Introduction: Autoscope

By
About: Computer Engineering student

This is fully 3d printed and remotely accessible telescope. it was mainly designed by open space agency under open hardware licence as ultrascope plus. i found it on there website . i made some changes in the design and fully designed my own controlling system for telescope. autoscope can be controlled through a website from anywhere around the world.

it is an 6inch primary mirror telescope and parts are fully modular

Step 1: Downloading the Files

all the files required for the telescope are available on open space agencies wevolver page, but it is not very accessible and they do not reply to the corresponding mails or comments

The required file that i made some changes are available on below link

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1SyPwP1rV7kQvn0sQ...

above file also contains list of screws and bearings

Step 2: Hardware

The telescope part of the autoscope is divided in four parts as follows

1. Focuser

2. Tube

3. Split - ring

4. Base

5. Control Circuit

Step 3: 3d Printing and Laser Cutting

you can get all the above files in my above link for 3d printing and laser cutting

but there are some changes in 3d printing settings, OSA recommends 20% fill density but then parts become very fragile so i recommend 60-80 % fill density.

it requires more material but parts become very sturdy

i recommend not printing parts no 21, 22, 48, 53

you can use both ABS and PLA for printing and for laser cutting use 10mm acrylic

Step 4: Assembly Focuser

To Build Focuser you will need

  • 4 x laser cut Focuser Spacer Plates (laser cut parts 10-13)
  • 1 x laser cut Focuser Plate (laser cut part 14)
  • 1 x 3D printed Focuser Tube (3D printed part 21. Focuser-Tube.stl)
  • 1 x 3D printed Focuser Body (3D printed part 20. Focuser-Body.stl)
  • 2 x 3D printed Focuser Knobs (3D printed part 22. Focuser-Knobs.stl)
  • 1 x 3D printed Phone Mount (3D printed part 23. Phone-Mount.stl)
  • 1x 3D printed Securing Plate (3D printed part 24. Securing-Plate.stl)
  • 2 x large bearings - 26mm OD, 10mm ID
  • 4 x small bearings - 10mm OD, 3mm ID
  • 1 x 10mm steel rod
  • 6 x M3 40mm screws
  • 2 x M3 30mm screws
  • 10 x M3 10mm screws
  • 5 x M3 6mm screws
  • 21 x M3 square nuts
  • 3 x M3 grub screws
  • 4 x M3 hex nuts
  • 1 x 50mm screw thread
  • 1 x Eye piece

follow the above photos as in given order to assemble the focuser

Step 5: Assembly Tube

To build the tube, you will need:

  • 15 x 6mm M3 screw
  • 23 x 20mm M3 screw
  • 5 x 30mm M3 screw
  • 1 x 40mm M6 screw
  • 21 x M3 Hex Nuts
  • 17 x M3 Square Nuts
  • 25 x M3 Washers
  • 1 x 50mm Elliptical Flat Secondary Mirror
  • 1 x 150mm (6-inch) Primary Mirror (see Mirror sub-module for specs.)
  • 2 x 40mm dia taper bearings
  • 3 x 520mm Length Openbeam or 15*15*15 mm C Aluminium Beam
  • 3 x 80mm Length M3 Studding
  • 2kg lead shot or 2kg of sand

3D Printed Parts :

  • 1 x Hexagon-1
  • 1 x Hexagon-2
  • 1 x Hexagon-3
  • 1 x Hexagon-4
  • 1 x Hexagon-5
  • 1 x Hexagon-2 Cap
  • 3 x Mirror Lid Peg
  • 3 x Spider Knobs
  • 1 x Tube Axel L
  • 1 x Tube Axel R
  • 1 x Tube Stepper Gear
  • 1 x Tube Gear Section-1
  • 1 x Tube Gear Section-2
  • 1 x Tube Gear Section-3
  • 2 x Tube Gear Section-4
  • 1 x Secondary Mirror Spider
  • 1 x Mirror Protecting Lid
  • 1x Tube Baffle

Laser Cut Parts :

  • 1x Guide Wheel-L (Group B)
  • 1x Guide Wheel-R (Group A)
  • 1x Primary Mirror Adjust (Group B)

Follow the images for the construction of the tube. i used c shaped aluminium beams instead of maker-beams as shown in the images

