The mount and tripod are pretty much useless for astrophotography. Post 10 of the same LSDF focuser thread also links to Art Bianconi's archived 2008 original flush valve focuser posts. This allowed me to cut perfect identical circles. I decided to keep this tube for now and if I run into problems with it, I can replace it later. I brought a saw with me so that I cut it in half to fit in my minivan. NEMA-17 Stepper Motor - see below, there are two options. The Crayford focuser is a simplified focusing mechanism for amateur astronomical telescopes. A 6 in primary mirror does not have enough weight to make the dob stable. Once the pieces were cut and I held them around the tube, I decided to cut them a bit smaller because the extra space was too much. Finally it was etched in caustic soda, and anodised matt black. To place the primary mirror, I installed the secondary and installed the primary in the mirror cell. I want to make this direct drive system work. Electronics and software automate the process of taking pictures. (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.) Unfortunately I don't have a 3d printer. weight. Some of these are essential for the basic functionalities of our websites. help eliminate slippage when the focuser is pointed straight upward. I only use the OTA. Before attaching the sides and front to the bottom with wood screws, I wanted to make sure those screws would not interfere with the Ebony Star ring that would be attached to the rocker bottom. Total cost for supplies for this project: It took a lot longer than I expected to receive my mirror and other parts from Discovery. narrow the frame. 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 Meade Zero Image-Shift Electronic Micro-Focuser This high precision focuser allows you to obtain an extremely accurate image focus. think that design would be rigid enough under the weight of a diagonal Two different construction supply companies told me that sonotubes were not available with a 14 inch diameter, even by special order. 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. Thanks Peter. 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. To interface with the computer, I have used the Artemis Focuser module from Steve, Arthur and Co. it sticks into your light path. That evening I spent most of my time rediscovering the many DSOs around Sagittarius, especially the Lagoon Nebula and the Trifid Nebula. Fairly easy to build and could be adapted to suit any SCT focuser. the bearings right at the edge of the frame, reducing the frame to The silly colours are mainly due to me experimenting with various clothes dyes in the anodising. The bigger upvc nut will be attached to focuser plate and longer threaded side will be used on it for the focusing. I used one of the top scraps from the rocker sides to mark an angle of 70 degrees from the center of the arc to the curved cut in order to properly space 1 X 7/8 teflon pads on the arcs. I wanted the long focal length for good contrast. The glue should keep the nylon from fraying. They suggested a construction supply place on the other side of the city that I had not called yet. When the skies were dark enough for observing I found that the scope moves easily into position and holds that position well. It doesn't. A tilted focuser will have no effect on the image quality. Very simple and portable. It was May 12th. a try. Please re-enable javascript to access full functionality. You simply glue or screw the 'nut' part to your scope OTA, and thread the tube part in/out to focus. This proved fatal for the stepper motor! I installed the spider first, about one inch down from the end of the square end of the tube. and an eyepiece. Use mild soap and distilled . I set things up in daylight and collimated the scope. It's rigid, lightweight, and 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. Thanks for the great comment. I didn't receive any confirmation email after a few days, so I tried to send them an email. Headers for the LEDs, buzzer (2-pin) and temperature probe (3-pin). Also no obvious diffraction spikes in the m31 photo. It interfaces to the computer via USB and comes with an ASCOM driver. I call shenanigans on every picture in this post except for the the moon. Gift the gift of Make: Magazine this holiday season! Several functions may not work. My other telescope is a Celestron NexStar C6E. I phoned in the order in the last week of February and was told that it would take about 4 weeks to deliver the mirror. you don't need to paint it (or worry about paint flaking off it). I described it two years ago in this thread:https://www.cloudyniuser/?p=8879835 . Robert Brown did an excellent video on how to work out your stepper motor requirements. His passion is using CAD design and his homemade CNC router to bring large wood projects to life. 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. I ordered the focuser, received an immediate email confirming the order, and it arrived two days later. 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. 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. Staples or finishing nails work fine, but be sure they dont bump up above the surface of the plastic. I had the thought that as long as I was going to build it I should build it as big as I could afford. I had initially allowed for more of a gap, but realized once I cut the pieces and held the tube inside them that my gap was too large. really stiff and light for their size, and even though a #2 is pretty I don't have the skills to build a focuser using a. While round tubing is sturdy, square tubing is easier to work with. 