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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. stronger, but would give me a coarser focus action because of their Bill, Impressive work and great idea about LSDF focuser. This motor is available on Amazon. 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. I've been using the above pair Once its cut to length, drill a hole through each end of the tubing with a drill press. DIY Craford Focuser. Slide the eyepiece into the focuser and try it out. 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 tube is cardboard as well, you can also get a quality mirror at telescope.com for much cheaper. var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? Some of these are essential for the basic functionalities of our websites. That evening I spent most of my time rediscovering the many DSOs around Sagittarius, especially the Lagoon Nebula and the Trifid Nebula. But, like many of you I'm sure, the biggest reason I'm doing this is for the pure geeky fun of it! This is the mirror box for my 16", with Jim doing a bit of cleanup sanding. 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. A Pocket Sundial From a Broken Pocket Watch! Crayford-style design with four bearings and one driveshaft. 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. To cut the circles, I started with a depth of about 1/8 inch, then lowered the bit and cut a little more with each pass until I was through the board. I then ran a bead of glue on the mark, and after it dried I cut out the nylon up to the glue. I didn't receive any confirmation email after a few days, so I tried to send them an email. 3D Printed Futuristic Space Age Wall Clock, http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Number=4721255. Telescope Magazine. the bearings right at the edge of the frame, reducing the frame to 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. on Step 1, interesting build, its just like my old Odyssey brand scope from the mid 1990's. This might have been tempting if I wanted to build a 6 inch scopeat that size, they say that first-timers do pretty well at grinding and figuring their own optics. Position "0" is with the focuser all the way IN (at least for a refractor). Again from the main FILES page, go to "ASCOM DRIVERS" and download everything. Some quick tips to note if you are making a homemade telescope are: 1. The bigger upvc nut will be attached to focuser plate and longer threaded side will be used on it for the focusing. Among amateur telescopes, the most common are focusers with landing diameters of 1.25 ", 2", rarely 0.965 ", and even less often - 3". The overall project is super cheap, we're building this thing for something like $50 in materials. The next day my wife called me at work to tell me a box had arrived with telescope stuff. Using heavy grit sandpaper I brought back the surface of the keeper enough for the side bearings to fit inside the felt pads. Use the externalMirror Edge Support Calculatorto decide whether to use a two-point, four-point (whiffletree), or sling support. 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. 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. Share it with us! Just drill holes in both ends and mount the lenses. like, you can have as much focuser travel as you want no matter how We use cookies to continuously improve our websites for you and optimize its design and customization. Helical is one of the option i am considering. the nylon screws going up from the bottom, but I found the knitting I didn't bother reading his whole article to figure out what f/# he used) I am not trying to say that good AP isn't possible with a sonotube scope, (the 'friend' may very well have pulled it out of the dob mount, added rings and a dovetail, and mounted it on his CGE-Pro or comparable) but in this case it is unlikely.". a "rubbery" feel. work really well, for a fraction of the cost of a commercial Crayford When I looked at the costs, I seriously considered buying an Orion telescope instead of building my own. Fairly easy to build and could be adapted to suit any SCT focuser. 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. The heaviest piece is 40 lbs, and the total scope weighs about 60 lbs (not counting the baffle). The diameter of the focuser is usually indicated in inches. This combination has proved to be effective for all positions except when the tube is pointed directly up. Edited by howardcano, 24 May 2020 - 09:29 PM. 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. - Bill. I'm only hoping to supplement it a bit with some info and pictures aimed at those with limited skills (such as myself) :-) I'm not an electrical engineer, I'm more of a software guy with some limited knowledge of electronics and basic soldering and assembly skills. Quick demo of my motorized focuser, and I will create a detailed tutorial if enough people are interested. I drilled the holes in the center of the ground board and rocker bottom using a 9/16 bit, thinking that I needed the extra 1/16 so that the spacer could move. The pieces were cut down to 15 3/8 and 14 3/8, allowing just under 1/8 inch on each side. 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 would also like to know about how you can take such fantastic pictures without a field rotator and an autoguider system. Thanks Peter. Several functions may not work. document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); They're fairly Since my plan called for purchasing the mirrors and mechanical parts there were several decisions to be made and several vendors to contact. The rocker sides are each made of two identical pieces of inch plywood glued together, creating two sides one inch thick. I set things up in daylight and collimated the scope. I told them to take their time and get it right. (actually, it ended up a smidge more than 2 inches) Lighter than the existing focuser. This focuser (see pic at bottom) was motorised by me several years ago, but the motorised system didn't give me very fine control, and the motor running at fast speed tended to make the Artemis camera crash. eyepiece on the ground (or worse, on your primary mirror!) See captioned photos 22-25 here:https://www.cloudyniractor-focuser/ for more detail on building a flush valve focuser, as Bob mentions. So I decided to make my own, using my normal "blunder in naively and see what happens" approach to making things. If you follow the procedures described above, your telescope's optics will be perfectly aligned. the interior diameter is just a nudge over 2". The spider, or secondary mirror holder, will suspend the mirror in the optical path in order to direct light into the focuser. I will post the pic of final focuser once ready. Use mild soap and distilled . 