3D printed telescopes?

Tell us about those other projects you are working on.
Post Reply
User avatar
helicon United States of America
Co-Administrator
Co-Administrator
Articles: 585
Online
Posts: 12279
Joined: Mon May 06, 2019 1:35 pm
4
Location: Washington
Status:
Online

TSS Awards Badges

3D printed telescopes?

#1

Post by helicon »


I came across this link today and thought I would share it. I suppose it's inevitable that this will happen.

https://all3dp.com/2/3d-printed-telescope-projects/
-Michael
Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope
Binoculars: Celestron SkyMaster 15x70, Bushnell 10x50
Eyepieces: Various, GSO Superview, 9mm Plossl, Celestron 25mm Plossl
Camera: ZWO ASI 120
Naked Eye: Two Eyeballs
Latitude: 48.7229° N
User avatar
Star Dad United States of America
Orion Spur Ambassador
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 744
Joined: Sat Aug 10, 2019 8:05 pm
4
Location: Norwich CT
Status:
Offline

TSS Awards Badges

Re: 3D printed telescopes?

#2

Post by Star Dad »


The mirror or lens(es) are the most expensive parts of a scope (or they should be). Not sure what the advantage of printing my own would be. The cost of a decent 3-D printer and the cost of actually making the other parts make it rather expensive. I've been looking for a reason to get a 3D printer, but this isn't going to be one of them. Thanks for the info though!
"To be good is not enough when you dream of being great"

Orion 203mm/f4.9/1000mm, converted TASCO 114mm/f9/1000mm to steam punk, Meade 114mm/f9/1000, Coronado PST, Orion EQ-G, Ioptron Mini-Tower and iEQ30, Canon 70D, ASI120MM,ASI294MC, Ioptron SkyHunter
User avatar
pakarinen United States of America
Inter-Galactic Ambassador
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 4013
Joined: Fri Jun 14, 2019 3:33 pm
4
Location: NE Illinois
Status:
Offline

TSS Awards Badges

Re: 3D printed telescopes?

#3

Post by pakarinen »


Huh. Makes one wonder about cost effectiveness unless people have shared printers or something. Interesting ideas though.
=============================================================================
I drink tea, I read books, I look at stars when I'm not cursing clouds. It's what I do.
=============================================================================
AT50, AT72EDII, ST80, ST102; Scopetech Zero, AZ-GTi, AZ Pronto; Innorel RT90C, Oberwerk 5000; Orion Giantview 15x70s, Vortex 8x42s, Navy surplus 7x50s, Nikon 10x50s
User avatar
Dragonsfire Canada
Orion Spur Ambassador
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 656
Joined: Sat Feb 08, 2020 11:00 pm
4
Location: Ab,Canada.
Status:
Offline

TSS Photo of the Day

Re: 3D printed telescopes?

#4

Post by Dragonsfire »


printers are cheap now, Ender 3 at $300ca, Half paid off in a week after doing camera lens hoods. Filament is cheap, just takes a while to print some stuff.
Neil
Orion XT8i Dob, ES AR102
9x50 RACI Finder, TELRAD Reflex Sight, Electro Dot Sight RD400X
Agena SWA 38mm 70 FOV 2" EP, Orion 25+10mm Sirius Plossl 52 FOV EP
ES 82* 11mm, 18mm 2", ES 68* 24mm, 6mm, 25mm Ortho. EP, Televue 3X Barlow,CS lens 2.8mm-12mm F1.4
Filters Baader Continuum, UV/IF cut, Lumicon UHC, DGM OIII. ND5/3.8 Kendrick
GX1 Lumix, E-PM2, ASI224mc, SteadyPix Deluxe, iOptron SkyTracker 7.7lb
User avatar
GCoyote United States of America
Local Group Ambassador
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 2707
Joined: Mon May 13, 2019 2:53 am
4
Location: Laurel, MD, USA
Status:
Offline

Re: 3D printed telescopes?

#5

Post by GCoyote »


Dragonsfire wrote: Tue Dec 29, 2020 4:33 pm printers are cheap now, Ender 3 at $300ca, Half paid off in a week after doing camera lens hoods. Filament is cheap, just takes a while to print some stuff.
That's what I've been thinking about as well. Lot's of out-of-stock repair or replacement parts that you could possibly print. Dust covers, dew shields, parts trays, brackets, and the like.

I don't have the work space right now to set up and sort a decent size printer but it's on my list. (I assume it will need to be in a no-house-cat-zone.)
Any metaphor will tear if stretched over too much reality.
Gary C

Celestron Astro Master 130mm f5 Newtonian GEM
Meade 114-EQ-DH f7.9 Newtonian w/ manual GEM
Bushnell 90mm f13.9 Catadioptric
Gskyer 80mm f5 Alt/Az refractor
Jason 10x50 Binoculars
Celestron 7x50 Binoculars
Svbony 2.1x42 Binoculars
(And a bunch of stuff I'm still trying to fix or find parts for.)
User avatar
pakarinen United States of America
Inter-Galactic Ambassador
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 4013
Joined: Fri Jun 14, 2019 3:33 pm
4
Location: NE Illinois
Status:
Offline

TSS Awards Badges

Re: 3D printed telescopes?

