When you figure out try { To interface with the computer, I have used the Artemis Focuser module from Steve, Arthur and Co. 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 Focuser and other items: (Scope Stuff). Several functions may not work. I used the "LEDandBuzzer" and "TestStepsDRV8825" tests. Total cost for supplies for this project: It took a lot longer than I expected to receive my mirror and other parts from Discovery. Having an RS trade counter 2 miles away is such a luxury! Make the drawtube longer than you think you'll need, just in Share it with us! And bolt to scope If your optical train is heavy and the focuser has to bear it (see above) then this motor may be a better choice. Nice work and great instructable! Get hands-on with kits, books, and more from the Maker Shed, Skill builder, project tutorials, and more. 10 inch or 12 inch. Read the documentation though, there are a lot of functions and options. Parts List (the full story of acquiring the parts), The primary, secondary, spider and secondary holderDiscovery Optics. I really had to, since the underside of my telescope's focuser is all curves, no flat area for attaching the mounting bracket. Thanks for your article. After another 3 weeks, I was concerned that I had not received the mirror. The core of the telescope, the steel mirror cell holds and adjusts the heavy, curved primary mirror. I began building it in the spring of 2008, but the bulk of the work was done in July of 2008 with first light occurring on July 25. I was finishing this inner debate when I got a copy of the book The Dobsonian Telescope by Kriege and Berry as a Christmas gift. These will be stored in your browser only with your consent and you have the option to opt-out. Place the focuser, draw the position of the screws with a pencil and remove the focuser. 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. 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. a "rubbery" feel. When I ordered the cell, I paid through paypal, which immediately deducts money from my checking account. rod for the drive axle it would have a fairly fine motion. Orion Dynamo Mini for powering a Nexstar 6SE? Build a Backyard Dobsonian Telescope - Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for So, I duplicated the aluminum gear pulley in SolidWorks, and printed it out. until a 2" eyepiece or 1.25" adapter is snug. It may take you a while to adjust the image correctly, but it's not hard to do, just time consuming. So, for my telescope I used a 6mm to 5mm coupler available on Amazon. Building the mirror box is tricky, because the entire optical assembly (mirror cell, mirror box, trusses, secondary cage) must balance at the center of rotation of the arms. This is the mirror box for my 16", with Jim doing a bit of cleanup sanding. A Homemade Crayford Focuser In my case I decided to make a custom bracket. needle so the knitting needle will be snug against the drawtube without Remember: It is the quality and SIZE of the capture chip, NOT the megapixels that determines quality. As I continued to read, however, I was struck by the many complications of the design and, frankly, how many ways I could screw it up. Thanks again for the 'ible. 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. Move the jigs until you can comfortably place a variety of eyepieces in the focuser and get a sharp image, then carefully measure the separation distances. Shorter thread side will be used to attach the eyepiece. Above youll find an interactive 3D rendering of the Sketchup file I used to design and cut all of the parts for my telescope. a 3/4" thickness. 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. How to make a $30 DIY star tracker for astrophotography Contact cement is permanent, so the only solution would be to replace the tube! Finally, I attached Keepers to the sides of the rocker at the bottom of the arcs using screws and glue. This Instructable describe the planning, design, and parts of the scope, as well as the process of building The scope. They suggested a construction supply place on the other side of the city that I had not called yet. That's pretty much the focuser. weight. Plus it comes in black, so and an eyepiece. That helps with low-profile See captioned photos 22-25 here:https://www.cloudyniractor-focuser/ for more detail on building a flush valve focuser, as Bob mentions. A neet site: http://www.astropix.com/HTML/I_ASTROP/CAMERAS.HTM Cool instructable, Dude! Fairly easy to build and could be adapted to suit any SCT focuser. Your design is simple and nice. Here is what I was working on but looks like I need a better design. Tom's Homemade Telescope Page - Issac Newton Scope - Google Put it all together Their step by step instructions were invaluable to me as I built this scope. Make sure the shroud can slip on and off of the assembled scope, and that it stretches along the circumference (not lengthwise). 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 secondary holder is adjustable, so I could didn't have to get the location perfect. Just as it was about to come into focus, the focuser bottomed out. I had some carboy caps that make good knobs. accessible by all ages and skill ranges. . This makes for better sky photographs as the exposure time can be lengthened,. 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. 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 7 years ago The extra force will also And a flat thing to put it all on Accordingly, with 1.25 focuser, you can use 1.25 eyepieces, with 2 focuser - both 2 eyepieces and 1.25 (through a special . I was certain not to move the jig at all before cutting the second circle. So, am curious to see what others have designed and built and proud to show off here on the homage to Crayford thread. Position "0" is with the focuser all the way IN (at least for a refractor). I was concerned that it would be difficult to find, but I was able to order it from a local woodworking shop. #@$%^#@!!!!! The cutting diagram in (figure 1) shows how I cut the required pieces from two 60 X 60 pieces of Baltic Birch plywood, one inch thick, and one 5/8. Obviously an open truss telescope. 