You can hook up your camera to your telescope cheaper by building your own camera mount.
The art of astrophotography can be a time-consuming, expensive hobby. However, it is possible to make it a little bit cheaper by building your own camera mount to hook up to the telescope to photograph the night sky. Building your own mount can save you $40 or so from purchasing one from a manufacturer. You will need some basic garage tools and about an hour of time to build this mount to start your astrophotography hobby.
Instructions
1. Cut a 3-inch square in the plywood board using the wood saw. File the edges down to remove any burrs or slivers of wood on the sides of the square.
2. Place your telescope eyepiece on the middle of the plywood square, and trace the eyepiece with your permanent marker. Draw two V-shaped lines on both sides of the circle so V shapes just touch the circle you just traced.
3. Cut the 3-inch square in half into 2 equal pieces. Use the wood saw to create a V-section type cut into each separate piece, so that when the two pieces are put together, it creates a rhombus shape.
4. Cut a 6-inch piece of hardwood with the wood saw. Trim the width down so it's only 1 inch wide.
5. Cut a 5-inch long slot down the middle of the hardwood piece, making it 2mm in width.
6. Screw in the 6-inch long screws into both ends of the 3-inch square, screwing them in all the way until the screw head hits the plywood.
7. Use the extra 3 inches of the screw sticking out of the right-hand side the plywood square to screw in the 6-inch long hardwood piece to connect it to the plywood square.
8. Hook up the camera mount screw into the slot on the hardwood, and screw in your camera into the mounting screw.
9. Place the plywood square onto the telescope's eyepiece, and screw in the two screws on the plywood square until the V-shapes hug the circular eyepiece.
Tags: plywood square, your camera, 3-inch square, camera mount, 6-inch long, building your, building your camera
