www.3ders.org

Sep 29, 2015 | By Alec

Regular readers will have doubtlessly seen that industrial 3D printing is making headlines in the aerospace world, but that doesn’t mean that regular astronomy hobbyists can’t also benefit from the advantages of 3D printing. While a good quality telescope can quickly be very expensive, a far more affordable 3D printed astro-cam has just appeared on Indiegogo: the British-made PiKon, that simply relies on a Raspberry Pi and some 3D printed parts to capture gorgeous images of space.

This fascinating creation is the brainchild of Mark Wrigley, a British Designer and Educator with lots of experience in the physics field. Semi-retired, Mark now focueses on his passion of promoting and popularizing science and technology through his little company Alternative-Photonics. About a year ago, he developed the PiKon for Sheffield University’s ‘Festival of the Mind’, where it was a huge hit. ‘We wanted to show how these disruptive technologies could put the realisation of a DIY, home made telescope within the reach of anyone,’ he says. Disruptive technology, incidentally, is exactly what the making community is all about. The term is used to describe new technologies that unexpectedly displace established ones – real game changers like low cost 3D printing and Raspberry Pis.

So what exactly is the PiKon telescope? ‘The PiKon is based on the Newtonian Reflecting Telescope. This design uses a concave mirror (Objective) to form an image which is examined using an eyepiece. The mirror is mounted in a tube and a 45 degree mirror is placed in the optical path to allow the image to be viewed from the side of the tube’, Mark writes on his website. ‘The PiKon Telescope is based on a very similar design, but the image formed by the Objective is focused onto the photo sensor of a Raspberry Pi Camera. The camera sensor is exposed by simply removing (unscrewing) the lens on the Pi Camera. Because of the small size of the Raspberry Pi Camera board (25mm x 25mm), it is possible to mount the assembly in the optical path. The amount of light lost by doing this is similar to the losses caused by mounting the 45 degree mirror in a conventional Newtonian design.’

And the magnification it is capable of is quite impressive too. ‘A 50mm lens there gives a x1 magnification. A 100mm lens gives a x2 magnification. The focal length of the objective mirror in the PiKon is 800mm. So, for 35mm film that would give a magnification of x16. But the Raspberry Pi Camera sensor is just one tenth the size of a 35mm film frame. So effectively the magnification is increased by a factor 10 to x160,’ Mark explains. The result is a pretty impressive look into the night’s sky.

And this remarkably simple but effective asto-cam was a huge hit. ‘The response was fantastic, with national press coverage and thousands of hits on our PiKonic web site. Since we delivered the first 3D printed, Raspberry Pi powered PiKon for Sheffield University’s “Festival of the Mind”, we’ve received a massive response from people who want to build one,’ Mark says. They have therefore begun developing kits that can make this cool and cheap creation available to hobbyists everywhere, and that is what this crowdfunding campaign is all about. While the first edition was very much a prototype that relied on Duct Tape, this new kit is very accessible and a very fun project to work with. Mark especially hopes that makers, astronomers and educators can work with and learn from these kits, and in turn make that knowledge more available to the rest of the world.

What’s more, the prices are excellent. For a pledge of just £20 (or approximately $30 USD), you can get your hands on the 3D printable files and assembly instructions, to complete the kit with parts you still have laying around. Alternatively, you can get the full kit with everything you need for just £200 (or approximately $300 USD) – still pretty good in terms of astro-cam prices. The 3D printed parts will then be made by We Do 3D Printing in Sheffield, for those of you without a 3D printer. Obviously, lots of other kits are also available, so take a look to find one suitable for your needs. You can find the Indiegogo campaign for the PiKon here.

 

 

Posted in 3D Printing Applications

 

 

 

 

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