Pifinder: complete!
I’m building the Sliced PiFinder, a device to help my telescope find things! Previously, I tried using a cheaper IMU but gave up and bought a $30 fancy chip.
Originally I didn’t want to buy a $50 GPS USB stick but the PiFinder creator found a $10 solderable GPS unit for a v2, so I bought one and soldered it in.
After soldering in the GPS chip, dubiously electrical taping it in place, dropping it and cracking my 3D printed parts, printing new parts, using a soldering iron to remove heat inserts out of the old parts so I can place them into the new parts, printing the case, discovering the case wasn’t designed for my battery and blocks access to the on/off switch and USB ports, melting holes in case with soldering iron, putting on a cover plate over the screen and LEDs… I finally put it on my telescope!
PIFINDER: COMPLETE!
Testing on the telescope went well. The printed dovetail mount was slightly too thin and sagged slightly under gravity, but the field of view was wide enough it wasn’t a problem. And even when I couldn’t see any stars through my finderscope, the pifinder’s camera still got a lock.
Eventually I tried using the find-objects feature, and it successfully pointed me towards M31! I tried pifinding to M33, but I didn’t see it by eye. Maybe the streetlight 30 feet away was just too bright? Perhaps it’ll show up on a long exposure phone cam.
Total cost, including the pi and battery pack I scavenged for free: $118. Much better than $550!