Im pretty sure there isnt a large community of barn door tracker builders diy and users, but heres a group nonetheless. The heart of my tracker is a heavy duty, 8inch strap hinge made by stanley hardware. Years ago i built a tracker early 90s and i decided to build another one earlier this year so i could try things out again, this time with digital equipment. Just because of the limitations of the design and lengths of the bolts we can use, a barn door tracker is only really capable of being used for approximately 810 minutes before you either run out of bolt length, or your tracker becomes too vertical, resulting in the camera becoming unbalanced. For alignment, i simply hand hold a polar alignment scope on the hinge pin.
But with a hefty 600mm 35mm equivalent focal length, i. I used a curved piece of threaded rod to drive the top platform with gears and a stepper motor taken from an old epson printer. An isosceles type barn door tracking mount tracks well for about 20 minutes if the polar alignment is good. Polar alignment is the process of aligning the hinge of the tracker with the north or south celstial pole depending on your location. You can use any brand the crucial parameter is the distance from the centre of the hinge pin to the centre of the hole at the far end of the hinge, which should be close to 7316 inches 182mm. Making a cheap and simple barndoor star tracker with. But my nikon d7000 with the 18105mm lens kit is heavy. Very popular software for web cam imaging, which i believe can also be used for polar alignment. Build a hinge tracker for astrophotography gary seronik. The polar axis does not move when you move the telescope. A better barn door the astronomical unit tm projects. One last question, how does someone calculate how to shape the curve of the bolt. The barn door mount gets its name from the fact that its basically a wooden board with a door hinge. Mine is still manual have an arduino board and already located some source code just not got round to it yet and have good success with a 40mm lens with good 3 minute exposures just it isnt any good with a longer lens as i need that 10 second buffer.
As you can see, i have 2 methods for attaining this alignment. An automatic barn door tracker calculation tool barndoor. In gary seroniks article there is a box called something like tracker math that describes how to calculate the curves radius. May 10, 2019 barn door tracker needs no special tools. The drive arm and camera platform are attached to the base board with sections of piano hinge. Poledancer a simple polar alignment tool for astrophotography. Well guess again, today were here to show you that it doesnt need to be expensive or complicated. Im super happy with how well it worked on its very first test, considering how rough the polar alignment was polaris went behind my roof when i squatted to sight down the hinge line, so i made a educated guess at where it was. Jan 23, 2014 how does an altaz mount become a barn door. These barn door notes provide tips to folks interested in building barn door sky trackers. Making a cheap and simple barndoor star tracker with software tangent correction for astrophotography i like to mix hobbies, so naturally ive been eying astrophotography for a while. I used the original double arm barn door i made back in the 1980s.
In this category falls nondigital barndoor trackers and variations like the kitchentimertracker. Sourced all the bits and pieces from the internetebay. For a few dollars in spare parts from the local hardware store and a few hours of your time, youll be taking stunning photos in no time with a little help from this guide on how to build a barn door tracker. Using a 1420 screw, the distance from the hinge pivot point to the center of the screw is 11. As im only going to use the barn door in the uk, the alignment to polaris is always going to be roughly the same, so have modified the camera mount by cutting a wooden wedge and mounting the tripod head plate onto the top of the wedge, as when the barn door is aligned the tripod head mount is then level and has much more movement. A smart barn door tracker with arduino diy astronomer.
Using a tracking mount for landscape astrophotography. For more precise alignment you can add the optional polar scope. For the control circuit i used an 87c51fa microcontroller an eprom version of intels popular 8051. At its heart, the motorized version is essentially the same as the motorized barn door tracker described here.
