Barndoor Tracker

Folks, does anybody have or know how to build a barndoor tracker used for manually guiding a camera, could you even buy one?

There sure handy to have if you are away without a motor driven scope.
I've checked out a few links on how to build one, but i don't think i'd fare too well




Have any of you ever used one?

Keith..

Keith,

I see these come up occasionally on Astromart. How about posting an ad for one?

Anthony.

Folks, does anybody have or know how to build a barndoor tracker used for manually guiding a camera, could you even buy one?There sure handy to have if you are away without a motor driven scope.I've checked out a few links on how to build one, but i don't think i'd fare too well Have any of you ever used one?Keith..

Keith,

I built a fairly basic one some years ago. It worked very well and I got good photos with exposure times up to 20 to 30 minutes but it was a bit tedious to operate as I had to manually turn the bolt every 15/20 seconds.

Got the plans out of some book, Eight Easy Observing Projects, I think, with help from an S & T article as well. Found all the parts in my shed! As long as you are careful with the measurements and alignments, it should prove reasonably accurate. David Trott designed more accurate multiple-arm barndoor mounts if you feel more adventurous; I'm sure you can find plans for a wide variety of designs on the Internet.

Gordon

Here are good plans for a simple barndoor mount from the RASC.
130.15.144.99/rasc/pdf/barndoorassembly.pdf

Gordon

I'm very interested in one of these too as I've no tracking for my scope. If it is easy to find some sort of cheap clock drive motor I might give it a go. I don't think I want to hang around for half an hour slowly turning a bolt, not with my shaky hands anyhow.

Got the plans out of some book

Michael Covington mentions their construction briefly in Astrophotography for the amateur also.

Cheers,
~Al