homemade telescope focuser

After researching several possible sources for a primary mirror, I decided to order an f/5 12.5 inch mirror from Discovery Optics. Having an RS trade counter 2 miles away is such a luxury! The project creator Robert Brown made a good video on testing the board. 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. While I will freely admit that most astro-photography is WAY beyond me, you certainly do NOT need a $3200 camera to do so. In the sub-folder "Cases" you will see many variants of the case for the DRV8825 based focusers. Just as it was about to come into focus, the focuser bottomed out. In addition, we use third-party cookies to help us analyze and understand usage. ASIAIR - Is there an easy way to load Messier catalog into Autorun? OK, no, I do not have a homemade Crayford focuser but am planning to build a 3 incher for next years 17" reflector telescope project and to hold my new 30mm ES 100 degree EP. Gift the gift of Make: Magazine this holiday season! I centered the focuser 8 inches from the top of the tube, using a 2.5 inch hole drilling saw with smaller holes for the bolts that would hold the focuser. pageTracker._trackPageview(); 11 years ago Dobsonians come in all shapes and sizes, from small 4-8 builds all the way up to massive 24-36 creations. Share a cool tool or product with the community. You should watch (and bookmark) this video. This scope was originally made as a travel scope using an eight inch mirror that I ground and polished at the St Pete Astronomy Clubs Mirror Lab. You currently have javascript disabled. Look down through the empty focuser. 7 years ago I drilled holes for the screws that avoided the location of the ring, and attached the rocker bottom. Connect the Arduino USB cable and upload some test sketches. I plan to use an FTA over it in case an extension is needed. I have no idea how much mail this idea will generate, so I can't It is size 1.25 inch with a clear inside dia-meter. My telescope is the Orion ED80T-CF. Tips If you've got a 1.25 inch focuser, You can also use it for an objective. Using heavy grit sandpaper I brought back the surface of the keeper enough for the side bearings to fit inside the felt pads. I don't have the skills to build a focuser using a. Building a Homemade Telescope Eyepiece - HubPages 5 weeks after I had ordered the mirror, I called to ask about its status. The plate has slotted screw holes for tensioning the 6mm belt. During on-site assembly, attach each truss to its mounting T-nut using a bolt with a thumbscrew knob. Now attach the screw eyes and the rubber band on the side of the board. 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. 1/4" x 20 bolt, and the nylon bolt end against the smooth knitting However more than the focuser, I liked your scope. The company has a reputation for excellent optics, and it was neither the most expensive, nor the least. Thanks Bob. One of the neat things about the square design is that the I am thankful to enjoy the inspiration, and the details, that you provide, as I will soon be constructing a Dobsonian Telescope. In amateur astrophotography, we run our telescopes overnight. My other telescope is a Celestron NexStar C6E. Since my focuser shaft is 6mm, I ordered the coupler shown here in the 6mm to 8mm version from Amazon. Quick demo of my motorized focuser, and I will create a detailed tutorial if enough people are interested. The one company that did provide a price quoted over $500more than I was willing to pay for cardboard! I laughed, packed up the cell with a long letter describing the series of events that led to the return, and put it in the mail. drneilmb, thanks for sharing the focuser design. Or rather, I hated it. A neet site: http://www.astropix.com/HTML/I_ASTROP/CAMERAS.HTM Cool instructable, Dude! A Homemade Crayford Focuser I carefully cut exactly through the center of each side bearing circle to make my semicircles. This motor has a larger shaft diameter (8mm) and is quite a bit heavier overall than the direct drive motor, mainly because of the gearbox. Here is a simple 3D printed helical focuser that cost just a few cents (assuming you have a 3D printer). on Introduction. I want to make this direct drive system work. What materials did you use? case you need more focuser travel than you thought. The last chapter of the book describes a plan for an 8 inch sonotube dob with a few design elements from their truss design, and, as I read that chapter, the simplicity of its construction was very appealing. I drew a guide line straight down the side of the tube and cut the veneer to length with one extra inch on each side68 inches long. This motor is available on Amazon. The box should be deep enough to allow the mirror box to swing all the way down. You need some purple bits This proved fatal for the stepper motor! #@$%^#@!!!!! . The day I received the refund, I ordered a mirror cell from University Optics. And you can tell it's not a mosaic because the stars at the corners show coma/field curvature artifacts. Step 4Attaching the Side Bearings and assembling the Rocker. Once built, line the undersides of the arms with textured ABS plastic as a bearing surface. it sticks into your light path. Crayford-style design with four bearings and one driveshaft. Share it with us! 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. DIY Remote Telescope Focuser - YouTube It may need some careful coaxing with a screwdriver. 