homemade telescope focuser

Yet I was also becoming infected with aperture fever. These will be stored in your browser only with your consent and you have the option to opt-out. Frustrated by these difficulties, I stopped by one more hardware store to ask for advice. Once you get it working, there's some calibration you need to do. Able to shift heavy loads of kit ie over 1000g. You need to order it sized for your focuser shaft size. 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 Measure the diameter of the exposed shaft. #@$%^#@!!!!! work really well, for a fraction of the cost of a commercial Crayford One of the companies I had considered as a supplier for the primary mirror was Anttler's Optical. 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. Two inch internal diameter drawtube. What materials did you use? Download and check them out, I just grabbed the first one and printed it. They're fairly This is where you will use screws to strongly attach the focuser onto the tube. 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 call shenanigans on every picture in this post except for the the moon. I described it two years ago in this thread:https://www.cloudyniuser/?p=8879835 . 100A81BF-2145-44D5-BC76-66DBF43BAD58.jpeg. wobbly knob still works, and adds character. installations. If not, you may need to design and print your own bracket(s), gears, and so on. But let me see what items I can arrange to make a helical. Membership connects and supports the people and projects that shape our future and supports the learning Nice work and great instructable! Connect the Arduino USB cable and upload some test sketches. knob, and a drill press to make sure the hole for the knitting needle With adapters for any Meade 1x200-ACF or LS model, and chord to plug into focuser port. 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. Find a special something for the makers in your life. love to hear from people who are interested in this focuser design. They said they would make the brackets extra long to accommodate the mirror and it would take about a week. I paid the 50% deposit and dreamed of DSOs. The overall project is super cheap, we're building this thing for something like $50 in materials. needle so the knitting needle will be snug against the drawtube without I ended up modifying it a bit after printing. Save over 40% off the annual cover price for a full year (4 issues) of Make. The only thing on the list that was a bit difficult to find was baltic birch plywood, which had to be special ordered from the lumber yard. Thanks Bob. If you are (for example) doing a focuser for a catadioptric telescope like a Celestron C-8 or similar, the focus knob has no load on it so this smaller, lighter motor will do the trick. 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. Edited by howardcano, 24 May 2020 - 09:29 PM. Pierre's Helical Crayford gets my vote hands-down for elegant simplicity. Obviously an open truss telescope. I drew a guide line straight down the side of the tube and cut the veneer to length with one extra inch on each side68 inches long. I also wanted to strengthen and protect the cardboard tube. CNC files (optional) Download the Sketchup files. var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? The 48 inch width of the veneer was close enough to the diameter of the tube that I used it as is. After looking at many focuser options with a big range of prices, I decided to order a GSO 2 speed Crayford focuser from ScopeStuff. 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. 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 initiatives for the next generation of makers. But, like many of you I'm sure, the biggest reason I'm doing this is for the pure geeky fun of it! 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. on Introduction. Read the documentation though, there are a lot of functions and options. Drawing lines between opposite corners of the tube box sides allowed me to locate the center point on each side. Several clamps were used to hold the pieces together overnight. It would cost less and they have a very good reputation. Just to make sure I liked the stain, I applied some to a piece of scrap wood. Get hands-on with kits, books, and more from the Maker Shed, Skill builder, project tutorials, and more. occurred to me that a square turned 45 degrees would give me two flat A smart collection of books, magazines, electronics kits, robots, microcontrollers, tools, supplies, and more in the tube so they'll hit the knitting needle before your drawtube runs The box should be deep enough to allow the mirror box to swing all the way down. To test the concept I used a short piece of two inch PVC for the draw tube. 3D Printed Futuristic Space Age Wall Clock, http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Number=4721255. on Introduction. : "http://www. 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. But I wanted a larger mirror, and, at that size, grinding my own was not an option. I started by trying to drill out a metal gear for the focuser shaft. Position "0" is with the focuser all the way IN (at least for a refractor). Featured in the February, 2015 issue of Sky & With the DRV8825 and Arduino Nano plugged in, the basic board is complete. I will get good 30-40 mm focusing range. During assembly, youll attach the trusses to the mirror box, then sit the secondary cage on top and bolt everything in place. (Sorry you There are some test sketches in the "Tests" folder, start with those. Please explain, in detail, how you attached your tube to the very unique drive system of an XT12G mount. Your astrophotographer friend may have included his own images from his setup. try { Sh2-169 and Sh2-168, IC5146 Cocoon Nebula, Caldwell 19, Sh 2-125. 