First of all the backstory.
Since we got the new telescope I've been looking at ways to implement (somehow) simple star tracking capability to the very basic mount it shipped with.
I came across AstroEQ, gracefully made open source by a chap called Thomas Carpenter.
I henceforth proceeded to build my own AstroEQ controller mostly using an Arduino Mega and components I had lying around. Got as far as connecting a stepper motor to the declination axis and getting the scope to move. In the end decided that the mount seriously needed some modding for the project to be viable.. (or maybe just get a new GOTO mount - but dang, they are expensive!).
Googling for ideas got me to the point that perhaps building my own mount might be possible. Further reading and I came across a chap who built a basic star tracker using acrylic parts cut from a CNC. Further reading on CNC led me to the Shapeoko. One look at the machine and yep... you guessed it... me thinks I can build something like that!
So here we are. The past month I've been busy building my very own CNC milling machine.
So yes, Project GOTO Mount is sidetracked for the mean time to make way for Project CNC. Hopefully Project CNC is successful so I can use it to finish Project GOTO Mount (at least in my head that's how I'm rationalizing this YAP).
Its loosely based on the KRMX01 design (thank you Mark Simpson) - seeing as that all the parts in that design I can get locally. Also, no specialized tools/skills needed to construct it. Just a tablesaw and drill press. Updates to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment