It turns out the the extra 1/16 allowed far too much side to side movement between the rocker and ground board. I was annoyed to have made the mistake, but very glad that I checked the position on stars before wrapping the tube in veneer. Fire up focusmax, and shoot some images! Shorter thread side will be used to attach the eyepiece. That's pretty much the focuser. So I was looking for a cheap, light-but-sturdy design for a I did not glue the bearings to the tube box in case I needed to adjust the position later. widening the hole. These are mounted 120 degrees apart and use 4 inexpensive bearings to support the tube. Keeping with the 'simple ' part of your request, here is a helical 2"/1.25" focuser made from std plumbing parts. Some of these are essential for the basic functionalities of our websites. love to hear from people who are interested in this focuser design. Helical is one of the option i am considering. (A badly tilted focuser may subtly alter the illumination pattern of the focal plane to a degree that would be impossible to perceive visually but that's about it.) It would cost less and they have a very good reputation. Feel free to take on that part if you like, but you're on your own :-). I was inspired to build telescopes during a trip out to McDonald Observatory in west Texas, where I saw a 36 fork-mounted telescope, tiny in comparison to the huge research telescopes at the site. This motor has a larger shaft diameter (8mm) and is quite a bit heavier overall than the direct drive motor, mainly because of the gearbox. Instead of the rack and pinion, they have a smooth spring-loaded shaft which holds the focus tube against four opposing bearing surfaces, and controls its movement. Once I had my design set, I was ready to buy the parts. A 10 inch scope would not be very much longer or heavier than my 6 inch, yet it would allow me to see much more. Building the mirror box is tricky, because the entire optical assembly (mirror cell, mirror box, trusses, secondary cage) must balance at the center of rotation of the arms. My telescope is the Orion ED80T-CF. The drawings are only approximately to scale. A Pocket Sundial From a Broken Pocket Watch! We all know the problems with focusing. To glue the side bearings and rocker sides to full thickness, I covered a side with wood glue, then carefully lined up the pieces and put two small nails into the pieces to hold them in place. That is dirt cheap compared to the cost of commercially available focusers, which can top $1000 and are much heavier than what we will build. The specific hardware used for this is described on the Building page. Use the externalMirror Edge Support Calculatorto decide whether to use a two-point, four-point (whiffletree), or sling support. The focuser shaft on the telescope is 13.1mm in diameter. Before you do this, the stepper motor will probably move, but it will make a 'stuttering' sound instead of moving smoothly. You won't need to write any sketches from scratch, but you will at least need to figure out how to upload them to the Nano. I called to express my concern and was told that it had all been packaged a few weeks ago and that it should have been sent. Using a compass I drew circles on the top and bottom of the ground board to mark the inside and outside of the teflon ring on the bottom of the rocker bottom. Nice work and great instructable! This extra space would allow the tube to be repositioned within the tube box to rotate the eyepiece or balance the tube. Slide the eyepiece into the focuser and try it out. I tried to call, but the voice mail had a recording stating that the customer was unable to receive messages. Showcasing amazing maker projects of 2022. I centered the focuser 8 inches from the top of the tube, using a 2.5 inch hole drilling saw with smaller holes for the bolts that would hold the focuser. To get this arc, I actually moved the radius of the jig, At some point in the building process, my goal became to finish the scope by RocheStar Fest, an annual event of the. I didn't receive any confirmation email after a few days, so I tried to send them an email. That way you won't be dropping your drawtube and 10 years ago Their step by step instructions were invaluable to me as I built this scope. The arc at the top of the sides needed to have a radius 1/8 inch larger than that of the side bearings to account for the thickness of the teflon pads that would fit between. I did not own all of the tools that I needed for this project, particularly a table saw and router, so I did a lot of work while visiting my Dad. Ideally, the spacer would be 1 inch long and have a smaller diameter, but I didn't get this one right the first time. an inch or so apart, so the focuser body could be pretty low profile. I found out pretty quickly that building my