To do this, the mirror cell needs to be supported by 3 large bolts, at least 2 of which are adjustable. Given any mirror measurements, PLOP will provide the ideal support layout and how much distortion to expect for any number of flotation points. 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. 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 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. Your design is simple and nice. Their step by step instructions were invaluable to me as I built this scope. 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. As I understand, you are using it for a refractor. (Sorry you . But, like many of you I'm sure, the biggest reason I'm doing this is for the pure geeky fun of it! In my case I decided to make a custom bracket. One of the neat things about the square design is that the I only do functional. that is a great website that guy has some fantastic photos. This software creates a model of your telescope by measuring out of focus star sizes at various points. This means you lose much of the night's images. 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 diameter of the focuser is usually indicated in inches. The focuser 'knob' on the Celestron is just a rubber sleeve that usually pulls off easily. If your optical train is heavy and the focuser has to bear it (see above) then this motor may be a better choice. Not sure if it is available in the USA. It has become an indispensable piece of equipment for me that so beats hacking and filing PVC pipes etc. I am using scrap upvc pipe material. I want to make this direct drive system work. A celebration of the Maker Movement, a family-friendly showcase of invention and creativity that gathers The silly colours are mainly due to me experimenting with various clothes dyes in the anodising. pageTracker._trackPageview(); I wanted to wrap the tube in veneer because I had seen a homemade telescope on a website that used veneer and I liked the look. I have one on my 12" f/5 truss dob and the focuser knob is on the top surface of the UTA. This means I can use FocusMax to do the focusing. var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-1008534-4"); Attach the eye piece to another cardboard piece and pass it through the hole from the inside of the tube. Download and check them out, I just grabbed the first one and printed it. 11 years ago I decided to order a mirror cell from them because the owner had talked about a new cell he was excited about. I waited until dark and pointed the scope at the sky. I plan to use an FTA over it in case an extension is needed. CNC files (optional) Download the Sketchup files. 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. 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 An Altitude Azimuth mount would also require a field rotator.There's no way these were taken with an Orion GoTo Mount. The current needs to be adjusted on the DRV8825. If you're going for simple, have you considered a helical focuser? 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. It has a 6mm shaft. Since these focusers were going side-by-side on a binocular Fairly easy to build and could be adapted to suit any SCT focuser. Quick demo of my motorized focuser, and I will create a detailed tutorial if enough people are interested. I do it with aluminium alloy, aluminium tube and nice work. During assembly, youll attach the trusses to the mirror box, then sit the secondary cage on top and bolt everything in place. too far. So, I duplicated the aluminum gear pulley in SolidWorks, and printed it out. Did you make this project? Tips If you've got a 1.25 inch focuser, You can also use it for an objective. If you're not using heavy eyepieces, you probably don't need This proved fatal for the stepper motor! While round tubing is sturdy, square tubing is easier to work with. A week after they said they would send the secondary and other parts, I called to ask if things had been sent. Find a special something for the makers in your life. I have already seen some designs on CN, Stellafane and web but still checking if someone has recently made anything simpler. 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. When you figure out I first tried my 32mm plossl eyepiece. His passion is using CAD design and his homemade CNC router to bring large wood projects to life. The glue should keep the nylon from fraying. a "rubbery" feel. 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. 4 years ago I Hope to give you ideas if you are thinking about building one for yourself! And bolt to scope In my build, the cage was cut on a CNC router from plywood, with threaded T-nuts added to support a truss assembly. We tried this in our back yard, but found that it was too difficult to aim both the tube and the moving mirror at distant trees in our suburban yard. If you enter it in the next contest please let me know and i will make sure to vote for you. A free program that lights childrens creative fires and allows them to explore projects in areas such as arts & Orion Dynamo Mini for powering a Nexstar 6SE? While I applaud your building of a homemade Dob, (giving you the FULL benefit of the doubt here) your "friend" has provided photographs that make it look like you're trying to win by cheating. astronowanabe, Pierre Lemay, LarsMalmgren and. They use a simple plywood mirror cell, stating that for an 8 inch mirror this cell will be adequate. It is size 1.25 inch with a clear inside dia-meter. I am a retired USAF electronics engineer, and might even do much of the construction of the base with welded structural tubing, as, I do have a complete metal working shop besides my wood shop, here. Picture of DS-4. In addition, we use third-party cookies to help us analyze and understand usage. I had designed the tube box so that there would be an extra inch around the tube. 