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. Motion is very smooth. 5 weeks after I had ordered the mirror, I called to ask about its status. Community Forum Software by IP.BoardLicensed to: Cloudy Nights. Before I wrapped the tube (and before I discovered the problem with the primary placement) I determined the balance point on the tube. Two inch internal diameter drawtube. Rock on! he might just have a $3200 camera, they aren't very hard to come by. I also decided to make a separate mounting plate for the stepper motor, since I figured aligning the shafts precisely would be all but impossible. The sides were attached with wood glue and clamps with a few small brads to hold everything in place. They have many items for ATMers and I had frequently visited their website when planning my scope. Let me see if I am able to collect all the parts needed. It's the same in form, but has a perfect, true 13.35mm hole. an inch or so apart, so the focuser body could be pretty low profile. This is where you will use screws to strongly attach the focuser onto the tube. After a dry fit of the rocker to make sure that the tube box with side bearings would fit well, I glued the rocker sides to the rocker front, holding them in place with small nails and clamping overnight. After the second call, I received a response that it would be ready at the end of the following week. You will need to remove the regular focus knob on your telescope's focuser. astronowanabe, Pierre Lemay, LarsMalmgren and. Dobsonian telescopes are popular with amateur telescope makers for their ease of design and construction, portability, and their use of large optical mirrors. To do this, the mirror cell needs to be supported by 3 large bolts, at least 2 of which are adjustable. DIY focuser design - ATM, Optics and DIY Forum - Cloudy Nights Most people will want a knob on The drawings are only approximately to scale. I found out pretty quickly that building my own telescope would only be a bargain if I made my own mirror and mechanical parts. 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. 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. The rocker arms must also have guides to keep it on the track; flat metal 12 braces lined with ABS plastic work nicely. These have slop as you change direction, you can't do fine adjustments, they weigh a ton, and can flex alarmingly over time. Upload that main sketch to the Nano. eyepiece on the ground (or worse, on your primary mirror!) I tried to call, but the voice mail had a recording stating that the customer was unable to receive messages. 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. It turned out that they had an incorrect zip code and the package was still waiting to be sent. I wanted to finish that instructable before the contest ended but was too late :-). Maker-written books designed to inform and delight! I marked the spot and moved things back inside to install the mirror. To get a slide-fit in a 3D printed part, you normally make the hole 0.5mm larger than the shaft. 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. 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. in the tube so they'll hit the knitting needle before your drawtube runs The rocker sides are each made of two identical pieces of inch plywood glued together, creating two sides one inch thick. It take automatic control of the CCD camera and focuser, and dances around magically on the screen, arriving at perfect focus within about 30s to 3 minutes depending on where you started from. I did run into a small problem with the focuser. Edited by Pierre Lemay, 25 May 2020 - 08:10 AM. Tom's Homemade Telescope Page - Udder Nonsense - Google Able to shift heavy loads of kit ie over 1000g. Because thebasic movement and optics requirements are relatively simple, much of the design is left to the builder. 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'd be willing to bet that you could easily grind your own 12.5 inch next time and save some $$. I ended up modifying it a bit after printing. Nice looking telescope. These are mounted 120 degrees apart and use 4 inexpensive bearings to support the tube. 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. Only problem is if I put a diagonal it wants to rotate the helical part. The 48 inch width of the veneer was close enough to the diameter of the tube that I used it as is. The shroud made from two 22 inch tall containers came out short, so I had to add an eleven inch strip of nylon. I hate focusing. Make an account on JLCPCB.com, upload the Gerber zip file, that's it! The next day my wife called me at work to tell me a box had arrived with telescope stuff. Your choice here will be recorded for all Make.co Websites. I wanted the long focal length for good contrast. Tips If you've got a 1.25 inch focuser, You can also use it for an objective. 1/4" x 20 bolt, and the nylon bolt end against the smooth knitting The base and the rocker box in my telescope are secured with a skate bearing assembly but could be more simply attached with a bolt through the center. Well, it sort of looks like a focuser.. See pictures below. Able to make myself using my own humble tools (or toys as the pros will call them!) Attach the eye piece to another cardboard piece and pass it through the hole from the inside of the tube. If you're not familiar with Arduino, watch some tutorial videos. 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. Finally, attach your polar alignment device and align it with the hinge. 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. I read the entire thread and surely its going to help me building my focuser. Star Adventurer Pro Pack Counter Weight Bar Thumb Screw Upgrade. The curved sides of the Side Bearings are also covered with strips of Ebony Star that glide on the teflon pads on the curved edges of the Rocker Sides (figure 3). I only do functional. 