own telescope would only be a bargain if I made my own mirror and mechanical parts. The current needs to be adjusted on the DRV8825. It has reminded me of one of my long term aims to make a telescope that has been buried by the demands of the rest of my life! My plan for wrapping the tube seemed good, but I am not too pleased with the final result. To do this, the mirror cell needs to be supported by 3 large bolts, at least 2 of which are adjustable. Using a compass, I drew lines for the inside and outside of the Ebony Star ring on the top and bottom of the rocker bottom. Fairly easy to build and could be adapted to suit any SCT focuser. I was finishing this inner debate when I got a copy of the book The Dobsonian Telescope by Kriege and Berry as a Christmas gift. The diameter of the focuser is usually indicated in inches. Please re-enable javascript to access full functionality. Built one of these http://emediadesigns.com/focuser/ working really well only cost less than 40.00. The mirror cell: University Optics (eventually). The box should be deep enough to allow the mirror box to swing all the way down. A neet site: http://www.astropix.com/HTML/I_ASTROP/CAMERAS.HTM Cool instructable, Dude! In the sub-folder "Cases" you will see many variants of the case for the DRV8825 based focusers. We were careful to press out any bubbles as we went, but when the job was done we found that there were multiple bubbles in the veneer. This motor is available on Amazon. By adjusting the bolts, the mirror can be pointed toward the correct spot. pageTracker._trackPageview(); stronger, but would give me a coarser focus action because of their This is not recommended for shared computers. This means you lose much of the night's images. I drilled holes for the screws that avoided the location of the ring, and attached the rocker bottom. The focuser 'knob' on the Celestron is just a rubber sleeve that usually pulls off easily. See above, this motor does not produce a lot of torque, but you don't need much for this application since there is no 'load' on the focusing shaft. If not, you may need to design and print your own bracket(s), gears, and so on. With an outer diameter of 14 3/16, I cut the Tube Box sides 15 5/8 and 14 5/8slightly less than my extra inch extra on each side. I suppose that one could complete this project without these two tools, but it would be difficult to cut the pieces accurately enough for a good fit. The sides were attached with wood glue and clamps with a few small brads to hold everything in place. on Step 1, interesting build, its just like my old Odyssey brand scope from the mid 1990's. Unbelievable! It doesn't. A tilted focuser will have no effect on the image quality. Until I see photos of this scope setup for these pictures and an explanation of the exact equipment used, I cannot believe that these pictures were taken with this OTA. You will look through these as you rotate the wheel. You need some purple bits Thanks for your article. I will get good 30-40 mm focusing range. Measure twice, drill While a sling or whiffletree provide the best edge support, a two-point edge support is much easier to construct. Page 1 of 2 - DIY focuser design - posted in ATM, Optics and DIY Forum: Hi I am working on a diy focuser design for my 6 F/8 telescope and asking suggestions for simple focuser. Remember: It is the quality and SIZE of the capture chip, NOT the megapixels that determines quality. Did you make this project? His project is very well documented. that is a great website that guy has some fantastic photos. Headers for the LEDs, buzzer (2-pin) and temperature probe (3-pin). For a while I decided that 10 inch would be the best size. After cutting the circles for the side bearings, I set up the jig to cut the curved edges of the rocker sides. I even began taking careful notes about needed supplies and plans for each piece of the truss tube scope. As the telescope tilts toward the horizon, the mirror must be supported on its edge. Slewing to find an object and then tracking an object on the sky, so when you make a homemade telescope on the motorisation process you will need high speed for slewing and low speed for tracking or fine movements. Link to the motor speed controller kit:http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=KC5225(a 5K external potentiometer will be required): http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=RP3508The drive motor:http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=YG2734The gears:http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=YG2736The motor forward/reverse switch:http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=ST0506The push button:http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=SP0711 The extra force will also As the authors describe the benefits of