and hope it doesn't fall off I am well versed in technology, have all the tools necessary to build my own! try { Quick demo of my motorized focuser, and I will create a detailed tutorial if enough people are interested. The side bearings are each made from 2 identical semicircles of 5/8 inch plywood glued together to make a thickness of 1 inches. I used the "LEDandBuzzer" and "TestStepsDRV8825" tests. The hole is made slightly larger than the shaft, this is normal. off the bearings. The Crayford Focuser and DIY Focuser for Homemade Telescope I started by trying to drill out a metal gear for the focuser shaft. It seems to Please feel free to email me at the address on the right. "); I redrilled the holes for the mirror cell and got ready to wrap it. After the second call, I received a response that it would be ready at the end of the following week. Also no obvious diffraction spikes in the m31 photo. 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. A decent machinest will do a far better job, but, there is always a lot more pleasure to be gained per astrophoto when you make bits yourself. It would cost less and they have a very good reputation. My other telescope is a Celestron NexStar C6E. the nylon screws going up from the bottom, but I found the knitting Membership connects and supports the people and projects that shape our future and supports the learning To do this, the mirror cell needs to be supported by 3 large bolts, at least 2 of which are adjustable. I pointed it at distant trees and had no problem bringing the image into focus with all of my eyepieces. I brought a saw with me so that I cut it in half to fit in my minivan. I want to make this direct drive system work. Your astrophotographer friend may have included his own images from his setup. 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. 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. flexing. Headers for the LEDs, buzzer (2-pin) and temperature probe (3-pin). Low, or Zero slop when changing direction. 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. the bearings, totally eliminating any flex. 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. curated by us, the people behind Make: and the Maker Faire. Actually getting the parts into my hands turned out to be more of a challenge than I would have expected, but in the end, I have a wonderful telescope that I enjoy very much. After the second call, I received a response that it would be ready at the end of the following week. A bit of a monster! I have not yet figured out a better way to hold the tube. Bore out some 2.5 inch bar and mill a flat down the side making sure it is lined up. They said they would make the brackets extra long to accommodate the mirror and it would take about a week. It was important that the two circles be identical because the edges had to match perfectly when glued together and the two side bearings had to be identical in order for the altitude motion to work well. Able to make myself using my own humble tools (or toys as the pros will call them!). This project is based on Robert Brown's "Arduino ASCOM Focuser Pro2 DIY". ScopeStuff is awesome!! Yet I was also becoming infected with aperture fever. occurred to me that a square turned 45 degrees would give me two flat The extra force will also The mount and tripod are pretty much useless for astrophotography. with a genuine question or comment about the design. I did not wrap the tube until I had completed the base. After another 3 weeks, I was concerned that I had not received the mirror. but try for a snug fit if you can. I told them I was on my way. The version number "312" here may change if Robert posts new firmware. The rocker sides are each made of two identical pieces of inch plywood glued together, creating two sides one inch thick. After picking up a copy of The Dobsonian Telescope by David Kriege, I built my first telescope with a 12-diameter mirror, then later tackled a 12 lightweight scope. It stalled when tension on the belt increased. I also have an extended photographic build diary of this telescope posted on Imgur. Helical is one of the option i am considering. Total cost for supplies for this project: It took a lot longer than I expected to receive my mirror and other parts from Discovery. You simply glue or screw the 'nut' part to your scope OTA, and thread the tube part in/out to focus. Did you make this project? I will post the pic of final focuser once ready. I'd be willing to bet that you could easily grind your own 12.5 inch next time and save some $$. Feel free to take on that part if you like, but you're on your own :-). When you want to focus, you just open the program and press focus. you don't need to paint it (or worry about paint flaking off it). 3D Printed Futuristic Space Age Wall Clock, http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Number=4721255. surfaces to put the bearings in and a vee at the bottom that would hold I added three inches for a margin of error and in case I need to rebalance the tube in the future, making a distance of 25 inches from the balance point of the tube to the rocker bottom. After waiting for the contact cement to dry to the touch, and with my wife's help, I carefully aligned the edge of the veneer with the guideline on the tube and pressed the first inch together. We use cookies to continuously improve our websites for you and optimize its design and customization. Motion is very smooth. For my project I needed a 14 inch diameter, and I had a tough time finding one. var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? Download and unzip. As I mentioned on my binocular But let me see what items I can arrange to make a helical. SDO/HMI Continuum Image on 2023.03.04 at 1259 UT, Remote computer