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. on Introduction. I'll use an aluminum tube for the finished draw tube but for now the plastic tube . I will have a lot of fun building my homemade 12.5 inch Dobsonian Telescope!!! It turns out the the extra 1/16 allowed far too much side to side movement between the rocker and ground board. The motor is much lighter than the geared motor. I was concerned that it would be difficult to find, but I was able to order it from a local woodworking shop. 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. A week after they said they would send the secondary and other parts, I called to ask if things had been sent. Community Forum Software by IP.BoardLicensed to: Cloudy Nights. 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. So, as they say, "back to the drawing board". More commercial crayford focusers are of a more enclosed form, whereas mine is more "open frame" approach. Just to make sure I liked the stain, I applied some to a piece of scrap wood. 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. Thicker walls also required thicker side bearings so that the outside of the bearings would line up with the outside of the rocker sides. PhotoPictureResizer_190723_214534574_crop_2558x3105_copy_1023x1242.jpg. I started by trying to drill out a metal gear for the focuser shaft. If you enter it in the next contest please let me know and i will make sure to vote for you. "); The rocker sides are each made of two identical pieces of inch plywood glued together, creating two sides one inch thick. Rock on! I I want to put my 12.5 mirror in a collapsible structure so I can haul it easy, Say a truss tube design, 7 years ago It has become an indispensable piece of equipment for me that so beats hacking and filing PVC pipes etc. The holes in the main bracket the match the holes in the plate are oversize to allow for this alignment. Let me see if I am able to collect all the parts needed. 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. I used the "LEDandBuzzer" and "TestStepsDRV8825" tests. Because thebasic movement and optics requirements are relatively simple, much of the design is left to the builder. I think I got what I wanted and seems best solution for me. 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. 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 Pocket Sundial From a Broken Pocket Watch! 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. It features 2 semicircular arms, and mounting points for the trusses (T-nuts are fine), as well as a lid to keep the mirror safe when the telescope is not in use. This consists of a small black box of electronics. 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. 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. It is used to setup water outlet from overhead water tanks. Make the drawtube longer than you think you'll need, just in Concluding that I would not be able to buy a tube off the shelf, I found a couple of companies that took special orders on cardboard tubes. This book describes in great detail the steps to build a large aperture truss tube dob, focusing on scopes with a 12.5 to 40 inch mirror. I bought a 4" PVC Sewer pipe cap, used a hole saw to cut a 2.25" hole then attached the helical thing to the PVC cap. If you follow the procedures described above, your telescope's optics will be perfectly aligned. 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. Once you get it working, there's some calibration you need to do. an eyepiece. Maker-written books designed to inform and delight! I particularly like that the design can be integrated directly into the focuser board to make a very, very simple UTA. The diameter of the focuser is usually indicated in inches. One of the neat things about the square design is that the 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. And a couple of upright bearing blocks. During on-site assembly, attach each truss to its mounting T-nut using a bolt with a thumbscrew knob. Rock Paper Scissors Using Tinkercad Circuits and Arduino, Punchy the MECH & the Autonomous Fight Club, PCB (printed circuit board) - download the, DRV8825 - stepper motor driver chip/board - again, clones available on. Or rather, I hated it. 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. crafts, science & engineering, design, and technology. Two inch internal diameter drawtube. This will determine the size of the coupler you will use to connect the stepper motor. If you connect the 12V power with the barrel connector (right side of photo), the Nano should light up without the USB connection. It turned out that they had an incorrect zip code and the package was still waiting to be sent. You will need to remove the regular focus knob on your telescope's focuser. I sanded all parts of the telescope with 220 grit sandpaper followed by 400 grit, making a very smooth surface to apply the stain. Someone is pulling someone's leg here. To get this arc, I actually moved the radius of the jig in by 1/8 inch. The Artemis module works extremely well, and is to be strongly recommended. To view, go here: http://emediadesigns.com/focuser/ Once built, line the undersides of the arms with textured ABS plastic as a bearing surface. This Instructable describe the planning, design, and parts of the scope, as well as the process of building The scope. Put it all together I could not find a spacer to fit my 9/16 hole, so I bought the 11/16 spacer (1 1/8 long because that's what the store had) and a bit of the same size. The box should be deep enough to allow the mirror box to swing all the way down. 