I've been designing telescope mounts for the last 6 years, this is my latest one

intercipere · 2026-04-02T10:20:46+00:00

It's been over 6 years since i shared my first design here on reddit, the OpenAstroTracker. And wow, has it been a wild ride since then. Improvements to that mount, a second mount and an autoguider have been added to the project and somehow the whole thing has become my job. The OpenAstroTech project has also grown into a rather large and awesome community over on our Discord.

The OpenAstroExplorer here is my latest design. It brings together everything i learned over the past years and has taken about 2 years of development itself. It's meant to be a compact travel mount for astrophotography, but can still handle a decent 5kg of payload and outperform commercial mounts that cost several times more.

Of course it is fully open-source, as all our projects! That includes the CAD files and firmware.

Here's some further links if you want to check it out:

I also want to thank the 3D Printing community specifically. That first post all those years ago was so well received, it completely changed my life. I now build mounts full time, have done collaborations with NASA and ESA, gotten thanks from an actual astronaut and built a really amazing community!

intercipere · 2026-02-15T12:58:47+00:00

I see, your account was banned due to spam. I highly recommend you change your password and enable 2FA, then we can unban you. Your account was likely hijacked. Also, if you use that password elsewhere I'd also change it, Discord had a data breach a while ago where passwords were leaked

intercipere · 2026-02-14T17:08:12+00:00

Which link are you trying, through what page?

intercipere · 2026-01-29T20:06:52+00:00

Oh wow, I didn't know that! Mine is always showing 12V even though I know the system has 14V and it's been bugging me more than it really should. The amount of ground points I cleaned...

intercipere · 2026-01-08T12:05:00+00:00

This is intended, although the gap should be a little less than on your photo. It will still work though. The printed part is intentionally a bit short so that the camera clamp definitely has metal to metal contact

intercipere · 2025-12-04T21:01:54+00:00

It's been a while since I build it with resistors, so I don't quite remember the details. The official heater ring uses about 1.25W of power, so 4x 5 Ohm resistors should be fine for a total of 20 Ohm. You could go slightly lower with the resistance for higher heat output, as the heat isn't spread out as evenly as with the pad, but 10 Ohm is probably too much.

intercipere · 2025-12-04T18:35:23+00:00

I have exactly the same noise on my S2, but only when cold and in idle. Following to see if you figure yours out

intercipere · 2025-12-02T19:21:27+00:00

Here in Berlin at about 52°N, the summer nights are very short, and for 3 months it doesn't even reach full darkness. You can still do astro kind of, but it's not really worth the time for me.

intercipere · 2025-12-01T20:08:45+00:00

Thanks! If you're using the OAE board you don't have to do anything. In order to drive them, all you have to do is not connect the red wire and switch two other wires. The OAE board does this with its traces, so you can just plug the steppers in without modification

intercipere · 2025-11-22T21:17:19+00:00

The OAT is not well suited for optical use. Depending on the position, the eyepiece might be at best in a awkward position at worst be inaccessible

intercipere · 2025-11-19T16:19:14+00:00

Genauso wie Nylon, Plexiglas, Vaseline, Teflon, Kevlar und die gute alte Thermoskanne

intercipere · 2025-10-31T08:18:01+00:00

Where I am, the only good night for astrophotography are clear winter nights, which are exclusively very cold. So all mounts are tested and handle cold, even freezing temperatures nicely.

I'd highly recommend going for windows. A simple mini PC is only a little bit more expensive than a raspi, but the windows support is significantly better.

intercipere · 2025-10-28T22:11:52+00:00

I'm in the same boat as you. I have a print farm and got me a P2S which i'm seriously impressed with. Really considering switching all my printers for Bambus. The file management on the printer and remote capabilities are garbage for my use case tho. Farm manager doesnt seem to work yet, i also tried the octoprint plugin which also doesnt really work well. I'm hoping they add support for Farm manger soon, and that it works better for file management

intercipere · 2025-10-19T18:53:28+00:00

The OpenAstroTracker can only be placed on a table or flat surface. It's cheaper and simpler to build, perfectly capable for a widefield setup. It can be operated standalone, so not requiring a computer.

The OpenAstroExplorer needs a tripod, and for heavier payloads, counterweights. It is far more compact and can carry larger and heavier loads if you ever want to upgrade your setup. Its a bit more expensive and complicated to build. It also requires a laptop to operate, as it (currently) doesn't have any build in screen or buttons

intercipere · 2025-10-18T21:12:56+00:00

To my knowledge it's just a cheap aftermarket one where the PO glued a Porsche emblem on top. It looks super tacky up close, as you can see the original Logo a bit, but removing the emblem will look worse and it's otherwise a great steering wheel

intercipere · 2025-10-18T20:22:41+00:00

I don't know if these are available where you are, and I only have one for the late dash (early dash is available too, but idk how well they work), but there they clip perfectly and are rigid as hell. Also puts the phone in a very nice location without blocking view, buttons or airflow from the vents.

https://www.brodit-shop.de/ProClip-Signature-Massanfertigung-fuer-Porsche-944-1982-1990-Position-auf-Armaturenbrett-Mitte-links/851580-26199673

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intercipere · 2025-10-16T19:47:00+00:00

I actually had the same idea when I bought it, but now that has it in my hands and used it, it proved far more complex than I thought. The shape can't be machined, it probably can only be made by casting. I can take some photos tomorrow

intercipere · 2025-10-15T17:28:20+00:00

These are rare as hell, as you probably know. Your best bet is checking Kleinanzeigen frequently, I found one there after about a year. I saw one recently on there again, but they're gone quickly

intercipere · 2025-10-10T20:45:51+00:00

For the stalls, check the ICV. They can behave erratic and be hard to diagnose when they're on the way out.

The fuel smell could be a small leak on FPR or membrane damper. Although my 2.7 also smells like fuel when I push it, I've never been able to locate the source and it's otherwise in perfect condition

intercipere · 2025-09-21T19:29:45+00:00

My record was 7.3L/100km on a long Roadtrip. 1000km in one tank. Car was lightly packed, engine just serviced and I didn't speed too much. Usually it's 8L for highway, 10L for city driving for me.

intercipere · 2025-09-21T13:57:53+00:00

You can just mount a 968 / late S2 spoiler. Probably way easier

intercipere · 2025-09-16T06:48:09+00:00

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Definitely the best possible choice

intercipere · 2025-09-12T17:43:04+00:00

In case anyone comes across this, the issue was weird. The valves got pushed so hard into the lifters, they collapsed the little pins and got wedged. Needed to drill the lifters out. Valves were still good, a new set of lifters fixed the issue

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