I had talked with their owner about mirrors and mirror cells once, and I was very impressed by his knowledge of telescope building. too far. I do have another tube that can be used around the drawtube, but it doesn't really add anything. Electronics and software automate the process of taking pictures. 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. 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. 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. Connect the Arduino USB cable and upload some test sketches. Im quite happy with the result, and the view in its large mirror is phenomenal. If the telescope rotates forward or backward on its own, then the mirror box is too deep or too shallow. Let me see if I can get similar plumbing parts here. I am using scrap upvc pipe material. Deep space photos like these require HOURS of exposure for each one. Let me see if I am able to collect all the parts needed. Share a cool tool or product with the community. Another thing, the resolution on the Dumbell nebula seems a bit too high for that telescope. So I decided to make my own, using my normal "blunder in naively and see what happens" approach to making things. 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. I drilled holes for the screws that avoided the location of the ring, and attached the rocker bottom. Home centers and hardware stores did not carry large sizes. I wanted a tight / press fit, so I only added half that, 0.25mm. Focuser (GSO 2 speed low profile Crayford): $139 Ebony star strips: 2 @ $10 Ebony star ring: $59 Teflon strip: $11 Telrad base: $10 Baltic Birch " sheet (60X60): $42 Baltic Birch 5/8" sheet (60X60): $48 Circle cutting jig: $30 Birch Veneer (4X8 piece): $65 Hardware, stain, other supplies: $80 Total cost for supplies for this project: $1700 I don't *do* pretty. The side bearings are each made from 2 identical semicircles of 5/8 inch plywood glued together to make a thickness of 1 inches. 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. tube and nut that fits the outside threads. 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. Thanks for your article. A free program that lights childrens creative fires and allows them to explore projects in areas such as arts & Edited by howardcano, 24 May 2020 - 09:29 PM. I had designed the tube box so that there would be an extra inch around the tube. Sh2-169 and Sh2-168, IC5146 Cocoon Nebula, Caldwell 19, Sh 2-125. Using plywood, make 4 attachment blocks to pair the trusses together and create a small ledge for the secondary cage to rest on while you secure it. The next day, I called back to ask their opinion about the kind of spider and secondary holder to order. At this point, the scope was pretty much finished. Total cost for supplies for this project: It took a lot longer than I expected to receive my mirror and other parts from Discovery. widening the hole. A bit of a monster! At their suggestion, I also ordered a 2.6 inch secondary mirror. I placed my telrad, optical finder, and an eyepiece on the focuser end of the tube and, using a broomstick as a balance point, found that the tube balanced 22 inches from the bottom. Above youll find an interactive 3D rendering of the Sketchup file I used to design and cut all of the parts for my telescope. 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. Helical is one of the option i am considering. And you can tell it's not a mosaic because the stars at the corners show coma/field curvature artifacts. I've been using the above pair forces the knitting needle against the drawtube and the drawtube against surfaces to put the bearings in and a vee at the bottom that would hold var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-1008534-4"); Well, it sort of looks like a focuser.. See pictures below. The wide square footprint would make it pretty stable when mounted to The cage should be a hollow cylinder about wider than the mirror, with the focuser mounted directly facing the secondary mirror. I was still doing some construction on the morning of the event, but I succeeded in making first light on that clear, dark night in late July. ScopeStuff is awesome!! the drive shaft close against the drawtube. 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. you could probably space the bearings 3/4" apart instead of 1" and mount needle so the knitting needle will be snug against the drawtube without While round tubing is sturdy, square tubing is easier to work with. } catch(err) {}, SH-232 Sharpless sh-232, sh-231, sh-233, sh-235, NGC2174 Monkey Head Nebula, Sharpless 252, Sh2-252, HDW3 Hartl-Dengel-Weinberger 3 PN G149.4-09.2, SH-198 Sharpless 198, Soul Nebula, IC1848, NGC281 IC11, Sharpless Sh2-184, Pacman Nebula, SH2-173 SH2-173 Phantom of the Opera LBN 593, SH2-168 Sharpless HII regions. - Bill. Perfect for astrophotography or during high power planetary observation. When I looked at the costs, I seriously considered buying an Orion telescope instead of building my own. It is used to setup water outlet from overhead water tanks. Measure twice, drill I drilled the holes in the center of the ground board and rocker bottom using a 9/16 bit, thinking that I needed the extra 1/16 so that the spacer could move. Before you do this, the stepper motor will probably move, but it will make a 'stuttering' sound instead of moving smoothly. But who cares, really? Depending on your telescope, one of the Brackets that Robert has may work for you. 