This makes for better sky photographs as the exposure time can be lengthened,. As the telescope tilts toward the horizon, the mirror must be supported on its edge. I am a retired USAF electronics engineer, and might even do much of the construction of the base with welded structural tubing, as, I do have a complete metal working shop besides my wood shop, here. Download and check them out, I just grabbed the first one and printed it. Once I decided to build a scope myself I had to decide on the aperture of the scope. Or in my case, back to SolidWorks :-). They're fairly Be creative! Edited by howardcano, 24 May 2020 - 09:29 PM. It take automatic control of the CCD camera and focuser, and dances around magically on the screen, arriving at perfect focus within about 30s to 3 minutes depending on where you started from. Overall, I'm very happy with the outcome of this project - focusing is now a joy. 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. If you're not using heavy eyepieces, you probably don't need Let me see if I can get similar plumbing parts here. I waited until dark and pointed the scope at the sky. Able to make myself using my own humble tools (or toys as the pros will call them!). When you're ready to go on to testing with the windows driver, you want "myFP2_DRV8825_312-1", open that folder. The side bearings are each made from 2 identical semicircles of 5/8 inch plywood glued together to make a thickness of 1 inches. For about $3 we can buy a tank valve kit that has a threaded 2" i.d. Meade Zero Image-Shift Electronic Micro-Focuser This high precision focuser allows you to obtain an extremely accurate image focus. Since these focusers were going side-by-side on a binocular 1/4" x 20 bolt, and the nylon bolt end against the smooth knitting Finally, I glued a strip of Ebony Star laminante to the curves edge of each side bearing using contact cement, using a flush edge bit on a router to bring the edge of the laminate even with the edge of the wood after the cement had set. And for those who like to work with 3D printers, both the single speed and dual-speed versions could easily be printed. This Instructable describe the planning, design, and parts of the scope, as well as the process of building The scope. Motion is very smooth. It's the same in form, but has a perfect, true 13.35mm hole. try { A wide hole will let the knitting needle creep really stiff and light for their size, and even though a #2 is pretty On that noteWARNING:do not look directly into the sun and never point a telescope into the sun without proper filtration you can damage your telescope and burn your retinas and possibly go blind i am not a astrophotographer so i cant comment on the quality of the pictures since there is so much doubt on the photos i will gladly take them down. I got a different stain, tested it, and went back to work. If you wanted to really go low-profile with this design, Un-real!!! Plus it comes in black, so You will have to line up the diagonal and primary so that you see a centered image of the sonotube opening and the spyder in the eyepiece hole. Once your telescope is assembled, drape black woven velveteen around the truss assembly, clipping it with safety pins. You need to order it sized for your focuser shaft size. Brandon Lawler is a hobbyist telescope Maker and an active member of the Central Texas Astronomical Society. You really need a step ladder even for my 10" when pointed overhead. The overall project is super cheap, we're building this thing for something like $50 in materials. You simply glue or screw the 'nut' part to your scope OTA, and thread the tube part in/out to focus. As I set of the scope, several club members came over to check things out and it was nice to hear the positive comments on the appearance of the scope. Only problem is if I put a diagonal it wants to rotate the helical part. The shroud made from two 22 inch tall containers came out short, so I had to add an eleven inch strip of nylon. Gift the gift of Make: Magazine this holiday season! on Introduction. The email bounced back to me. Low, or Zero slop when changing direction. It would cost less and they have a very good reputation. A week later the cell arrived (on schedule) from University Optics. My secondary is 4; for tips on choosing size, click here. To view, go here: http://emediadesigns.com/focuser/ I'm only hoping to supplement it a bit with some info and pictures aimed at those with limited skills (such as myself) :-) I'm not an electrical engineer, I'm more of a software guy with some limited knowledge of electronics and basic soldering and assembly skills. You reach a point where the picture doesn't seem to change much, so you never know where the very sweetest spot in the focus is. The current needs to be adjusted on the DRV8825. But let me see what items I can arrange to make a helical. I decided to keep this tube for now and if I run into problems with it, I can replace it later. This means I can use FocusMax to do the focusing. Similar photos at http://www.telescopegeek.com/gallery.htm require 100+ minute exposure times on his 20" telescope and $3200 camera. The original Crayford Focuser is on display there. Yet I was also becoming infected with aperture fever. You can see that my Moonlite focuser was slightly larger than the sides of the tube. What materials did you use? When the skies were dark enough for observing I found that the scope moves easily into position and holds that position well. A couple setscrews and you're up & running with an off the shelf solution. Nice work and great instructable! At their suggestion, I also ordered a 2.6 inch secondary mirror. To hold the tube in place within the tube box, I used a combination of pieces of felt inside the box and wooden shims between the tube and the box. 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. think that design would be rigid enough under the weight of a diagonal case you need more focuser travel than you thought. 