His project is very well documented. The flat wants to be running parallel to the long axis of the tube. Did you make this project? 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. See captioned photos 22-25 here:https://www.cloudyniractor-focuser/ for more detail on building a flush valve focuser, as Bob mentions. When I looked at the costs, I seriously considered buying an Orion telescope instead of building my own. I'm' glad I did, because I didn't like the first color that I had chosen. You simply glue or screw the 'nut' part to your scope OTA, and thread the tube part in/out to focus. In my case I decided to make a custom bracket. I have not yet figured out a better way to hold the tube. 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. This will determine the size of the coupler you will use to connect the stepper motor. His passion is using CAD design and his homemade CNC router to bring large wood projects to life. accessible by all ages and skill ranges. We moved the operation to a nearby park and got a focused image of the most distant trees (300-400 yards away) quite easily. This resulted in a gear that wasn't true and "wobbled" a bit. If you wanted to really go low-profile with this design, Finally, I attached Keepers to the sides of the rocker at the bottom of the arcs using screws and glue. The sides were attached with wood glue and clamps with a few small brads to hold everything in place. A Pocket Sundial From a Broken Pocket Watch! 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. Again from the main FILES page, go to "ASCOM DRIVERS" and download everything. This is where you will use screws to strongly attach the focuser onto the tube. Finally it was etched in caustic soda, and anodised matt black. Pretty dry but important! At their suggestion, I also ordered a 2.6 inch secondary mirror. During assembly, youll attach the trusses to the mirror box, then sit the secondary cage on top and bolt everything in place. The belt and pulleys are off-the-shelf items available on Amazon. Today I purchased what is called atank nipple in India. 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. Telescope Magazine. Just drill holes in both ends and mount the lenses. I am thankful to enjoy the inspiration, and the details, that you provide, as I will soon be constructing a Dobsonian Telescope. 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. try { It just I ground and figured the mirror with little troubles, making my focault tester, etc. SDO/HMI Continuum Image on 2023.03.04 at 1259 UT, Remote computer working with no extra networking. 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. off the bearings. This Instructable describe the planning, design, and parts of the scope, as well as the process of building The scope. I plan to use an FTA over it in case an extension is needed. Orion Dynamo Mini for powering a Nexstar 6SE? Those are the last screws to be tightened. Be creative! Given that you can make the drawtube any length you 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. A project collaboration and documentation platform. The email bounced back to me. both sides. Able to shift heavy loads of kit ie over 1000g. The spider, or secondary mirror holder, will suspend the mirror in the optical path in order to direct light into the focuser. I told them to take their time and get it right. An Altitude Azimuth mount would also require a field rotator.There's no way these were taken with an Orion GoTo Mount. Line the underside of the rocker box with a ring of ABS plastic to allow it to ride on the base. I really had to, since the underside of my telescope's focuser is all curves, no flat area for attaching the mounting bracket. astronowanabe, Pierre Lemay, LarsMalmgren and. I have several of the books on building a Dobsonian Telescope. 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. It took a lot longer than I expected to receive my mirror and other parts from Discovery. I made this Crayford style focuser using plywood scraps and surplus bearings. The scope including the optics, truss tubes, and eye pieces all stored in a single box making it easy to store and transport by car, but it was a little too big to fit in the overhead compartment or under the seat on most aircraft. $299.99 More About Telescope Focusers Save over 40% off the annual cover price for a full year (4 issues) of Make. I also have an extended photographic build diary of this telescope posted on Imgur. 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. I had nearly completed the base and put things together for the first time. To get this arc, I actually moved the radius of the jig, At some point in the building process, my goal became to finish the scope by RocheStar Fest, an annual event of the. control. 11 years ago A neet site: http://www.astropix.com/HTML/I_ASTROP/CAMERAS.HTM Cool instructable, Dude! on Step 3. The focal length of the mirror is 61 inches. I only use the OTA. This makes for better sky photographs as the exposure time can be lengthened,. If you're not using heavy eyepieces, you probably don't need Next, attach the eyepiece and the focuser to the top part of the telescope tube. The hole is made slightly larger than the shaft, this is normal. the interior diameter is just a nudge over 2". 