Ideas for motorizing a 12" 'tube' mount?

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turboscrew
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Ideas for motorizing a 12" 'tube' mount?

#1

Post by turboscrew »


I've been thinking about motorizing the dobson mount of my 12" tube, but I haven't come up with a mechanism to do that.
It looks like the stepper motors don't have much torque, and getting big enough gear ratio with pulleys is hard, because the size range of pulleys using the same size of belt seem too small.

How is it usually done?
- Juha

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Telescope: OrionOptics XV12, Mount: CEM120, Tri-pier 360 and alternative dobson mount.
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Re: Ideas for motorizing a 12" 'tube' mount?

#2

Post by KathyNS »


You can get stepper motors with a gearbox built-in. I have a geared stepper motor driving my dome azimuth. The dome weights 180 lbs.
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DSO AP: Orion 200mm f/4 Newtonian Astrograph; ATIK 383L+; EFW2 filter wheel; Astrodon Ha,Oiii,LRGB filters; KWIQ/QHY5 guide scope; Planetary AP: Celestron C-11; ZWO ASI120MC; Portable: Celestron C-8 on HEQ5 pro; C-90 on wedge; 20x80 binos; Etc: Canon 350D; Various EPs, etc. Obs: 8' Exploradome; iOptron CEM60 (pier); Helena Observatory (H2O) Astrobin
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turboscrew
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Re: Ideas for motorizing a 12" 'tube' mount?

#3

Post by turboscrew »


That's probably a quite big motor? 180 lbs is a weight of a grown man. :-)
NEMA17 sized steppers have torques around 100 oz.in.
- Juha

Senior Embedded SW Designer
Telescope: OrionOptics XV12, Mount: CEM120, Tri-pier 360 and alternative dobson mount.
Grab 'n go: Omegon AC 102/660 on AZ-3 mount
Eyepieces: 26 mm Omegon SWAN 70°, 15 mm TV Plössl, 12.5 mm Baader Morpheus, 10 mm TV Delos, 6 mm Baader Classic Ortho, 5 mm TV DeLite, 4 mm and 3 mm TV Radians
Cameras: ZWO ASI 294MM Pro, Omegon veLOX 178C
OAG: TS-Optics TSOAG09, ZWO EFW 7 x 36 mm, ZWO filter sets: LRGB and Ha/OIII/SII
Explore Scientific HR 2" coma corrector, Meade x3 1.25" Barlow, TV PowerMate 4x 2"
Some filters (#80A, ND-96, ND-09, Astronomik UHC)
Laptop: Acer Enduro Urban N3 semi-rugged, Windows 11
LAT 61° 28' 10.9" N, Bortle 5

I don't suffer from insanity. I'm enjoying every minute of it.

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turboscrew
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Re: Ideas for motorizing a 12" 'tube' mount?

#4

Post by turboscrew »


Hey, thanks! You gave me the idea to search gearboxed steppers, not just steppers, and the search results are pretty different.
There are NEMA17 sized steppers with 100:1 ratio gearbox. They are not even expensive.
Looks like DIY motorizing is quite feasible after all. :-)
- Juha

Senior Embedded SW Designer
Telescope: OrionOptics XV12, Mount: CEM120, Tri-pier 360 and alternative dobson mount.
Grab 'n go: Omegon AC 102/660 on AZ-3 mount
Eyepieces: 26 mm Omegon SWAN 70°, 15 mm TV Plössl, 12.5 mm Baader Morpheus, 10 mm TV Delos, 6 mm Baader Classic Ortho, 5 mm TV DeLite, 4 mm and 3 mm TV Radians
Cameras: ZWO ASI 294MM Pro, Omegon veLOX 178C
OAG: TS-Optics TSOAG09, ZWO EFW 7 x 36 mm, ZWO filter sets: LRGB and Ha/OIII/SII
Explore Scientific HR 2" coma corrector, Meade x3 1.25" Barlow, TV PowerMate 4x 2"
Some filters (#80A, ND-96, ND-09, Astronomik UHC)
Laptop: Acer Enduro Urban N3 semi-rugged, Windows 11
LAT 61° 28' 10.9" N, Bortle 5

I don't suffer from insanity. I'm enjoying every minute of it.

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