first barn door tracker

[Tadakun]

made it today with the help of my father-in-law. thank god he's a carpenter by trade. I got to learn how to use table saw, band saw, belt sander, and drill press. overall it took me about 5 hours to build excluding paint dry time. Here she is mounted on my Manfrotto 4x5 tripod! Overall i didn't cost me a dime cause my father-in-law has all the stuff laying around his woodshop.

it's a beautiful clear night so I'll be giving her a test run, and if im lucky we'll get to see some aurora borealis. we are above 50 degrees latitude so maybe we'll luck out!

[Tadakun]

modifications added tonight after trial run last night. I added a home made scope to align the hinge with polaris, a light so that I can read the gear wheel, and modified the pointer so that I turn the wheel with more accuracy. all in all it worked amazingly!

check out my first real successful shot of Orion!

http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-widefield-special-events-comets/132612-2nd-shot-barn-door.html#post1721448

[steppenwolf]

Thanks for the images, just what I wanted to see!

[Tadakun]

Thanks for the images, just what I wanted to see!

you're welcome, I'll continue to update this thread as I make new modifications and/or versions.

[Steve]

Very interesting, thank-you for sharing

Something I would like to do myself but never seem to find the time. Perhaps when my Son is a bit older.

[Ant]

I made one of these a few years ago - it did work quite well. Yours looks much nicer than my one

I look forward to seeing your images!

Ant

[Horus]

I,m impressed, who needs fancy technology !! Good old wood

[Tadakun]

I made one of these a few years ago - it did work quite well. Yours looks much nicer than my one

I look forward to seeing your images!

Ant

http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-widefield-special-events-comets/132612-2nd-shot-barn-door.html#post1721448

if you didnt see the link before:D

[Tadakun]

I,m impressed, who needs fancy technology !! Good old wood

your last three words made me laugh only because my father in laws working buddy is a good ol Irish boy, and the "wood" jokes are always streaming along.

[themos]

So what is the rate you have to turn that wheel?

[Tadakun]

So what is the rate you have to turn that wheel?

The wheel is marked every 30 degrees. So you turn the wheel at 30 degrees every 5 seconds.

However with a wide angle lens you only have to turn the wheel 180 degrees once every 30 seconds. Because with a wide angle you won't get noticeable startrails until 30seconds of exposure. Normal focal length is 90 degrees every 15 seconds. Normal is roughly something like 40-60mm. 70mm and up is 30 degrees every 5 seconds.

[JAO]

Very professional job you have done there. I like the illuminater.

[Tadakun]

Very professional job you have done there. I like the illuminater.

Thanks. The light was a 3 dollar LED book light from a craft store and I bought red cellophane. I used to have red photography strobe filters but I've misplaced them.

[chrismills]

I'm amazed at the detail in your image. I have just built myself one of these mounts for my camera. Can't wait to give it a try now.

Chris

[bluemarkus]

awesome tracker. guess i´m gonna build one too OBAMA self, but probably gonna go for a 2-hinge solution. guess it gives it more stability. i hope i can still walk in the workshop, its so full of stuff...

[Tadakun]

I'm amazed at the detail in your image. I have just built myself one of these mounts for my camera. Can't wait to give it a try now.

Chris

once you get the timing down (it's really easy) it works near perfectly. good luck!

[Tadakun]

awesome tracker. guess i´m gonna build one too OBAMA self, but probably gonna go for a 2-hinge solution. guess it gives it more stability. i hope i can still walk in the workshop, its so full of stuff...

OBAMA self? lol I'm sorry I'm lost hmm I think that I used a 2" hinge too. I wouldn't recommend a piano hinge because they are flimsy, just want to find one with the least amount of play.

[jleach29]

Looks just like the one I built a few years ago, even the rubberband on the side, great results on that Orion shot.