Drawing lines between opposite corners of the tube box sides allowed me to locate the center point on each side. rod for the drive axle it would have a fairly fine motion. Thanks for your article. I had the thought that as long as I was going to build it I should build it as big as I could afford. We moved the operation to a nearby park and got a focused image of the most distant trees (300-400 yards away) quite easily. Able to shift heavy loads of kit ie over 1000g. I ordered the focuser, received an immediate email confirming the order, and it arrived two days later. I did run into a small problem with the focuser. The project creator Robert Brown made a good video on testing the board. I made this Crayford style focuser using plywood scraps and surplus bearings. I then ran a bead of glue on the mark, and after it dried I cut out the nylon up to the glue. I wanted the long focal length for good contrast. Read the documentation though, there are a lot of functions and options. The box should be deep enough to allow the mirror box to swing all the way down. A Pocket Sundial From a Broken Pocket Watch! 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. really stiff and light for their size, and even though a #2 is pretty An electronic focuser, which moves the focus knob through a combination of hardware and software, solves this problem.
DIY focuser design - ATM, Optics and DIY Forum - Cloudy Nights Similar photos at http://www.telescopegeek.com/gallery.htm require 100+ minute exposure times on his 20" telescope and $3200 camera. was straight so I wouldn't get a wobbly knob. The bigger upvc nut will be attached to focuser plate and longer threaded side will be used on it for the focusing. (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.) In the "ARDUINO FIRMWARE" folder, in it you will find a ZIP file "myFP2-Firmware 312-1.zip". work really well, for a fraction of the cost of a commercial Crayford love to hear from people who are interested in this focuser design. 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. 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. 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. Also no obvious diffraction spikes in the m31 photo. The Crayford focuser is a simplified focusing mechanism for amateur astronomical telescopes. Measure the diameter of the exposed shaft. A week after they said they would send the secondary and other parts, I called to ask if things had been sent. For a while I decided that 10 inch would be the best size. : "http://www. PVC pipe makes great drawtubes. Because mirror flexure can distort an image, supporting the mirror properly involves building a flotation cell. I had considered using a clear finish alone, but decided to use a dark red finish on the base and a clear finish on the tube, just because I like the look. 10 years ago I was concerned that it would be difficult to find, but I was able to order it from a local woodworking shop. Star Adventurer Pro Pack Counter Weight Bar Thumb Screw Upgrade. an eyepiece. While round tubing is sturdy, square tubing is easier to work with. Once I decided to build a scope myself I had to decide on the aperture of the scope. Other supplies that I bought for this project include wood, various bits of hardware, stain and finishing supplies, and a circle cutting jig for a router. 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. 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. 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 Im sorry to hear you couldn't make the contest. The focuser 'knob' on the Celestron is just a rubber sleeve that usually pulls off easily. on Step 5, 9 years ago I had installed the mirror about an inch too far away from the focuser. Once you get it working, there's some calibration you need to do. flexing. Start with the small components first. 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. var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-1008534-4");
Headers for the LEDs, buzzer (2-pin) and temperature probe (3-pin). These have slop as you change direction, you can't do fine adjustments, they weigh a ton, and can flex alarmingly over time. my thoughts naturally gravitated toward a boxy focuser to go with it. 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. 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. Reply Best Wishes, Reply 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. wobbly knob still works, and adds character. I called in the order and explained that I would be using a mirror two inches thick. Low, or Zero slop when changing direction. 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.
