Had just made it to the last stage of assembly (or so I thought) of an advanced stand for the RTI-Mage. While the simple stand is OK for basic stuff, the advanced stand lets you do lots of cool stuff:

• Stick the system in a backpack/case, and take it on the road.
• Use a micrometer for accurate positioning during macro lens or microphotography.
• Image objects on a lab jack, just like the simple stand.
• Simplify swapping small objects in and out of the system.
• Mount the dome vertically, to access the surface of objects too big to fit under the dome (pots, paintings, fossils, whatever).

Got to the very last stage of assembly, which is creating supports to hold the dome vertically. But they didn't seem to fit the way I thought they should. Went back to the previous stand of this design that I built 1.5 years ago. D'oh! Forgot about a crucial design detail that makes that possible. Now I have to re-make one major part of the stand, before I can get back to the last stage.

Unfortunately, as with all the other small remaining details, this will have to wait until I get back from this weekend's Hackaday Superconference in Pasadena. Most of the items on my short-term to-do list from a few weeks ago are still there, along with the addition of prototyping the new low-side driver board. All will have to wait until at least next week. On the plus side, I did post instructions for adding Bluetooth HID shutter support to the controller recently, so at least one item has been checked off.

If you see me floating around the Superconference, feel free to say hi and ask questions. Along with other attending semifinalists, I'll be doing a 5-minute lightning presentation on this project. Regardless of whether I win any of the prizes or not, I will finish the short-term basics of this project. And, given enough time and/or money, I hope to follow through on some of my long term plans for this project.