philj

Watched the first one last night and it was quite informative. I do however question why so many shots of him standing astride a remote mountain peak being imaged from a drone, it gets a bit samey I feel and is distracting. They must have large budgets on the OU.

Just another example of sensationalised headlines to get views. Problem is some dont read past the headlines then we get daft posts on FB

The giro ii will handle that scope with ease, Ive had a c11 on mine once just for laughs and Ive put my 5" meade frac on it many times. The cg5 tripod is sturdy as well, so you shouldnt have any worries

I think they must have hired the Top Gear production team for that promo video ?  bit ott for a scope/lens methinks. Barring the video, sounds a promising developrment, certainly cheaper than a high end telephoto

Fascinating stuff Klitwo the box IPD arrangement is something Im mulling over at the moment.

Ah right, its the colour scheme that fooled me, now I look closer I recognise the SW Cells

That looks a useful piece of kit Peter.

I see theres a Vixen binoscope in the background as well.

Are your OTAs staggered, (one further forward than the other) or is it the angle in the photograph

On 01/12/2018 at 17:16, Peter Drew said:

Progressing nicely, if it was easy to do, everyone would do it! No reason why your binoscope should perform differently to mine as they both have the same optics, I've been very pleased with mine and have just knocked up a parallelogram mount for it.   ?

Thanks Peter

Its not difficult in principal but its fun in practice.

Making one telescope is a cinch but trying to get 2 scopes to optically match can make you scratch your head a few times.

My first problem was the IPD prisms didnt match, traced to my not taking enough off a coupling step ring on one of them resulting in one prism not seating correctly which threw the collimation out. Getting firm and concentric clamping on the prisms, diagonals and eyepieces is fun. I am using 2-1.25" Self centreing adapters in the focusers to reduce the movement and seriously thinking about making something on similar lines for the diagonals and eyepiece clamps now, this may be slightly beyond my current lathe skills though ?

Managed about 30 minutes in between clouds to try out the bins under darkish skies before the weather moved in again.

The aim of this exercise was to see what DSOs looked like in the bins and also to get used to the handling and collimation.

Collimation

Even though I collimated the tubes I found the two FOV circles were off  resulting in the object to be viewed being in different parts of each scope FOV, this was not right and I traced it down to the mirror diagonal clamps on each prism. Thus tube collimation wasnt shifting which was good but the movement in the clamps meant the eyepiece angles were not the same and this was throwing things out. This was evident in that I could collimate to get good binocular vision at 75x but when wound down to 24x it would be out again. The other week it wasnt doing this, I could collimate at 75x and collimation would stay on whatever mags I used, so I know it can do it.

OK so thats the next area to concentrate on ironing out and beefing up.

Handling,

 with the pan and tilt handle, handling was OK but it felt a little odd at first because the bins are offset from the mount, this was no problem with alt and az locks off but if I put a bit of friction on them it felt odd. I think this is just a matter of getting used to it.

I fitted a RA finder to help with finding stuff at the zenith but I had the tripod set a bit too high initially so using the finder was a bit fiddly. I lowered the tripod slightly and rotated the finder to a different position and things were a bit more comfortable.

Performance.

Collimated on Mars at 75x and this was a nice view. Mars was small but a definite gibbous shape could be seen and the background stars were good. No detail as at 75x it was a bit small plus the atmospherics were turbulent to say the least. I was glad I was in the lee of the house.

M45 at 24x. Yep, lovely colour, depth and really bright. The Vixen zooms are not the widest FOV around, I havent built this scope for wide FOV but the cluster fitted just nicely in view. The brighter stars seemed to stand forward of the fainter ones giving a 3d effect.

M31. This surprised me because normally this is just an elongated blob in an 80mm in these skies but I was really surprised at it being brighter than expected with 32 and 110 standing out nicely. In the  fuzzy elongated shape of 31 was a clearly identified darker area corresponding to the darker dust lanes, no detail just the indication that this was a dark patch.

Double cluster. Found it easily with the finder then had a look through the vixens and was underwhelmed, then looked  up to see a blanket of cloud, I was trying to look through quite a thick layer. I waited for it to disperse then had another look..... Woah!!!! Talk about 3d.

Because the clusters were at the zenith I set a small stool alongside the scope and the eyepieces were at a perfect height for me to just sit and drink the view in. The colours for a start, yellows and the odd hint of orange. Next, just like with M45 the brighter stars stood right out, I just sat there for 10 minutes drinking the view in until it disappeared behind thick cloud. I looked up to see not a single star visible in the sky, game over due to complete cloud cover.

OK it was only a short test but I was buzzing, this scope, despite the few snags that still need ironing out is starting to perform. I am really looking forward to testing this properly now. When I have ironed out the reliability side and get a good nights observing I will post a proper first light on the full set up section of the forum.

