After using standard EQ-mounts for so long, seeing something without a counter weight just looks wrong to my neanderthal brain. My current mount weighs 40lbs, the counter weight is 17lbs, and the tripod legs are 20lbs. So that's over 75lbs of weight and size of gear to move around every time it goes on a road trip. This design looks like it was a fraction of that. Color me intrigued
Custom telescope mount using harmonic drives and ESP32
21–30 of 118 posts
Re: Custom telescope mount using harmonic drives and ESP32
#22Amazing project and write up, very good timing too! I’ve been into amateur astronomy since I was 13, owning a few telescopes and spending many hours with family at star parties.
This week I pulled out our big Meade 10” SCT and our small Meade 4” Newtonian to show my 7yo son the moon and Saturn from my parents Bortle 8 backyard. It was wonderful seeing his awe and surprise, and the fact that my parents were there to see it too.
That 10” SCT is on an old fork mount which is motorized but has no GOTO capabilities at all. I’ve also gone down the rabbit hole of researching mount options, thinking I could just buy my way out of it. However, as much as I like the idea of GOTO, a big part of the fun is finding the objects. So I’ve never been able to pull the trigger. I did buy a ZWO 585MC though, I’ve always wanted a dedicated cooled camera.
That said, we have lost way too many hours to trying to find objects. The Telrad isn’t always enough!
I’ve been looking into using my 3D printer and electronics know-how to build my way out of this. I was even thinking of swapping the motors for NEMA 17 steppers.
Then I stumbled upon PiFinder, and I think this project is going to be the exact balance of automation and Push-to guidance that I would like.
It’s a wonderful hobby and I think the latest in 3D printing and PCB manufacturing does mean we’re going to be able to solve a lot of these problems soon.
Re: Custom telescope mount using harmonic drives and ESP32
#23I've been using freeCAD for about 3 years now. Looking at what he was able to make with it blows my mind. I love freeCAD, but I don't think I've ever been so continuously frustrated by a piece of software
I think it’s great that we have FreeCAD as an option and I’m excited to see it mature. That said, I recommend Autodesk Fusion free tier for anyone who just wants to get quality work done quickly. Some will refuse to use it on principle and that’s fine for them, but it really is quality software free for hobbyist use with trivial restrictions. EDIT: Getting downvoted, presumably for suggesting a non-OSS software to ge…
Those who have bought into "free" closed source software simply haven't been burned hot enough by it yet. It might take a while, but you'll learn your lesson one of these days.
Re: Custom telescope mount using harmonic drives and ESP32
#24This is great! I never understood how people learn how to make solid PCBs, I've made a few things but I think I must be missing some decoupling capacitors or resistors or whatever, because my microcontrollers aren't very stable. How do you all just know what stuff to put on the PCB? Do you read the datasheet for the component and add whatever is there?
Re: Custom telescope mount using harmonic drives and ESP32
#25I love this so much. Is there any open-source software that calculates where a given planet or star might be (based on your coordinates) and automatically finds the star / planet and then follows it? Can these mounts be used with such software if it exists?
> Is there any open-source software that calculates where a given planet or star might be (based on your coordinates) Sure. Skyfield is a python library to calculate that (among others). Right on the front page is an example how to calculate the azimuth and elevation of Mars: https://rhodesmill.org/skyfield/
Thank you!
Re: Custom telescope mount using harmonic drives and ESP32
#26I love this so much. Is there any open-source software that calculates where a given planet or star might be (based on your coordinates) and automatically finds the star / planet and then follows it? Can these mounts be used with such software if it exists?
Stellarium and Kstars (which has EKOS built in) are both very good planetarium software. Both can interface with indiserver, which can talk to many astronomy devices such as mounts, filter wheels, cameras. I use Kstars mainly for controlling the mount, and Stellarium mainly for finding nice targets.
Thank you!
Re: Custom telescope mount using harmonic drives and ESP32
#27One thing that I'd be interested in is having telescope mount suitable for doing quantitative measurements, basically doing astrometry from first principles. To me solving the orbits of planets (etc) based solely on my own measurements sounds very compelling. It would be like retracing the steps Kepler etc did.
Sounds like a really interesting potential project. I've been pondering a system that would make amateur observations usable beyond pretty pictures. Single frames captured could be shared in raw form along with metadata (time, coords, calibration frames), potentially allowing aggregators to process it for scientific research (or even prettier pictures). The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is now able to capture the entire southern hemisphere in a couple of days. Imagine having our capturing software contributing to a planet-wide crowdsourced telescope array.
Re: Custom telescope mount using harmonic drives and ESP32
#28This is great! I never understood how people learn how to make solid PCBs, I've made a few things but I think I must be missing some decoupling capacitors or resistors or whatever, because my microcontrollers aren't very stable. How do you all just know what stuff to put on the PCB? Do you read the datasheet for the component and add whatever is there?
basically every part will provide a minimal schematic in the datasheet or have a reference design you can copy from
some stuff may be somewhat glossed over, like usage of ground planes or which traces you're supposed to keep short, but when those are important they'll usually be mentioned, or even spelled out in a application note
Re: Custom telescope mount using harmonic drives and ESP32
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it’s great that we have FreeCAD as an option and I’m excited to see it mature. That said, I recommend Autodesk Fusion free tier for anyone who just wants to get quality work done quickly. Some will refuse to use it on principle and that’s fine for them, but it really is quality software free for hobbyist use with trivial restrictions. EDIT: Getting downvoted, presumably for suggesting a non-OSS software to ge…
Those who have bought into "free" closed source software simply haven't been burned hot enough by it yet. It might take a while, but you'll learn your lesson one of these days.
Honestly it’s useful enough that I’d pay the several hundred dollars per year if I had to. It’s that much better. The money spent would be well worth it (for me) for all the time saved over using FreeCAD. I’ve used multiple professional CAD packages and I’m just not interested in going back.
People sneer and tell me I’m going to get burned some day, but meanwhile I’ve been using it to great effect for many years for hobby projects that I can share around and edit easily.
Re: Custom telescope mount using harmonic drives and ESP32
#30This is great! I never understood how people learn how to make solid PCBs, I've made a few things but I think I must be missing some decoupling capacitors or resistors or whatever, because my microcontrollers aren't very stable. How do you all just know what stuff to put on the PCB? Do you read the datasheet for the component and add whatever is there?
Checking the datasheet is essential, they usually show the “must-have” parts around a chip. Beyond that, good habits are adding decoupling caps close to the pins, keeping ground solid, and following the reference layout. I also learned a lot just by listening to experienced designers explain their choices, like here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVUqaB0IMh4