Show HN: Curiosity – DIY 6" Newtonian Reflector Telescope(curiosity-telescope.vercel.app) 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. |
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.
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 :)
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.
People have been making telescopes with this method before 3D printing existed. They just used something else for all the little dodads.
What's the next upgrade?
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.