You’ve got a laser cutter. You’ve got a 3D printer. What do you make? [Ayushmaan45] suggests a telescope. The modest instrument isn’t going to do serious astronomy with only 8X worth of optics, but it would make a fine spyglass for a youngster.
The body is cut from MDF, and there are only a few 3D printed parts. The only other things you need are rubber bands and a pair of lenses. You don’t even need glue. We might have spray painted the inside of the scope black or used some black contact paper to cut down on reflections, although it probably wouldn’t make much difference.
Of course, depending on your lenses, you may have to make some changes. Or find new lenses, for that matter. We like that it doesn’t take any exotic parts. We also appreciate that it is easy for kids to take apart and put back together. It would be interesting to see how a motivated kid might alter the design, as well.
If a kid gets interested, you could move on to a more sophisticated telescope. Or maybe you’d prefer a nice microscope.
the project page says “You’ll only need two small lenses…” but not a word about their properties.
How are people going to build this if the type of lense is not mentioned, it’s the most important part of the project, basically the project is just a fancy toilet roll to hold the lenses apart, so please tell us more about the lenses. I could be wrong, maybe I overlooked it, but buying the lenses is the part that makes this project reproducible. I really hope I just misread the page, wouldn’t be the first time, so I apologize in advance.
No details about the lenses? “2 × small lenses (around 8× magnification)” ??
I was hoping for some beginner guide to lenses. I can figure out the housing myself.
“Galilean Telescope” is the search term I needed. There are many educational sources and DIY guides that actually mention focal length
To those complaining about the lack of specs on the lenses: If you choose not to acquire and select lenses yourself, then the simplest way to get a pair that will work is to search for and buy a “telescope” from a convenient vendor, and harvest the lenses from that.
So to make a DIY telescope you have to buy a telescope… think about that.
Now you’re getting it! Most “hacks” are just rearranging the difficult parts made by someone else and claiming you’ve built something. Someone else made the arduino, the LED, and the epoxy you stuck it all together with, but YOU made that light blink! YOU are the inventor here!
In 2025 hacking is mostly a self-congratulatory hobby for dilettantes.
Real hackers fuse helium atoms to create silicon wafers
The instructions were specifically for the hard of thinking.
Typical.
If you are going to interest kids without knowing optics what about using mirrors and building a periscope?
FWIW Surplus Shed sells a package: an achromatic objective lens set — crown and flint lenses, which together make a color-corrected “front” lens of 600mm focal length. And a 16mm focal length eyepiece; cost is $11.50 for the optics for a respectable 37x scope. Much better quality than a scope made from simple (non-achromatic) lenses. It would certainly show the moons of Jupiter and probably the rings of Saturn on a good night.
https://www.surplusshed.com/pages/item/L14899.html
Anyone out there want to write for HAD? Start with 2″ PVC for the tube. Design and print a cell for the objective lens, and an eyepiece holder & focuser for the other end of the tube. Sliding focuser would be okay; a threaded focuser for fine adjustment would be superior..
The tough (and interesting) part might be designing and building a simple mount to go on top of a good camera tripod. (Bonus points for making it an equatorial mount.) A 37x scope is far too shaky to be hand-held.
Thank you for link
omg, surplus shed is still in business, this makes my day!