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! Crayford-style design with four bearings and one driveshaft. DIY Truss Dob input: How to design truss? Download and unzip. Or in my case, back to SolidWorks :-). I started with a spacer that with a inch outer diameter. Electronics and software automate the process of taking pictures. 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. 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. I then ran a bead of glue on the mark, and after it dried I cut out the nylon up to the glue. So I was looking for a cheap, light-but-sturdy design for a As I read the book I decided that I should build a 12.5 inch truss tube scope. 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. Both cameras have fairly small megapixels by todays' standards, and are certainly obsolete, but do the job extremely well! 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. DO NOT drill out the holes in the board! Another thing, the resolution on the Dumbell nebula seems a bit too high for that telescope. These have slop as you change direction, you can't do fine adjustments, they weigh a ton, and can flex alarmingly over time. They suggested a construction supply place on the other side of the city that I had not called yet. Im sorry to hear you couldn't make the contest. And you can tell it's not a mosaic because the stars at the corners show coma/field curvature artifacts. The overall project is super cheap, we're building this thing for something like $50 in materials. 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. 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 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. 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. However more than the focuser, I liked your scope. At their suggestion, I also ordered a 2.6 inch secondary mirror. This is the mirror box for my 16", with Jim doing a bit of cleanup sanding. I did run into a small problem with the focuser. The back of the mirror floats on 3 or more support points (this build uses 6) that are calculated usinga software tool called PLOP. The email bounced back to me. 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. a 3/4" thickness. I set things up in daylight and collimated the scope. on Introduction. I would also like to know about how you can take such fantastic pictures without a field rotator and an autoguider system. It's easy to shim it to exactly 2" with adhesive labels placed one at a time inside the tube until a 2" eyepiece or 1.25" adapter is snug. on Step 5. Rock on! Plus it comes in black, so on Introduction. 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. Crayford focusers are considered superior to entry-level rack and pinion focusers, normally found in this type of device. the interior diameter is just a nudge over 2". Above youll find an interactive 3D rendering of the Sketchup file I used to design and cut all of the parts for my telescope. My concern turned to alarm when my wife told me that Discovery had charged the balance due on all items to my account a few weeks earlier. I ground and figured the mirror with little troubles, making my focault tester, etc. Our websites use cookies to improve your browsing experience. Just drill holes in both ends and mount the lenses. For the ATMer I do find that there are an endless number of parts that can be designed and printed for home built telescopes and binoscopes. I hate focusing. 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. 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. 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). I took the whole tube assembly outside. I started by trying to drill out a metal gear for the focuser shaft. Again from the main FILES page, go to "ASCOM DRIVERS" and download everything. Meade Zero Image-Shift Electronic Micro-Focuser This high precision focuser allows you to obtain an extremely accurate image focus. Thicker walls also required thicker side bearings so that the outside of the bearings would line up with the outside of the rocker sides. experimented with various wires and rods and eventually decided that a 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 . Save over 40% off the annual cover price for a full year (4 issues) of Make. We are now ready for some testing. Yet I was also becoming infected with aperture fever. Connect the Arduino USB cable and upload some test sketches. love to hear from people who are interested in this focuser design. case you need more focuser travel than you thought. 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 is what I was working on but looks like I need a better design. The mount and tripod are pretty much useless for astrophotography. Because mirror flexure can distort an image, supporting the mirror properly involves building a flotation cell. 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. Please feel free to email me at the address on the right. on Introduction. As the authors describe the benefits of a truss design, it is hard to dispute their arguments. Crayford focusers are considered superior to entry-level rack and pinion I decided to use baltic birch because it is recommended by Kriege and Berry as well as many online sources. Total cost for supplies for this project: It took a lot longer than I expected to receive my mirror and other parts from Discovery. This unit takes signals from your computer and drives the stepper motor on the focuser. 