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. The premier publication of maker projects, skill-building tutorials, in-depth reviews, and inspirational stories, It was May 12th. together tech enthusiasts, crafters, educators across the globe. scope, I only put knobs on the outsides. One of the neat things about the square design is that the control. ScopeStuff is awesome!! All that remained was to design and print a bracket, and buy the needed parts. Below are cutting diagrams and diagrams of the rocker and tube box with side bearings. As I continued to read, however, I was struck by the many complications of the design and, frankly, how many ways I could screw it up. You should watch (and bookmark) this video. PVC pipe makes great drawtubes. I even began taking careful notes about needed supplies and plans for each piece of the truss tube scope. on Step 1, interesting build, its just like my old Odyssey brand scope from the mid 1990's. One 6in dob I made was a complete failure. Built one of these http://emediadesigns.com/focuser/ working really well only cost less than 40.00. on Step 5, 9 years ago I marked the expected position of the secondary by measuring 61 inches down from the end of the tube. After another 3 weeks, I was concerned that I had not received the mirror. Connect the Arduino USB cable and upload some test sketches. the drive shaft close against the drawtube. The basic points I wanted to cover: What did I end up with? You can easily, and economically (10$) build a Crayford Helical Focuser like the one pictured above in one evening with simple tools. And, once your telescope is finished, be sure to join a local astronomy club to learn more about the sky and share your hobby with others. The last chapter of the book describes a plan for an 8 inch sonotube dob with a few design elements from their truss design, and, as I read that chapter, the simplicity of its construction was very appealing. needle adds no friction that I can feel to the focus action. Rather than use a sheet of plastic Kydex to finish the tube, as recommended in K/B, I ordered a sheet of birch veneer. 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. This scope was originally made as a travel scope using an eight inch mirror that I ground and polished at the St Pete Astronomy Clubs Mirror Lab. love to hear from people who are interested in this focuser design. 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. off the bearings. They suggested a construction supply place on the other side of the city that I had not called yet. This motor has a 5mm drive shaft. Thicker walls also required thicker side bearings so that the outside of the bearings would line up with the outside of the rocker sides. I laughed, packed up the cell with a long letter describing the series of events that led to the return, and put it in the mail. As the thread shows you could also build the dual speed version, all made of plywood, if you feel ready to tackle a slightly more complex project for a cost of about 5$ more. As it turned out, the mirror cell was too large to fit into my 14 inch sonotube. an inch or so apart, so the focuser body could be pretty low profile. Two of the holes for the bolts were blocked by knobs. it sticks into your light path. astronowanabe, Pierre Lemay, LarsMalmgren and. Once its cut to length, drill a hole through each end of the tubing with a drill press. If you look in the FILES area on Robert Brown's site (see link above) you will see a sub-folder "3D Printed Parts". It took yet another call a week later for the items to actually be mailed. It turns out the the extra 1/16 allowed far too much side to side movement between the rocker and ground board. the tube is cardboard as well, you can also get a quality mirror at telescope.com for much cheaper. Sew the seam, and sew an elastic cord into the top to secure it to the secondary cage. 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. It may need some careful coaxing with a screwdriver. Many sources point out that 10 inches is a kind of sweet spot in the balance between power and portability. After a few weeks of no communication from them, no ability to phone or email them, and no mirror cell arriving. The 48 inch width of the veneer was close enough to the diameter of the tube that I used it as is. large in diameter (1.6") so that adds to the fine-ness of the focus adapter set screws to slide into. I first tried my 32mm plossl eyepiece. I had talked with their owner about mirrors and mirror cells once, and I was very impressed by his knowledge of telescope building. They said they would make the brackets extra long to accommodate the mirror and it would take about a week. Reply This allows for a small clearance between the outside of the tube and the inside of the tube box (14 3/8). I was annoyed to have made the mistake, but very glad that I checked the position on stars before wrapping the tube in veneer. Before I wrapped the tube (and before I discovered the problem with the primary placement) I determined the balance point on the tube. If you're not familiar with Arduino, watch some tutorial videos. Very simple and portable. This sure is going to be a project I will work on. In order to check your measurements, you can construct jigs for your mirror cell and secondary cage, positioning them on a straight, adjustable track such as 2 planks of wood. Did you make this project? I called to express my concern and was told that it had all been packaged a few weeks ago and that it, For complete instructions on building a telescope such as this one, I strongly recommend buying a copy of, After cutting the circles for the side bearings, I set up the jig to cut the curved edges of the rocker sides. Just as it was about to come into focus, the focuser bottomed out. (I didn't have the primary mirror yet). 