Ive used the barn door camera mount shown here for widefield astrophotos of up to 15 minutes duration with a 35mm slr camera and a normal 50mm lens. This barn door tracking platform is designed by gary seronik. Camera mounts of this design are also called haig or scotch mounts. Barn door tracker, also known as a scotch mount or a haig mount. Most barn door tracking builds seem to gloss over the fine details of the equipment of polar alignment on a home made barn door tracker. A pinhole was made in a disc of baking foil, which was mounted, in a tube, at the focus of a small biconvex lens. To track the stars, you turn the drive wheel counterclockwise at a rate of one rotation per minute. Piano hinge is also used on the hinged section of the drive arm. Polar alignment in the case of a barn door tracker is making the hinges point to the north celestial pole pole star for practical reasons the electrical circuit. As for the mounts weight capacity, you should bear in mind that its not a counterbalanced equatorial mount. It utilizes an alignment window simply framing polaris and a compass for polar alignment. This will counter the effects of the earths rotation as you move the tracker. Three threaded rods attach the drive base board to the tripod base board and allow for polar alignment.
For comparison purposes, i made shots with the drive on and with it off. Simple if the procedure is too complex it will be prone to error. Moving the tripod head will cause you to lose polar alignment. Hi, i am a retired electrooptical and controls systems design engineer having also served an apprenticeship as an optical instrument maker in the early 60s. Avr barn door tracker for astrophotography hackaday. So, hoping to improve the length of exposures i can take with my barndoor tracker i was looking into options to use software to assist in improving my polar alignment. A recent addition to the range of star trackers is the starsync tracker which in a way i rather like puts functionoverform. I did not use the polar alignment scope attached in the.
The two options i found are ekos part of kstars and phd2 but neither are working for me. Cg5 mount improvements, barn door tracker, constellation portraits, saa 100, animated equatorial mount tutorial. But with a hefty 600mm 35mm equivalent focal length, i was prepared for the worst. Resources and tutorials for amateur astronomers by jeff detray, astronomy boy. I like to mix hobbies, so naturally ive been eying astrophotography for a while. I want something a little more accurate than a straw. I wont discuss the finer points of polar alignment here, but there are many sources of information available. Dec 05, 2012 these barn door notes provide tips to folks interested in building barn door sky trackers. The polar alignment is effected by a simple projected pinhole type finder. Polar alignment free polar alignment software download. I have used several methods of polar alignment over the years. Looking to test the newly improved barn door tracker to its limit, i dusted off my old sigma 75200mmf3.
In order to use the tracker, it will need to be polar aligned. In this category falls nondigital barn door trackers and variations like the kitchentimer tracker. Ive taken a timelapse here and a moon picture there but, inspired by the folks over at. Star tracker using 28byj48 stepper motor, arduino and lcd. Nov 21, 2017 it utilizes an alignment window simply framing polaris and a compass for polar alignment. A basic regulator circuit powers a dc gearhead motor, which turns a pair of gears that engage a curved length of threaded rod, and makes the hinge open at the correct speed. Survey of polar alignment methods celestial wonders. For me, the ideal polar alignment procedure should be.
In gary seroniks article there is a box called something like tracker math that. Astromate x64 is a project for automating repeating astrophotography tasks, such as equatorial mount polar alignment and target centering, by integrating existing tools and especially plate solving to the ascom telescope control interface. Polar alignment is the process of accurately aligning the polar axis of your mount with the north or south celestial pole. I can now get at least 5 minute exposures, with good polar alignment. Dec 19, 2012 thanks nancy, for your interest in the barn door mount. Jan 22, 2014 thought i would share my attempts at making a barn door tracker for astro photography. A barn door tracker is a simple device that has a camera mounted on a board that is hinged like a door. The first test, with two five minute exposures, showed nice tracking. A bdt keeps your stars rounder by tracking the night sky. Mar 17, 2020 just because of the limitations of the design and lengths of the bolts we can use, a barn door tracker is only really capable of being used for approximately 810 minutes before you either run out of bolt length, or your tracker becomes too vertical, resulting in the camera becoming unbalanced. The board that the camera sits on is moved by turning a handle on a rod. These mounts contain advanced computer and software systems that can automatically correct tracking speed, interact with guiding software and improve their polar alignment.
