homemade telescope focuser homemade telescope focuser

I really had to, since the underside of my telescope's focuser is all curves, no flat area for attaching the mounting bracket. I did not own all of the tools that I needed for this project, particularly a table saw and router, so I did a lot of work while visiting my Dad. wobbly knob still works, and adds character. It seems to At this point, the scope was pretty much finished. how much travel you actually need, you can cut the tube off so none of 7 years ago Best Wishes, Reply on Introduction. You will have to line up the diagonal and primary so that you see a centered image of the sonotube opening and the spyder in the eyepiece hole. Here is a simple 3D printed helical focuser that cost just a few cents (assuming you have a 3D printer). The mirror cell: University Optics (eventually). Before finishing the tube with a wrap of veneer, I wanted to make sure that the primary was in the correct position. The belt and pulleys are off-the-shelf items available on Amazon. It took about 3 weeks but, since Anttler's did not even reply to the Paypal dispute, I received a Paypal refund. microcontrollers including Arduino and Raspberry Pi, Drones and 3D Printing, and more. So, am curious to see what others have designed and built and proud to show off here on the homage to Crayford thread. I had installed the mirror about an inch too far away from the focuser. Made of plywood, the rocker box supports the mirror box on 1 teflon pads, allowing it to rotate vertically. 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. The extra force will also Another vote for Pierre's helical Crayford design. Orient this assembly to allow you to view an object on the far horizon. 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. This is because my router bit was inch and the arc would be cut by the outside edge of the bit (where the circle had been cut by the inside edge.) I found a used 16 primary on eBay. Staples or finishing nails work fine, but be sure they dont bump up above the surface of the plastic. Keeping with the 'simple ' part of your request, here is a helical 2"/1.25" focuser made from std plumbing parts. (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.) After another 3 weeks, I was concerned that I had not received the mirror. If the telescope rotates forward or backward on its own, then the mirror box is too deep or too shallow. 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! Headers for the LEDs, buzzer (2-pin) and temperature probe (3-pin). To glue the side bearings and rocker sides to full thickness, I covered a side with wood glue, then carefully lined up the pieces and put two small nails into the pieces to hold them in place. The focuser shaft on the telescope is 13.1mm in diameter. The little app is simple and works great. 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. Again from the main FILES page, go to "ASCOM DRIVERS" and download everything. 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. too far. The focuser is the part of the telescope that holds the eyepiece or camera, and by moving in or out, closer or farther from the . Your astrophotographer friend may have included his own images from his setup. 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). If you follow the procedures described above, your telescope's optics will be perfectly aligned. It doesn't. A tilted focuser will have no effect on the image quality. My wife helped me by moving the mirror into and out of the tube around the marked spot while I stood at the eyepiece trying to bring some distant trees into focus. 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. Well, it sort of looks like a focuser.. See pictures below. After another 3 weeks, I was concerned that I had not received the mirror. The rocker sides are each made of two identical pieces of inch plywood glued together, creating two sides one inch thick. Pierre's Helical Crayford gets my vote hands-down for elegant simplicity. I'd This project is based on Robert Brown's "Arduino ASCOM Focuser Pro2 DIY". Make an account on JLCPCB.com, upload the Gerber zip file, that's it! It's rigid, lightweight, and on Step 3. This consists of a small black box of electronics. They eyepiece height ended up being about 5'10" high at zenith. To make the hole for the focuser, I used the focuser tube to mark a circle in the shroud. All Orion 1.25" and 2" telescope focusers are engineered to provide smooth drawtube action to ensure you hit the exact focus point . 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. Edited by Pierre Lemay, 25 May 2020 - 08:10 AM. A Pocket Sundial From a Broken Pocket Watch! Share it with us! love to hear from people who are interested in this focuser design. 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. Have you made any mods on it since you built it? They suggested a construction supply place on the other side of the city that I had not called yet. 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. I drilled holes for the screws that avoided the location of the ring, and attached the rocker bottom. 