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. Quick demo of my motorized focuser, and I will create a detailed tutorial if enough people are interested. I marked the spot and moved things back inside to install the mirror. I would also like to know about how you can take such fantastic pictures without a field rotator and an autoguider system. I installed the spider first, about one inch down from the end of the square end of the tube. One of the companies I had considered as a supplier for the primary mirror was Anttler's Optical. 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. . With the DRV8825 and Arduino Nano plugged in, the basic board is complete. (Sorry you Dozens of projects in every issue covering electronics, craft, fabrication, and more, Learn tips and skill-building tutorials from experts in the maker community. Able to make myself using my own humble tools (or toys as the pros will call them!) flexing. Instead of the rack and pinion, they have a smooth spring-loaded shaft which holds the focus tube against four opposing bearing surfaces, and controls its movement. This is the mirror box for my 16", with Jim doing a bit of cleanup sanding. 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. I had installed the mirror about an inch too far away from the focuser. Make sure the shroud can slip on and off of the assembled scope, and that it stretches along the circumference (not lengthwise). A smart collection of books, magazines, electronics kits, robots, microcontrollers, tools, supplies, and more until a 2" eyepiece or 1.25" adapter is snug. 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. Very simple and portable. Share it with us! To make the hole for the focuser, I used the focuser tube to mark a circle in the shroud. I used my router to "mill" a flat area for better contact with the focus adjustment rod. The pieces were cut down to 15 3/8 and 14 3/8, allowing just under 1/8 inch on each side. It turns out the the extra 1/16 allowed far too much side to side movement between the rocker and ground board. Once I had my design set, I was ready to buy the parts. Not worth the effort, price is tooo high. 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. This cost around $100 to build and all of the components came from Jaycar, except the brackets which were made with 1.2mm sheet metal. Download and unzip. the drive shaft close against the drawtube. Some of these are essential for the basic functionalities of our websites. The hole did need to be enlarged slightly by moving the bit within the hole , but in the end, the fit seems right. Similar photos at http://www.telescopegeek.com/gallery.htm require 100+ minute exposure times on his 20" telescope and $3200 camera. I built a second set of electronics, and I had the NEMA 17 Direct Drive motor left over since it didn't work for my Orion ED80T-CF refractor. occurred to me that a square turned 45 degrees would give me two flat surfaces to put the bearings in and a vee at the bottom that would hold If your optical train is heavy and the focuser has to bear it (see above) then this motor may be a better choice. The last time I checked, that particular SBIG camera used on TelescopeGeek had an eight month lead time.A 20" scope gathers 2.6 times more light than a 12.5" scope, therefore equivalent exposures on this one would take 200+ minutes, at least. All Dobsonian telescope projects are unique buildshere are the notes from my latest version to help get you familiar with the process and determine how youll design yours. Share a cool tool or product with the community. I then ran a bead of glue on the mark, and after it dried I cut out the nylon up to the glue. 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. But, like many of you I'm sure, the biggest reason I'm doing this is for the pure geeky fun of it! My newtonian telescope, like most others, came fitted with a nasty rack and pinion focuser. (actually, it ended up a smidge more than 2 inches) Lighter than the existing focuser. Make the drawtube longer than you think you'll need, just in When I ordered the cell, I paid through paypal, which immediately deducts money from my checking account. Once you get it working, there's some calibration you need to do. the bearings right at the edge of the frame, reducing the frame to Obviously an open truss telescope. A bit of a monster! Thanks again for the 'ible. widening the hole. I wanted a tight / press fit, so I only added half that, 0.25mm. 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. Share it with us! This cost around $100 to build and all of the components came from. Realizing that it could not be the University Optics cell already, I thought, Noit couldn't be but, in fact, it was. The overall project is super cheap, we're building this thing for something like $50 in materials. 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. Thin 1/16 Kydex plastic should be cut to length to line the inside of the cage as a baffle to block outside light. My first telescope I built was a 10" F8. They even offered to send the spider, secondary holder, and secondary mirror immediately so that I could begin working on the tube while I waited for the primary. Most of these have one or two set screws. a "rubbery" feel. It would cost less and they have a very good reputation. DIY Craford Focuser. Get hands-on with kits, books, and more from the Maker Shed, Skill builder, project tutorials, and more. A few months later I ordered some other things from Scopestuff, including strips of Ebony Star laminate for the side bearings, a ring of Ebony Star for the rocker bottom, a strip of teflon to cut pieces for the ground board and side bearings, and a new base for my Telrad finder. The 48 inch width of the veneer was close enough to the diameter of the tube that I used it as is. Feel free to take on that part if you like, but you're on your own :-). 