a truss design, it is hard to dispute their arguments. Edited by Pierre Lemay, 25 May 2020 - 08:10 AM. Also no obvious diffraction spikes in the m31 photo. The blue pieces of the rocker box and ground board are arranged as in the diagrams in (figure 2). If you found some good surplus lenses, you will have made a stunningly good objective for your scope. on my binocular scope for quite a while now and really like them. I welded mine from steel square tubing. Other supplies that I bought for this project include wood, various bits of hardware, stain and finishing supplies, and a circle cutting jig for a router. a "rubbery" feel. I have built a homemade electric focuser for my Celestron 8SE using a radio control hobby servo and some spare parts. a 3/4" thickness. knitting needle where it goes through the hole, so it's not a big deal, Both cameras have fairly small megapixels by todays' standards, and are certainly obsolete, but do the job extremely well! This allowed me to cut perfect identical circles. Bore out some 2.5 inch bar and mill a flat down the side making sure it is lined up. This is where you will use screws to strongly attach the focuser onto the tube. Rock Paper Scissors Using Tinkercad Circuits and Arduino, Punchy the MECH & the Autonomous Fight Club, Soft-sensor-saurus | an E-textile Soft Sensor Soft Toy With LED Light. Electronics and software automate the process of taking pictures. Deep space photos like these require HOURS of exposure for each one. What materials did you use? I have several of the books on building a Dobsonian Telescope. This resulted in a gear that wasn't true and "wobbled" a bit. Another vote for Pierre's helical Crayford design. I have already seen some designs on CN, Stellafane and web but still checking if someone has recently made anything simpler. When they arrived, they were beautifully and carefully packaged with the secondary already installed in its holder. Just as it was about to come into focus, the focuser bottomed out. Thank you for your pages. In the "ARDUINO FIRMWARE" folder, in it you will find a ZIP file "myFP2-Firmware 312-1.zip". i got a email that someone built a telescope close to mine that has seen the stuff in the photos here is a link to his site http://www.synapticsystems.com/sky/scopes/Dob.htmlif i seem a bit rude please forgive me i just spent 12hrs in a plane i have jetlag and im sitting in a airport.i would like to thank lvlasertech for keeping this instructable lively and informative. Look down through the empty focuser. It has become an indispensable piece of equipment for me that so beats hacking and filing PVC pipes etc. For complete instructions on building a telescope such as this one, I strongly recommend buying a copy of The Dobsonian Telescope by David Kriege and Richard Berry. Homemade astronomy. The base and the rocker box in my telescope are secured with a skate bearing assembly but could be more simply attached with a bolt through the center. I do it with aluminium alloy, aluminium tube and nice work. It uses a primary mirror to capture and reflect light, a secondary mirror to direct light into an eyepiece, and a focuser to make fine adjustments for viewing. rod for the drive axle it would have a fairly fine motion. I got no response to phone calls or emails after another week, and decided to wait until the primary would be finished in another two weeks. Before I wrapped the tube (and before I discovered the problem with the primary placement) I determined the balance point on the tube. The plastic will ride on teflon pads, creating just enough traction for the telescope to avoid sliding on its own while not making it too difficult to point at things in the sky. Brandon Lawler is a hobbyist telescope Maker and an active member of the Central Texas Astronomical Society. This means I can use FocusMax to do the focusing. the bearings right at the edge of the frame, reducing the frame to forces the knitting needle against the drawtube and the drawtube against you don't need to paint it (or worry about paint flaking off it). The hole is made slightly larger than the shaft, this is normal. This motor has a 5mm drive shaft. Obviously an open truss telescope. This cost around $100 to build and all of the components came from Jaycar, except the brackets which were made with 1.2mm sheet metal. This software creates a model of your telescope by measuring out of focus star sizes at various points. The day I received the refund, I ordered a mirror cell from University Optics. The wood would cost the same, as would pretty much everything except the mirror, so why not spend a little more on the mirror and go BIG. Crayford-style design with four bearings and one driveshaft. I decided to keep this tube for now and if I run into problems with it, I can replace it later. Download and