barn door tracker

[todd8137]

frustrated is not the word i have tried to make one its now the mark six ,as any one else tried to make one for wide field shots ?,i have have used more wood than a timber yard ,has any one made a working model ?at the min am just geting away with 35 secs on a tripod ,but i thought a barn door tracker was the way forward

so if you have had any succes with one and could build me one for the right price i do not want a fancy one with electric motors just a manual one will do me so let me no if you can make me one that works i could never get the right type of hinge or get the thing to work cheers pat

[fizzpup]

do barn doors take much tracking?

[todd8137]

do barn doors take much tracking?

no its a simple gadget take aa look at this post

http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-widefield-special-events-comets/132452-first-barn-door-tracker-shot.html

[Moonshane]

may be teaching Grannie to suck eggs but are you Polar aligning the mounts you have made? they will not work if you don't of course.

Barndoor Mount

[todd8137]

Moonshane yes polar aligned no probs, its down to my diy skills that let it down

[Peter Drew]

Have you used a "piano hinge" they are good for this purpose. You could always use a piano if the camera's big enough.

[todd8137]

Have you used a "piano hinge" they are good for this purpose. You could always use a piano if the camera's big enough.

Now this is the prob i could only get the ones that are about 18"long and had to cut it down to 4 inch there's then to much play in it even with 3 elastic bands it still has slight movement

can you make me one the astro tracks are so expensive and this seemed like a good idea

[Dude]

Hi Todd, I don't get what this device does - but I happen to have some good quality hinges laying around you could use if that's your problem?

[cantab]

It's basically a DIY equatorial mount for a camera, so you can take tracked wide-angle astrophotos without an expensive EQwhatever.

[todd8137]

Hi Todd, I don't get what this device does - but I happen to have some good quality hinges laying around you could use if that's your problem?

i may have to take your offer of the hinge up heres a basic design i have tried it now resides in the dustbin would like the offer of the hinges looking for about a 4" one pic below

[Peter Drew]

I can't see anything wrong with the constructional details shown in your diagram. If you've made it like that it should work reasonably well despite any hinge issues. What does concern me is the deployment of the tracker on the tripod. The hinge length should be tipped away from the illustration equal to your latitude, the picture suggests that it might be intended to tip in the direction of the tripod handle. I mention this as your comment about 35 seconds tracking roughly conforms to no tracking at all.

[ismangil]

Have a look at garyseronik.com, he propose using a single hinge without any wood. The crucial bit is getting the right thread screw to allow one rpm.

-- Perry Ismangil

[Moonshane]

I can't see anything wrong with the constructional details shown in your diagram. If you've made it like that it should work reasonably well despite any hinge issues. What does concern me is the deployment of the tracker on the tripod. The hinge length should be tipped away from the illustration equal to your latitude, the picture suggests that it might be intended to tip in the direction of the tripod handle. I mention this as your comment about 35 seconds tracking roughly conforms to no tracking at all.

this was my own point about Polar Alignment Peter, as I understand it the hinge has to point at Polaris (approx) from a level tripod?

[callump]

Just a couple of questions...

1. what are you using it for - what sort of camera / lens ? if you are trying long focal length lenses then it will be more sensitive to inaccuracies.

2. you are using a 1/4 20 bolt and screw ? and not an M6 ? You can use something like an M6 screw, but the dimension (hinge to screw) is different due to the screw pitch.

Callum

[Dude]

Will one of these do the job?

There pretty solid made from stainless steel

[JimStan]

Our club purchased some barn door tracker kits as a club project. I have only received one report from one member who actually tried to take photos with his, and his success was not so great. The problem with the setup that the club obtained is the motor which drives the treaded rod. Actually, the rod is curved, and the part that gets driven is the nut that supports the second board ( the one NOT attached to the tripod ) Since the kit involved an electric motor being driven by a power supply with a resistor to control the speed, there was almost no torque available to separate the two halves of the assembly. I have suggested that the motor be pulsed with a higher voltage timed signal, so the speed would be proper, and the high voltage would provide the torque necessary to drive the moving unit. So far, no one has attempted that. Too bad, since our kits cost $75 dollars American.

