Author Topic: 3D print help for germanium telescope (apologies if slightly OT)  (Read 7723 times)

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Offline UltrapurpleTopic starter

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Re: 3D print help for germanium telescope (apologies if slightly OT)
« Reply #25 on: November 01, 2017, 07:41:55 pm »
I think you missed a word...

Even FLIR resort to EXPENSIVE bracketry to make some of their lenses mount solidly onto their cameras as seen in these pictures.

Fraser
« Last Edit: November 02, 2017, 09:33:24 am by Ultrapurple »
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Offline Vipitis

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Re: 3D print help for germanium telescope (apologies if slightly OT)
« Reply #26 on: November 01, 2017, 08:18:12 pm »
Slight question to Fraser:

in the background of your images I see books or DVDs with the topic of 3D Printing with SketchUp and SketchUp for Dummies - my personal suggestion is AutoCAD and Fusio360, as Autodesk provides free access for hobbyists.

But back to the topic. 3D Printing can help to mount the ThermApp onto the rail, and custom brackets can be 3D printed - there are several examples found on thingiverse or  other websites like DIY and photography blogs. I a have even seen 3D printed parts for mounting solution in a university lab. Designing something that is perfect for the ThermApp can be done.
 

Offline IwuzBornanerd

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Re: 3D print help for germanium telescope (apologies if slightly OT)
« Reply #27 on: November 01, 2017, 09:03:23 pm »
Ultrapurple,

For your bracket design you may wish to consider the attached pictures. That bracket costs £70 but is nothing special....
Fraser

I like that bracket, but it's apparently worth much more than its weight in British pounds.  ;)  Maybe that's why we had not yet thought of looking for such things.  It might be all that is needed, though, at least if there is a screw mount on the ThermApp or its phone clamp.

To avoid dealing with the non-flat front, I was thinking of something that would just clip to the 2 ends that are parallel to the phone bracket.
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Offline UltrapurpleTopic starter

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Re: 3D print help for germanium telescope (apologies if slightly OT)
« Reply #29 on: November 02, 2017, 08:30:02 am »
I realise I've probably committed a sin of omission in not mentioning clearly that the Therm-App design includes a threaded tripod mount in its foot, which may simplify matters. See photo.

(As an aside, I'm amazed at the quality of technical photos I can get from a modern mobile phone with a plain sheet of paper as a backdrop, in normal office lighting. I know not everything in the one below is in sharp focus - it doesn't have to be - but something that I would once have spent at least an hour setting up is now do-able in a couple of minutes, including the time spent faffing around trying to find a clean sheet of paper and an A4-size clear space on the desk. And yes, it is a single photo of two Therm-App imagers; my biggest problem was holding the one on the left at a reasonable angle without getting my fingers in shot. If you look carefully you can see the merest hint of the tip of a fingernail beneath the lens barrel).

I like the 'T' style mounts Fraser has been finding: I'll mull on those as a more-permanent solution. It certainly looks as though something like that, with the adjustable height and reach, will solve the immediate issues - particularly if I use a collar arrangement to secure the Inframetrics auxiliary lens.

Heath Robinson and Rube Goldberg can rest a little easier now.
« Last Edit: November 02, 2017, 09:39:36 am by Ultrapurple »
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Offline IwuzBornanerd

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Re: 3D print help for germanium telescope (apologies if slightly OT)
« Reply #30 on: November 03, 2017, 07:04:01 am »

... the Therm-App design includes a threaded tripod mount in its foot, which may simplify matters. See photo.


Heath Robinson and Rube Goldberg can rest a little easier now.

Excellent!  It was good of them to include that; it even looks like it lines up with the center of the lens and is on the "bottom" of the camera.  If that's the case you're almost there.  :)  You just have to have the bracket on top while using the telescope.

That telescope is pretty nifty.  If you have a narrow FOV lens on the camera & you put it closer than necessary you effectively get more magnification, right?

My 25.4mm ZnSe lens arrived Wednesday, so I can show you an example of my "roll your own" lens assemblies.  Not too cumbersome yet, but I need to get the 100mm one put together yet.
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Offline UltrapurpleTopic starter

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Re: 3D print help for germanium telescope (apologies if slightly OT)
« Reply #31 on: November 03, 2017, 08:44:57 am »
Yes, the thread is very useful but unfortunately it's not aligned with the optical centre - it's offset about 16mm. My Image15 and Photo15 on the previous page show what I mean.

The magnification of the telescope is fixed at x3. It makes no difference how close or far the lenses are apart (within reason - from touching to a couple of inches). It may be that it's possible to cheat the system very slightly by offsetting the focus of the telescope and imager, but it's unlikely to be worthwhile.

Magnification is most strongly dependent on the focal length of the Therm-App lens. I've used it with 13mm, 19mm and (briefly) 35mm, all with success. It doesn't make sense to use the 6.8mm with an x3 extender because 6.8x3=20.4 - a very clumsy and heavy way to get essentially the same as the 19mm lens, but with less sensitivity.