My DIY Motorized Telescope Focuser - YouTube These will be stored in your browser only with your consent and you have the option to opt-out. Once its cut to length, drill a hole through each end of the tubing with a drill press. 1" Rack & Pinion Focuser. I am well versed in technology, have all the tools necessary to build my own! 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. The company has a reputation for excellent optics, and it was neither the most expensive, nor the least. Have you made any mods on it since you built it? Drill a hole and attach the ball head using a shorter 1/4" 20 bolt. Your astrophotographer friend may have included his own images from his setup. The email bounced back to me. Let me see if I can get similar plumbing parts here. To make the hole for the focuser, I used the focuser tube to mark a circle in the shroud. Step 4Attaching the Side Bearings and assembling the Rocker. adapter set screws to slide into. Plus it comes in black, so Or rather, I hated it. Gift the gift of Make: Magazine this holiday season! 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. It has a 6mm shaft. Most of these have one or two set screws. There are some test sketches in the "Tests" folder, start with those. Once I had my design set, I was ready to buy the parts. This project is based on Robert Brown's "Arduino ASCOM Focuser Pro2 DIY". 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. 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. 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. It was easy enough to drill a hole and tap threads for a Over how many nights did this photography session take place? I only use the OTA. I had to take apart the focuser in order to get my bolts in place. I do have another tube that can be used around the drawtube, but it doesn't really add anything. both sides. The blue pieces of the rocker box and ground board are arranged as in the diagrams in (figure 2). try { on Introduction. To place the primary mirror, I installed the secondary and installed the primary in the mirror cell. Quick demo of my motorized focuser, and I will create a detailed tutorial if enough people are interested. case you need more focuser travel than you thought. I attached keepers 1 inches wide by 5 inches long, extending above the bottom of the arcs by about 1 inches.
Tom's Homemade Telescope Page - DIY Craford Focuser - Google More Homemade Refractor Telescope DIY Erecting Prism Binoviewer Focuser here: Did you make this project? You will need to order one sized for your telescope's focuser shaft size. I marked the spot and moved things back inside to install the mirror. Bore out some 2.5 inch bar and mill a flat down the side making sure it is lined up. I gave them a call and they said they had one on the shelf14 inches in diameter and 12 feet long! large in diameter (1.6") so that adds to the fine-ness of the focus It stalled when tension on the belt increased. I'd he might just have a $3200 camera, they aren't very hard to come by. Staples or finishing nails work fine, but be sure they dont bump up above the surface of the plastic. 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. knitting needle where it goes through the hole, so it's not a big deal, We then spread contact cement over the remaining veneer and tube surface, waited for the glue to dry, and carefully rolled the tube over the veneer. Orion Dynamo Mini for powering a Nexstar 6SE? Finally, I attached Keepers to the sides of the rocker at the bottom of the arcs using screws and glue. It doesn't. A tilted focuser will have no effect on the image quality. The drawings are only approximately to scale. After the second call, I received a response that it would be ready at the end of the following week. Make the hole diameter fairly snug, too. Not sure if it is available in the USA. I had some carboy caps that make good knobs. I paid the 50% deposit and dreamed of DSOs. Fairly easy to build and could be adapted to suit any SCT focuser. 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. Attach the eye piece to another cardboard piece and pass it through the hole from the inside of the tube. Topics such as
However more than the focuser, I liked your scope. Unbelievable! Crayford-style design with four bearings and one driveshaft. 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. Since my plan called for purchasing the mirrors and mechanical parts there were several decisions to be made and several vendors to contact. 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 took the whole tube assembly outside. It is size 1.25 inch with a clear inside dia-meter. 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.
Let me see if I am able to collect all the parts needed. All Orion 1.25" and 2" telescope focusers are engineered to provide smooth drawtube action to ensure you hit the exact focus point . 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 Their step by step instructions were invaluable to me as I built this scope. 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 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. 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. I decided to order a mirror cell from them because the owner had talked about a new cell he was excited about. by cranking The current needs to be adjusted on the DRV8825. The back of the mirror floats on 3 or more support points (this build uses 6) that are calculated usinga software tool called PLOP. I welded mine from steel square tubing. Only problem is if I put a diagonal it wants to rotate the helical part. At some point in the building process, my goal became to finish the scope by RocheStar Fest, an annual event of the Rochester Astronomy Club. Nice work and great instructable! The next day, I called back to ask their opinion about the kind of spider and secondary holder to order. The rocker arms must also have guides to keep it on the track; flat metal 12 braces lined with ABS plastic work nicely. While a sling or whiffletree provide the best edge support, a two-point edge support is much easier to construct. The Dob is really a great design.