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. control. They use a simple plywood mirror cell, stating that for an 8 inch mirror this cell will be adequate. weight. I redrilled the holes for the mirror cell and got ready to wrap it. I waited until dark and pointed the scope at the sky. I tried all of my other eyepieces and found that I could bring the image into focus in the other eyepieces, but it was very near the bottom of the focuser travel. adapter set screws to slide into. I was certain not to move the jig at all before cutting the second circle. I also wanted to buy the other mechanical partsmirror cell, spider, secondary holder, and focuserso that the performance of these pieces was not limited by my skills. I 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. corners of the squares provide nice nooks for the eyepiece and eyepiece Once I had my design set, I was ready to buy the parts. Drill the holes for the knitting Edited by Pierre Lemay, 25 May 2020 - 08:10 AM. Trim off any unused fabric along the base. I have several of the books on building a Dobsonian Telescope. Below are cutting diagrams and diagrams of the rocker and tube box with side bearings. Able to shift heavy loads of kit ie over 1000g. I have one on my 12" f/5 truss dob and the focuser knob is on the top surface of the UTA. How to build a 12.5 inch closed tube Dobsonian telescope. This allowed me to cut perfect identical circles. Gift the gift of Make: Magazine this holiday season! Inside the OTA is a ring of tightly fitting flocking paper that prevents any light getting in around the drawtube. Rock on! My concern turned to alarm when my wife told me that Discovery had charged the balance due on all items to my account a few weeks earlier. Brandon Lawler is a hobbyist telescope Maker and an active member of the Central Texas Astronomical Society. Those are the last screws to be tightened. On the cutting diagram, you can see that the side bearings were cut 26 inches long. . In scaling up the K/B 8 inch design, I made a few changes that, I hope, will improve the design for 12.5 inch aperture. After another 3 weeks, I was concerned that I had not received the mirror. If your optical train is heavy and the focuser has to bear it (see above) then this motor may be a better choice. 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. Likewise, the side bearings are made of two identical semicircles of 5/8 inch plywood glued together, creating side bearings that are 1 inches thick. Several functions may not work. 5 weeks after I had ordered the mirror, I called to ask about its status. "https://ssl." Use the externalMirror Edge Support Calculatorto decide whether to use a two-point, four-point (whiffletree), or sling support. 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. By adjusting the bolts, the mirror can be pointed toward the correct spot. I had chosen a boxy, rigid design for the binocular scope, so narrow the frame. Membership connects and supports the people and projects that shape our future and supports the learning So, as they say, "back to the drawing board". My first telescope I built was a 10" F8. 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. larger diameter. Make the hole diameter fairly snug, too. 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. Lining up this center point with the center of the top of the side bearing, I brought the corner of the side bearing up to the edge of the tube box and attached it with screws. The Focuser and other items: (Scope Stuff). Two of the holes for the bolts were blocked by knobs. 10 inch or 12 inch. All that remained was to design and print a bracket, and buy the needed parts. Once built, line the undersides of the arms with textured ABS plastic as a bearing surface. on Introduction. The company has a reputation for excellent optics, and it was neither the most expensive, nor the least. Yet I was also becoming infected with aperture fever. It was May 12th. 24 T-nuts, with matching 2 bolts and knobs, 8 Aluminum tubing, thin wall, 1 square, 4 lengths I got mine from Cycle 24, Black woven velveteen, 68 Cut it so it stretches along the 6 axis. Im sorry to hear you couldn't make the contest. Fairly easy to build and could be adapted to suit any SCT focuser. I attached them with very small brads, countersinking the brads. I am working on a diy focuser design for my 6" F/8 telescope and asking suggestions for simple focuser. The drawings are only approximately to scale. If you go to buy all of the components for this project from dealers, you will see that you mostly have to buy at least 5 parts, sometimes bags of 50 parts! on Introduction. like, you can have as much focuser travel as you want no matter how For a while I decided that 10 inch would be the best size. Given any mirror measurements, PLOP will provide the ideal support layout and how much distortion to expect for any number of flotation points. Very simple and portable. the interior diameter is just a nudge over 2". The lumber yard also gave me a lower price than I expected. I called in the order and explained that I would be using a mirror two inches thick. Not sure if it is available in the USA. Some quick tips to note if you are making a homemade telescope are: 1. I told them I was on my way. Because mirror flexure can distort an image, supporting the mirror properly involves building a flotation cell. : "http://www. Or in my case, back to SolidWorks :-). The telescopes size is classified by the size of its mirror. i am not trying to win this contest with photos. Some of these are essential for the basic functionalities of our websites. ill ask him for a detailed list of what he used and when i get that ill post it here for you. I'd be willing to bet that you could easily grind your own 12.5 inch next time and save some $$. In the sub-folder "Cases" you will see many variants of the case for the DRV8825 based focusers. They have many items for ATMers and I had frequently visited their website when planning my scope. It stalled when tension on the belt increased. There was the expense, for one, but also the Next, attach the eyepiece and the focuser to the top part of the telescope tube. DIY Craford Focuser. I'd When I ordered the cell, I paid through paypal, which immediately deducts money from my checking account. It has a 6mm shaft. Put it all together The version number "312" here may change if Robert posts new firmware. occurred to me that a square turned 45 degrees would give me two flat And for those who like to work with 3D printers, both the single speed and dual-speed versions could easily be printed. Best Wishes, Reply #@$%^#@!!!!! Here is a link to the main FILES area on Robert Brown's site. I attached small felt pads to the inside of the keepers to protect the side bearings from scratches, but discovered that the side bearings would not fit because of the thickness of the pads. The day I received the refund, I ordered a mirror cell from University Optics. After a dry fit of the rocker to make sure that the tube box with side bearings would fit well, I glued the rocker sides to the rocker front, holding them in place with small nails and clamping overnight. The 48 inch width of the veneer was close enough to the diameter of the tube that I used it as is. We are now ready for some testing. 