>>13666055There's a community of amateur astronomers that build their own gear.
https://www.cloudynights.com/forum/70-atm-optics-and-diy-forum/Their own optical tubes, their own mount, their own eyepieces, or even grind and aluminize their own mirrors. Hell, the Dobsonian telescope was invented by John Dobson, the old guy on the left of the pic (and yes, the optical tube structure of that telescope is a concrete pillar mold), who bought a bunch of surplus porthole glass (probably from the US Navy's WWII-era surplus stock) and made parabolic mirrors for Dobsonians.
At one point in time, they even made their own CCD cameras back in the 1990s.
https://www.abebooks.com/Ccd-Camera-Cookbook-Build-Own-CameraBook/30895595380/bdThe tech is wayyyyyy out of date and you could save money, frustration, and get a camera with a larger field of view if you buy a cheap DSLR and telescope focuser adapter. Nowadays, they probably would make a homemade astronomy camera with a Raspberry Pi camera, though I never looked into it.
