Show HN: Curiosity – DIY 6" Newtonian Reflector Telescope

Posted by big_Brain69 2 days ago

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A DIY Newtonian reflector telescope with dobsonian mount. A fun to do hobby project taking us closer to the moon and beyond. A lot of plans ahead on how to make it much better and portable but this was the first time me and my friend implemented or rather built a telescope.

Have a look at what all we have captured.

Comments

Comment by dylan604 1 day ago

"Ease of carrying the telescope with bag straps"

I like this, but...

Some of the best telescope buying advice I was ever given was to only buy a scope as big as you can carry/setup by yourself. It's hard to find time in one's schedule to take a scope somewhere, but it can be next to impossible to align schedules with another person. At least for a scope meant to take somewhere. Most people don't have a permanent setup though, so it's a pretty decent thing to consider.

The weight is only part of the equation, but also consider if it takes more than two hands to assemble.

Comment by big_Brain69 1 day ago

Definitely agreed. So we realised this later, we were initially of the opinion to operate it from our lab but later did we get the idea to have bag straps to atleast make it a little bit more portable. Right now, we have been able to carry the entire setup individually, definitely a cumbersome task but people around us have been helpful. But as you rightly said to buy a scope as big as you can carry by yourself, this is something we would work on it in the near future.

Comment by yehoshuapw 2 days ago

Have a look also at https://www.printables.com/model/268580-hadley-telescope-off...

Comment by chantepierre 2 days ago

Here is a 6in f/5 travel truss dob kit by my friend :

https://www.printables.com/model/1325533-smallest-telescope-...

Wallace, my 6” f/2.8 :

https://www.printables.com/model/997327-wallace-6-f28-telesc...

And my tiny but mighty 3” f/4 : https://www.printables.com/model/1475113-76300-pocket-dobson

Wallace is built, but Gromit, a 16.5” F/3, is under progress. Working on the mirror and CAD :)

Comment by shamaz65 2 days ago

I have no idea that it is possible to 3D print telescopes. Is this less expensive?

Comment by BadJo0Jo0 2 days ago

The question probably shouldn't be "is it less expensive" but "is it a better value".

The general sentiment behind these 3d printed telescopes are that you'd generally get better quality and potentially better QoL features at the same cost of buying some commercially available options.

From the Hadley project

>The mission here is to make an attractive alternative to the shoddy, hard to use "hobby-killer" scopes in the $100-200 range.

Comment by muyuu 1 day ago

Yep, my experience is that cheaper scopes are so shoddy I've regretted giving them away.

Comment by labcomputer 1 day ago

It’s not really the telescope you’re printing, but some custom fittings to assemble metal rods into a telescope.

People have been making telescopes with this method before 3D printing existed. They just used something else for all the little dodads.

Comment by big_Brain69 2 days ago

Mirror: https://curiosity-telescope.netlify.app/

Comment by archerjax 1 day ago

Where would one go to learn about/find resources on the types of 3d printers best used for a telescope project like this?

Comment by big_Brain69 1 day ago

3D printing does help a lot, you can probably scour the internet especially around printables and all but my biased opinion would be to get your hands dirty with wood as much as possible. You get to learn a lot!

Comment by Zardoz84 2 days ago

I need to build a Dobson mount for my old homemade 8" F 5.5 Newton ... Why doesnt have a mount ? Well, it had 2 mounts in the past. It was built by my father, and we moved to another house, we need to ditch the mount. I managed to save the tube and the parts, and lately built an adapter to be attached to an EQ6 mount that I was allowed to use with a university astronomical association.

Comment by CubicalOrange 1 day ago

really good budget build! I love the photos!

What's the next upgrade?

Comment by big_Brain69 1 day ago

Well well well,

So we have added a red dot finder to which we have adjusted our mirrors, identifying objects in the night sky is now wayyyy easier. The next thing in the list would be to get solar filters and observe sun.

Comment by TehCorwiz 2 days ago

Site appears down. any mirrors?

Comment by mongol 1 day ago

Yes it has mirrors

Comment by dylan604 2 days ago

Apparently a 6" primary one. There's also a secondary one as well. /s

Comment by ftchd 2 days ago

"This deployment is temporarily paused"

Comment by big_Brain69 2 days ago

https://curiosity-telescope.netlify.app/ - Updated

Comment by shamaz65 2 days ago

Great telescopes. It is a great vision to be in Space. Humanity can all be in space soon.