Vixen Dovetail to 1.5-inch PVC Adapter

prusaprinters

<p>An adapter to mount a 1.5" PVC pipe to any mount that can accept a vixen (CG-5) dovetail. I would be surprised if anybody else ever needed this, but if you're that other person hopefully this saves you some time. I used it to mount an antenna to my EQ mount to attempt radioastronomy.</p> <p>There are two versions. The first has the mounting point for the pipe in the center.</p> <p>V2 has the mounting point offset toward one side, as this worked better for me when placed on my telescope mount and allowed the antenna to have enough clearance to swing.</p> <p>Note that the diameter of the pipe mount on V2 is ever so slightly smaller (a few tenths of a millimeter, if that) than V1, as I found that it fit an average 1.5" PVC pipe better. Your results may vary given PVC tolerances.</p> <p>I left the holes in place from the original design so that something could still be mounted or so that a bolt could be run up the center of the pipe.</p> <p>Other notes: The picture of the black one (which is PLA, cubic) is not fully printed. However, even missing the top ~1.5" it still holds a pipe without wobble.</p> <p>I'm not going to print another of these unless I need to, but if you're considering printing this I might recommend modifying it to include through-holes on the side of the pipe mount through which a bolt could be inserted to a) keep the pipe from accidentally being pulled off and b) to keep the pipe from spinning. I'm just going to drill the hole out.</p> <h3>Print Settings</h3> <p><strong>Printer Brand:</strong></p> <p>Creality</p> <p class="detail-setting printer"><strong>Printer: </strong> <div><p>Ender 3 Pro</p></div> <p><strong>Rafts:</strong></p> <p>Doesn't Matter</p> <p class="detail-setting supports"><strong>Supports: </strong> <div><p>No</p></div> <p><strong>Resolution:</strong></p> <p>.2mm</p> <p class="detail-setting infill"><strong>Infill: </strong> <div><p>30% Tri-Hexagon or Cubic</p></div> <p><strong>Filament:</strong> Overture PETG Silver</p> <p><br/> <p class="detail-setting notes"><strong>Notes: </strong></p> </p><div><p>It's pretty sturdy, but depending on your use case consider upping the wall thickness/layers. Also, I don't know that tri-hexagonal is the best infill, but it seemed to yield good results. I printed in PLA with cubic and it also was pretty sturdy that way. </p></div> Post-Printing ============= <p class="detail-caption"><strong>With screw for extra stabiility. </strong></p> <p class="detail-title"><strong>Optional, but probably a good idea.</strong></p> <div><p>I recommend modifying the file to include a hole through the side. However, I just drilled one and tapped the hole opposite the head. This allows for a screw to go through the pipe and the mount to add a bit of extra stability and make sure that the pipe doesn't spin on the mount. </p></div> <p class="detail-image"><img src="https://cdn.thingiverse.com/assets/b6/5b/58/77/60/IMG_20220107_184705_1902.jpg"/></p> <p class="detail-caption"><strong>Full Setup</strong></p> <div><p>Here's the full setup, as requested. In practice, the USB hub is secured to one of the legs. Here I moved it to facilitate getting everything in one picture.<br/> Mount: Celestron AVX <p>Antenna: Premiertek ANT-GRID-24DBI</p> <p>Filter and LNA: Nooelec SAWbird+ H1</p> <p>SDR: 2x RTL-SDR BLOG V.3. Dongles (only one is needed but sometimes the extra bandwidth is nice for other applications)</p> <p>Mini PC (pretty cheap/low spec works fine) for controlling the mount and running SDR software.</p> <p>There's definitely room for improvement in terms of cables/connectors used and such but I put this together pretty quickly from other setups I had (SDR scanner, astrophotography rig) so I just used what I had.</p> <h3>How I Designed This</h3> <p>Modified from <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3192186">https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3192186</a> in Tinkercad. Pipe size referenced from <a href="https://www.pvcfittingsonline.com/resource-center/pvc-pipe-dimensions-18-through-24/">https://www.pvcfittingsonline.com/resource-center/pvc-pipe-dimensions-18-through-24/</a>. Very basic stress testing was done in Fusion360 with a model of a 1.5" PVC pipe sleeved over the mount and it seems like it won't snap too easily. In real life testing, it holds a ~7lb antenna easily.</p> </p></div></p></p></p> Category: DIY