homemade telescope focuser

After you've done that, put a couple of tiny pan-head screws You will need to order one sized for your telescope's focuser shaft size. Picture of DS-4. A week later the cell arrived (on schedule) from University Optics. I had chosen a boxy, rigid design for the binocular scope, so Tom's Homemade Telescope Page - Issac Newton Scope - Google Stellafane The Focuser A project collaboration and documentation platform. The bearings only need to be I wasn't there so i can be 100% but i do not think my friend was lying to me and i believe the pictures are from my telescope my kids use it for stargazing a lot i have seen some deepspace but i use it mainly for sketching the moon and i like to view solar flares. Two inch internal diameter drawtube. In order to check your measurements, you can construct jigs for your mirror cell and secondary cage, positioning them on a straight, adjustable track such as 2 planks of wood. 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. Rock on! 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. focuser. Pierre Lemay, thanks for sharing your simple and incredible design. Easy DIY motorized battery free telescope focuser - YouTube Because thebasic movement and optics requirements are relatively simple, much of the design is left to the builder. I like the old way of using stepper motors and other stuff introduced years ago by Mel Bartels, he is a master for me. 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. Un-real!!! I do it with aluminium alloy, aluminium tube and nice work. As the thread shows you could also build the dual speed version, all made of plywood, if you feel ready to tackle a slightly more complex project for a cost of about 5$ more. 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. As it turned out, the mirror cell was too large to fit into my 14 inch sonotube. Perfect for visual observations with very heavy mirrors. Primary telescope mirror aftermarket, homemade, or custom-made. 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. 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. knob, and a drill press to make sure the hole for the knitting needle If the telescope rotates forward or backward on its own, then the mirror box is too deep or too shallow. I have already seen some designs on CN, Stellafane and web but still checking if someone has recently made anything simpler. So, as they say, "back to the drawing board". large in diameter (1.6") so that adds to the fine-ness of the focus I have not yet figured out a better way to hold the tube. 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 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. Above youll find an interactive 3D rendering of the Sketchup file I used to design and cut all of the parts for my telescope. Keeping with the 'simple ' part of your request, here is a helical 2"/1.25" focuser made from std plumbing parts. on Step 3. An Altitude Azimuth mount would also require a field rotator.There's no way these were taken with an Orion GoTo Mount. I had already made a lightweight focuser for scope, I only put knobs on the outsides. To test the concept I used a short piece of two inch PVC for the draw tube. Rock Paper Scissors Using Tinkercad Circuits and Arduino, Punchy the MECH & the Autonomous Fight Club, Soft-sensor-saurus | an E-textile Soft Sensor Soft Toy With LED Light. Dozens of projects in every issue covering electronics, craft, fabrication, and more, Learn tips and skill-building tutorials from experts in the maker community. I tried to call, but the voice mail had a recording stating that the customer was unable to receive messages. This is where you will use screws to strongly attach the focuser onto the tube. I would love to see your build when you are finished with it . The length of the Rocker Front also had to be changed so that the outside edge of the Side Bearings matched the outside edge of the Rocker Sides precisely. The side bearings are each made from 2 identical semicircles of 5/8 inch plywood glued together to make a thickness of 1 inches. A smart collection of books, magazines, electronics kits, robots, microcontrollers, tools, supplies, and more Here we see the following components installed: Notice we are NOT populating the parts of the board intended for Wifi or BLED. I have built a homemade electric focuser for my Celestron 8SE using a radio control hobby servo and some spare parts. 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. When you add the minimum distance from the eyepiece to the secondary mirror together with the distance from the secondary mirror to the primary, the total length should be the primary mirrors focal length. You can view and download the full file here. If you're going for simple, have you considered a helical focuser? To do this, the mirror cell needs to be supported by 3 large bolts, at least 2 of which are adjustable. The Focuser and other items: (Scope Stuff). By adjusting the bolts, the mirror can be pointed toward the correct spot. Star Adventurer Pro Pack Counter Weight Bar Thumb Screw Upgrade. 11 years ago Just drill holes in both ends and mount the lenses. If you follow the procedures described above, your telescope's optics will be perfectly aligned. Over how many nights did this photography session take place? 5 weeks after I had ordered the mirror, I called to ask about its status. Thanks for your article. Interfaced with a computer, so the computer can make the decisions about where the best focus is. and hope it doesn't fall off At their suggestion, I also ordered a 2.6 inch secondary mirror. On that noteWARNING:do not look directly into the sun and never point a telescope into the sun without proper filtration you can damage your telescope and burn your retinas and possibly go blind i am not a astrophotographer so i cant comment on the quality of the pictures since there is so much doubt on the photos i will gladly take them down. When you're ready to go on to testing with the windows driver, you want "myFP2_DRV8825_312-1", open that folder. Two such companies would not give me a price because the order of a single tube was too small. A 6 in primary mirror does not have enough weight to make the dob stable. This sure is going to be a project I will work on. One of the companies I had considered as a supplier for the primary mirror was Anttler's Optical. 