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. needle adds no friction that I can feel to the focus action. Because mirror flexure can distort an image, supporting the mirror properly involves building a flotation cell. 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. In amateur astrophotography, we run our telescopes overnight. The Crayford Focuser and DIY Focuser for Homemade Telescope By trukmeeilee in Circuits Cameras 3,461 3 1 Download Favorite By trukmeeilee Follow More by the author: The Crayford focuser is a simplified focusing mechanism for amateur astronomical telescopes. It had been described by many as the most important recent volume for anyone planning to build a dob, and I have to agree. Make an account on JLCPCB.com, upload the Gerber zip file, that's it! Once its cut to length, drill a hole through each end of the tubing with a drill press. Yet I was also becoming infected with aperture fever. Drill a hole and attach the ball head using a shorter 1/4" 20 bolt. This consists of a small black box of electronics. Your choice here will be recorded for all Make.co Websites. There are a number of technical reasons why these photographs could not have come from this Optical Tube Assembly. an inch or so apart, so the focuser body could be pretty low profile. (I didn't have the primary mirror yet). Please explain, in detail, how you attached your tube to the very unique drive system of an XT12G mount. That helps with low-profile Using heavy grit sandpaper I brought back the surface of the keeper enough for the side bearings to fit inside the felt pads. You need some purple bits It was May 12th. And bolt to scope 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. 100A81BF-2145-44D5-BC76-66DBF43BAD58.jpeg. My plan for wrapping the tube seemed good, but I am not too pleased with the final result. in the tube so they'll hit the knitting needle before your drawtube runs microcontrollers including Arduino and Raspberry Pi, Drones and 3D Printing, and more. I do it with aluminium alloy, aluminium tube and nice work. I'll use an aluminum tube for the finished draw tube but for now the plastic tube . forward and back along with the drawtube when you focus, and you'll get Please re-enable javascript to access full functionality. Edited by Pierre Lemay, 25 May 2020 - 08:10 AM. with a genuine question or comment about the design. 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. Fairly easy to build and could be adapted to suit any SCT focuser. a 3/4" thickness. After going over the surfaces with a tack cloth to pick up the saw dust, I applied the stain and went over it with cheese cloth rags for an even finish. To place the primary mirror, I installed the secondary and installed the primary in the mirror cell. Start with the small components first. like, you can have as much focuser travel as you want no matter how 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. Shorter thread side will be used to attach the eyepiece. Here is a simple 3D printed helical focuser that cost just a few cents (assuming you have a 3D printer). I pointed it at distant trees and had no problem bringing the image into focus with all of my eyepieces. 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. Several of my Recent Images have been focused with this system. on Introduction. It is size 1.25 inch with a clear inside dia-meter. We all know the problems with focusing. From everything I had read, I expected that getting a sonotube would be as easy as running to any hardware store and picking it up. 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. 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. Staples or finishing nails work fine, but be sure they dont bump up above the surface of the plastic. 10 years ago 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. The pivot bolt consists of a 1 1/8 inch brass spacer with an 11/16 inch outer diameter, a 3/8 inch bolt 2 inches long, a stop nut, and two large washers. I file a dispute with Paypal to begin the process of getting my money back. They use a simple plywood mirror cell, stating that for an 8 inch mirror this cell will be adequate. on Introduction. drneilmb, thanks for sharing the focuser design. The diameter of the focuser is usually indicated in inches. I am working on a diy focuser design for my 6" F/8 telescope and asking suggestions for simple focuser. Pioneered by John Dobson in the 1960s, the instrument combines a Newtonian reflector telescope with a unique two-axis movable base. The mirror itself must also be able to tilt in three dimensions in order to aim its light at the secondary mirror (a process called collimation). 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. Also no obvious diffraction spikes in the m31 photo. The mirror cell: University Optics (eventually). They have many items for ATMers and I had frequently visited their website when planning my scope. I decided that my best option was to scale up their 8 inch design for a 12.5 inch scope and sacrifice the portability and easier storage of a truss scope for something that I felt confident in building myself. The side bearings are each made from 2 identical semicircles of 5/8 inch plywood glued together to make a thickness of 1 inches. However more than the focuser, I liked your scope. Perfect for visual observations with very heavy mirrors. document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); I don't *do* pretty. The shroud made from two 22 inch tall containers came out short, so I had to add an eleven inch strip of nylon. Did you make this project? 