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. Most of these have one or two set screws. One of the neat things about the square design is that the This will determine the size of the coupler you will use to connect the stepper motor. occurred to me that a square turned 45 degrees would give me two flat Because mirror flexure can distort an image, supporting the mirror properly involves building a flotation cell. DO NOT drill out the holes in the board! I made this Crayford style focuser using plywood scraps and surplus bearings. 8 years ago 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. 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. The original Crayford Focuser is on display there. This project is based on Robert Brown's "Arduino ASCOM Focuser Pro2 DIY". Trim off any unused fabric along the base. After you've done that, put a couple of tiny pan-head screws At this point, the scope was pretty much finished. Plus it comes in black, so you don't need to paint it (or worry about paint flaking off it). You can easily, and economically (10$) build a Crayford Helical Focuser like the one pictured above in one evening with simple tools. larger diameter. How to build a 12.5 inch closed tube Dobsonian telescope. My other telescope is a Celestron NexStar C6E. but try for a snug fit if you can. All Orion 1.25" and 2" telescope focusers are engineered to provide smooth drawtube action to ensure you hit the exact focus point . I had already made a lightweight focuser for 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 Or rather, I hated it. (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.) I had installed the mirror about an inch too far away from the focuser. Install on Windows 10, this part is pretty straightforward. Frustrated by these difficulties, I stopped by one more hardware store to ask for advice. The bearings only need to be Step 3The Side Bearings and Rocker Sides. 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. Meade Zero Image-Shift Electronic Micro-Focuser This high precision focuser allows you to obtain an extremely accurate image focus. I The premier publication of maker projects, skill-building tutorials, in-depth reviews, and inspirational stories, To place the primary mirror, I installed the secondary and installed the primary in the mirror cell. This software creates a model of your telescope by measuring out of focus star sizes at various points. I will get good 30-40 mm focusing range. However more than the focuser, I liked your scope. I am working on a diy focuser design for my 6" F/8 telescope and asking suggestions for simple focuser. 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. 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. tube and nut that fits the outside threads. We moved the operation to a nearby park and got a focused image of the most distant trees (300-400 yards away) quite easily. 100A81BF-2145-44D5-BC76-66DBF43BAD58.jpeg. 1N5408 3A Diode (you may need to make the pins smaller to fit through the holes in the board. Not sure how your toilets are built over there, but here they use what is called a tank flush valve. In my build, the cage was cut on a CNC router from plywood, with threaded T-nuts added to support a truss assembly. 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. At their suggestion, I also ordered a 2.6 inch secondary mirror. flexing. I sanded all parts of the telescope with 220 grit sandpaper followed by 400 grit, making a very smooth surface to apply the stain. The mount and tripod are pretty much useless for astrophotography. help eliminate slippage when the focuser is pointed straight upward. 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. Picture of DS-4. Although they don't usually sell these parts, because I had ordered the mirrors from them they offered to sell me the spider and secondary holder that they use in their scopes. 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 installed the spider first, about one inch down from the end of the square end of the tube. Today I purchased what is called atank nipple in India. I took the whole tube assembly outside. document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); once. Similar photos at http://www.telescopegeek.com/gallery.htm require 100+ minute exposure times on his 20" telescope and $3200 camera. drneilmb, thanks for sharing the focuser design. I have one on my 12" f/5 truss dob and the focuser knob is on the top surface of the UTA. The overall project is super cheap, we're building this thing for something like $50 in materials. The diameter of the focuser is usually indicated in inches. I started by trying to drill out a metal gear for the focuser shaft. More Homemade Refractor Telescope DIY Erecting Prism Binoviewer Focuser here: Did you make this project? Plan ahead by carefully weighing all components and approximating the center mass of the optical assembly. My homemade motorized telescope focuser for Celestron C8. Focusers of telescopes. Types, difference, specifications - Star Hunter Not worth the effort, price is tooo high. on Step 5, 9 years ago It was easy enough to drill a hole and tap threads for a The holes in the main bracket the match the holes in the plate are oversize to allow for this alignment. love to hear from people who are interested in this focuser design. I had to take apart the focuser in order to get my bolts in place. Page 1 of 2 - DIY focuser design - posted in ATM, Optics and DIY Forum: Hi I am working on a diy focuser design for my 6 F/8 telescope and asking suggestions for simple focuser. Stellafane The Focuser 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. Yet I was also becoming infected with aperture fever. You can view and download the full file here. Featured in the February, 2015 issue of Sky & See above, this motor does not produce a lot of torque, but you don't need much for this application since there is no 'load' on the focusing shaft. Easy DIY motorized battery free telescope focuser - YouTube