Douglas Beach
Maker Data nerd Sky watcher
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3D-Printed Flat-Frame Fabric Hoop for a 6″ Newtonian
I 3D-printed a simple frame that stretches a t-shirt across the front of my telescope for taking flat frames — no expensive flat panel required. Here’s the design, and the file if you want to print one.
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Turn Phone Panorama into Stellarium Landscape
Stellarium can tell you what’s in the sky tonight — but not whether it’s behind your neighbor’s tree. Here’s how to add a custom landscape of your backyard, the easy AI way or the manual way.
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Getting Back to Astrophotography: My Journey with M101
I’ve been out of the game for a while, and getting back into it hasn’t been easy. There’s a lot to know and understand when it comes to getting successful astrophotography images. And being the type of person who enjoys the process — and goes down every rabbit hole I can find chasing random improvements…
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3D Printed 6″ Newtonian Tabletop Stand / Cradle (GSO 750)
I use 3D printing all the time to solve the simplest of problems. This time around it was getting my telescope into a position that’s easy to work on, looks decent, and takes up as little table space as possible. Before this, I was clumping a bunch of towels under it to keep it steady…
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Honeycomb Alpha Under Desk Mount
If you own a Honeycomb Alpha Yoke and want to mount it under your desk, you’re not alone. I didn’t realize until after I purchased the Yoke how non-trivial getting it mounted beneath my desk would be. With no accessories officially available from Honeycomb and no third-party options that fit my needs, I quickly decided…
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Building the Electronics for My A380 Overhead Panel (Part 1)
Introduction When I started building the Airbus A380 overhead panel for my simulator project, I quickly realized that the electronics would be just as complex as the physical build. The first panel I’m tackling is just one small section of the overall overhead, and even this piece already demands a surprising number of inputs and…
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DIY 3D-Printed Project Tray Rack for Cheap, Easy Organization
I needed a better way to organize all my dollar store project trays, so I built a custom rack using aluminum angle and 3D-printed parts. Here’s how I designed it, what worked, and what I’d do differently.