unzip. When you add the minimum distance from the eyepiece to the secondary mirror together with the distance from the secondary mirror to the primary, the total length should be the primary mirrors focal length. You currently have javascript disabled. Meade Zero Image-Shift Electronic Micro-Focuser This high precision focuser allows you to obtain an extremely accurate image focus. More commercial crayford focusers are of a more enclosed form, whereas mine is more "open frame" approach. After the second call, I received a response that it would be ready at the end of the following week. The silly colours are mainly due to me experimenting with various clothes dyes in the anodising. To get a slide-fit in a 3D printed part, you normally make the hole 0.5mm larger than the shaft. The version number "312" here may change if Robert posts new firmware. and an eyepiece. But by this time I had thought about building my own scope for several weeks, and getting one off the shelf seemed pretty boring by comparison! When you're ready to go on to testing with the windows driver, you want "myFP2_DRV8825_312-1", open that folder. It is size 1.25 inch with a clear inside dia-meter. try { But -- you have to be careful that the mechanism is true and the motor does not have a load on it at any time, otherwise it will 'stall' and stop moving. Sonotube (14 inch diameter, 12 feet long): $70, Focuser (GSO 2 speed low profile Crayford): $139, Total cost for supplies for this project: $1700. This is the first telescope that I have built. The kit just contains the electronics - it is up to the user to find a stepper motor and attach it to their own telescope focuser. In addition, we use third-party cookies to help us analyze and understand usage. If your optical train is heavy and the focuser has to bear it (see above) then this motor may be a better choice. I didn't bother reading his whole article to figure out what f/# he used) I am not trying to say that good AP isn't possible with a sonotube scope, (the 'friend' may very well have pulled it out of the dob mount, added rings and a dovetail, and mounted it on his CGE-Pro or comparable) but in this case it is unlikely.". A smart collection of books, magazines, electronics kits, robots, microcontrollers, tools, supplies, and more
LVLaserTech is right please do not vote for the pictures my instructable is for the build of the telescope not the quality of the photos.and as i said before i was not there is there a possibility that he sent me the wrong photos sure is there a possibility that he used a different mount than the one i saw sure is there a possibility that he is lying to me me about what he did sure. Fast forward a few months to the next time I had the tube outside. You will need to order one sized for your telescope's focuser shaft size. Finally, attach your polar alignment device and align it with the hinge. once. I was concerned that it would be difficult to find, but I was able to order it from a local woodworking shop. The side bearings are each made from 2 identical semicircles of 5/8 inch plywood glued together to make a thickness of 1 inches. he might just have a $3200 camera, they aren't very hard to come by. Along with some silver bits I had talked with their owner about mirrors and mirror cells once, and I was very impressed by his knowledge of telescope building. I want to make this direct drive system work. on Step 5, After much debit and doubt i have taken the photos down cause i cannot be 100% sure that they were taking from my scope as i was not there to verify them and i do not want my contest entry to be based on photos and not the build process. I feel it is a wonderful thing to free oneself from the "store-bought" world, as Tombaugh did, and to use your imagination and skills to develop your own, personal way of viewing the sky. on Introduction. DO NOT drill out the holes in the board! I had nearly completed the base and put things together for the first time. Since there is no drill bit that exactly matches the 13.1mm of the shaft, I had to do some rough enlargement of the hole. It was May 12th. Able to make myself using my own humble tools (or toys as the pros will call them!) Plus it comes in black, so I attached three feet equally spaced on top of the ring, and on the opposite side attached teflon pads 1 X 1 directly above the feet using very small brads and countersinking the brads below the surface of the teflon. PhotoPictureResizer_190723_214534574_crop_2558x3105_copy_1023x1242.jpg. Unfortunately I don't have a 3d printer. They eyepiece height ended up being about 5'10" high at zenith. I had some carboy caps that make good knobs. It took yet another call a week later for the items to actually be mailed. Drawing lines between opposite corners of the tube box sides allowed me to locate the