homemade telescope focuser homemade telescope focuser

needle to be just a little too flexible for the weight of a diagonal and The project creator Robert Brown made a good video on testing the board. (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.) This resulted in a gear that wasn't true and "wobbled" a bit. 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. Most of these have one or two set screws. I drew a guide line straight down the side of the tube and cut the veneer to length with one extra inch on each side68 inches long. The hole is made slightly larger than the shaft, this is normal. 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. I tried to call, but the voice mail had a recording stating that the customer was unable to receive messages. 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. I made a similar helical focuser with a nice 2 inch thing I found in Classifieds. I had talked with their owner about mirrors and mirror cells once, and I was very impressed by his knowledge of telescope building. Many sources point out that 10 inches is a kind of sweet spot in the balance between power and portability. This consists of a small black box of electronics. To get this arc, I actually moved the radius of the jig in by 1/8 inch. 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 . 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. Did you make this project? in the tube so they'll hit the knitting needle before your drawtube runs 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. I laughed, packed up the cell with a long letter describing the series of events that led to the return, and put it in the mail. They eyepiece height ended up being about 5'10" high at zenith. Install on Windows 10, this part is pretty straightforward. This allows for a small clearance between the outside of the tube and the inside of the tube box (14 3/8). 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. The one company that did provide a price quoted over $500more than I was willing to pay for cardboard! control. I suspected that the company was either in trouble or no longer in business. While I will freely admit that most astro-photography is WAY beyond me, you certainly do NOT need a $3200 camera to do so. I would love to see your build when you are finished with it . The part is very strong! Now attach the screw eyes and the rubber band on the side of the board. They use a simple plywood mirror cell, stating that for an 8 inch mirror this cell will be adequate. The Dob is really a great design. They have many items for ATMers and I had frequently visited their website when planning my scope. My guess is that photo was taken with a refractor. I knew that I would be returning the mirror cell to them, but just for fun I decided to see how it would fit in the tube. All Orion 1.25" and 2" telescope focusers are engineered to provide smooth drawtube action to ensure you hit the exact focus point . the bearings, totally eliminating any flex. There are a number of technical reasons why these photographs could not have come from this Optical Tube Assembly. Thanks again for the 'ible. Thin 1/16 Kydex plastic should be cut to length to line the inside of the cage as a baffle to block outside light. 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. I decided to order an aluminum mirror cell from University Optics instead so that the mirror could be supported at 9 different points. Only problem is if I put a diagonal it wants to rotate the helical part. 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. Just as it was about to come into focus, the focuser bottomed out. The next day my wife called me at work to tell me a box had arrived with telescope stuff. I Hope to give you ideas if you are thinking about building one for yourself! Thin-wall aluminum tubing is used to attach the mirror box to the secondary cage. corners of the squares provide nice nooks for the eyepiece and eyepiece Today I purchased what is called atank nipple in India. This simple homemade device will reduce star trails far better than if the camera was mounted on a tripod alone. When you figure out my 12.5" trackball, but I didn't I'll use an aluminum tube for the finished draw tube but for now the plastic tube . My first telescope I built was a 10" F8. Make an account on JLCPCB.com, upload the Gerber zip file, that's it! But who cares, really? My telescope is the Orion ED80T-CF. It has become an indispensable piece of equipment for me that so beats hacking and filing PVC pipes etc. guarantee a response, but I'll do my best to answer everyone who writes 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. I was certain not to move the jig at all before cutting the second circle. together tech enthusiasts, crafters, educators across the globe. And you can tell it's not a mosaic because the stars at the corners show coma/field curvature artifacts. My homemade motorized telescope focuser for Celestron C8. 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. 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. For about $3 we can buy a tank valve kit that has a threaded 2" i.d. Above youll find an interactive 3D rendering of the Sketchup file I used to design and cut all of the parts for my telescope. tube and nut that fits the outside threads. Most people will want a knob on that is a great website that guy has some fantastic photos. but try for a snug fit if you can. I ordered the focuser, received an immediate email confirming the order, and it arrived two days later. Yet I was also becoming infected with aperture fever. Both cameras have fairly small megapixels by todays' standards, and are certainly obsolete, but do the job extremely well! Picture of DS-4. Before I wrapped the tube (and before I discovered the problem with the primary placement) I determined the balance point on the tube. A smart collection of books, magazines, electronics kits, robots, microcontrollers, tools, supplies, and more Telescope Magazine. I particularly like that the design can be integrated directly into the focuser board to make a very, very simple UTA. Plan ahead by carefully weighing all components and approximating the center mass of the optical assembly. It took yet another call a week later for the items to actually be mailed. Thanks for your article. large in diameter (1.6") so that adds to the fine-ness of the focus Post 10 of the same LSDF focuser thread also links to Art Bianconi's archived 2008 original flush valve focuser posts. 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. I applied contact cement to the first inch of the veneer and the mating inch of the tube. The glue should keep the nylon from fraying. on Introduction. The company has a reputation for excellent optics, and it was neither the most expensive, nor the least. Not worth the effort, price is tooo high. It is used to setup water outlet from overhead water tanks. 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. I tried this one first and found it wouldn't work for my application. var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? weight. on Introduction. I also wanted to strengthen and protect the cardboard tube. 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. 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. 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. Please explain, in detail, how you attached your tube to the very unique drive system of an XT12G mount. I set things up in daylight and collimated the scope. I Drawing lines between opposite corners of the tube box sides allowed me to locate the center point on each side. 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. See the images how I plan to assemble it. exactly 2" with adhesive labels placed one at a time inside the tube This motor is available on Amazon. One of the neat things about the square design is that the 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. A week later the cell arrived (on schedule) from University Optics. 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. The focuser is very smooth. Use mild soap and distilled . DO NOT drill out the holes in the board! The drawings are only approximately to scale. This one is based on the DRV8825 driver chip and a NEMA-17 stepper motor. 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.