#6

Post by pakarinen »


Mental image of a cat in a plastic cocoon comes to mind...
=============================================================================
I drink tea, I read books, I look at stars when I'm not cursing clouds. It's what I do.
=============================================================================
AT50, AT72EDII, ST80, ST102; Scopetech Zero, AZ-GTi, AZ Pronto; Innorel RT90C, Oberwerk 5000; Orion Giantview 15x70s, Vortex 8x42s, Navy surplus 7x50s, Nikon 10x50s
User avatar
helicon United States of America
Co-Administrator
Co-Administrator
Articles: 585
Online
Posts: 12279
Joined: Mon May 06, 2019 1:35 pm
4
Location: Washington
Status:
Online

TSS Awards Badges

Re: 3D printed telescopes?

#7

Post by helicon »


I have a 3D printer in my garage that belongs to my nephew. He was going to do lots of things with it but got too busy since he got a job at Tesla. It takes up some space.
-Michael
Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope
Binoculars: Celestron SkyMaster 15x70, Bushnell 10x50
Eyepieces: Various, GSO Superview, 9mm Plossl, Celestron 25mm Plossl
Camera: ZWO ASI 120
Naked Eye: Two Eyeballs
Latitude: 48.7229° N
User avatar
omeek United States of America
Mars Ambassador
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 128
Joined: Thu May 30, 2019 7:36 pm
4
Location: Florence, AZ
Status:
Offline

TSS Awards Badges

Re: 3D printed telescopes?

#8

Post by omeek »


I have a 3D printer that is pretty fun to mess around with. One cool thing is that after a year or so a piece that holds the belt for moving the plate broke. I rigged it up to work just long enough to print out a replacement part and it works good as new now! :D

I have also used it to print wall mounts for my VR sensors. My favorite site is thingiverse.com. You can download all sorts of schematics for free.
-Oliver
Image
Telescopes: Orion XT8i, Zhumell Z12
EP's: Baader Ortho 6mm, Orion Expanse 9mm, Tele Vue 10mm Delos, ES 68° 16mm, ES 68° 24mm, 2" Q70 32mm, 2x Orion Shorty Barlow (and various Plossls)
Bino's: 12x42, 12x60
User avatar
515bonner United States of America
Jupiter Ambassador
Articles: 0
Online
Posts: 207
Joined: Sun Aug 25, 2019 7:46 pm
4
Location: Bonner Springs KS-USA
Status:
Online

TSS Awards Badges

Re: 3D printed telescopes?

#9

Post by 515bonner »


from the website:
"TelescopePrime is a DIY, semi-professional telescope that offers impressive functionality for an affordable price....."......."With a cost of around only $400, this telescope offers you the chance to learn how it works and to see as far as the moon!"

What a worthless piece of crap that can only see as far as the moon :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
14.5" f/5.3 Starmaster with Sky Commander XP4 | 9.25" Celestron SCT | 8" f/7 Starmaster (only 5 made) with Sky Commander V3
6" f/12 Orion 150mm Mak | 4" f/9 Celestron Refractor (Vixen) | 80mm f4 unbranded refractor
iOptron CEM40 | iOptron Cube Pro
Large Assortment of Nagler and Konig Eyepieces | ZWO ASI290MC & ZWO ASI120MM-s Cameras

Member of the Astronomical Society of Kansas City / Astronomical League
Member of the British Astronomical Association
V.P. of Occultation Services, International Occultation Timing Association
User avatar
GCoyote United States of America
Local Group Ambassador
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 2707
Joined: Mon May 13, 2019 2:53 am
4
Location: Laurel, MD, USA
Status:
Offline

Re: 3D printed telescopes?

#10

Post by GCoyote »


I keep coming back to this concept. I've had to make a number of small plastic or metal parts to adapt different brands of gear to work together. Any one part is still pretty cheap to make by hand relative to the cost of a printer. OTOH I'm working near the limit of my skills and available tools. It seems like only a matter of time before a printer would pay for itself either by avoiding another purchase, recreating an out of stock part, or just the hours of work saved by not making what I need by hand. ABS plastic would seem to be more than strong enough for the parts I need to make.

Anyone tried one of these yet?
https://flashforge-usa.com/products/fla ... 3d-printer
Any metaphor will tear if stretched over too much reality.
Gary C

Celestron Astro Master 130mm f5 Newtonian GEM
Meade 114-EQ-DH f7.9 Newtonian w/ manual GEM
Bushnell 90mm f13.9 Catadioptric
Gskyer 80mm f5 Alt/Az refractor
Jason 10x50 Binoculars
Celestron 7x50 Binoculars
Svbony 2.1x42 Binoculars
(And a bunch of stuff I'm still trying to fix or find parts for.)
Post Reply

Create an account or sign in to join the discussion

You need to be a member in order to post a reply

Create an account

Not a member? register to join our community
Members can start their own topics & subscribe to topics
It’s free and only takes a minute

Register

Sign in

Return to “Other "Do It Yourself" projects”