Starsense explorer 3D printer file?

[Yodaisgreen]

Hi all

I have bought a celestron 70mm refractor purely to use the starsense explorer attachment. 

What I really want it to mount the 'dovetail' part onto a flat base so I can attach dovetails to it. I wondered if anyone had come across someone doing this before and seen a 3d file anywhere before I try my hand at designing one.

I've just taken up 3D printing fairly recently too!

Thanks

 

[DaveL59]

are you thinking of printing a base for the part you unbolt from the LT70 or to replace that part?

Some here have removed the foot from the LT70 and fitted that onto a plate with a small dovetail attached to it. No need to 3D print anything with that method. Others, myself included made up a carrier for the phone that we could then mount on another scope, leaving the original as-was and this works well also.

[Yodaisgreen]

What I wanted to do was to print flat bases (maybe two or three)  so the cradle the phone holder slots into can bolt onto. Currently it bolts onto the curved bracket attached to the telescope. That way I could fit different dovetail types to the flat plates and then it would be a case of unscrewing  the screws to change them over if I wanted to use it with different scopes with different finder fittings  - for example a synta finder type, meade type or even a vixen dovetail. 

 

I saw a couple of examples on here using the piece fitted to the scope itself. Which is what I am currently doing.

[Ratlet]

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4868065

This sort of thing?

[Yodaisgreen]

OH BRILLIANT!

exactly that sort of thing. I was looking on thingiverse, how come I didn't spot it

Cheers Ratlet!

 

[Ratlet]

Just now, Yodaisgreen said:

OH BRILLIANT!

exactly that sort of thing. I was looking on thingiverse, how come I didn't spot it

Cheers Ratlet!

 

If you have a look on here I did a really basic finder to vixen 3D print.  STL should be there too.  That'll be 2 mountings

[Yodaisgreen]

My stepdad's printer is upstairs in the garage is too cold to print at the moment! It won't heat the bed when it's only 3 degrees!

 

[Yodaisgreen]

will take a look and let you know how it goes and post my results!

Edited December 14, 2022 by Yodaisgreen

[Sponcom]

23 hours ago, Ratlet said:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4868065

This sort of thing?

That's a great STL just what's needed. Thanks for that! Always worth asking....

 

(I might think about putting the heating on and letting him use my printer nearer Christmas when I'm feeling more generous with my energy use. )

 

[Sponcom]

Thanks again for the pointer @Ratlet came out well. As a tip to others when printing this type of thing on a 3D printer, increase the infill in the slicer your using (we use Cura) otherwise they can be a bit weak and you want it pretty solid. Default is often about 20% that I find is not enough.

 

!

Edited December 15, 2022 by Sponcom

[Ratlet]

Hope it works!  If it don't work you can usually tweak the position of the screw holes easily enough in fusion 360.  I've modified a few basic STL files to fit my needs.

[Sponcom]

screw hole position is spot on! Cheers

 

[Ratlet]

Excellent be sure to post a picture of the finished assembly.

I guarantee someone is going to find this thread useful cause there are a lot of people transplanting the units to other scopes and knowing this one works will be a massive time saver.

[Sponcom]

I should have printed it celestron orange. I'll print another one using a denser infill and the first/bottom layer and sidewalls could do with being thicker but otherwise works perfectly. You also will want some longer M3 bolts for the rear and a longer M3.5 screw (I think) for the front as the originals are not long enough.

Edited December 16, 2022 by Sponcom

[Ratlet]

What scope have you mounted that on?

[Sponcom]

it's on a 10" skywatcher Newtonian but it won't be used on that. It's just for demo purposes. I am going to make a bracket to fit my Orion mount which is motorised but not Goto.  The idea is it sits side by side with the scope and provides a more convenient viewing angle that actually on top of a scope. I'll post some pics when I've done it, hopefully next week now I'm off for christmas.

[Sponcom]

So for anyone trying this. I'm no 3d printer expert. @Ratlet

 

I found I didn't need to change the first layer or walls but I increased the infill to 40%.  

 

It is so much better than the first, I'm also going modify the STL as the top layer holes are spot on and I want a flat one without the dovetail

 

 

[Len1257]

Am I missing something here? Number of points:

Why not turn it over 180degrees to avoid the supports? The angle of the dovetail will print OK without supports. Might need smoothing with a sanding stick but other wise it will be fine.

Why not turn it over 90degrees and print it on its back side. Then you don't need supports and should come out clean anyway. The advantage here is the layers are in their strongest position for when in use. 

[Sponcom]

Because at the moment I have trouble with too much adhesion on the glass plate that I need to work out. Normally it is the logical way to print it avoiding the supports but I am losing to much on larger prints with a relatively large surface  area. I'm now printing with a brim which is helping somewhat.

I have a 3 colour printer have different filament properties on each one. Sometimes I just forget to make the changes on the settings!

 

Edited December 21, 2022 by Sponcom

[bosun21]

For those folks who don’t have a 3D printer or access to one it’s a simple job to just make one up from odds and ends. 👇

[Sponcom]

Sorry for delay in getting back to this thread. I've perfected the print with thicker walls.

if anyone needs one then I'd be happy to print one of for the cost of postage and a couple of pounds to cover the filament and the 3 hours of electric!

I'll post here tomorrow the latest incarnation.

 

Good job Bosun!

Edited January 9, 2023 by Sponcom

[PeterW]

What size and length of screws are needed with the 3D printed part??

 

peter