Astrophotography: DIY Equatorial mount

[@rayyanimran1557]

Absolutely incredible. As a fellow university student I deeply admire this. I went into a deep dive like you but I never had the guts to make a mount like you. You have finally motivated me. Thank you!

[@Astro-philos]

@@rayyanimran1557 Hi, I appreciate so much!

[@ScrapYardDog64]

Hi Github link not working :(

[@Astro-philos]

@@ScrapYardDog64 sorry it should work now

[@MacM545]

Fascinating! I don't think I've got the skill the build this, but there's something about making stuff yourself that is satisfying. Some of the posts on my blog are about photo-related topics, so I'll include the link to this video on my blog.

[@Astro-philos]

@@MacM545 thanks! I appreciate so much

[@OldCurmudgeon3DP]

Hmmm. Maybe I can adapt this concept to a fork mount for my 10" Newt.

[@astrosrscat]

I also built one, but in alt az and the strainwave is 3d printed.

[@SilouanJerome]

Amazing work. I would love to try this.

[@Astro-philos]

@@SilouanJerome thanks! Is not so difficult to build one

[@Cheapass-tro]

Bravo! ... I say recalling how chuffed I was to have done an Onstep controller and EQ-5 conversion. That's nothing on what you've achieved here. I'd love to follow your lead but even 600e (plus a 3d printer) is out of my league right now.

[@waynemackenziesr5005]

Yeah well the best part is, all you have to do is upscale these components to get a Bisque heavy rated mount 100+ lbs, but your cost would not increase significantly might be 50% more if you take time shopping. Those strain waves should work fine with significantly higher torque motors and planetary reducers (though does still add to error). The strain waves are found used on craigslist or ebay all the time for cheap. Motors are cheap already. Just need to make the math math and bobs your uncle. About time also. Just realize how much we are getting ripped off on the heavier mounts.

[@shadowOrgon]

Thanks for this video! I was already tempted to try and make a DIY mount, but was nervous about attempting a harmonic drive one, but this completely de-mystified it for me and showed that its way simpler then I initially thought. One thing I'm wondering about, how did you connect the harmonic drives to the stepper motors? the drives I'm looking at say they have keys, but wondering if you used that at all or just used a set screw from the drive to the stepper motor shafts?

[@Astro-philos]

@@shadowOrgon I used the harmonic drive without the keys, and used a coupler from 8mm to 5mm

[@nickfrederiksen2555]

Hi Great project Can you share the detail for the FYSETC E4 board settings and also the setting when you get to configure the board when in the Onstep app. I have tried building my own drive but although I got everything moving the mount did not move where I wanted it to move so abandond the project, seeing your video has re-energised the project. Previously I downloaded Onstep using Chads Onstep installer(no probs) but from there the mount seemd to be all over the place despite following, or trying to follow the Onstep configuration calculator and then the On step app Number of steps etc. etc. any help much appreciated Nick

[@Astro-philos]

@@nickfrederiksen2555 hi! I used the standard configuration for the fysetc I changed only the steps using the excel calculator

[@nickfrederiksen2555]

@@Astro-philos Thanks for response. do you remember what steps you changed it from/to-think the calculater has a default of stepper steps 400-micro step 32-GR1 1-GR2 360 Nick

[@Astro-philos]

@ I have: 400 steps, 32 microsteps, 19, 100

[@nickfrederiksen2555]

@@Astro-philos Thanks again and very prompt. I presume those settings are on both RA and Dec? The video is dated 3 months ago so have you had much chance to use the drive? And is it performing with good guiding rates i.e below 1 arc sec? Apologies for all the questions but spent a quite a few pounds last time and loads of time(have most of the stuff left) but as mentioned frustratingly mount was all over the place when requesting a slew to a particular place. I notice that the asi air can be configured to use Onstep, if that works may be able to use Onstep mount via asi air app. Thanks for you help and look forward to further videos Nick

[@Astro-philos]

@ if you enter in my telegram group I can explain everything, the link is in the description

[@tamenyc]

The Juwei 17 harmonic mount is probably cheaper. But you can't really add encoders to it.

[@Astro-philos]

The Juwei17 costs 1.1k$, so, not cheaper

[@tamenyc]

@ I can got it from China at $850 shipped though.

[@tamenyc]

@ What you did is still incredible. found it interesting as Juwei is based on on step too

[@wil46nl]

​@@tamenycyou tell me howvyou dif that? Or send me a pm?

[@sHuRuLuNi]

"August of this year"? What is this ... "One for RA one for December", lol. The AI Narrator sucks balls.

[@Astro-philos]

Unfortunately I didn’t had a good microphone.. in the next videos I’ll use my voice

[@kevinhutchinson8129]

Interesting that your "first light" photo... is from Stellarium!

[@Astro-philos]

What? What an ignorant! I used the Pixinsight Immage annotation script, the picture is absolutely real, I used that script so everyone can understand what I imaged. I have the raw files and the pictures without the annotation from the platesolve. Study before hating on something you don’t know.