DSLR Star tracker

DSLR Star tracker

I set out to create my own design for a basic star tracker. I decided against a barn door design, in favour of a more compact gear driven design. This is still a work in progress.

Here are the parts I printed. I printed them all using standard PLA at 0.2mm on an Ender 3, with exception for the worm gear. I ended up printing it with a resin printer, however I had previously printed it at 0.08mm and it worked okay too.

Parts print list

Filename Quantity to print

Ball head mounting plate.stl 1

Gearbox A.stl 1

Gearbox B.stl 1

Gearbox C.stl 1

DIN RA adapter.stl 4

Bearing base.stl 1

Bearing cap.stl 6

Worm gear.stl 1

Worm wheel.stl 1

Parts list

Component Quantity

M6 nut 50

M6x10mm Button head 15

M6x16mm Countersunk 3

25x160mm Aluminum bar (1/8" thickness) (OPTIONAL, but reccomended) 5

6003-2RSL bearing 1

605ZZ bearing 6

M3x20mm Raised cheese head 12

M3x8mm Raised cheese head 4

NEMA17 42-34 stepper motor 1

DRV8825 stepper driver (or equivalent, needs to have 1/32 microstepping) 1

5mm LED 3

Radial Electrolytic capacitor (min.100 μf) 2

Raspberry pi pico, with header pins 1

GT2 20T and 60T 200mm pulley combo 2

5x60mm metal rod 1

5x120mm metal rod 1

Tripod ball head adapter 1

Custom PCB for electronics* (see more below) 1

M6x80mm coach bolt 1

M6 penny washer 3

3/8″ 16 pitch UNC bolt for tripod ball head 1

JST XH 2 pin connectors male and female 2

JST XH 4 pin connectors female 1

LM7805CV 5V linear regulator 1