level by fixing them into the boxes.

Step (3): I added the stepper motor & gear to the carriage & supported them to the rails to check the mechanism. 

Step (4): Then I supported the carriage to the rails by fixing the idler pully to proving the perfect motion of the gear.

Step (5): After that, I mount all the different components on the control box namely, the Arduino, the breadboard & the stepper motor a4988 driver.

Step (6): Then, I placed the IR sensor on its place to work as sensing limit switch & added a wooden part to ensure that senor would be able to see it.

Then, I placed the IR sensor on its place to work as sensor limit switch & calibrate its range to be able to stop the motor motion on a perfect moment.

Step (7): After that, I calibrated the range of the IR sensor through its potentiometer to be able to stop the motor motion on a perfect moment before carriage hits the box.

Step (8): After checking the mechanism, I complete the assemble of the controllers & components onto the control box.

Step (9): Then I completed all the enclosure & check the mechanism before close the cover.

Step (10): Once the assembly is complete, the mobile holder is supported & now ready to shoot.

Demo-II-Shooting one of the wooden designs that I have created using my slider :"D

Demo-III-Shooting one of the wooden designs that I have created using my slider :"D

Demo-IV-Footage by the slider :"D

Demo-V-Footage by the slider :"D