11 years ago Telescope Focusers | Orion Telescopes: Shop 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 had installed the mirror about an inch too far away from the focuser. We use cookies to continuously improve our websites for you and optimize its design and customization. I used my router to "mill" a flat area for better contact with the focus adjustment rod. Here's my 8" f/6 travel scope with a 2" PVC draw tube and the helical Crayford focuser built right in the focuser board. I built mine entirely from CNC-cut plywood, and fastened it together with 2 bolts. Trim off any unused fabric along the base. Start with the small components first. You can easily, and economically (10$) build a Crayford Helical Focuser like the one pictured above in one evening with simple tools. You should now be able to drill the 4 holes at each corner. Among amateur telescopes, the most common are focusers with landing diameters of 1.25 ", 2", rarely 0.965 ", and even less often - 3". 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. I gave them a call and they said they had one on the shelf14 inches in diameter and 12 feet long! too far. You really need a step ladder even for my 10" when pointed overhead. Look down through the empty focuser. DIY Electric Focuser - ATM, Optics and DIY Forum - Cloudy Nights Dobsonians come in all shapes and sizes, from small 4-8 builds all the way up to massive 24-36 creations. This is the mirror box for my 16", with Jim doing a bit of cleanup sanding. In the "ARDUINO FIRMWARE" folder, in it you will find a ZIP file "myFP2-Firmware 312-1.zip". The project took several months off and on to complete, although a skilled Maker could put a similar one together in a few weeks. I hate focusing. After the second call, I received a response that it would be ready at the end of the following week. it sticks into your light path. It had been described by many as the most important recent volume for anyone planning to build a dob, and I have to agree. The focuser shaft on the telescope is 13.1mm in diameter. These will be stored in your browser only with your consent and you have the option to opt-out. 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. 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. guarantee a response, but I'll do my best to answer everyone who writes Some of the very best planetary and deep sky pics I have seen have come from a Fuji S3 professioanl camera [based on a Nikon body] and a Canon 20Da, which was designed with [I think] a user replaceable inside the mirror box filter for astral photography. case you need more focuser travel than you thought. 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. forward and back along with the drawtube when you focus, and you'll get It takes the unknown out of focusing, and is easy to re-focus between filters, or refocus several times during a long exposure run as the world cools down. The flat wants to be running parallel to the long axis of the tube. 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. Or rather, I hated it. Showcasing amazing maker projects of 2022. But who cares, really? 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 he might just have a $3200 camera, they aren't very hard to come by. I called to express my concern and was told that it had all been packaged a few weeks ago and that it should have been sent. 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. It's easy to shim it to exactly 2" with adhesive labels placed one at a time inside the tube until a 2" eyepiece or 1.25" adapter is snug. The hole did need to be enlarged slightly by moving the bit within the hole , but in the end, the fit seems right. 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. I decided to order a mirror cell from them because the owner had talked about a new cell he was excited about. This proved fatal for the stepper motor! Let me see if I can get similar plumbing parts here. Finally it was etched in caustic soda, and anodised matt black. It turns out that sonotubes are a stock item in 8 inch, 10 inch, 12 inch, and sometimes even 16 inch diameters. I marked the spot and moved things back inside to install the mirror. The focuser is very smooth. Find a special something for the makers in your life. Focuser minimum height is 50 mm and maximum a little over 90 mm so it is good overall. These are mounted 120 degrees apart and use 4 inexpensive bearings to support the tube. One of the neat things about the square design is that the They suggested a construction supply place on the other side of the city that I had not called yet. 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. Ideally, the spacer would be 1 inch long and have a smaller diameter, but I didn't get this one right the first time. My homemade motorized telescope focuser for Celestron C8. How To Build A Dobsonian Telescope [Guide 2022] - DopeGuides I only do functional. A homemade 16 inch dob lightweight telescope, DS-4 - XMission In my case I decided to make a custom bracket. As the authors describe the benefits of a truss design, it is hard to dispute their arguments. There are sub-folders for the different versions. There was the expense, for one, but also the Drill the holes for the knitting exactly 2" with adhesive labels placed one at a time inside the tube 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. This is the upper tube that contains the flat secondary mirror, Telrad finder, and focuser. The wide square footprint would make it pretty stable when mounted to It is not very powerful, it will not supply enough torque if you put any load on it or have a heavy optical train (like I do) and the focuser has to "pull" it upward when the telescope is vertical. I got a different stain, tested it, and went back to work. Telescope Focusers | Orion Telescopes: Shop 100A81BF-2145-44D5-BC76-66DBF43BAD58.jpeg. larger diameter. You need a drawtube of course. Measure twice, drill Robert Brown did an excellent video on how to work out your stepper motor requirements. I have already seen some designs on CN, Stellafane and web but still checking if someone has recently made anything simpler. 