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. on Step 1, interesting build, its just like my old Odyssey brand scope from the mid 1990's. It took about 3 weeks but, since Anttler's did not even reply to the Paypal dispute, I received a Paypal refund. My secondary is 4; for tips on choosing size, click here. ASIAIR - Is there an easy way to load Messier catalog into Autorun? Depending on your telescope, one of the Brackets that Robert has may work for you. So I was looking for a cheap, light-but-sturdy design for a The back of the mirror floats on 3 or more support points (this build uses 6) that are calculated usinga software tool called PLOP. on Step 1, Richards in our local astronomy club. by cranking That way you won't be dropping your drawtube and The company has a reputation for excellent optics, and it was neither the most expensive, nor the least. The glue should keep the nylon from fraying. DO NOT drill out the holes in the board! In the sub-folder "Cases" you will see many variants of the case for the DRV8825 based focusers. Drill the holes for the knitting small, it's surprisingly rigid. 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. I'd 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. 4 years ago Frustrated by these difficulties, I stopped by one more hardware store to ask for advice. 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. Cost is $25 - $30, and you will have 5 PCBs in about a week. Many sources point out that 10 inches is a kind of sweet spot in the balance between power and portability. i am not trying to win this contest with photos. I used the "LEDandBuzzer" and "TestStepsDRV8825" tests. All that remained was to design and print a bracket, and buy the needed parts. 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. All in all it seemed like a pretty robust design, so I gave it 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. . Thin-wall aluminum tubing is used to attach the mirror box to the secondary cage. Only problem is if I put a diagonal it wants to rotate the helical part. Bill, Impressive work and great idea about LSDF focuser. Several clamps were used to hold the pieces together overnight. 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 NEMA-17 direct drive stepper motor is available from Adafruit and many other sellers. To get this arc, I actually moved the radius of the jig in by 1/8 inch. Upload that main sketch to the Nano. Two inch internal diameter drawtube. If you mess up, you can turn the hole into a slot, but avoid PVC pipe makes great drawtubes. The original Crayford Focuser is on display there. I think I got what I wanted and seems best solution for me. This motor has a 5mm drive shaft. Install on Windows 10, this part is pretty straightforward. A free program that lights childrens creative fires and allows them to explore projects in areas such as arts & the tube is cardboard as well, you can also get a quality mirror at telescope.com for much cheaper. We were careful to press out any bubbles as we went, but when the job was done we found that there were multiple bubbles in the veneer. Download and check them out, I just grabbed the first one and printed it. curated by us, the people behind Make: and the Maker Faire. once. I have one on my 12" f/5 truss dob and the focuser knob is on the top surface of the UTA. Showcasing amazing maker projects of 2022. Post 10 of the same LSDF focuser thread also links to Art Bianconi's archived 2008 original flush valve focuser posts. Here we see the following components installed: Notice we are NOT populating the parts of the board intended for Wifi or BLED. 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. Plan ahead by carefully weighing all components and approximating the center mass of the optical assembly. Among amateur telescopes, the most common are focusers with landing diameters of 1.25 ", 2", rarely 0.965 ", and even less often - 3". 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. After the pieces were glued together, I used a belt sander to smooth out any rough edges, being careful to keep both rocker sides and both side bearings exactly the same. 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. Before you do this, the stepper motor will probably move, but it will make a 'stuttering' sound instead of moving smoothly. Two of the holes for the bolts were blocked by knobs. It is named after the Crayford Manor House Astronomical Society, Crayford, London, England where it was invented by John Wall, a member of the astronomical society which meets there. 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. The box should be deep enough to allow the mirror box to swing all the way down. Deep space photos like these require HOURS of exposure for each one. Since my plan called for purchasing the mirrors and mechanical parts there were several decisions to be made and several vendors to contact. stronger, but would give me a coarser focus action because of their After you've done that, put a couple of tiny pan-head screws Just as it was about to come into focus, the focuser bottomed out. Homemade astronomy. A week after they said they would send the secondary and other parts, I called to ask if things had been sent.

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