working with no extra networking. Given any mirror measurements, PLOP will provide the ideal support layout and how much distortion to expect for any number of flotation points. I then ran a bead of glue on the mark, and after it dried I cut out the nylon up to the glue. The pieces were cut down to 15 3/8 and 14 3/8, allowing just under 1/8 inch on each side. Gift the gift of Make: Magazine this holiday season! This can be shimmed out with paper wrapped around the I have built a homemade electric focuser for my Celestron 8SE using a radio control hobby servo and some spare parts. Rather than use a sheet of plastic Kydex to finish the tube, as recommended in K/B, I ordered a sheet of birch veneer. I used my router to "mill" a flat area for better contact with the focus adjustment rod. And bolt to scope I decided to order a mirror cell from them because the owner had talked about a new cell he was excited about. I will get good 30-40 mm focusing range. To place the primary mirror, I installed the secondary and installed the primary in the mirror cell. This motor is available on Amazon. By adjusting the bolts, the mirror can be pointed toward the correct spot. A couple setscrews and you're up & running with an off the shelf solution. 11 years ago This means I can use FocusMax to do the focusing. See the images how I plan to assemble it. I took the whole tube assembly outside. adapter set screws to slide into. The current needs to be adjusted on the DRV8825. I had nearly completed the base and put things together for the first time. CNC files (optional) Download the Sketchup files. on Step 1, Richards in our local astronomy club. If your optical train is heavy and the focuser has to bear it (see above) then this motor may be a better choice. Pretty dry but important! Helicals are adaptable to both refractors and reflectors, but do not "play nice" with zoom eyepieces because "zooming" becomes a two handed operation to avoid changing focus. 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. 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 email bounced back to me. If you don't want to go that route, contact me at gary.hethcoat@gmail.com since I have a lot of spare parts and I can sell you a "kit" with a PCB and only the parts you need. I file a dispute with Paypal to begin the process of getting my money back. on my binocular scope for quite a while now and really like them. If you want a Crayford focuser with a knob instead of turning the draw tube, then Jerry Oltion's designhttp://www.jerryoltixycrayfords.htm using box frames and knitting needle drive shafts is also a fairly easy build. Community Forum Software by IP.BoardLicensed to: Cloudy Nights. Many sources point out that 10 inches is a kind of sweet spot in the balance between power and portability. I'm also going to focus on only one version of Robert's focuser (there are many). At some point in the building process, my goal became to finish the scope by RocheStar Fest, an annual event of the Rochester Astronomy Club. It may need some careful coaxing with a screwdriver. Here's a detailed response from a thread at CloudyNights:http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Number=4721255 "The image scale is wrong on the M31 image, fits too much of the galaxy in for even a 35mm chip. The wide square footprint would make it pretty stable when mounted to This extra space would allow the tube to be repositioned within the tube box to rotate the eyepiece or balance the tube. think that design would be rigid enough under the weight of a diagonal 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. 5 weeks after I had ordered the mirror, I called to ask about its status. If the telescope rotates forward or backward on its own, then the mirror box is too deep or too shallow. This is because my router bit was inch and the arc would be cut by the outside edge of the bit (where the circle had been cut by the inside edge.) 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. too far. My wife helped me by moving the mirror into and out of the tube around the marked spot while I stood at the eyepiece trying to bring some distant trees into focus. how much travel you actually need, you can cut the tube off so none of Built one of these http://emediadesigns.com/focuser/ working really well only cost less than 40.00. 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 In addition, we use third-party cookies to help us analyze and understand usage. So, am curious to see what others have designed and built and proud to show off here on the homage to Crayford thread. I ordered the focuser, received an immediate email confirming the order, and it arrived two days later. Deep space photos like these require HOURS of exposure for each one. I have no dog in this hunt whatsoever, but if people are impressed by these photographs and vote for it because of them when there's no proof that this scope generated the photos and there IS data to the contrary (see below), then that's certainly not fair to the other contestants. To cut the circles, I used a router with a straight cutting bit and a circle cutting jig. 7 years ago The core of the telescope, the steel mirror cell holds and adjusts the heavy, curved primary mirror. Once Id built a CNC router, I embarked on my third telescope, featuring a 16 primary mirror with aluminum trusses, wide vertical bearing arcs, a steel front-adjustable mirror cell, and a rotating base. As I understand, you are using it for a refractor. There are sub-folders for the different versions. Pioneered by John Dobson in the 1960s, the instrument combines a Newtonian reflector telescope with a unique two-axis movable base. A week after they said they would send the secondary and other parts, I called to ask if things had been sent. DIY Truss Dob input: How to design truss? Cost is $25 - $30, and you will have 5 PCBs in about a week. Plan ahead by carefully weighing all components and approximating the center mass of the optical assembly. 