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. Electronics and software automate the process of taking pictures. Until I see photos of this scope setup for these pictures and an explanation of the exact equipment used, I cannot believe that these pictures were taken with this OTA. 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. Bore out some 2.5 inch bar and mill a flat down the side making sure it is lined up. Please explain, in detail, how you attached your tube to the very unique drive system of an XT12G mount. 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. If your optical train is heavy and the focuser has to bear it (see above) then this motor may be a better choice. Inside the OTA is a ring of tightly fitting flocking paper that prevents any light getting in around the drawtube. Able to make myself using my own humble tools (or toys as the pros will call them!). The project creator Robert Brown made a good video on testing the board. 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. needle adds no friction that I can feel to the focus action. We are now ready for some testing. Focuser minimum height is 50 mm and maximum a little over 90 mm so it is good overall. Thanks for your article. I feel it is a wonderful thing to free oneself from the "store-bought" world, as Tombaugh did, and to use your imagination and skills to develop your own, personal way of viewing the sky. an inch or so apart, so the focuser body could be pretty low profile. 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. Since these focusers were going side-by-side on a binocular A Pocket Sundial From a Broken Pocket Watch! This means I can use FocusMax to do the focusing. 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. When I ordered the cell, I paid through paypal, which immediately deducts money from my checking account. Below are cutting diagrams and diagrams of the rocker and tube box with side bearings. pageTracker._trackPageview(); I was annoyed to have made the mistake, but very glad that I checked the position on stars before wrapping the tube in veneer. 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. This is the kind of simple off the shelf design I was looking for. larger diameter. Able to make myself using my own humble tools (or toys as the pros will call them!) 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. Their step by step instructions were invaluable to me as I built this scope. If you enter it in the next contest please let me know and i will make sure to vote for you. In the "ARDUINO FIRMWARE" folder, in it you will find a ZIP file "myFP2-Firmware 312-1.zip". I plan to use an FTA over it in case an extension is needed. a "rubbery" feel. Meade Zero Image-Shift Electronic Micro-Focuser This high precision focuser allows you to obtain an extremely accurate image focus. With adapters for any Meade 1x200-ACF or LS model, and chord to plug into focuser port. with a genuine question or comment about the design. I want to make this direct drive system work. Showcasing amazing maker projects of 2022. Some of these are essential for the basic functionalities of our websites. I made a similar helical focuser with a nice 2 inch thing I found in Classifieds. 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. I ground and figured the mirror with little troubles, making my focault tester, etc. 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. the drive shaft close against the drawtube. I suspected that the company was either in trouble or no longer in business. NEMA-17 Stepper Motor - see below, there are two options. These will be stored in your browser only with your consent and you have the option to opt-out. Overall, I'm very happy with the outcome of this project - focusing is now a joy. Save over 40% off the annual cover price for a full year (4 issues) of Make. More commercial crayford focusers are of a more enclosed form, whereas mine is more "open frame" approach. haven't yet found any design elements that need improvement. It interfaces to the computer via USB and comes with an ASCOM driver. I am using scrap upvc pipe material. #@$%^#@!!!!! Crayford focusers are considered superior to entry-level rack and pinion If you go to buy all of the components for this project from dealers, you will see that you mostly have to buy at least 5 parts, sometimes bags of 50 parts! Find a special something for the makers in your life. he might just have a $3200 camera, they aren't very hard to come by. Part numbers 351-4574 and 336-422. Slide the eyepiece into the focuser and try it out. A celebration of the Maker Movement, a family-friendly showcase of invention and creativity that gathers Using heavy grit sandpaper I brought back the surface of the keeper enough for the side bearings to fit inside the felt pads. To place the primary mirror, I installed the secondary and installed the primary in the mirror cell. Read the documentation though, there are a lot of functions and options. 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. can't click on it or copy and paste it; it's a graphic file to thwart control. I had some carboy caps that make good knobs. But let me see what items I can arrange to make a helical. 