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. The box should be deep enough to allow the mirror box to swing all the way down. It took about 3 weeks but, since Anttler's did not even reply to the Paypal dispute, I received a Paypal refund. 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. But, especially on cold evenings, the focus may go out in the middle of the night. My guess is that photo was taken with a refractor. 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. I even began taking careful notes about needed supplies and plans for each piece of the truss tube scope. telescope page, I wasn't really eager to buy two commercial Crayford 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. 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. 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. on Step 1, Richards in our local astronomy club. needle so the knitting needle will be snug against the drawtube without Just to make sure I liked the stain, I applied some to a piece of scrap wood. I had considered a Moonlite or Featherlite focuser, but I knew from my experience with my 6 inch scope that I wanted a 2 speed focuser, and the price tag of their 2 speed focusers scared me away. You currently have javascript disabled. Edited by sunrag, 28 May 2020 - 10:44 PM. Someone is pulling someone's leg here. While I will freely admit that most astro-photography is WAY beyond me, you certainly do NOT need a $3200 camera to do so. 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. I tried this one first and found it wouldn't work for my application. A Beginner's Guide to Collimation - Gary Seronik an inch or so apart, so the focuser body could be pretty low profile. Next step, before my first acquisition of any parts, is to get with any amateur astronomers in Central Florida, so, wish me luck! Built one of these http://emediadesigns.com/focuser/ working really well only cost less than 40.00. Given any mirror measurements, PLOP will provide the ideal support layout and how much distortion to expect for any number of flotation points. Nice looking telescope. In addition, we use third-party cookies to help us analyze and understand usage. Slewing to find an object and then tracking an object on the sky, so when you make a homemade telescope on the motorisation process you will need high speed for slewing and low speed for tracking or fine movements. (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.) Having an RS trade counter 2 miles away is such a luxury! The heaviest piece is 40 lbs, and the total scope weighs about 60 lbs (not counting the baffle). DIY Truss Dob input: How to design truss? It has become an indispensable piece of equipment for me that so beats hacking and filing PVC pipes etc. See the images how I plan to assemble it. This means you lose much of the night's images. It would cost less and they have a very good reputation. It may need some careful coaxing with a screwdriver. PVC pipe makes great drawtubes. I made a similar helical focuser with a nice 2 inch thing I found in Classifieds. We tried this in our back yard, but found that it was too difficult to aim both the tube and the moving mirror at distant trees in our suburban yard. 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. Unfortunately I don't have a 3d printer. The motor is much lighter than the geared motor. What materials did you use? 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. Fire up focusmax, and shoot some images! Share a cool tool or product with the community. 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. Using heavy grit sandpaper I brought back the surface of the keeper enough for the side bearings to fit inside the felt pads. Download and unzip. spambots that search the internet for addresses to send junk mail to.) The diameter of the focuser is usually indicated in inches. I will post the pic of final focuser once ready. I particularly like that the design can be integrated directly into the focuser board to make a very, very simple UTA. Able to make myself using my own humble tools (or toys as the pros will call them!) However more than the focuser, I liked your scope. This project is based on Robert Brown's "Arduino ASCOM Focuser Pro2 DIY". If you enter it in the next contest please let me know and i will make sure to vote for you. Your choice here will be recorded for all Make.co Websites. 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. Thanks Peter. Please explain, in detail, how you attached your tube to the very unique drive system of an XT12G mount. Connect the Arduino USB cable and upload some test sketches. This combination has proved to be effective for all positions except when the tube is pointed directly up. That helps with low-profile My telescope is the Orion ED80T-CF. the drive shaft close against the drawtube. 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 didn't receive any confirmation email after a few days, so I tried to send them an email. help eliminate slippage when the focuser is pointed straight upward. Another thing, the resolution on the Dumbell nebula seems a bit too high for that telescope. (The 8 inches from the center of the secondary to the field stop in the focuser is the same 8 inches from the center of the focuser to the top of the tube.) If not, you may need to design and print your own bracket(s), gears, and so on.