I'm in lockdown and a bit bored so I decided to upgrade the motherboards on my MPCNC and 3d printer for mental wellness reasons
. I still had some spare parts for some smart handcontrollers from my own onstep builds last year so I got curious if the replaced trigorilla boards (basically a mks gen L board) could provide a bit of stimulation and produce some standalone telescope controllers too. Turns out, yes!
I've printed some hand controller cases (see pic) and can print a case for the box, but I'm still dialling in the new 3D board so it will be a while before I can get some great prints. These are personal choices too so if you have a 3d printer I suggest printing your own cases.
Selling these for $160 each including the cases and postage, which covers the cost of materials, postage and a beer or two. It also represents a massive time saving in outsourcing bits and soldering the SHC, making cables etc. I also have a spare Wemos mini if you want to add WiFi - add $10.
This is as complete as I can make it, but there are still things you’ll need to do: 1) reflash the Onstep controller for your specifications (altaz/Gem mount, motor gearing). It's straight forward - instructions on the OnStep site are easy to follow. I used the MKS gen 2 pinout as it offered the easiest SHC setup. 2) buy some motors. Motors and gearing is dependant on your type of mount). 3) find a power supply.