The Journey Can Be Just As Much Fun As The Destination

[m000c400]

Hi All,  I though I would tell you about my DIY progress in the hope it could inspire others and to share hints and tips...

Back in September my children's primary school announced that the topic for the term would be "Space" and this finally seemed like an excuse to buy a telescope after some 40 years of peering at the stars.

Next, what should the budget be?  Well, I "found" £300 in unclaimed expenses for a tip to Germany, so this seemed like a good start. So should it be a smaller computer controlled GOTO system, or a bigger telescope on an EQ mount? Well I though I could build all the other bits for my self, but I knew I couldn't build extra mirror area, and after many years of studying the sky I though I pretty much knew my way around. So a week or so later 2 big boxes arrived and I was the proud owner of a SW150p on an EQ3-2.

After a few days of awe when looking at the sky and teaching myself how to use setting circles I set about automating the mount.  I wanted to be able to keep the hand controls installed so I could still take the whole assembly out into the garden with no hassle at a moments notice, so gearboxes were out. However a quick look at specs, made me think that if I used a very fine microstepping on some higher torque motors I could get the resolution I needed, but still have the hand control option.

First I did just the RA axis.. and you can't imagine my surprise when on the first go stuff just stayed put!  Next I wrote a mount controller emulating an LX200, but this just made me think I might have bitten off a bit more than I could chew.  Luckily EQMOD came to my rescue, so I quickly re-wrote my mount controller as a EQ5 emulation and was off.  At this point the DEC motor was still "lashed" to the mount with tie wraps,  but it worked!!!!  I've tidied it all up a bit since then, but  I'm still slightly surprised when the motors stop and the target is in the cross hairs using  hardware I built and software I wrote.

So finally the "proof of the pudding".  I already had an older Nikon DSLR ( D40)  so for about £5 on ebay a T ring arrived from China and attached is ny best shot so far..  The standard I set myself (so far) is "Good enough to make your mates go "WoW" in the pub.  

[m000c400]

..  oops I hadn't finished.,

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Anyway.  Hopefully if you're planning on some DIY this might give you the impetus to give  it a go.

Mike

[m000c400]

oops again, of 3rd time lucky at doing pictures

[Gina]

Well done   Yes, very well done indeed - job's a good 'un

I agree with your title too - I enjoy the journey too   Well, usually if I don't get too many failures

[vulkan]

Sometimes the journey is terrible, gruelling, and leads to blistered fingers and blue air. the results however are worth it.

Sometimes the journey is fantastic and full of learning experiences, but you get no end result.

This seems to be the rare occurrence of an enjoyable journey and superb end result!

That is a fantastic Pic, and all the better no doubt for doing it with something you had a hand in building