8 years ago More Homemade Refractor Telescope DIY Erecting Prism Binoviewer Focuser here: Did you make this project? Focuser minimum height is 50 mm and maximum a little over 90 mm so it is good overall. I ordered the focuser, received an immediate email confirming the order, and it arrived two days later. 5 weeks after I had ordered the mirror, I called to ask about its status. Here's a detailed response from a thread at CloudyNights:http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Number=4721255 "The image scale is wrong on the M31 image, fits too much of the galaxy in for even a 35mm chip. During on-site assembly, attach each truss to its mounting T-nut using a bolt with a thumbscrew knob. small, it's surprisingly rigid. I call shenanigans on every picture in this post except for the the moon. 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. While I will freely admit that most astro-photography is WAY beyond me, you certainly do NOT need a $3200 camera to do so. You currently have javascript disabled. Two inch internal diameter drawtube. Headers for the LEDs, buzzer (2-pin) and temperature probe (3-pin). This resulted in a gear that wasn't true and "wobbled" a bit. #@$%^#@!!!!! The version number "312" here may change if Robert posts new firmware. $299.99 More About Telescope Focusers Thanks Pinbout for sharing your design. 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. Most of these have one or two set screws. I'm' glad I did, because I didn't like the first color that I had chosen. 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. Share a cool tool or product with the community. Two inch internal diameter drawtube. 1N5408 3A Diode (you may need to make the pins smaller to fit through the holes in the board. 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. I ended up modifying it a bit after printing. You need to order it sized for your focuser shaft size. Someone is pulling someone's leg here. This motor is available on Amazon. Over how many nights did this photography session take place? surfaces to put the bearings in and a vee at the bottom that would hold I will have a lot of fun building my homemade 12.5 inch Dobsonian Telescope!!! Here is what I was working on but looks like I need a better design. Step 4Attaching the Side Bearings and assembling the Rocker. I marked the expected position of the secondary by measuring 61 inches down from the end of the tube. I have already seen some designs on CN, Stellafane and web but still checking if someone has recently made anything simpler. Orient this assembly to allow you to view an object on the far horizon. 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. Before I wrapped the tube (and before I discovered the problem with the primary placement) I determined the balance point on the tube. 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. This motor has a larger shaft diameter (8mm) and is quite a bit heavier overall than the direct drive motor, mainly because of the gearbox. You can see that my Moonlite focuser was slightly larger than the sides of the tube. 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. my thoughts naturally gravitated toward a boxy focuser to go with it. It may need some careful coaxing with a screwdriver. Step 3The Side Bearings and Rocker Sides. Another vote for Pierre's helical Crayford design. It doesn't. A tilted focuser will have no effect on the image quality. I had nearly completed the base and put things together for the first time. 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. My homemade motorized telescope focuser for Celestron C8. exactly 2" with adhesive labels placed one at a time inside the tube 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. Measure the diameter of the exposed shaft. 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. The ARtemis module came in a kit form actually just two circuit boards one of which I had to source the parts, build and box myself. The one company that did provide a price quoted over $500more than I was willing to pay for cardboard! Topics such as You should watch (and bookmark) this video. The plastic will ride on teflon pads, creating just enough traction for the telescope to avoid sliding on its own while not making it too difficult to point at things in the sky. Your choice here will be recorded for all Make.co Websites. but try for a snug fit if you can. Many sources point out that 10 inches is a kind of sweet spot in the balance between power and portability. I used the "LEDandBuzzer" and "TestStepsDRV8825" tests. As it turned out, the mirror cell was too large to fit into my 14 inch sonotube. It may take you a while to adjust the image correctly, but it's not hard to do, just time consuming. think that design would be rigid enough under the weight of a diagonal 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. I found a used 16 primary on eBay. If you connect the 12V power with the barrel connector (right side of photo), the Nano should light up without the USB connection. 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. Since there is no drill bit that exactly matches the 13.1mm of the shaft, I had to do some rough enlargement of the hole. 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. Be creative! The mirror box encloses the mirror cell and allows the entire telescope to rotate vertically. I don't *do* pretty. This was to allow the circle cutting jig to be attached to the board to cut the arcs from a center point of 25 inches above the ground. 