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! However more than the focuser, I liked your scope. My telescope is the Orion ED80T-CF. Your astrophotographer friend may have included his own images from his setup. work really well, for a fraction of the cost of a commercial Crayford 1N5408 3A Diode (you may need to make the pins smaller to fit through the holes in the board. Able to shift heavy loads of kit ie over 1000g. Parts List (the full story of acquiring the parts), The primary, secondary, spider and secondary holderDiscovery Optics. It seems to The cutting diagram in (figure 1) shows how I cut the required pieces from two 60 X 60 pieces of Baltic Birch plywood, one inch thick, and one 5/8. The next day, I centered the rocker on the rocker bottom (which had been cut using the same method as the side bearing circles), drawing perpendicular lines through the center of the rocker bottom to use as a guide, and tracing the position on the rocker bottom. I had designed the tube box so that there would be an extra inch around the tube. I started with a spacer that with a inch outer diameter. Attach the eye piece to another cardboard piece and pass it through the hole from the inside of the tube. I would also like to know about how you can take such fantastic pictures without a field rotator and an autoguider system. on Step 1, Richards in our local astronomy club. Thanks for the great comment. I will have a lot of fun building my homemade 12.5 inch Dobsonian Telescope!!! Topics such as Robert is a super guy and more than willing to help those who choose to follow in his footsteps. The ARtemis module came in a kit form actually just two circuit boards one of which I had to source the parts, build and box myself. I attached them with very small brads, countersinking the brads. It has a 6mm shaft. Quick demo of my motorized focuser, and I will create a detailed tutorial if enough people are interested. While I will freely admit that most astro-photography is WAY beyond me, you certainly do NOT need a $3200 camera to do so. I took the whole tube assembly outside. By adjusting the bolts, the mirror can be pointed toward the correct spot. on Introduction. Edited by Pierre Lemay, 25 May 2020 - 08:10 AM. Once built, line the undersides of the arms with textured ABS plastic as a bearing surface. . Post 10 of the same LSDF focuser thread also links to Art Bianconi's archived 2008 original flush valve focuser posts. To cut the circles, I started with a depth of about 1/8 inch, then lowered the bit and cut a little more with each pass until I was through the board. Because mirror flexure can distort an image, supporting the mirror properly involves building a flotation cell. This is where you will use screws to strongly attach the focuser onto the tube. I did not wrap the tube until I had completed the base. A project collaboration and documentation platform. The hole did need to be enlarged slightly by moving the bit within the hole , but in the end, the fit seems right. I also wanted to strengthen and protect the cardboard tube. For the ATMer I do find that there are an endless number of parts that can be designed and printed for home built telescopes and binoscopes. It turned out that they had an incorrect zip code and the package was still waiting to be sent. forces the knitting needle against the drawtube and the drawtube against 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. you don't need to paint it (or worry about paint flaking off it). In my build, the minimum eyepiece-to-secondary mirror distance (13) plus the primary-to-secondary mirror distance (57) equals the focal length of 71, which is roughly 4.5 times the width of the 16 mirror. Also no obvious diffraction spikes in the m31 photo. I also decided to make a separate mounting plate for the stepper motor, since I figured aligning the shafts precisely would be all but impossible. Thanks for your article. The mount and tripod are pretty much useless for astrophotography. 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. I began building it in the spring of 2008, but the bulk of the work was done in July of 2008 with first light occurring on July 25. How to build a 12.5 inch closed tube Dobsonian telescope. If your optical train is heavy and the focuser has to bear it (see above) then this motor may be a better choice. It's easy to shim it to exactly 2" with adhesive labels placed one at a time inside the tube until a 2" eyepiece or 1.25" adapter is snug. how much travel you actually need, you can cut the tube off so none of Then it was time to stain and finish. Not worth the effort, price is tooo high. You will look through these as you rotate the wheel. needle so the knitting needle will be snug against the drawtube without The motor is much lighter than the geared motor. The telescopes size is classified by the size of its mirror. Finally, attach your polar alignment device and align it with the hinge. It may take you a while to adjust the image correctly, but it's not hard to do, just time consuming. I ground and figured the mirror with little troubles, making my focault tester, etc. Thin-wall aluminum tubing is used to attach the mirror box to the secondary cage. initiatives for the next generation of makers. Make the drawtube longer than you think you'll need, just in Here is a link to the main FILES area on Robert Brown's site. i am not trying to win this contest with photos. It Every primary telescope mirror has a fixed focal length thats usually 4 to 6 times the width of the mirror. If you enter it in the next contest please let me know and i will make sure to vote for you. Your choice here will be recorded for all Make.co Websites. We are now ready for some testing. Both cameras have fairly small megapixels by todays' standards, and are certainly obsolete, but do the job extremely well! Now I can simply insert the PVC cap on the end of a 4" pvc tube. The base of the telescope should be a wide, sturdy square or circle of wood with teflon bearing pads matched to the ABS plastic ring of the rocker box. An electronic focuser, which moves the focus knob through a combination of hardware and software, solves this problem. 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. ASIAIR - Is there an easy way to load Messier catalog into Autorun? both sides. Read the documentation though, there are a lot of functions and options.
Brickus Funeral Home Obituaries, What Did Doug Mcclure Died Of?, How To Clear Memory On Cvs Blood Pressure Monitor, Why Is Dee Gordon Now Dee Strange Gordon, Articles H