johninderby

California businesses are now required to warm of potential health hazrads of goods sold. In this case I’d imagine it’s down to the paint used on the weight so don’t put the weight in your mouth and chew on it or something.. ?

9 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

Oooh! I was going to make an adapter to mount my star Adventurer on my eq3 tripod but maybe that one will do the trick and, it looks smashing. Where did you get it? was it expensive?.

Not that cheap really but it is beautifully made. Got it from RotherValleyOptics.

https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/search/for/Geoptik+adapter/page/1/

Skywatcher EQ6 tripod with 2” legs and a Geoptik HEQ5 Tripod Adaptor.

While I love my Berlebach wooden tripod didn’t want to have to keep swapping the Skytee II and AZ-EQ5 GT mounts so decided to get a reasonably sturdy tripod for the Skytee. With the Geoptik adapter will be able to use it for anything from an EQ5 to an EQ6 in the future if I want. ?

Also will tuck away in the corner of the conservatory behind the door. ?

I do like the White Cat although the Red Cat loooks very nice as well.

Now if they come out with a Tabby Cat I will be impressed. ?

It did require cutting a larger hole for the focuser so lots of small holes drilled to cut out the new hole. Not difficult just takes a bit  of time. Mounting plate was from Telescope Express.

I also replaced the mirrors with Orion Optics 1/10 pv ones and fitted one of their mirror cells as well. 

Should be fine. I used to use a 6” f8 on a Skytee II and pillar.

Little 6x30 RA errect image finder with a black bracket for the 80mm grab’n’go frac. ?

Now for a bit of looking at chimney pots and aerials. ?

A simple to use synthesizer supposedly. Simple compared to brain surgery I suppose. ?

First impressions are it feels really solid and having the clamping part split in two means it should really clamp down well. Although just using vixen type dovetails at the moment I want to be able to upgrade to the Losmandy type later on.  

A Primaluce dovetail would look nice with Big Red. ?

1 minute ago, Saganite said:

I must say the PrimaLuce stuff does look good.

And nice big knobs you can really get hold of. ?

Nice new PrimaLuceLab dovetail saddle for the AZ-EQ5 GT mount. ?

Do you think there’s enough bolts to hold it on?  ?

TS-Optics AZ5 Alt-Az Mount

I had sold my Skytee II mount to help fund a new GOTO mount and as much as I like the new mount do miss the simplicity of the old Skytee II for quick views.

Hard to get hold of just the Skytee II head only at the moment so decided to order the Telescope Express version. Comes without saddles but no problem as I would have replaced the Skytee ones anyway. Looks the same as the Skytee but however doesn’t feel the same at all. Stuck the Skymax 180 on it and was surprised to find there was zero backlash. ? Feels tight and well sorted. ? 

Fitted a spare ADM saddle and also fitted a Manfrotto QR baseplate to the upper mounting point. I use my 80mm frac on a photo tripod with a Manfrotto geared head so having a common fitting will be usefull. Just need to get hold of a couple of countersunk M5 screws though before it can be used.

First impressions are while it is a Skytee they seem to have applied a bit of quality control and properly sorted it before shipping.  ?

Although not used for serious work there is the 1.8m Leviathan of Parsonstown, or Rosse telescope. Recently restored although with an aluminium mirror rather than the original speculum metal. 

https://blogs.royalsociety.org/history-of-science/2016/10/03/leviathan/

I used to leave my CF version for an hour to cool down. I had discussions with others with this scope and found I wasn’t alone in experiencing this “problem” When conditions were right it was a great performer but some nights just didn’t perform.  I just put it down to being a very sensitive scope that didn’t like poor seeing. Had a couple of the Skywatcher Maks and never experienced this. 

I had the CF tube version with the best grade of optics and did have mixed experiences with it. While opticaly excellent found it was very fussy about seeing. When seeing was good it was a great little performer but in times of ordinary seeing found it gave somewhat disappointing views. 

I eventualy sold it on because of this. 

Do you mean it used to be a LED panel. Clueless shippers.  ?

Remonds  me of a set of drinking glasses received in the mail recently. Just in the thin cutaway cardboard display pack and simply put in a plastic carrier bag with  no packing at all. Amazingly arrived in perfect condition. ?

I’m just waiting to see if any Xmas visitors are taken in by the “Tartan Paint”   ?

Re: kilts. The cold winter wind blowing through my hair is enogh for me let alone blowing around other parts. ?

Just a thought. Has anyone ever done a dob in tartan?  

A tin of Tartan paint. ?

Bought as a joke Xmas gift but I’m keeping it for myself. ?

Would recommend buying this as well.  ?

It might surprise ypu ro know that UK and US taxes are pretty much the same for higher earners although lpwer in the UK for lower earners. Then of course there is the cost of buying health insurance in the US. ?

Just now, FLO said:

That was good advice ? 

Steve 

Yes it was. Not a single damage claim in twenty years. ?

1 minute ago, Demonperformer said:

Also, there are people in the UK who do not actually own a car!

Particularily those that live in London.  ?

Automated sorting equipment used by the bigger couriers is one of the major causes of damage. The packages get fired from point to point and slammed arpund a lot. Some couriers do offer an extra care option with everything being sorted by hand. Of course the low wages paid to drivers does mean a lot don’t care how they handle stuff.

Ran a mail prder business for many years and the advice I was given was to assume the package will be given to a gorrila who will jump up and down on it, slam it against the walls and then play football with it.  ?  

Louis D  -  Fuel is so dirt cheap in the US that long drives aren’t that expensive. However in the UK fuel is eye wateringly expensive and becomes a real factor. Also takes twicw as long to drive an equivelent distance as in the US.

A Rigel Quikfinder perhaps. Has a stick on base so no drilling or other messing about with the scope.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/finders/rigel-quikfinder-compact-reflex-sight.html

43 minutes ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

Today I got a letter from a government department. The letter was sealed in a plastic package with a sticker saying it was damaged in transit. Just enough of it survived that I was able to see where it was from. 

It looked like a very grumpy dog got its mouth on it. Most of it wasn't even in the package. 

Let’s see the pics then.  ?