Z axis variations

Now I can actually move around and scratch things with the probe I'm noticing an awful lot of variation in the Z axis. Whenever I move to a new bit of the slide, the height is out. I don't know if this is just the setup I have, or if it's a thing with the delta stage in general.

However, I've got a lot of data and micron-scale experience from the delta stage. Time to move on to the XYZ stage that has a smaller work area (4x4x2mm) but higher accuracy. Allegedly down to 250nm. That'll take a while to do, so I'll be playing with the delta for a bit longer while I sort it out. The good news is that the XYZ stage should work with standard 3D printer firmware and I can ditch a lot of the more painful delta work.

So there are a few things I still want to explore with the delta, mostly involving photopolymer resin tests. I have resin, and a 3W UV lamp is on order. I doubt I'll break any resolution records in the initial tests, but if I can make objects smaller than a millimetre that don't look like a jellyfish I'll be happy.