Tom's Homemade Telescope Page - Issac Newton Scope - Google I had already made a lightweight focuser for If you enter it in the next contest please let me know and i will make sure to vote for you. 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. My plan for wrapping the tube seemed good, but I am not too pleased with the final result. I really had to, since the underside of my telescope's focuser is all curves, no flat area for attaching the mounting bracket. Some quick tips to note if you are making a homemade telescope are: 1. 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. 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. 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 The pieces were cut down to 15 3/8 and 14 3/8, allowing just under 1/8 inch on each side. Realizing that it could not be the University Optics cell already, I thought, Noit couldn't be but, in fact, it was. 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. Above youll find an interactive 3D rendering of the Sketchup file I used to design and cut all of the parts for my telescope. I didn't receive any confirmation email after a few days, so I tried to send them an email. I used the "LEDandBuzzer" and "TestStepsDRV8825" tests. Thanks Pinbout for sharing your design. Make sure the shroud can slip on and off of the assembled scope, and that it stretches along the circumference (not lengthwise).
A Homemade Crayford Focuser Telescope Focusers | Orion Telescopes: Shop A couple setscrews and you're up & running with an off the shelf solution. #2 knitting needle would be just about right. The dimensions of the Tube Box Sides are based on the outer diameter of my tube14 3/16. 100A81BF-2145-44D5-BC76-66DBF43BAD58.jpeg. As it turned out, the mirror cell was too large to fit into my 14 inch sonotube.
DIY Electric Focuser - ATM, Optics and DIY Forum - Cloudy Nights 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. 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 added three inches for a margin of error and in case I need to rebalance the tube in the future, making a distance of 25 inches from the balance point of the tube to the rocker bottom. 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. the drive shaft close against the drawtube. Not worth the effort, price is tooo high. 1/4" x 20 bolt, and the nylon bolt end against the smooth knitting 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. You need to order it sized for your focuser shaft size. 4 years ago 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. (Technically, it should have been 62.5 for a 12.5 inch f/5, but when the mirror came it had a note on the back that the focal length was 61 inches.) The sides were attached with wood glue and clamps with a few small brads to hold everything in place. 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. . Many sources point out that 10 inches is a kind of sweet spot in the balance between power and portability. I am working on a diy focuser design for my 6" F/8 telescope and asking suggestions for simple focuser. on Introduction. I'm also going to focus on only one version of Robert's focuser (there are many). 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. Slide the eyepiece into the focuser and try it out. telescope page, I wasn't really eager to buy two commercial Crayford
My DIY Motorized Telescope Focuser - YouTube Again from the main FILES page, go to "ASCOM DRIVERS" and download everything. Rock on! (actually, it ended up a smidge more than 2 inches). Make an account on JLCPCB.com, upload the Gerber zip file, that's it! I want to make this direct drive system work. Here is a link to the main FILES area on Robert Brown's site. As the telescope tilts toward the horizon, the mirror must be supported on its edge. Pierre's Helical Crayford gets my vote hands-down for elegant simplicity. 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. PhotoPictureResizer_190723_214534574_crop_2558x3105_copy_1023x1242.jpg. I've been using the above pair I only do functional. on Introduction. control. I also figured that the extra expense was worth it, considering the amount of money I was investing in the project overall. 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. Since my focuser shaft is 6mm, I ordered the coupler shown here in the 6mm to 8mm version from Amazon. 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. The mirror cell: University Optics (eventually). To test the concept I used a short piece of two inch PVC for the draw tube. Every primary telescope mirror has a fixed focal length thats usually 4 to 6 times the width of the mirror. the bearings right at the edge of the frame, reducing the frame to Your design is simple and nice. In the sub-folder "Cases" you will see many variants of the case for the DRV8825 based focusers. my 12.5" trackball, but I didn't 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. 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. 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 wood would cost the same, as would pretty much everything except the mirror, so why not spend a little more on the mirror and go BIG. I did find, though, that the 3D printed gear would slip on the shaft, so it needed a set screw. (Sorry you As I understand, you are using it for a refractor. The belt and pulleys are off-the-shelf items available on Amazon. A 11 years ago It Connect the Arduino USB cable and upload some test sketches. experimented with various wires and rods and eventually decided that a Measure twice, drill 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. 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. After cutting the circles for the side bearings, I set up the jig to cut the curved edges of the rocker sides. 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.