User:Pranav Rathi/Notebook/OT/2011/07/07/X Y-motor stage control with Joystick for Optical Tweezers

This page is dedicated to the documentation of the XY-motor stage control with Joystick system, for optical tweezers. This system can be utilized as a part to any system which needs a full motor control over X and Y stage. I used Zaber- miniature linear actuators and Logitech attack 3 gamming joystick with lab view 9 programming. The full detail of the buildup is given in this page.

Introduction
Many applications use 2-dimensinal stage. A 2-D stage can be arranged by stacking two linear 1- dimensional stages on the top of each other. Naturally a stage is manually operated, but it can be motorized also. I used two linear 1-D stages to build a 2-D stage powered by two Zaber linear actuators. The linear actuators can be controlled through a Joystick with a lab view program. I used Logitech attack-3 joystick with lab view 9 to make this complete joystick controlled linear actuator powered 2-D stage system.

This system has a 1 micron step resolution in either direction with variable speed. The direction and the speed are controlled by the movement of the joystick.

Hardware

 * 1) High-Performance Low-Profile Ball Bearing Linear Stage, 1.0 inch Travel- two.
 * 2) T-LA28A: Miniature Linear Actuator, 28 mm travel, RS-232 plus manual control-two.
 * 3) Logitech Attack™ 3 Joystick-one.
 * 4) Lab View-9.

Demonstration
Andy Maloney 17:44, 8 July 2011 (EDT): Now that's awesome. You have to post the build and code for this!