To answer the question about lining the unit up with Polaris; the lower board and the hinge MUST be aligned so that by sighting up the hinge you will see polaris. You might even want to put a sighting scope on the unit to help you point in that direction, but you must remember that simply rotating the unit in the direction of the star is NOT enough! You must also adjust the hinge to the proper elevation.

The Camera should be mounted on a ball joint, so that it can be pointed independantly of the tripod, which must remain pointing at the north star all the time you are trying to take the picture.

Our one member said that if the torque would have been proper for a heavier lens, he could have taken successful pictures. I sincerely hope that a more sophisticated motor drive electronic device can be fabricated!

Hope this helps!

Jim S.

[Peter Drew]

Isn't the "beauty" of the barn door tracker, that it requires no motor? For use with a 50mm lens it only has to be turned once a minute, you don't even need to do this accurately. You don't have to manually drive it all the time, as long as the operating handle is turned through 180 degress in less than 30 seconds, the small 50mm star image will not trail.

[JimStan]

No it does not NEED a motor to work well, but some sort of motor drive would certainly make things easier! With a longer lens, you would have to make more frequent corrections, as the elongation of the star images would start to be noticable with any lens over around 125mm. But of course, if you are starting to photograph with a telephoto lens, you would be much better suited to actually use some sort of arrangement involving a real motorized equatorial mount.

Jim S.

[JimStan]

Another advantage that I just thought of, is the fact that a motorized barn door tracker would not have to be touched in order to accurately track the stars. Touching the tracker to twist the rod could result in smeared star images as the camera and mount shake. A self-driven device could be operated "hands-off", thus eliminating that cause of image degradation.

Jim S.

[tuc]

todd8137,

What I learned from making my barn-door tracker was that the measurement of the drive bolt hole has to be exact, and it must be measured precisely from the centre of the hinge. I cheated and had it done with a drill press at a local hardware store.

If you can get that one measurement correct and align the tracker within a few degrees of the NCP, that's pretty much all there is to it. Having said that, I understand your frustration.

Overall, I'm pleased with mine. I've had problems too, but mostly from experimenting with push-processing film, and not stopping the lens down enough. Tangent error is another problem too, as I've been taking 20 minute shots, which is beyond the design's limits.

Keep working on it. Even if you can get it to go for 2 minutes you can stack the images and make some terrific images.

I used a piano hinge and it works well. (I read that you should avoid using door hinges.)

Here are some photos.Flickriver: hyperfocally's photosets

[todd8137]

Will one of these do the job?

There pretty solid made from stainless steel

it will do the job dude i will have to try and pick up and purchase this of you ?

[todd8137]

I can't see anything wrong with the constructional details shown in your diagram. If you've made it like that it should work reasonably well despite any hinge issues. What does concern me is the deployment of the tracker on the tripod. The hinge length should be tipped away from the illustration equal to your latitude, the picture suggests that it might be intended to tip in the direction of the tripod handle. I mention this as your comment about 35 seconds tracking roughly conforms to no tracking at all.

i was referring,to 35 secs with the camera just sat on a tripod,with no tracking at all

[todd8137]

Here are some photos.Flickriver: hyperfocally's photosets

nice will work on it

[todd8137]

Our club purchased some barn door tracker

To answer the question about lining the unit up with Polaris; the lower bohope that a more sophisticated motor drive electronic device can be fabricated!

Hope this helps!

Jim S.

hi jim i chucked it all in the bin and will starta fresh one over the weekend

[todd8137]

i hope some one takes pity on me and makes me one for the right price i only want the barndoor i do not need any fittings for the camera or to atach it to the tripod just the wood hinge and bilt if any one can do me that and sell it me i "wood" be happy pleas take pity on me and some one make me one cash waiting