Introduction: Model Hubble Telescope Camera

"This instructable was created in fulfillment of the project requirement of the Makecourse at the University of South Florida (www.makecourse.com)"

Hello!

I am a student at the University of South Florida and this is a step by step guide on how I built my project for the MakeCourse class.

Following this guide you can make your own little camera knick-knack that could fit any room or fixture!

Step 1: Materials

The bare essentials you need to create this project is:

  1. An Arduino Board: I used the Uno, however most other kinds should work
  2. Breadboard and Jumper Wires: In order to connect all electrical components together
  3. Servo: A servo is needed in order to tilt the telescope/camera
  4. Stepper Motor: Used to rotate the telescope/camera
  5. LCD display: To display messages to user
  6. Assorted LED's: To allow the user to know if the system is running
  7. IR sensor and Remote control: To control the mechanism

Step 2: The Model

In order to design the telescope and other parts, I used Autodesk Inventor to create my 3-D model (You can use other CAD software such as SolidWorks or Pro E). Since I wanted to make a Hubble inspired camera, I found dimensions of the Hubble on NASA's website and scaled it down in Inventor. Once you have a complete model you are fine with, making sure you have everything assembled inside the design package, you can export the file as an .stl and have it 3-D printed. However, if you decide to use another method or material, that works too, as long as you have apporpriate housing for the all of the electronics, you are set.

Step 3: Arduino Sketch

Displayed you can see the code for arduino sketch. Check out the Arduino Website for all the information you need to get started. If you are an expert in C++, you can understand this and probably improve on it since I just learned C++ over this semester. Nevertheless, this code above works well and has no bugs I can report yet. One thing to note is that the first 4four images are for the main sketch, while the last two are in a tab that I labeled as '"Functions"

Step 4: Assembly

The final part of the process is to assemble all the components together. Above is the circuit board layout for my model and where the wires connect to the board. Once you have the circuit all laid out, you need to then put the mechanical components together. For my project, I 3-D printed a shaft that goes from the motor to the telescope, but also attached the servo motor to the telescope. Depending on how you want to customize your camera and mechanism, the final product may be very different and the layout is up to you.