TusharBhardwaj

With help from the community at Arduino Forum, i realized i was thinking it from an inefficient perspective. I should try to find a solution to the structure that's gonna hold the payload and it's free movement along both X and Y axis... This way motors would have to exert themselves the least while powering the movement. I'll be back when i find the solution. Wish me Luck

Guys, I found this instructables link - https://www.instructables.com/id/Two-Axis-Star-Tracker/ I like the design of this model. Its sleek and the guy who posted has explained how it works.But i have to make it slightly larger so that the future setup of mine can also work with it.Thats why i asked about larger motors and larger weight/Torque capabilities.Also, The instructables link has a link that takes us to a github repositiry. I downloaded all those files and changed their extension to .ino from .cpp so that i can read and manipulate them on arduino. But there are modular programs in there, different file for stepper, different file for real time clock..... How do i convert those codes in a single file that can be uploaded to the board???Was i wrong when i converted the extension to .ino from .cpp?? Does it harm the code in any way?? My phone weighs 380 grams and the phone holder is 170 grams, so i need a way to move this ~700 grams setup at the rate of movement of stars. Not only this, I am also saving up to buy a small telescope, and the one i have in mind is 1.4 kilograms. So if i couple the telescope with my DSLR camera, the weight goes somewhere around 2 kilograms. So i wish to make a tracker that can have the payload capacity of at least 3 kilograms so that the gears or the motor don't have to over-exert themselves. I know it would be overkill for my current setup but it will be perfect for the future setup i wish to have.

This is nice stuff. This cleared many of my wrong calculations. Thanks Davey.

Ohh Okay. Thanx.

Does it rotate at the sidereal rate or is configurabble to that rate??

I am not sure about the 3d printing service availability.... Couldnt get satisfactory answers

I dont know personally but i there must be some online service that can like take the .cad/.svg files and print them.....

No I dont have any kind of access to machine tools.

Hello Everyone, I have some questions about a DIY Star Tracker. I am confused with the choice of motor i should use. I'm NOT making a Barn Door Tracker. What i wish to make is more like the trackers commercially available. I understand that those commercial trackers use complex worm gear trains, and what not, to achieve the tracking speed. But i was thinking isnt it possible to make a tracker with a servo or stepper motor coupled with arduino and program the board in such a way that the motor shaft rotates at 0.0007RPM, ie, 1 rotation per day. (Looked up this conversion on google and dont have much ideas about motors). I tried programming the arduino with a DC motor of 200 RPM (have 3 of those). I was sending pulses for 10ms, after every 10ms. This isnt in any way precise speed of tracking for any object. I was just trying out the codes and checking the torque. I soon realised that the torque was so low that if held between thumb and index finger, the shaft stopped. So now i know that the DC motors i have, wont work for the desired output. Thats why i am looking for options that can carry or drive at least 2kgs of stuff (DSLR+a widefield refractor). I dont have a refractor now but i plan to buy one by December. Currently I use my Phone.