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 project is based on Robert Brown's "Arduino ASCOM Focuser Pro2 DIY". You will look through these as you rotate the wheel. 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. with a genuine question or comment about the design. There are some test sketches in the "Tests" folder, start with those. Able to make myself using my own humble tools (or toys as the pros will call them!). Just as it was about to come into focus, the focuser bottomed out. Crayford-style design with four bearings and one driveshaft. Coupler for NEMA-17 Stepper Motor (also two choices, see below), LM7808 Voltage Regulator with TO-220 package -, Mini On/Off 3-pin 2-position slide switch -, Headers and wire (miscellaneous sizes and gauges), these are important so you can replace the component if it is damaged, LM7808 voltage regulator w/TO-220 heat sink package, 2-pin headers for 12V power and on/off switch. It interfaces to the computer via USB and comes with an ASCOM driver. The project creator Robert Brown made a good video on testing the board. I didn't receive any confirmation email after a few days, so I tried to send them an email. 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.". 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. Funny how the bigger they are the better for dobs. I am thankful to enjoy the inspiration, and the details, that you provide, as I will soon be constructing a Dobsonian Telescope. (actually, it ended up a smidge more than 2 inches) Lighter than the existing focuser. Share it with us! It's the same in form, but has a perfect, true 13.35mm hole. 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. You need some purple bits PhotoPictureResizer_190723_214534574_crop_2558x3105_copy_1023x1242.jpg. telescope page, I wasn't really eager to buy two commercial Crayford When they arrived, they were beautifully and carefully packaged with the secondary already installed in its holder. It just After waiting for the contact cement to dry to the touch, and with my wife's help, I carefully aligned the edge of the veneer with the guideline on the tube and pressed the first inch together. Keeping with the 'simple ' part of your request, here is a helical 2"/1.25" focuser made from std plumbing parts. 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. The holes in the main bracket the match the holes in the plate are oversize to allow for this alignment. 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. 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. To interface with the computer, I have used the Artemis Focuser module from Steve, Arthur and Co. Fast forward a few months to the next time I had the tube outside. It stalled when tension on the belt increased. My telescope is the Orion ED80T-CF. I am well versed in technology, have all the tools necessary to build my own! Finally it was etched in caustic soda, and anodised matt black. In amateur astrophotography, we run our telescopes overnight. Finally, attach your polar alignment device and align it with the hinge. I do have another tube that can be used around the drawtube, but it doesn't really add anything. Drill the holes for the knitting An electronic focuser, which moves the focus knob through a combination of hardware and software, solves this problem. 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. That way you won't be dropping your drawtube and I described it two years ago in this thread:https://www.cloudyniuser/?p=8879835 . Using heavy grit sandpaper I brought back the surface of the keeper enough for the side bearings to fit inside the felt pads. Let me see if I am able to collect all the parts needed. This arrangement turns 100% true, no wobble. Two of the holes for the bolts were blocked by knobs. Below are cutting diagrams and diagrams of the rocker and tube box with side bearings. 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. Thanks for the great comment. Attach the ball head to the top board. This will determine the size of the coupler you will use to connect the stepper motor. 10 years ago I also wanted to strengthen and protect the cardboard tube. Slide the eyepiece into the focuser and try it out. I tried this one first and found it wouldn't work for my application. The cost is a bit more than some of the other combinations, but by only $10 or $20. the bearings, totally eliminating any flex. Line the underside of the rocker box with a ring of ABS plastic to allow it to ride on the base. I will post the pic of final focuser once ready. And a couple of upright bearing blocks. The flat wants to be running parallel to the long axis of the tube. After another 3 weeks, I was concerned that I had not received the mirror. DIY Craford Focuser. 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. To make the hole for the focuser, I used the focuser tube to mark a circle in the shroud. Showcasing amazing maker projects of 2022. Make an account on JLCPCB.com, upload the Gerber zip file, that's it! Once your telescope is assembled, drape black woven velveteen around the truss assembly, clipping it with safety pins. 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. 10 inch or 12 inch. I made this Crayford style focuser using plywood scraps and surplus bearings. 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. Thanks again for the 'ible. 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.