StevenBrace.co.uk

The above model is interactive, click and drag to orbit around the geodesic dome.

What is a Reciprocal Roof Roundhouse?
A reciprocal frame is a class of self-supporting structure made of three or more beams and which requires no centre support to create roofs, bridges or similar structures.
A reciprocal roof is a self-supporting spiral of timbers where each timber rests on the last and needs no central support. It is assembled by first installing…

Introduction
I am looking into replacing the stepper motors on my motion control head with PID controlled DC motors. This should allow me to make improvements in terms of noise produced by the steppers, and speed. I have previously done some experimenting with PID loops with the Arduino mega and found that although I could get…

DIY 8m Diameter Conduit Geodesic Dome
Recently I built a couple of geodesic domes. A lot of people in the USA build domes out of cheaply available EMT conduit. This conduit is nowhere near as ubiquitous and cheap in the UK so I found a fairly similar standard galvanised pipe used in the steam industry and put out for…

A while ago I put together some plans for a motion control system for time-lapse camera movement. I designed it to mainly use off the shelf components, with the exception of a number of laser cut acrylic plates. It worked reasonably well, and has become popular with other Time-lapse makers who have used the plans to…

My final year project has just wrapped up, here are a few images of the final product along with an abstract giving an outline of the project. Message me or leave a comment if you are interested in seeing the full report.
Abstract
The design for a bone-cement removal tool, which utilises a chipping mechanism to break…

I have signed up to do the Mongol Rally this summer, an adventure that involves driving a totally unsuitable vehicle over 10000 miles from London to Mongolia (and back!) in order to help raise money for Médecins Sans Frontières and Cool Earth. Our team has just bought a Rover 827 limousine and preparations are well…

Recently I have been working on controlling my time lapse motion control rig with a standard xbox 360 controller, I have written this brief post to give pointers to anyone else who may be trying to accomplish anything similar. Here is a quick video of my work in progress, unfortunately the motors are rather loud…

Update Summer 2015
I have since built a new, far better, motion control head using an internal belt mechanism, pictured above. Read about it here. This post is left here for those interested in a more simple arrangement.

In May I came across the OpenMoCo project which is a community that is producing an open-source photographic motion…

A short time-lapse video all shot through one window looking over Holcombe, Exmouth and Dawlish. Had problems with dust on the rear element of my 200-500mm that I cannot seem to remove, may try and get some more hardcore lens cleaning tools.
I’m happy with it for my first try, just a short video to get…

Currently a huge amount of time and money is being invested in the research, development and implementation of technologies to exploit renewable energy sources; it is estimated that £95-billion was invested in new renewable capacity in 2009 alone. [1] In the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s 2009 report plans were set out to raise the…