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. In order for the Rocker Box to pivot on the Ground Board, a center pin is placed in a hole at the exact center of the Ground Board and Rocker Bottom. really stiff and light for their size, and even though a #2 is pretty You will need to order one sized for your telescope's focuser shaft size. the bearings, totally eliminating any flex. ill ask him for a detailed list of what he used and when i get that ill post it here for you. 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. curated by us, the people behind Make: and the Maker Faire. After the second call, I received a response that it would be ready at the end of the following week. 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. When you want to focus, you just open the program and press focus. 11 years ago needle to be just a little too flexible for the weight of a diagonal and These have slop as you change direction, you can't do fine adjustments, they weigh a ton, and can flex alarmingly over time. 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. 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. the side of a rigid secondary cage. the nylon screws going up from the bottom, but I found the knitting Share it with us! I ordered the focuser, received an immediate email confirming the order, and it arrived two days later. My homemade motorized telescope focuser for Celestron C8. on Step 5. Crayford focusers are considered superior to entry-level rack and pinion I am using scrap upvc pipe material. 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. Meade Zero Image-Shift Electronic Micro-Focuser This high precision focuser allows you to obtain an extremely accurate image focus. Crayford focusers are considered superior to entry-level rack and pinion focusers, normally found in this type of device. the tube is cardboard as well, you can also get a quality mirror at telescope.com for much cheaper. The cell from Anttler's, for which I had received a refund, had arrived. A project collaboration and documentation platform. Did you make this project? until a 2" eyepiece or 1.25" adapter is snug. exactly 2" with adhesive labels placed one at a time inside the tube I redrilled the holes for the mirror cell and got ready to wrap it. Because thebasic movement and optics requirements are relatively simple, much of the design is left to the builder. Before you do this, the stepper motor will probably move, but it will make a 'stuttering' sound instead of moving smoothly. 7 years ago telescope page, I wasn't really eager to buy two commercial Crayford Step 4Attaching the Side Bearings and assembling the Rocker. The pieces were cut down to 15 3/8 and 14 3/8, allowing just under 1/8 inch on each side. It's easy to shim it to Both cameras have fairly small megapixels by todays' standards, and are certainly obsolete, but do the job extremely well! 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. I sourced my own Stepper motor and 1:150 reduction gearbox from RS, who are just up the road. Just as it was about to come into focus, the focuser bottomed out. my thoughts naturally gravitated toward a boxy focuser to go with it. 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.) 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. But who cares, really? I waited until dark and pointed the scope at the sky. Pioneered by John Dobson in the 1960s, the instrument combines a Newtonian reflector telescope with a unique two-axis movable base. A wide hole will let the knitting needle creep Edited by Pierre Lemay, 25 May 2020 - 08:10 AM. The company has a reputation for excellent optics, and it was neither the most expensive, nor the least. Let me see if I am able to collect all the parts needed. Remember: It is the quality and SIZE of the capture chip, NOT the megapixels that determines quality. Gift the gift of Make: Magazine this holiday season! I decided to order a mirror cell from them because the owner had talked about a new cell he was excited about. on Introduction, Very nice build nikon20. can't click on it or copy and paste it; it's a graphic file to thwart The part is very strong! As I understand, you are using it for a refractor. homemade Crayford focuser. When they arrived, they were beautifully and carefully packaged with the secondary already installed in its holder. I used the "LEDandBuzzer" and "TestStepsDRV8825" tests. I decided to use baltic birch because it is recommended by Kriege and Berry as well as many online sources. I had some carboy caps that make good knobs. and hope it doesn't fall off 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. Or rather, I hated it. Able to shift heavy loads of kit ie over 1000g. Unbelievable! One of the neat things about the square design is that the The diameter of the focuser is usually indicated in inches. 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. The curved sides of the Side Bearings are also covered with strips of Ebony Star that glide on the teflon pads on the curved edges of the Rocker Sides (figure 3). I had cut the 12 foot tube in half in order to get it home in the first place, and a 6 foot section was the right size to work with for my f/5 12.5 inch. After cutting the circles for the side bearings, I set up the jig to cut the curved edges of the rocker sides. 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. Rack & Pinion: For many years the standard focuser was of the rack-and-pinion type - a small pinion gear moved the flat toothed rack that was attached to or built into the moving focusing tube that holds the eyepiece.However, this geared system was far from ideal, with some wobble due to the friction fit between the fixed and moving tubes and backlash due to the gears. 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. 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. This motor is available on Amazon. More commercial crayford focusers are of a more enclosed form, whereas mine is more "open frame" approach. If the telescope rotates forward or backward on its own, then the mirror box is too deep or too shallow.

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