The 35mm lens does appear to work rather well with the telescope. I estimate it makes the equivalent of a ~200mm lens on a full frame 35mm SLR. With a setup like that you can not only prove definitively whether bears do indeed *ahem* in the woods, but where, and how much. But if you're that interested in the habits of bears, either get therapy or a scholarship.
« Last Edit: November 03, 2017, 10:38:00 am by Ultrapurple »
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Offline IwuzBornanerd

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Re: 3D print help for germanium telescope (apologies if slightly OT)
« Reply #32 on: November 04, 2017, 01:13:11 am »
Yes, the thread is very useful but unfortunately it's not aligned with the optical centre - it's offset about 16mm. My Image15 and Photo15 on the previous page show what I mean.


Well, crap, I thought maybe they did something right.  So you can't get away with a simple straight bar, but need a right-angle or 2 to get everything aligned.

What I was thinking with the "extra" magnification is that if you could put the camera close enough to the back lens of the telescope such that the camera's field of view only captured, say half, of the telescope's image scene, then the camera frame would be filled with half of the telescope's scene and you would effectively have another 2x magnification.  Conversely, if you have the camera too far away such that the camera field of view takes in more than the telescope's output, you would get images with a round magnified scene in the middle surrounded by the telescope tube & surrounding un-magnified scenery.  Perhaps the back lens element in the telescope is too far ahead of the mounting ring to allow you to get "too close"...Or maybe I'm just "all wet".

The full moon is not much more interesting than a bear turd with a mere 25.4mm lens.  :=\
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Offline UltrapurpleTopic starter

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Re: 3D print help for germanium telescope (apologies if slightly OT)
« Reply #33 on: November 04, 2017, 01:40:36 pm »

I thought maybe they did something right.

I think they did get it right for its intended purpose. Remember, the Therm-App is supposed to be a device that clips onto a phone and has a handle so you can wave it around at things. What I'm trying to do with auxiliary lenses etc is way beyond what it was designed for, so anything extra we manage to achieve is a bonus.

I have bitten the bullet and ordered some of the bracketry Fraser identified on eBay. It will be interesting to see (a) if it turns up before Christmas and (b) if it will do what I want.

Meanwhile, I have been having some fun filming fireworks with the Therm-App Pro. For some reason it's a bit jerky (not enough computing horsepower maybe?) but there are samples here and here. Completely OT, I tried some visible slo-mo on fireworks, too.
« Last Edit: November 04, 2017, 03:17:22 pm by Ultrapurple »
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Online Fraser

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Re: 3D print help for germanium telescope (apologies if slightly OT)
« Reply #34 on: November 06, 2017, 08:46:07 pm »
Tracking helicopters across the cold sky can be fun as well :) The Large Chinooks fly over us at around 100 feet as we are in the countryside. Sadly I have yet to have my thermal camera to hand when they unexpectedly rumble over our house :( The Local Police Helicopter often hovers over a major A5 roundabout near by and he would make a nice thermal image if I had my X3 telescope attached to a camera and tripod mounted it.

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Offline Vipitis

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Re: 3D print help for germanium telescope (apologies if slightly OT)
« Reply #35 on: November 07, 2017, 06:47:41 am »
Imaging aircraft is great, at first I thought the detection range would be great because they are large targets and really hot at some ends. Then I tried it at the airport.

I believe part of the detection is just the reflective surface of the plane I got... Others only a shadow in front of the cold background.

Images are with MSX
 
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Offline UltrapurpleTopic starter

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Re: 3D print help for germanium telescope (apologies if slightly OT)
« Reply #36 on: November 07, 2017, 08:08:10 am »
I love that sky! That image deserves a place in the Thermal Imaging Gallery thread.
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Offline IwuzBornanerd

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Re: 3D print help for germanium telescope (apologies if slightly OT)
« Reply #37 on: November 07, 2017, 09:01:02 am »
I love that sky! That image deserves a place in the Thermal Imaging Gallery thread.

I agree.  I saw that same effect back in early August when I took the PiZero out for a brief look around the back yard.  I didn't have as pretty a palette and no airplane, but there is a sort of bird in a cloud formation at the beginning of this video.  Watch the temperature markers as I scan from the sky around to the back of the house & back.  :)

Hopefully I'll find out someday if that banding is an everyday occurrence or not.
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Offline Vipitis

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Re: 3D print help for germanium telescope (apologies if slightly OT)
« Reply #38 on: November 07, 2017, 10:46:12 am »
Hm... The gradient is nice. But I believe that is flir post processing.

I got a few hundred pictures of the sky, mostly trying to shoot the moon or satellites.

I can send you a .zip with most of them, they are radiometric .jpegs and you can edit them in flir tools or in thermovision to change pallette and scale.


It looks nice in rainbow HC, arktis also looks nice.

I will attempt to shoot a few pictures of the night clear sky and stack them for a great gradient.

I am waiting for something special before I post in the gallery.
 

Offline UltrapurpleTopic starter

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Re: 3D print help for germanium telescope (apologies if slightly OT)
« Reply #39 on: November 07, 2017, 12:22:42 pm »
However the effect happened - post-processing, artifacts, leprechaun wee or whatever - does not change the fact that it is a very nice image that deserves wider recognition.

As far as I'm aware there is no rule that you can only submit one image to the Gallery, so there's no reason why you shouldn't add this and then more, later, that you're even happier with.
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