faulksy

2 hours ago, Piero said:

@faulksy 

Nice work, Mike!

Are you going to mount the wheelbarrow handles to those two holes on the horizontal bar? If this is the plan, I would consider a mechanism to lock the mirror box to the rocker box, to prevent the former from sliding frontally as the inclination changes when the telescope is moved around. 

@Piero yes the handles will mount to those holes. i didnt lock the mirror box before so it should be the same. scope is loads better now though and a bit lighter with it being made of aluminum 👍

A few mods to the dob. Rocker box due to it now being lighter and 15mm lower 

oxford products sell them. that should be right up your street 🤣

when i had a small 14" dob i used to use a silver reflective bicycle cover from halfords. it was brilliant. they still sell them.

motorcycle covers are ace as well

for a dedicated one. the widescreen centre sell them

On 19/11/2021 at 21:31, F15Rules said:

I think it's very refreshing to read of someone who is settled on, and comfortable with, just 3 or 4 eyepieces.

When I think about it, I probably use about 3 of mine (of a modest total of 6) for probably 2/3 of my observing.

I've gone through dozens and dozens of eps in my time, and have probably wasted so much potential quality observing time over the years, just searching for that "Holy Grail" set to cover all eventualities..but not any more.

I have a couple of great scopes, not bad observing conditions with Bortle 4 skies, and slowly deteriorating aging eyes.

Life is too short for me to waste any more of it chasing eyepiece  Nirvana..I'm now just trying to make more of what I do have, than fretting about what I don't!

I salute you and your choice, Bobby👍

Dave

i am happy with just 4 eps

i used to have at the same time : 31 nag, 22mm t4 16mm nervana 14mm delos 10mm delos 6mm delos and a full set of bgo,s

traded them all in and got the 3 amigos. 21,13,8mm ethoses and 5mm pentax. seriously these cover everything and makes life so much easier 😁

https://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=180782

On 19/11/2021 at 21:45, Stephenstargazer said:

Arrived by stork this morning, a baby Tak. And the predicted clouds were in the box..............

Will be fighting for travel spot with Questar, but wins on widefield by miles. Also comes to focus with Q 1.6X as an F/9.4 which will be a bit handy as no screwing and unscrewing required. Seems to sit well on AP mount but can travel with something smaller too. Likely to try it on empty side of AZ100 too. So much to try, so little clear sky to play with!

bet your not sure which end to look through 🤣

hi and welcome to sgl. from north wales 🤣

3 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

Scope, finder and finder shoes 

very nice michael

that is brilliant tim. i have one of those phones as well. will give it a try

On 16/10/2021 at 17:14, Mark at Beaufort said:

I always use a hood when solar observing. As @mikeDnightstated above it's a great accessory for viewing faint DSOs. I bought mine from R-Sky a company in Russia. Many members on SGL did the same.

 

 

 

me to mark. here is the link

https://r-sky.org/en/products/observing-hood

22 hours ago, wookie1965 said:

It amazes me the build quality of yours and other members woodworking me I cannot even saw straight. 

When I built my shed I measured and measured again before cutting angles ready for the roof none of the them are the same my son had to use off cuts to get the roof sloping right. 😁

Paul 

 

your a star mate, just the same

11 hours ago, Stu said:

Perhaps @faulksy can give some input here, about the impact of image scale on small object visibility eg galaxies, PNs etc.

all i can say stu is. go big or go home 🤣

2 hours ago, niallk said:

Fair play - nice job.  I'd welcome them on my Obsession, but I'm too much of a wuss to attempt drilling 😂

i was shaking niallk when i did it 😆

wait untill you see the next bit in a week or so

19 minutes ago, Stu said:

Will you run them continuously or just for a while before observing?

2 hours ago, jetstream said:

Looks fantastic Mike and I still love that mirror cell!

thank you gerry

19 minutes ago, Stu said:

Will you run them continuously or just for a while before observing?

always stu. but will try them first to see if they work

hopefully stu i can test them next weekend if its clear. bit scary drilling them though 😆

Fans fitted and tested 

53 minutes ago, fwm891 said:

@faulksy Mike, yes I am. Reason being I’m having a rear light shield covering 180 degrees made from a waterproof tent material (black) very light weight and opaque. From UK Fabrics, and cheap too!