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. So, for my telescope I used a 6mm to 5mm coupler available on Amazon. I found out pretty quickly that building my own telescope would only be a bargain if I made my own mirror and mechanical parts. But I wanted a larger mirror, and, at that size, grinding my own was not an option. Dozens of projects in every issue covering electronics, craft, fabrication, and more, Learn tips and skill-building tutorials from experts in the maker community. If you wanted to really go low-profile with this design, But, like many of you I'm sure, the biggest reason I'm doing this is for the pure geeky fun of it! Thanks Pinbout for sharing your design. Plus it comes in black, so This project is based on Robert Brown's "Arduino ASCOM Focuser Pro2 DIY". knob, and a drill press to make sure the hole for the knitting needle I decided to order an aluminum mirror cell from University Optics instead so that the mirror could be supported at 9 different points. My telescope is the Orion ED80T-CF. I'm also going to focus on only one version of Robert's focuser (there are many). Finally, attach your polar alignment device and align it with the hinge. crafts, science & engineering, design, and technology. DO NOT drill out the holes in the board! This motor is available on Amazon. (The 8 inches from the center of the secondary to the field stop in the focuser is the same 8 inches from the center of the focuser to the top of the tube.) And bolt to scope I made a similar helical focuser with a nice 2 inch thing I found in Classifieds. a try. All Orion 1.25" and 2" telescope focusers are engineered to provide smooth drawtube action to ensure you hit the exact focus point . Nice work and great instructable! 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. In my build, the cage was cut on a CNC router from plywood, with threaded T-nuts added to support a truss assembly. Make sure the shroud can slip on and off of the assembled scope, and that it stretches along the circumference (not lengthwise). To place the primary mirror, I installed the secondary and installed the primary in the mirror cell. I had nearly completed the base and put things together for the first time. The part is very strong! As the authors describe the benefits of a truss design, it is hard to dispute their arguments. Another vote for Pierre's helical Crayford design. I will post the pic of final focuser once ready. 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. 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. I would love to see your build when you are finished with it . This is my copy of the telescope that Sir Isaac Newton presented to the Royal Society of London in 1671, and is considered to be the first successful reflecting telescope. It may take you a while to adjust the image correctly, but it's not hard to do, just time consuming. This arrangement turns 100% true, no wobble. The focuser 'knob' on the Celestron is just a rubber sleeve that usually pulls off easily. Whether you need a basic rack-and-pinion telescope focuser for your homemade telescope project or a premium Crayford-type model with dual-speed focusing as a performance upgrade, you have come to the right place. After researching several possible sources for a primary mirror, I decided to order an f/5 12.5 inch mirror from Discovery Optics. needle adds no friction that I can feel to the focus action. off the bearings. Thanks again for the 'ible. Just drill holes in both ends and mount the lenses. I have already seen some designs on CN, Stellafane and web but still checking if someone has recently made anything simpler. And the legs of the base should be as wide as possible to accommodate weight imbalance as the telescope is moved around, to avoid tipping. Thicker walls also required thicker side bearings so that the outside of the bearings would line up with the outside of the rocker sides. Able to make myself using my own humble tools (or toys as the pros will call them!) With the DRV8825 and Arduino Nano plugged in, the basic board is complete. 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. 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 sourced my own Stepper motor and 1:150 reduction gearbox from RS, who are just up the road. To do this, the mirror cell needs to be supported by 3 large bolts, at least 2 of which are adjustable. I was concerned that it would be difficult to find, but I was able to order it from a local woodworking shop. 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. Step 4Attaching the Side Bearings and assembling the Rocker. Thin-wall aluminum tubing is used to attach the mirror box to the secondary cage. help eliminate slippage when the focuser is pointed straight upward. This is the kind of simple off the shelf design I was looking for. 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. can't click on it or copy and paste it; it's a graphic file to thwart The length of the Rocker Front also had to be changed so that the outside edge of the Side Bearings matched the outside edge of the Rocker Sides precisely. Finally it was etched in caustic soda, and anodised matt black. The focuser knob had two set screws. Plan ahead by carefully weighing all components and approximating the center mass of the optical assembly. experimented with various wires and rods and eventually decided that a Have you made any mods on it since you built it? Once your telescope is assembled, drape black woven velveteen around the truss assembly, clipping it with safety pins.
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