johninderby

Bits & pieces. Baader T2 prism body (I allready had the nosepiece and focusing eyepiece holder) USB cable amd cigarette plug USB adapter to power the Quark. Bolts for the Skymax 180 rings and dovetail so that everything now fits properly

To avoid possible birthday disappointment you NEED to properly test it out before hand. 😁

I rather like this one. A great conbination. 👍🏻

True only four bolts needed but I had a box full of the right bolts so filled up the empty holes. 😀 And it is never ever going to go anywhere.

Time for a Losmandy dovetail plate. I had fitted a Primaluce dovetail saddle to the mount so time to finish the job and fit a Losmandy plate. Ordered the OO radius blocks to suit the rings. Bit of carefull measuring and drilled the mounting holes and countersunk the holes on the inside of the rings. Then simply bolted the radius blocks on. Had to drill new mounting holes for the carry handle as the rings are now 15mm further apart and the handle needed moving round the rings a bit as well. Would have used a Primaluce Losmandy plate to match the saddle but the mounting holes in the plate are 55mm apart not the standard 60mm as used on the radius blocks. Ordered some low headed cap head bolts for bolting the plate onto the blocks as the standard bolts stick out slightly on the bottom of the plate.

Altair Losmandy dovetail bar for the Skymax 180.

After removing the ring poke a small hex key or something similar through the front hole and give the disc a tap. One tap and mine simply fell out.

No longer available under the Svbony brand with the ball head but still available under a different brand. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/High-Gravity-Solar-Finder-Used-For-Sun-Positioning-Total-Solarscope-Eclipse-Partial-Eclipse-Observation-TelescopeW2563AB/32815681374.html Its identical to this ball head from Amazon though and quite cheap. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0189228CS?tag=stargloung-21

Prices keep changing on eBay. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/362366838367?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ul_ref=https%3A%2F%2Frover.ebay.com%2Frover%2F1%2F710-53481-19255-0%2F1%3Ftype%3D4%26campId%3D5337682713%26toolId%3D10001%26customId%3Djvwgfh02tw013trd00003%26mpre%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.ebay.co.uk%252Fitm%252FSVBONY-Solar-Finder-Scope-Fully-Metal-For-Sun-Positioning-Solar-Eclipse-Observe%252F362366838367%253FssPageName%253DSTRK%25253AMEBIDX%25253AIT%2526_trksid%253Dp2057872.m2749.l2649%26srcrot%3D710-53481-19255-0%26rvr_id%3D1978021818040%26rvr_ts%3Dd59b46f916a0a16d6e229ea2ffb8ef20&ul_noapp=true

It uses an optional mini ball head for adjustment. Incredibly easy to adjust.

All ready for your small ball head. 😀

Hi Don’t think there is an O ring at the back but haven't taken the back off. There is a metal back and the SCT port is metal as well. There is a plastic dust cover over the back. There are three small openings in the back cover with rubber dust plugs and the colimation screws are underneath. Looks like a colimation screw and next to it a colimation locking screw bit like a newt. Collimation was spot on so haven’t touched anything.

While drilling the mounting holes for the carry handle discovered that the inside of the tube isn’t just painted but has micro baffles the full length of the inside surface of the tube. Also on the inside of the baffle tube. Was going to flock it but no need. Just waiting for some button head screws so the handle can be bolted on.

Another irelevant and useless fact. 😁 When kids in America were asked to draw the sun they coloured it yellow but in Japan they coloured it red.

Yellow filters help with contrast. Not as good as a green continuum filter but not bad and do give a more acceptable colour.for many observers.

Well ?????? Edit: Now corrected I see.

OO radius blocks to fit the OO tube rings on my Skymax 180. Now I can fit a Losmandy dovetail which should be arriving in the next day or two. 🙂

Tested the 180 with a number of eyepieces and found the 7mm worked really well for lunar.

I quite like these. 😁

Yes it has a standard SCT thread. Could stick a 2” SCT diagonal on it if I wanted to.

Clouds cleared off for a while and was able to try the Nirvana on the moon using the 127 mak. Did a head to head comparison between the 7mm Nirvana and the 7mm XCel-LX. First thing I noticed was that the Nirvana was so much brighter and was much easier to look through. At first I didn’t think the Nirvana was showing more detail, but that was due to the brightness. When I spent time looking realised I could see a bit finer detail. Found I could pull back from the eyepiece a bit which made viewing more comfortable but when I wanted to look around just move in a bit.The image was whiter and the coatings seemed to give better light transmission. So overall very pleased with the new eyepiece. A bit sharper and brighter and more comfortable to look through and of course the wider FOV. Tried a barlow element on the Nirvana which made it into a 4.6mm. Quite usable although not as bright.

I looked at the Pentax XW but it was more than I wanted to spend. But as it’s for a mak the Nirvana will do for now.

Was reading some threads on CN and they gave the thumbs up for the ES 82 eyepieces in the 180 and the 127 maks so the Nirvana should work out OK. With the 7mm Nirvana available at 75 quid worth a try. Cloud improving a bit. Now just high thin cloud. 😕

The LX is a good eyepicec but want a wider fov. From what I’ve read the Nirvana is a little bit better so not giving up anything for the wider fov. Was looking forward to trying this out tonight but the flippin cloud has moved in.🤬

At least this camera connects to the tablet and works OK. 🙂 Quick test using a street light to play around with the settings. Please be as clear as last night for a bit of lunar imaging. 🤞🏻