Searcher7 wrote:
I haven't gottena all of the particulars worked out yet, but I am
working on designing a camera stand and trying to decide on the best
material to make most of it out of.

I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel, but a special project makes it
necessary to be able to take a series of as many as 180 equally spaced
photos across a 45? swing and be be able to do the same again without
any perceptable deviation.

In other words if I take a picture at 12-1/4? and then continue
turning the camera all the way to the end, when I return the camera to
the same spot I took the photo I will need to be able to stop and lock
the camera so that the photo next photo I take there is *exactly the
same as the previous one I took.

This is not plausible with conventional camera stands. So I'm trying
to decide on the best metal to make the moving parts out of. A metal
that will best retain it's dimensions under changing temperature
conditions.

To start. Would cast Iron be a plausible candidate?

Is the camera itself stable? how big is it, how long are the exposures,
how much does the camera weigh, what time frame does it take to take 180
exposures?