Oh just forgot to mention, the views are far brighter than a single ED80 with binoviewer. I know its an obvious point but when committing to a project like this there is always a little niggle in the back of the mind.

Sounds promising, collimation will need to be bang on at 200x. Im seeing why quick no tools collimation is preferrable on these

I managed a very brief and rushed 1st light on the bins last night. The moon was high and almost full, the sky was misty thus all but the brightest stars were washed out, not the best conditions for testing. Got home from an early Christmas meal with some business friends and chucked everything outside quickly to have a look at the moon, I was dog tired so this was going to be quick.

After a quick collimation on the moon I managed to get binocular vision at 24mm (24x) on the vixens and hey, the moon was really 3d. Set off even more by a background star just off the limb.

I upped the mag to 8mm on the vixens (75x) and collimation shifted, (must sort the clamps out) Recollimated in seconds and was rewarded with an even nicer 3d effect particulary on the craters on the terminator. The moon looked like a globe instead of a disc.

Keeping at 75x I shifted to Albireo then Polaris, ( doubles are the main target I will be using this on). Even more 3d effect, particularly on Polaris, fascinating.

I tried for a couple of dsos but they were wsshed out by the moon and conditions.

A very brief test on astro targets but enough to show it works and Im on the right track.

Now for some tweaking.

36 minutes ago, Stu said:

Thanks very much Phil. Sorry, one more question. Do you use prisms tomorrow the light path as short as possible?

Yep, prisms for shorter lightpath

16 minutes ago, Alfian said:

Great stuff Phil, thats a magnificent achievement. Takes some courage and committment, let alone the financial outlay of two of everything, to embark on such a project. Respect. 

I already had 1 ed80, vixen zoom , 2 prisms and 2 mirror diagonals so it was just about obtaining a second scope and ep plus 2 more prisms. The nerve wracking bit is actually cutting 60mm of 2 perfectly good scopes. Ive cut lots of tubes down in my time but it always makes me nervous.

I used Peters idea of 2 prism diagonals in rhomboid configuration Stu, as the InterPupillary Distance  prisms then a bog standard mirror diagonal on the end, it gives correct orientation.

The prisms are araldited together. They are the Celestron 1.25" ones but the mirror diagonals are just generic but I may treat myself to a decent pair if it looks good.

Cheers mate. Its been a long time coming but Ive got there. Its workable as it is but just needs a bit of refinement now. I may even take it to the nature reserve and give it a go spotting birdies

Inspired by Peter Drews post on his ED80 bins I picked his brain (thanks Peter) at Kelling and had a go myself.

Ive had observational bins in the past and never really was a fan of the mags available plus if I wanted decent glass I would have to pay quite alot, so when I saw Peters thread I thought I would have a go.

So 2 SW ED80s dual speed later and some ali plate, bar, screws and broken hacksaw blades, blunted lathe and milling tools later I present my Mk1 version mounted on my Berlebach and Giro11.

Just sorted collimation today and its all working. Ive got a few bits of tidying up to do like beef up the prism and eyepiece clamping arrangement, make OTA 1 collimation tool less (needs allen keys at the moment), sort a pan and tilt handle and a carry handle out.

Its fitted with 2 off 8-24mm Vixen LV zoom eyepieces and these are working nicely having tried the rig out on some apple trees about 80 yards away. Collimation wanders a little when zooming due to some play in the eyepiece and prism clamp arrangements but thats next on my agenda to fix.

Not had chance for first light on astro yet but on terrestrial it performs nicely.

That looks interesting. Shame about the cell being non adjustable but thats me being old fashioned? Agreed it doesnt look as big as one would expect. Looking forward to your review John.

A metal Dew Shield again. Great for quality but it reminds me of trying to balance the old F8 with lead at the focuser end. I eventually made my own plastic shield which helped. I spose if the cell is non collimateable and it looks a lot shorter than the old F8 cell that will be a good weight saving.

Hi Dave

Kudos for wanting to own a British refractor. I have restored, owned and covetted many. My advice with the Irving is to take a look at in the flesh. I understand Wildey optics were used for some Irvings, just like Fullerscopes and several other makers but the only way you can be sure is to take out the objective and see if it is signed. Ive had 2 Wildey refractors and both were signed on the edge of the objective in pencil. Dont discount Broadhurst Ckarkson refractors, I have had a few of these of different vintage, some better than others but my old 1910ish 3" Starboy had excellent optics and when fitted with modern eyepieces performed superbly. Some Wray scopes are good, i had a 3.25" from 1890 once and its objective was a thing of beauty.