With careful polar alignment, this mount should be capable of longer exposures andor usage with moderate telephoto lenses. Mechanically, the smart barn door uses a singlearm isosceles design, as this is easy to build and can track longer before running out of screw length. Polar alignment of barn door tracker diy astronomer. Bending or curving the rod solves the alignment problem caused by a straight rod. Feb 14, 2020 poledancer a simple polar alignment tool for astrophotography. Calibrating the barn door tracker with a digital level. Being a newbie using a barn door tracker with my dslr, i have found out that. Jul 03, 2014 most barn door tracking builds seem to gloss over the fine details of the equipment of polar alignment on a home made barn door tracker. It is a stainless steel and aluminium development of the simple barn door tracking mount that many astrophotographers constructed and used before the current sophisticated star trackers were available. Thought i would share my attempts at making a barn door tracker for astro photography. There is little point in making an accurate mount if it cannot be accurately polaraligned. Longer exposures have star trails and a bdt helps keep stars rounder.
Especially useful if you are not following any traditional designs available on the internet. Here i show how to get the optical axis of the finder aligned with the hinge axis. Modified versions of the tracker were published in the magazines february 1988 and june 2007 editions. Three astrophotography tracking mounts professor morisons. Oct, 2015 this sky tracking platform matches the eaths rotation in the simplest way possible. Nov 25, 2011 im pretty sure there isnt a large community of barn door tracker builders diy and users, but heres a group nonetheless. This is the latest version based on gary seroniks design. How to track stars with your dslr diy barn door trap p1. What is the longest exposure time your tried with good star shapes using your barn door.
So i added a few pounds of weight to help with balance. May 22, 2012 the heart of my tracker is a heavy duty, 8inch strap hinge made by stanley hardware. Some equatorial telescope mounts have the polar alignment scope in the hollow polar shaft. Polar alignment help software on linux phd2ekos posted in beginning and intermediate imaging. Adjust the tripod so that the axis of the hinge points at the north star, polaris, or more precisely 34 of a degree offset. Apr 11, 2018 we use the laser pointer to do polar alignment. Simply put, you need to make sure that your telescope mount is rotating on the exact same angle the sky turns on. Tpoint by software bisque, used in conjunction with thesky tpoint will provide polar alignment data which can be used to polar align the mount. Feb 22, 2020 these mounts contain advanced computer and software systems that can automatically correct tracking speed, interact with guiding software and improve their polar alignment. There is little point in making an accurate mount if it cannot be accurately polar aligned. Ive taken a timelapse here and a moon picture there but, inspired by the folks over at rastrophotography, i wanted to take it to the next level. In late 2002 and early 2003, nasa astronaut don pettit, part of international space station expedition 6, constructed.
This sky tracking platform matches the eaths rotation in the simplest way possible. An automatic barn door tracker calculation tool presenting an online calculator to perform all the calculations you would require to build an isosceles barn door tracker. Easy polar alignment for astrophotography step by step. On the home page i mention a barn door tracker i had built but had not been too successful with it. I just left the camera exactly where it was on the mount and unplugged the motor. The base boards are hinged at the opposite end with two large barn door hinges. Drift alignment software for german equatorial mounts. As far as i can tell beyond the construction there are two things that will give me good pictures dark skies and good polar alignment. Noctilove astrophotography barn door tracker barn door. A german equatorial is an example of the latter, with a counterweight on one end of the declination axle and the camera or telescope on the other end. Sep 03, 20 some equatorial telescope mounts have the polar alignment scope in the hollow polar shaft. Thanks nancy, for your interest in the barndoor mount. Construction notes and photos science education at.
Trying find a 4rpm dc motor was a pain but found one i think maybe suitable from amazon. Jan 01, 2015 how to build a dslr barn door trap bdt. Making a cheap and simple barn door star tracker with software tangent correction for astrophotography. Although all of these methods work with varying results, i am not really happy with most of them for one reason or another. Barndoor mount load capacity, laser or reticle scope for. As far as i can tell, i could start with a drinking straw accurately aligned on the hinges but id rather something a bit more fancyaccurate im aiming to go up to about 300mm focal length if possible. So, hoping to improve the length of exposures i can take with my barn door tracker i was looking into options to use software to assist in improving my polar alignment.
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