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 blue pieces of the rocker box and ground board are arranged as in the diagrams in (figure 2). help eliminate slippage when the focuser is pointed straight upward. I had to take apart the focuser in order to get my bolts in place. You will look through these as you rotate the wheel. I made this Crayford style focuser using plywood scraps and surplus bearings. Bore out some 2.5 inch bar and mill a flat down the side making sure it is lined up. I attached three feet equally spaced on top of the ring, and on the opposite side attached teflon pads 1 X 1 directly above the feet using very small brads and countersinking the brads below the surface of the teflon. Your choice here will be recorded for all Make.co Websites. I read the entire thread and surely its going to help me building my focuser. Did you make this project? In addition, we use third-party cookies to help us analyze and understand usage. We moved the operation to a nearby park and got a focused image of the most distant trees (300-400 yards away) quite easily. You need to order it sized for your focuser shaft size. how much travel you actually need, you can cut the tube off so none of I even began taking careful notes about needed supplies and plans for each piece of the truss tube scope. 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. #2 knitting needle would be just about right. i got a email that someone built a telescope close to mine that has seen the stuff in the photos here is a link to his site http://www.synapticsystems.com/sky/scopes/Dob.htmlif i seem a bit rude please forgive me i just spent 12hrs in a plane i have jetlag and im sitting in a airport.i would like to thank lvlasertech for keeping this instructable lively and informative. 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. This book describes in great detail the steps to build a large aperture truss tube dob, focusing on scopes with a 12.5 to 40 inch mirror. 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. 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. 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. needle adds no friction that I can feel to the focus action. Share a cool tool or product with the community. The Crayford focuser is a simplified focusing mechanism for amateur astronomical telescopes. You can see that my Moonlite focuser was slightly larger than the sides of the tube. I have built a homemade electric focuser for my Celestron 8SE using a radio control hobby servo and some spare parts. Not sure if it is available in the USA. A project collaboration and documentation platform. #@$%^#@!!!!! This can be shimmed out with paper wrapped around the Finally, I glued a strip of Ebony Star laminante to the curves edge of each side bearing using contact cement, using a flush edge bit on a router to bring the edge of the laminate even with the edge of the wood after the cement had set. And bolt to scope Did you make this project? The mirror cell: University Optics (eventually). Able to shift heavy loads of kit ie over 1000g. You need some purple bits 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. You should now be able to drill the 4 holes at each corner. Made of plywood, the rocker box supports the mirror box on 1 teflon pads, allowing it to rotate vertically. If your optical train is heavy and the focuser has to bear it (see above) then this motor may be a better choice. 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. Newton, and others including James Gregory and Laurent Cassegrain, believed that a reflecting telescope would not be affected by the chromatic aberration that affected . You need a drawtube of course. I described it two years ago in this thread:https://www.cloudyniuser/?p=8879835 . Obviously an open truss telescope. Another thing, the resolution on the Dumbell nebula seems a bit too high for that telescope. The flat wants to be running parallel to the long axis of the tube. Rather than use a sheet of plastic Kydex to finish the tube, as recommended in K/B, I ordered a sheet of birch veneer. I suspected that the company was either in trouble or no longer in business. Well, it sort of looks like a focuser.. See pictures below. This is the kind of simple off the shelf design I was looking for. (I didn't have the primary mirror yet). I paid the 50% deposit and dreamed of DSOs. Thicker knitting needles would be even I tried to call, but the voice mail had a recording stating that the customer was unable to receive messages. Also, I will work with my computer geek buddies, so that we eventually automate it using Linux on a Rock64, to run kstars for tracking, on INDI. Get hands-on with kits, books, and more from the Maker Shed, Skill builder, project tutorials, and more. Save over 40% off the annual cover price for a full year (4 issues) of Make. 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 told them to take their time and get it right. More commercial crayford focusers are of a more enclosed form, whereas mine is more "open frame" approach. 10 inch or 12 inch. Carve out a hole on the top part of the sonotube first. The hole did need to be enlarged slightly by moving the bit within the hole , but in the end, the fit seems right. In the sub-folder "Cases" you will see many variants of the case for the DRV8825 based focusers. 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. It would cost less and they have a very good reputation. I like the old way of using stepper motors and other stuff introduced years ago by Mel Bartels, he is a master for me. I built mine entirely from CNC-cut plywood, and fastened it together with 2 bolts. His project is very well documented. knob, and a drill press to make sure the hole for the knitting needle Lining up this center point with the center of the top of the side bearing, I brought the corner of the side bearing up to the edge of the tube box and attached it with screws. To make the hole for the focuser, I used the focuser tube to mark a circle in the shroud. I really had to, since the underside of my telescope's focuser is all curves, no flat area for attaching the mounting bracket. As I understand, you are using it for a refractor. I found out pretty quickly that building my own telescope would only be a bargain if I made my own mirror and mechanical parts. Orient this assembly to allow you to view an object on the far horizon. A wide hole will let the knitting needle creep needle so the knitting needle will be snug against the drawtube without It has reminded me of one of my long term aims to make a telescope that has been buried by the demands of the rest of my life! guarantee a response, but I'll do my best to answer everyone who writes The extra force will also 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. This consists of a small black box of electronics. Using a compass I drew circles on the top and bottom of the ground board to mark the inside and outside of the teflon ring on the bottom of the rocker bottom. It took yet another call a week later for the items to actually be mailed. Drawing lines between opposite corners of the tube box sides allowed me to locate the center point on each side. once. You should watch (and bookmark) this video. 