Step 6: Assembly Split-ring

4 x Maker beams

  • 4 x Open Beam right angle brackets
  • 1x Taper bearing
  • 1 x Stepper motor
  • 2 x Bumper Switches
  • 34 x M3 6 mm Length
  • 4 x M2 20 mm
  • 4x M3 20 mm
  • 35 x M3 10 mm
  • 50 x M3 washer
  • 47 x M3 hex nut
  • 4 x M3 square nut
  • 4 x M2 hex nut
  • 1 x M3 grub screw 4mm
  • 1 x Upper Split Ring Brace L
  • 1 x Upper Split Ring Brace R
  • 1 x Lower Split Ring Brace L
  • 1 x Lower Split Ring Brace R
  • 1 x Break Stop 1 x Pivot
  • 1 x DEC Bumper Switch Mount
  • 1 x Split Ring Gear Section 1
  • 1 x Split Ring Gear Section 2
  • 1 x Split Ring Gear Section 3
  • 1 x Split Ring Gear Section 4
  • 1 x Split Ring Gear Section 5
  • 1 x Split Ring Gear Section 6
  • 1 x Split Ring Gear Section 7
  • 1 x DEC - Stepper Mount
  • 2 x Open Beam Bracket

  • 1 x Split Ring

follow above images to construct Tube part of Telescope

Step 7: Assembly Base

  • 3 x M6 levelling foot, 40mm thread length
  • 4 x M2 20 mm length screw
  • 8 x M3 10mm length screw
  • 20 x M3 20mm length screw
  • 14 x M3 30 mm length screw
  • 2 x M3 40 mm length screw
  • 4 x M2 hex nut
  • 40 x M3 square nut
  • 8 x M3 washer
  • 3 x M6 square nut (10 x 10 x 3 mm)
  • 1 x 40 mm diameter compass
  • 1 x 25 mm diameter bulls eye spirit level
  • 1 x M3 grub screw
  • 1 x Stepper motor
  • 2 x Bumper switch
  • 1 x Taper bearing /w collar

3D Printed Parts

  • Back Angle Bracket L
  • Back Angle Bracket R
  • Front Angle Bracket L
  • Front Angle Bracket R
  • Split Ring Bearing mount L
  • Split Ring Bearing mount R
  • Base Upper Bearing Lock R
  • Base Upper Bearing Lock L
  • ALT Stepper Mount Spirit Level
  • Mount Pivot Mount
  • Split Ring Gear
  • Compass Mount
  • Back Foot Housing
  • Electronics Housing

Laser Cut Parts

  • Base (Group B)
  • Base Front Plate (Group A)
  • Front Base Spacer R (Group A)
  • Front Base Spacer L (Group A)
  • Base Back Spacer R (Group A)
  • Base Back Spacer L (Group A)
  • Base Back Plate (Group B)

follow above images as given to assemble tube

Step 8: Mirror

  • Primary Mirror: 150 mm (6-inch)
  • Secondary Mirror: 50 mm (2-inch Elliptical Flat)
  • Focal Ratio (aka Speed): F/4
  • Focal Length: 600 mm (23.6-inch)

the mirror can be changed but according to that design also has to change

Step 9: Main Assembly

Once the tube assembly has been installed check the full motion of the split ring again if this is difficult / requires an excessive amount of force the motors will struggle to complete the full range of motion.

Insert the collimator into the focuser tube as shown watch the Orion telescopes video on laser collimation. The adjustable areas of this telescope are shown in the images below. These will help make the centering of the laser easier

Step 10: Electronics

The Electronics part of autoscope contains following parts

  • Ramps 1.4
  • Stepper motor driver
  • Arduino Mega
  • Raspberry pi 3
  • Stepper motors(400 steps)
  • ATX Power supply(400 - 800 Watt)
  • Webcam
  1. connect Ramps 1.4 board to Arudino by mounting it top
  2. connect Arudino to Raspberry pi
  3. connect stepper motors to Ramps 1.4 via stepper drivers
  4. connect power supply to ramps 1.4
  5. connect webcam to telescope and raspberry pi

Step 11: Software

We have made website which is integrated with the stellarium plugins through which anyone can access our telescope remotely to view sky at night. This user interface gives user following functions which are as follows

  1. .These are essential functions required for selecting an object and moving telescope towards it. It includes Selection which is required for selection of appropriate object in sky
  2. .It provides features of move,sync, cancel followed by conforming the command using run/toggle action. It helps to control the movement of telescope towards selected object.
  3. .It presents the view as seen from camera of telescope. Thus it presents user a live feed of telescope’s filed of view, as the user would have seen while operating the telescope.
  4. It essentially provided to track objects and have manual remote control over movements of telescope while tracking the object. It contains features required for controlling movement of a telescope using Joystick

Arudino is is worked on onstep controlling software which is available at below link

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Nq6sSRNcqq6MaAQY2zvht22vsj8oqLcO?usp=sharing

And stellarium is an open source software which will be running on Raspberry pi it can be downloaded from

Step 12: Result

above is the results of my autoscope

huge thanks to OSA and onstep

IF you have Queries feel free to comment below

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