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. I also figured that the extra expense was worth it, considering the amount of money I was investing in the project overall. There are a number of technical reasons why these photographs could not have come from this Optical Tube Assembly. More commercial crayford focusers are of a more enclosed form, whereas mine is more "open frame" approach. 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. 11 years ago Coupler for NEMA-17 Stepper Motor (also two choices, see below), LM7808 Voltage Regulator with TO-220 package -, Mini On/Off 3-pin 2-position slide switch -, Headers and wire (miscellaneous sizes and gauges), these are important so you can replace the component if it is damaged, LM7808 voltage regulator w/TO-220 heat sink package, 2-pin headers for 12V power and on/off switch. Let me see if I can get similar plumbing parts here. 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. A week after they said they would send the secondary and other parts, I called to ask if things had been sent. Make an account on JLCPCB.com, upload the Gerber zip file, that's it! can't click on it or copy and paste it; it's a graphic file to thwart To get a slide-fit in a 3D printed part, you normally make the hole 0.5mm larger than the shaft. This is where you will use screws to strongly attach the focuser onto the tube. he might just have a $3200 camera, they aren't very hard to come by. All i did was supply the telescope as far as his camera equipment i dont know what he used i never saw it all i know is he had my scope for about a month while i was traveling and he gave me these photos. Fairly easy to build and could be adapted to suit any SCT focuser. For my project I needed a 14 inch diameter, and I had a tough time finding one. var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? Measure the diameter of the exposed shaft. 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. 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. Parts List (the full story of acquiring the parts), The primary, secondary, spider and secondary holderDiscovery Optics. That helps with low-profile My newtonian telescope, like most others, came fitted with a nasty rack and pinion focuser. Robert is a super guy and more than willing to help those who choose to follow in his footsteps. accessible by all ages and skill ranges. Our websites use cookies to improve your browsing experience. When you're ready to go on to testing with the windows driver, you want "myFP2_DRV8825_312-1", open that folder. The bearings only need to be By adjusting the bolts, the mirror can be pointed toward the correct spot. Please explain, in detail, how you attached your tube to the very unique drive system of an XT12G mount. : "http://www. I particularly like that the design can be integrated directly into the focuser board to make a very, very simple UTA. 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. 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. Funny how the bigger they are the better for dobs. Thanks Peter. I wanted the long focal length for good contrast. Be creative! But let me see what items I can arrange to make a helical. While I applaud your building of a homemade Dob, (giving you the FULL benefit of the doubt here) your "friend" has provided photographs that make it look like you're trying to win by cheating. with a genuine question or comment about the design. The diameter of the focuser is usually indicated in inches. Meade Zero Image-Shift Electronic Micro-Focuser This high precision focuser allows you to obtain an extremely accurate image focus. After another 3 weeks, I was concerned that I had not received the mirror. I knew that I would be returning the mirror cell to them, but just for fun I decided to see how it would fit in the tube. There are sub-folders for the different versions. Crayford-style design with four bearings and one driveshaft. Thanks Pinbout for sharing your design. This one is based on the DRV8825 driver chip and a NEMA-17 stepper motor. I first tried my 32mm plossl eyepiece. PVC pipe makes great drawtubes. Fire up focusmax, and shoot some images! Although they don't usually sell these parts, because I had ordered the mirrors from them they offered to sell me the spider and secondary holder that they use in their scopes. You will need to order one sized for your telescope's focuser shaft size. I had to take apart the focuser in order to get my bolts in place. Tom's Homemade Telescope Page - Issac Newton Scope - Google The rocker arms must also have guides to keep it on the track; flat metal 12 braces lined with ABS plastic work nicely. The flat wants to be running parallel to the long axis of the tube. in the tube so they'll hit the knitting needle before your drawtube runs $299.99 More About Telescope Focusers The telescopes size is classified by the size of its mirror. Since these focusers were going side-by-side on a binocular Realizing that it could not be the University Optics cell already, I thought, Noit couldn't be but, in fact, it was. Some quick tips to note if you are making a homemade telescope are: 1. You will look through these as you rotate the wheel. on Introduction. Dobsonian telescopes are popular with amateur telescope makers for their ease of design and construction, portability, and their use of large optical mirrors. On the bottom of the Bottom board is a ring of Ebony Star laminate that glides over the three teflon pads located directly above the feet on the ground board. Orient this assembly to allow you to view an object on the far horizon. 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. 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.