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. 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. My first telescope I built was a 10" F8. initiatives for the next generation of makers. 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! Ask Question Step 5: Stepper Motor Choice #2 - NEMA-17 Geared Stepper Motor If your optical train is heavy and the focuser has to bear it (see above) then this motor may be a better choice. Most people will want a knob on I am using scrap upvc pipe material. Having an RS trade counter 2 miles away is such a luxury! To do this, the mirror cell needs to be supported by 3 large bolts, at least 2 of which are adjustable. All that remained was to design and print a bracket, and buy the needed parts. 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. I also wanted to strengthen and protect the cardboard tube. Before you do this, the stepper motor will probably move, but it will make a 'stuttering' sound instead of moving smoothly. The focuser is very smooth. exactly 2" with adhesive labels placed one at a time inside the tube Since my plan called for purchasing the mirrors and mechanical parts there were several decisions to be made and several vendors to contact. occurred to me that a square turned 45 degrees would give me two flat The drawings are only approximately to scale. I Hope to give you ideas if you are thinking about building one for yourself! I don't *do* pretty. The belt and pulleys are off-the-shelf items available on Amazon. focuser. drneilmb, thanks for sharing the focuser design. Quick demo of my motorized focuser, and I will create a detailed tutorial if enough people are interested. try { Two such companies would not give me a price because the order of a single tube was too small. 11 years ago After a few weeks of no communication from them, no ability to phone or email them, and no mirror cell arriving. The hole did need to be enlarged slightly by moving the bit within the hole , but in the end, the fit seems right. 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. If you look in the FILES area on Robert Brown's site (see link above) you will see a sub-folder "3D Printed Parts". I gave them a call and they said they had one on the shelf14 inches in diameter and 12 feet long! 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. Like i said these are not my photos and i cannot coment on exactly how he set it up as i was not there all i can say is i saw the mount he used when he picked up the telescope. tube and nut that fits the outside threads. 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. 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. At this point, the scope was pretty much finished. The part is very strong! knitting needle where it goes through the hole, so it's not a big deal, Fast forward a few months to the next time I had the tube outside. surfaces to put the bearings in and a vee at the bottom that would hold Not sure how your toilets are built over there, but here they use what is called a tank flush valve. 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 would also like to know about how you can take such fantastic pictures without a field rotator and an autoguider system. 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 2-1.25" adapter is a sink drain slip fitting in 1-1/4" size that slips into the large tube for 1.25 EP's. Find a special something for the makers in your life. I made a similar helical focuser with a nice 2 inch thing I found in Classifieds. Once its cut to length, drill a hole through each end of the tubing with a drill press. The Focuser and other items: (Scope Stuff). This arrangement turns 100% true, no wobble. Crayford focusers are considered superior to entry-level rack and pinion As the authors describe the benefits of a truss design, it is hard to dispute their arguments. 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. If you don't want to go that route, contact me at
[email protected] since I have a lot of spare parts and I can sell you a "kit" with a PCB and only the parts you need. The specific hardware used for this is described on the Building page. 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. I have seen some VERY impressive photos similar to those, taken with Nikon D700 and D300 cameras, with the proper filters- and mounts- on a quality scope. but try for a snug fit if you can. DIY Truss Dob input: How to design truss? needle so the knitting needle will be snug against the drawtube without 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. 10 years ago 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. The basic points I wanted to cover: What did I end up with? These will be stored in your browser only with your consent and you have the option to opt-out. As the telescope tilts toward the horizon, the mirror must be supported on its edge. I then temporarily installed the secondary mirror so that I could measure the approximate distance to the center of the secondary in order to locate the holes for the focuser. I'd Using heavy grit sandpaper I brought back the surface of the keeper enough for the side bearings to fit inside the felt pads.