That will clip on the cage and extend well above and below it.

I may order the same for a shroud if the shield works and doesn’t absorb moisture too much.

Francis

 

that could be good. might be interested in a shroud

thanks Francis 😀

are you leaving your u.t.a.open ?

On 14/09/2021 at 22:16, fwm891 said:

Sort of second first light!

Clear Outside predicted a few hours of 8% cloud cover tonight. Having now got a working rocker box and a temp ground board it was out on the patio for a quick look at the moon low to the south, very yellow but the terminator detail was superb. I used a 24m ES 68° (x83) to view the whole disk and then slotted in an unknown 9mm (x221) and just eased the scope up and down the terminator. Very crisp even with the moon so low down.

Vega was almost overhead in a bright sky but it was dazling, steady blue/white to my eyes. Then Alberio and the colour between the pair was amazing in and out of focus. As the sky began to darken it was back to Lyra to take a look at M57, I've not seen M57 visually for a very long time and it was better than I remember. Lots of detail in the ring (ES 82° 14mm x142) tried with the 9mm but not as good.

I tried searching for M27 but cloud had come in and ended the session completely. Hung around for half an hour but cloud just thickend so all packed away again now.

Really chuffed with everything whilst it was clear. I was also pleased that having been playing with the set-up in the conservatory when I dismantled and moved everything outside, re asembled and collimation was almost spot on. The red laser was just outside the centre ring marker on the primary and just needed a small twist to one adjuster on the secondary to bring it into line. The primary was fine with the laser returned to its source.

I've found I made an up-cock when calculating the balance point as I need to add some weight to the rear of the mirror box to balance out heavier eyepieces at low altitude.

lovely first light report Francis.

you said you had to add some weight, remember it will need a bit more when you add a shroud, especially if its damp as the shroud will absorb moisture

lovely read though and made up for you

mike

just about to fit some boundry layer fans. got the new fans and when i made my dew controller i already fitted a port so that i had speed control

the question is, were should the fans be fitted ?

i have marked the centre of the fan to be just above the top edge of the mirror. does anyone know any thing different?

thanks

m51 looks as good as i seen it 2 weeks ago in brecon. it is in all the merk. m31 is nice

On 17/09/2021 at 07:53, Pitch Black Skies said:

< UPDATE >

I've fixed it!

Decided to try re-solder the wires back myself. It's a poor job, but as they're now enclosed in the case they shouldn't move. I might ask the tech to re-do it with a connector block, but at the moment I'm thinking I might just leave well enough alone.

On the DEC Axis Motor, I noticed that the encoder wheel was missing it's grub screw, it must have been slipping when the motor was turning. I also re-positioned the encoder wheel on the RA Axis motor so as that it is more central between the sensor and Infrared LED.

I assembled everything back together, extremely carefully.. Started it up, went through the menus and this time instead of the telescope slewing at full speed all over the place, it just started gently tracking at the sidereal rate. It was like music to my ears, such a delight.

Thanks so much to all that contributed.

Alan

Encoder wheel grub screw (M2)

 

that is brilliant Alan

9 hours ago, cwis said:

That's really not bad! I'm looking at building mounts for mine with bearings to minimise the errors and then calibrate them them in situ to get the accuracy I need.  I'm up for saving a load of pain - do you have a link? Are they optical or magnetic? Absolute or relative?

I keep looking at the Nexus you recommended - very tempting and I'd have something that worked straight away.... But I'll keep battling on for a bit - I'm having "fun".

it is all about the fun. they are so so accurate. at the beginning of the night you align then 6 hrs later the object is still perfect

https://www.astrodevices.com/shop/index.php?catalog/all/-/name/3

just a thought. i bought a few months ago 2 off 40,000 steps per revolution encoders for £100

this is brilliant topic. love the opinions. and as you said @Piero lifting the dobs dress makes a amazing difference