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Star Tracker
With this, you can take long exposure pictures of the night sky without resulting star trails. Instead of spending hundreds or 1000+ for a lens, you can get similar results with this.
Maker/DIY
Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike
Commercial use is allowed, you must attribute the creator, you may remix this work and the remixed work should be made available under this license.
Attribution
The design type is widely spread, I do not know who came up with it first.
Description
- Source code provided, Inventor CAD files provided (student licenced)
- excel sheet to calculate the rotation speed table included. Needed if you use other dimension, threads, motor
- the stepper driver is powered directly with 5V from the powerbank. The power input pins are not used.
- My experience: Polar Finder Scope is not needed, at least for wide angle shots
- One Button control:
- Plug in USB cable
- 1st Button Press: rotates to initial position and starts tracking
- Button Press: go back to initial position and continue tracking
Materials and methods
I printed in PLA, since warping of ABS could affect accuracy. Nylon would be perfect i guess, if you can print it.
The "coupling flex" is printed in soft PLA.
- 2.5mm drill bit
- M3 thread cutter
- 9mm thick board
- hinges (low play)
- Powerbank used: eStuff 2200
- Bearings: 12 x 8 x 3.5mm
- Stepper Driver: Easydriver
- Endswitch
- Thread insert: Adapter 3/8" to 1/4"
- M5 threaded bar, M5 long nut (20mm)
Documents
Issues
Issues are used to track todos, bugs or requests. To get started, you could create an issue.