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. Thanks Peter. Plus it comes in black, so you don't need to paint it (or worry about paint flaking off it). widening the hole. The basic points I wanted to cover: What did I end up with? Two such companies would not give me a price because the order of a single tube was too small. Pierre Lemay, thanks for sharing your simple and incredible design. 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. Subscribe to the premier DIY magazine today, Community access, print, and digital Magazine, and more. 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. At their suggestion, I also ordered a 2.6 inch secondary mirror. 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 had installed the mirror about an inch too far away from the focuser. The back of the mirror floats on 3 or more support points (this build uses 6) that are calculated usinga software tool called PLOP. The diameter of the focuser is usually indicated in inches. exactly 2" with adhesive labels placed one at a time inside the tube Focuser minimum height is 50 mm and maximum a little over 90 mm so it is good overall. I really had to, since the underside of my telescope's focuser is all curves, no flat area for attaching the mounting bracket. You need some purple bits But who cares, really? 100A81BF-2145-44D5-BC76-66DBF43BAD58.jpeg. I used one of these scrap pieces to draw an angle of 70 degrees to the edge of the arc so that I could later place the teflon pads on the arcs. 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. And for those who like to work with 3D printers, both the single speed and dual-speed versions could easily be printed. Crayford focusers are considered superior to entry-level rack and pinion focusers, normally found in this type of device. See captioned photos 22-25 here:https://www.cloudyniractor-focuser/ for more detail on building a flush valve focuser, as Bob mentions. However more than the focuser, I liked your scope. This Instructable describe the planning, design, and parts of the scope, as well as the process of building The scope. Remember: It is the quality and SIZE of the capture chip, NOT the megapixels that determines quality. 5 weeks after I had ordered the mirror, I called to ask about its status. The heaviest piece is 40 lbs, and the total scope weighs about 60 lbs (not counting the baffle). In the "ARDUINO FIRMWARE" folder, in it you will find a ZIP file "myFP2-Firmware 312-1.zip". 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. Above youll find an interactive 3D rendering of the Sketchup file I used to design and cut all of the parts for my telescope. 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. Tom's Homemade Telescope Page - Issac Newton Scope - Google I applied contact cement to the first inch of the veneer and the mating inch of the tube. I installed the spider first, about one inch down from the end of the square end of the tube. The holes in the main bracket the match the holes in the plate are oversize to allow for this alignment. A free program that lights childrens creative fires and allows them to explore projects in areas such as arts & Another thing, the resolution on the Dumbell nebula seems a bit too high for that telescope. I attached them with very small brads, countersinking the brads. This motor has a 5mm drive shaft. The Dob is really a great design. Over how many nights did this photography session take place? 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. Trim off any unused fabric along the base. small, it's surprisingly rigid. Easy DIY motorized battery free telescope focuser - YouTube I had some carboy caps that make good knobs. Also, I will work with my computer geek buddies, so that we eventually automate it using Linux on a Rock64, to run kstars for tracking, on INDI. This software creates a model of your telescope by measuring out of focus star sizes at various points. Here are a few photos of the "bracket", which is a simple 3D printed plate that mounts to the telescope's focuser ring, and serves as a mount for the stepper motor. Motorise Your Own Telescope (updated 10-19-2017). - Instructables I was concerned that it would be difficult to find, but I was able to order it from a local woodworking shop. I waited until dark and pointed the scope at the sky. But, especially on cold evenings, the focus may go out in the middle of the night. I had chosen a boxy, rigid design for the binocular scope, so Thicker knitting needles would be even The next day my wife called me at work to tell me a box had arrived with telescope stuff. my thoughts naturally gravitated toward a boxy focuser to go with it. With Simple, Homemade Telescopes, You Can Explore the Stars (Op-Ed) 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. 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. This combination has proved to be effective for all positions except when the tube is pointed directly up. To view, go here: http://emediadesigns.com/focuser/ A neet site: http://www.astropix.com/HTML/I_ASTROP/CAMERAS.HTM Cool instructable, Dude! Share it with us! This proved fatal for the stepper motor! 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. More Homemade Refractor Telescope DIY Erecting Prism Binoviewer Focuser here: Did you make this project? It took yet another call a week later for the items to actually be mailed. It has become an indispensable piece of equipment for me that so beats hacking and filing PVC pipes etc. Telescope Magazine. Measure the diameter of the exposed shaft.