Lathe for scope projects

[gliderpilot]

I am really chuffed because a friend of mine, who is moving to a London pad, has offered me his lathe. At least some machining will keep me busy during this period of poor weather. Now I just need to buy tools and stock and crack on with a binoscope.

Mark

[yeti monster]

I think photos are in order here. What make is the lathe, and what size?

[Peter Drew]

You'll never look back Mark. What binoscope are you contemplating?, I'm a retired specialist binoscope manufacturer and have 4 of my own, next project is a large Ha binoscope.

[gliderpilot]

:icon_eek:YM: I'll take a picture of lathe when I collect it next weekend, wahoo. From memory it must be about 6" dia and 18" centre to centre but I don't have the spec to hand. I think I'll need a 2nd mortgage for the tools though.

Peter: As for making a binoscope I dropped a pair of 15x70 binos and knocked the collimation and snapped off one of the eyepieces. I was planning on reusing the parts but with right angled eyepieces or perhaps a coude type where the eps remain in the same position but the objectives move.

I'd love to read about your binoscopes, would it be possible to have any details or photos?

Mark

[Peter Drew]

Hello Mark. You may have back focus issues with your 70mm project. My current binoscopes are a 60mm made from a couple of Celestron Firstscopes, a 102mm from a pair of F5 Startravels, a 150mm from a pair of F8 Skywatchers and a 300mm reflecting unit based on F3.5 Newtonian optics. I have made dozens of binoscopes including 8" refracting over the years and somehow you just can't beat the visual experience. Cost, as ever, is usually the limiting factor and it gets to the point when it might be more effective to use a single scope with a binoviewer.

[Bizibilder]

Don't rush out and spend a fortune - you can get away with buying very little! When you know what the lathe is let us know as I am sure that we can advise (I do have a lathe and I am sure other forum members must have also)

[Tim]

Sorry to hijack the thread a little, but with all these lathe owners likely to be reading this it is too good an opportunity to miss.

At some point in the future I will be requiring a couple of fittings in aluminium for a scope modification project. I'd love to hear from somebody with the ability and time to machine them for me. If you could help, please drop me a PM. Thanks in advance.

Good luck with the bino project Mark!

TJ

[Wobbly Bob]

Mark, you can aquire tooling from car boot sales, even the odd chuck and face plate turn up now and then. As BIZBUILDER has said, it wil be interesting to see what lathe it is.

TJ although I have two lathes, one is HUGE and not very accurate, the other is a very small model engineers lathe. Sounds like you need someone with a Myford type machine.

Bob.

[beamer3.6m]

What does a lathe do?

Stupid question or what.

[Peter Drew]

Not a silly question at all!. A lathe is an engineering machine used mainly for producing circular components, the operation is known as "turning" and the operator is a "turner". The machine usually has a long narrow flat area known as a "bed" At one end of the bed is a geared, motor driven assembly known as the "headstock".To the headstock is fitted a device with three or four jaws to grip the material to be machined, this is a "chuck". Fitted to the bed is a "tool post" that carries the various tools necessary for the machining operations. The tool post can be moved on a X-Y axis to accommodate different diameters and lengths. At the opposite end of the bed is a "tailstock", this holds other tools such as a drill chuck or a centering device for supporting lengthy components. Second to the telescope, it's the best thing ever invented. Maybe on of the clever SGL members will be able to post a picture of one. If anyone is interested, mine is a 4.5" Boxford model "C" with 22" centres.

[gliderpilot]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I'll keep my eyes peeled for cheap tools and fittings.

Peter those binoscopes sound great. I used Rother Valley's 150mm JMI binos at kielder and the views of orion nebula region and Pleiades were simply draw dropping. I can understand why you would make these more demanding instruments - the views outweigh the effort and cost.

Do you have anyphotos you can post of your bino scopes?

Ta, Mark

[philj]

Congrats on the aquisition you will enjoy that.

I have a small Clarke bench lathe, (thinking of upgrading to something a bit bigger now) and make all sorts of bits for scopes and other stuff. I also invested in a Cobra Mini Milling machine for the price of a posh eyepiece, it was well worth the investment, now I can make mounting hardware and dovetails.

philj

[glowjet]

Mark,

If you happen to have a friend or relatives near to the City of York you could stay with over night, there is an Auto Jumble held at the small village of Rufforth on the first Saturday in every month its a Mecca for lathe owners and engineers for everything secondhand and new, it`s been going for years.

John.

[Peter Drew]

Thanks Mark. I will try and get some photos posted. I had a short session with the same JMI's at Kelling a few years back and was impressed with the optical quality but the several motors necessary for collimation etc raised concerns for the future. At the time of use a "push-to" GOTO was fitted which was a nice touch.

[Jeff Marsden]

To help Peter out...

My own 6" F/4 (3.8?) Hinds mirrored Newtonian Binoculars made by Peter quite some years ago with a pair of 19mm Panoptics. Just over 2 degree field of view with a power of x32. They are not really a star party item in that collimation / eyepiece separation are different for most people. When I have taken them to the Astronomy Centre and collimated them to perfection, , Peter has turned up and re-collimated them because he says they are out of whack. I say Peter has wonky eyes .

The Moon through them at such a power is very nice, as are the usual DSO suspects. I have tried a couple of 2x barlows in them on the Moon plus the 19 mm Panoptics and I have felt a 'looking down' both sides of a mountain chain 3d effect. Subtle but something extra over a mono view.

They have their little foibles and limitations but I am not selling; one more toy for the job in hand.

[Peter Drew]

Thanks Jeff!

[gliderpilot]

John: I am in Salisbury so it's a fair way to Rufforth. I flew over Rufforth when visiting Sutton Bank a few years ago. If I remember correctly, York astro soc have their observatory at Rufforth gliding club's airfield. That would be my heaven - both hobbies in the same place.

Jeff awesome photos and wonderful bit of kit. Well done Peter.

Regards

mark

[johnbaz]

Hi

Here's my old faircut lathe, it's very old and runs on flat leather belting and cone pulleys.

there is a little wear in the dovetail bed but then it is older than my grandma:eek:

From the front (sorry for the poor pics)

Haven't used it for anything in ages:(

Regards, john:)

[George]

Ohhhhh that's a proper boys toy, I always wanted a lathe but sadly I have nowhere to put one now. My garage was demolished sometime ago to make room for an extension to the house......maybe when the kids have left home I can sneak one upstairs into one of the vacated bedrooms

[Peter Drew]

Where's all the swarf ?

[gliderpilot]

Hurrah, my lathe has arrived but it is in bits. Pictures are here http://stargazerslounge.com/diy-astronomer/93657-its-here.html

[johnbaz]

Crikey!!!- that's a 'proper' un:cool:

It looks to be a much larger capacity than mine!!

Enjoy using it:hello2:

John:)