11 years ago The bearings only need to be 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. A smart collection of books, magazines, electronics kits, robots, microcontrollers, tools, supplies, and more Line the underside of the rocker box with a ring of ABS plastic to allow it to ride on the base. See captioned photos 22-25 here:https://www.cloudyniractor-focuser/ for more detail on building a flush valve focuser, as Bob mentions. 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. The mount and tripod are pretty much useless for astrophotography. Sh2-169 and Sh2-168, IC5146 Cocoon Nebula, Caldwell 19, Sh 2-125. the bearings, totally eliminating any flex. Your design is simple and nice. I had some carboy caps that make good knobs. Now attach the screw eyes and the rubber band on the side of the board. Edited by sunrag, 28 May 2020 - 10:44 PM. You can view and download the full file here. If you want a Crayford focuser with a knob instead of turning the draw tube, then Jerry Oltion's designhttp://www.jerryoltixycrayfords.htm using box frames and knitting needle drive shafts is also a fairly easy build. 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. You need a drawtube of course. on Step 1, interesting build, its just like my old Odyssey brand scope from the mid 1990's. in the tube so they'll hit the knitting needle before your drawtube runs You won't need to write any sketches from scratch, but you will at least need to figure out how to upload them to the Nano. Download and unzip. forward and back along with the drawtube when you focus, and you'll get Over how many nights did this photography session take place? Share it with us! I do it with aluminium alloy, aluminium tube and nice work. It has a 6mm shaft. The version number "312" here may change if Robert posts new firmware. And bolt to scope I hate focusing. a 3/4" thickness. Deep space photos like these require HOURS of exposure for each one. Obviously an open truss telescope. an eyepiece. Some quick tips to note if you are making a homemade telescope are: 1. Before you do this, the stepper motor will probably move, but it will make a 'stuttering' sound instead of moving smoothly. 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. Look down through the empty focuser. The Focuser and other items: (Scope Stuff). 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. scope, I only put knobs on the outsides. Fast forward a few months to the next time I had the tube outside. Install on Windows 10, this part is pretty straightforward. This unit takes signals from your computer and drives the stepper motor on the focuser. I also wanted to buy the other mechanical partsmirror cell, spider, secondary holder, and focuserso that the performance of these pieces was not limited by my skills. 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. 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. PVC pipe makes great drawtubes. Brandon Lawler is a hobbyist telescope Maker and an active member of the Central Texas Astronomical Society. 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. I started by trying to drill out a metal gear for the focuser shaft. Next step, before my first acquisition of any parts, is to get with any amateur astronomers in Central Florida, so, wish me luck! I will post the pic of final focuser once ready. Im sorry to hear you couldn't make the contest. #2 knitting needle would be just about right. 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. ill ask him for a detailed list of what he used and when i get that ill post it here for you. Plus it comes in black, so That evening I spent most of my time rediscovering the many DSOs around Sagittarius, especially the Lagoon Nebula and the Trifid Nebula. I wanted a tight / press fit, so I only added half that, 0.25mm. I only do functional. Most of these have one or two set screws. I installed the spider first, about one inch down from the end of the square end of the tube. The shroud made from two 22 inch tall containers came out short, so I had to add an eleven inch strip of nylon. With the DRV8825 and Arduino Nano plugged in, the basic board is complete. 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. My guess is that photo was taken with a refractor. For a while I decided that 10 inch would be the best size. that is a great website that guy has some fantastic photos. 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. The balance point determines the height of the rocker sides, so I had to get this far before I cut the wood for the base. 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 base of the telescope should be a wide, sturdy square or circle of wood with teflon bearing pads matched to the ABS plastic ring of the rocker box. 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. 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. This is not recommended for shared computers. I then attached the Ebony Star ring using contact cement. really stiff and light for their size, and even though a #2 is pretty Download and check them out, I just grabbed the first one and printed it. The Dob is really a great design. Picture of DS-4. Thicker walls also required thicker side bearings so that the outside of the bearings would line up with the outside of the rocker sides.