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. I had some carboy caps that make good knobs. After researching several possible sources for a primary mirror, I decided to order an f/5 12.5 inch mirror from Discovery Optics. Now I can simply insert the PVC cap on the end of a 4" pvc tube. 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. The company has a reputation for excellent optics, and it was neither the most expensive, nor the least. This allowed me to cut perfect identical circles. initiatives for the next generation of makers. Today I purchased what is called atank nipple in India. 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. ScopeStuff is awesome!! If not, you may need to design and print your own bracket(s), gears, and so on. My other telescope is a Celestron NexStar C6E. Finally, attach your polar alignment device and align it with the hinge. 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. All Orion 1.25" and 2" telescope focusers are engineered to provide smooth drawtube action to ensure you hit the exact focus point . Thicker walls also required thicker side bearings so that the outside of the bearings would line up with the outside of the rocker sides. 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. 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. NEMA-17 Stepper Motor - see below, there are two options. How to build a 12.5 inch closed tube Dobsonian telescope. Contact cement is permanent, so the only solution would be to replace the tube! I used my router to "mill" a flat area for better contact with the focus adjustment rod. Using a compass, I drew lines for the inside and outside of the Ebony Star ring on the top and bottom of the rocker bottom. Nice one. 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. 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. 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 marked the spot and moved things back inside to install the mirror. I tried this one first and found it wouldn't work for my application. I also have an extended photographic build diary of this telescope posted on Imgur. To view, go here: http://emediadesigns.com/focuser/ rod for the drive axle it would have a fairly fine motion. 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. Step 4Attaching the Side Bearings and assembling the Rocker. Orion Dynamo Mini for powering a Nexstar 6SE? Nice looking 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. As the telescope tilts toward the horizon, the mirror must be supported on its edge. 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. 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. Step 3The Side Bearings and Rocker Sides. Membership connects and supports the people and projects that shape our future and supports the learning Start with the small components first. To do this, the mirror cell needs to be supported by 3 large bolts, at least 2 of which are adjustable. both sides. Make sure the shroud can slip on and off of the assembled scope, and that it stretches along the circumference (not lengthwise). Dobsonian telescopes are popular with amateur telescope makers for their ease of design and construction, portability, and their use of large optical mirrors. It just think that design would be rigid enough under the weight of a diagonal For complete instructions on building a telescope such as this one, I strongly recommend buying a copy of The Dobsonian Telescope by David Kriege and Richard Berry. Cost is $25 - $30, and you will have 5 PCBs in about a week. This motor has a 5mm drive shaft. My homemade motorized telescope focuser for Celestron C8. 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. I had chosen a boxy, rigid design for the binocular scope, so Pretty dry but important! Please explain, in detail, how you attached your tube to the very unique drive system of an XT12G mount. Make the hole diameter fairly snug, too. The next day, I centered the rocker on the rocker bottom (which had been cut using the same method as the side bearing circles), drawing perpendicular lines through the center of the rocker bottom to use as a guide, and tracing the position on the rocker bottom. Plus it comes in black, so 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. 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. They have many items for ATMers and I had frequently visited their website when planning my scope. I did find, though, that the 3D printed gear would slip on the shaft, so it needed a set screw. I have no idea how much mail this idea will generate, so I can't 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 drilled holes for the screws that avoided the location of the ring, and attached the rocker bottom. 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. The original Crayford Focuser is on display there. They eyepiece height ended up being about 5'10" high at zenith. Find a special something for the makers in your life. This NEMA-17 direct drive stepper motor is available from Adafruit and many other sellers. Every primary telescope mirror has a fixed focal length thats usually 4 to 6 times the width of the mirror. I marked the expected position of the secondary by measuring 61 inches down from the end of the tube. Share it with us! The dimensions of the Tube Box Sides are based on the outer diameter of my tube14 3/16. Please re-enable javascript to access full functionality. I used one of these scrap pieces to draw an angle of 70 degrees to the edge of the arc so that I could later place the teflon pads on the arcs. The current needs to be adjusted on the DRV8825. 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. Thanks for the great comment. Crayford-style design with four bearings and one driveshaft. Similar photos at http://www.telescopegeek.com/gallery.htm require 100+ minute exposure times on his 20" telescope and $3200 camera.

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