Barn Door tracker

[elkorunsfast]

Hey guys, Im new to astrophotography and I had a quick question. I have the canon xsi 450d, and was planning to get the Zomei q555 tripod as well. Suppose I wanted to attach a barn door tracker that I made, would there be any vibrations on the picture? What I mean by this is the barn door tracker requires me to manually turn the wheel, which elevates the mount to track the stars. If I had my camera attached on there with a ball head, wouldn't the turning of the wheel cause vibrations (especially if going to a more powerful lens), which would in turn ruin the picture? Thanks for your help. I can also send pictures of the tracker if needed. 

[happy-kat]

I don't put my barndoor on a tripod instead I built it's own base with my location altitude built in and would sit it on table or chair.

Link to my build in signature.

[elkorunsfast]

do you think a tripod would work, though?

Thanks for your help

By the way, thats a really nice build!

[happy-kat]

Other members do use tripod though the examples I'm thinking of are motorised barn doors. If you know your tripod is level and will not wobble as you turn the handle then give it a go, you will know of it is ok or not by the star shapes captured. If you do not extend the legs fully that will help stability. Personally I think it is a big ask if using a long lens.

What does your barn door look like?

What will you use to hold the barn door at the right altitude for your location seems a big ask for the tripod ball head to be level across that latitude angle. Edit: others manage so must be doable see link next post

[happy-kat]

Here's a post of a manual one on tripod

Link

[happy-kat]

Reading that reminded me I bought a button battery holder with switch to add an led to the underside of the top board to light the handle/cd disc. Also have a link somewhere to some dayglow that stays lit for ten hours.

[elkorunsfast]

Hey Thanks  for all the help. The reason why I wanted to know this is because I don't have a tripod yet, I only have my DIY tracker. I wanted to know this as I wanted to know whether it would work with a tripod or not, as if it wouldn't it could save me an unnecessary purchase. But since people seems to do it, why not i guess Ill go for it. Plus, astrophotography is kind of impossible without a tripod, tracker or no tracker. Just one last thing, since you have some experience with these trackers, what is the most powerful lens I can use on this tracker? I would guess around 150-200mm. Also, how fast should I be turning the tracker wheel? Thanks for your time, I appreciate it pal

[happy-kat]

Your tracker I assume you have already built based on the rod you used so it should be 1rpm. As you are asking that is a concern as to what you have built dimension wise as it is a calculation for rod thread pitch bolt size board length.

Your accuracy will determine how long a lens you can use be it build and/or turning the handle. Start with a shorter lens as you get a feel for it and point to objects in east or west to get less accelerated rotation.

Let us know how you get on.

[happy-kat]

In my build thread I think I had added the link to the site with the calculator for working out board length for rod used for 1rpm.

[Marky1973]

Just realised Happy-Kat's link was to my barn door tracker, the Mark I - and the only Mark that ever got built. I also realised I never posted the promised images - with good reason!

I have to admit that, although it was fun to build, it was not fun to use and I struggled with it. I did get some images, but nothing you'd write home about. If you have a steady hand, and enjoy building stuff, give it a go - it was fun to build and I was happy it worked, but I got bored and frustrating manually turning the disc....definitely give a motor a thought if doing this seriously and stick to widefield to lessen the impact of any vibrations.

Or buy a Star Adventurer! :-)