center point on each side. I had chosen a boxy, rigid design for the binocular scope, so Depending on your telescope, one of the Brackets that Robert has may work for you. Another thing, the resolution on the Dumbell nebula seems a bit too high for that telescope. I also wanted to strengthen and protect the cardboard tube. Install on Windows 10, this part is pretty straightforward. I waited until dark and pointed the scope at the sky. I hate focusing. on Step 1, Richards in our local astronomy club. They suggested a construction supply place on the other side of the city that I had not called yet. But, like many of you I'm sure, the biggest reason I'm doing this is for the pure geeky fun of it! Given any mirror measurements, PLOP will provide the ideal support layout and how much distortion to expect for any number of flotation points. Edited by sunrag, 28 May 2020 - 10:44 PM. knob, and a drill press to make sure the hole for the knitting needle These will be stored in your browser only with your consent and you have the option to opt-out. I particularly like that the design can be integrated directly into the focuser board to make a very, very simple UTA. I then ran a bead of glue on the mark, and after it dried I cut out the nylon up to the glue. Perfect for visual observations with very heavy mirrors. After the pieces were glued together, I used a belt sander to smooth out any rough edges, being careful to keep both rocker sides and both side bearings exactly the same. During on-site assembly, attach each truss to its mounting T-nut using a bolt with a thumbscrew knob. OK, no, I do not have a homemade Crayford focuser but am planning to build a 3 incher for next years 17" reflector telescope project and to hold my new 30mm ES 100 degree EP. Most of these have one or two set screws. the tube is cardboard as well, you can also get a quality mirror at telescope.com for much cheaper. If you're not using heavy eyepieces, you probably don't need Well, it sort of looks like a focuser.. See pictures below. I built mine entirely from CNC-cut plywood, and fastened it together with 2 bolts. curated by us, the people behind Make: and the Maker Faire. The balance point determines the height of the rocker sides, so I had to get this far before I cut the wood for the base. on Step 5. This Instructable describe the planning, design, and parts of the scope, as well as the process of building The scope. The scope including the optics, truss tubes, and eye pieces all stored in a single box making it easy to store and transport by car, but it was a little too big to fit in the overhead compartment or under the seat on most aircraft. The cell from Anttler's, for which I had received a refund, had arrived. The focuser is the part of the telescope that holds the eyepiece or camera, and by moving in or out, closer or farther from the . Before finishing the tube with a wrap of veneer, I wanted to make sure that the primary was in the correct position. I gave them a call and they said they had one on the shelf14 inches in diameter and 12 feet long! corners of the squares provide nice nooks for the eyepiece and eyepiece Coupler for NEMA-17 Stepper Motor (also two choices, see below), LM7808 Voltage Regulator with TO-220 package -, Mini On/Off 3-pin 2-position slide switch -, Headers and wire (miscellaneous sizes and gauges), these are important so you can replace the component if it is damaged, LM7808 voltage regulator w/TO-220 heat sink package, 2-pin headers for 12V power and on/off switch. eyepiece on the ground (or worse, on your primary mirror!) A Pocket Sundial From a Broken Pocket Watch! It interfaces to the computer via USB and comes with an ASCOM driver. The cage should be a hollow cylinder about wider than the mirror, with the focuser mounted directly facing the secondary mirror. I told them to take their time and get it right. I decided to order a mirror cell from them because the owner had talked about a new cell he was excited about. If you follow the procedures described above, your telescope's optics will be perfectly aligned. A week after they said they would send the secondary and other parts, I called to ask if things had been sent. on Step 5, 9 years ago My DIY Motorized Telescope Focuser - YouTube I use a 3D printer and an old gear motor to create an electronic telescope focuser.This is my first attempt at voiceover, I'm using a headset. microcontrollers including Arduino and Raspberry Pi, Drones and 3D Printing, and more. document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); New Creation Tamil 6.96K subscribers Welcome to New Creation Tamil Our Channel include of Guiding Videos: 1.DIY Projects 2.Awesome Ideas 3.Tips You are inter with New Creation Tamil you can enjoy. half cocked judy diemon dave, nfl director of player personnel salary,