As for modern scopes, Lyra, Skylight, Antares

Well done on the Vixen Btw, A flocked, baffled and correctly adjusted Towa will give the Vixen a run for its money. I still have my updated 339 and it never fails to impresss

Wow

Coma is different to ghosting Louis, coma is a streak from the image ghosting is just that a ghost of the image. The more misalignment the further away it will be from the main image.

On ‎09‎/‎09‎/‎2016 at 22:43, steviebee said:

Hi Michael, I have checked the diagonal and that seems ok. I also have a Moon filter fitted. I am wondering if I may have not seated the lens right when I cleaned them, but I am sure it was alright after. It just seems to be the last couple of weeks. I do live in a very light polluted area, perhaps this could be the problem! As you can probably gather I'm a total newbie to this. My SW 200p on the other hand is great, but that is only used in France.

 

Regards.

 

Steve.

 

Hi Steve

Ghost image is typical of tilted objective elements/incorrect spacing. If as you say above you cleaned the lens which are you referring to.

When I 1st got my 4" F15 I knew it could perform but on bright objects there was a ghost of the object in view. I had a look at the objective collimation, all was well, then I took a closer look and someone in the past had stripped the objective and replaced one of the foil spacers with a bit of cigarette packet foil which was far thinner than the other 2. I replaced all 3 with correct thickness and voila no ghost image.

Check your spacers are in place at 120 degrees and also that the objective elements are seated correctly before buying anymore kit

Actually I just found this, the only record. This was when I was making the east end pulley system. The weights aren't fixed properly yet. The end result had the rope vertical in the corner with 3 weights on it fixed to a spindle. The same was done on the other side. I had guides for the rope to ensure it didn't drop out of the pulley.

This shows the north leaf closed and the south open, I was setting up the pulley heights I think. The end result worked quite well but a roll off is much easier and safer.

I agree Gina, that's why my obs is now roll off. But when I built my obs the space for the roll off wasn't there, that took a few years of negotiations and a new greenhouse for wifey

Also beware of high winds when opening and closing something like this. I remember a couple of very scarey occasions when I thought I and the obs were going to end up blown away.

The counterweight system was a thing to behold I was quite proud of it but never thought to take any images of it .

Basically I had pulleys on the apex on the east end and another pulley at the top corners of the east wall. A CW rope ran from the east top of each roof leaf, over the apex pulley and corner pulley, the counterweight was below the corner pulley. The weights didn't take over till the leaf was past the vertical. So all you needed was a stick to push the leaf up to vertical then the weight would take over and you could lower the leaf to fully open safely. I fitted safety ropes at the other end just in case of CW failure to stop the leaf dropping. A necessity on the north leaf as this would have crushed wifeys greenhouse.

As you are intending lifting the roof in one this would require some large weights.

On ‎16‎/‎07‎/‎2016 at 10:49, Adaaam75 said:

Phil that one picture has resolved a issue I've been tackling for a while now! I see how you compensated for the roof folding back on itself on the hinges and still been able to protect it from the weather. I have included a picture of the edge of my roof against the wall of the shed to show the conversion needed but your photo has given me an idea of having the roof extend 6 inches over the edge to protect the exposed joints and gaps. Is the gap between the two lengths of wood created by the hinges an issue or did you sink them into the wood to create a seal?

A friend suggested a weather proof length of rubber between the two lengths to compensate for the gap created by the hinges. I will have the rubber anyway from protecting the split in the roof. How did you ensure the join at the top in the pitched roof remain water tight?

My plan is to remove the facia length of wood, remove the entire roof, cut it for the split, reinforce it once cut and then fix back onto the top of the reinforced walls with the hinges.

I rebated the hinges as you would with a door this reduced the gap but on the inside I just but draft excluder to seal it when closed.

I don't have a shot of the top but I got a piece of garden shed guttering, turned it upside down and fixed it to the north flap with an overhang so when the roof was closed it lay over the south side and acted as a rain seal. Draft excluder strip acted as a gap filler/spider excluder at the apex. This did mean that the north roof had to be opened first but that was no bother.

Yep the step needs to be there to clear the roof overhang on the wall. Just be aware that the roof felt weighs a lot and if your intending hinging the roof then it will need a lot of counterweighting. I got round that with the lightweight GRP panels.

On ‎13‎/‎07‎/‎2016 at 09:13, Adaaam75 said:

Two questions Philj....Could you tell me exactly what hinges you used as a start point for my researxh please. Also, how did you protect the roof edges where the hinges are exposed to the weather?

3 big stailnless steel door hinges both sides. The roof leaves were made lightweight with the FG cladding to keep the counterweight size down but the 3 hinges were right for the job.

As you can see from the close up below the hinges were off set from the wall by a bit of 2x2. This gave a good overlap plus the overlap of the cladding did OK. I also ran some draught excluder seal down the join to stop any rain or spider ingress