laser_jock99

It's gone to a better place......

doesnt look much in the pic but had to cut over this massive lump of granite. wasnt going to bother try and get it out, next door found one right where they were digging out foundations for their conservatory, it was one and a half ton so i though stuff that and just went over it, its only a garden wall after all.

Following some earlier work on my 12" scope to make it hold collimation better I have applied similar mods to the smaller scope.

To increase the Z axis (up & down the tube) stabillty and to move the mirror up the tube 10mm I used some longer, stronger springs.

New long spring beside the old spring.

Instead of just three springs this mod calls for six of them. The useless 'mirror locking' bolts are thrown away so now there are three active & three passive springs.

To stop the mirror cell shifting in the X-Y axis on the loose fitting collimation screws I used a cone engagement method again.

I fashioned some longer M6 adjuster screws.

M6 tamperproof Sheer Nut

New adjuster screw with conical part of M6 sheer nut beside the old adjuster screw.

The mirror cell holes need a light counter sink so the cone sits nicely.

The finished mirror cell- there is now very little mirror shift once collimated!

I can see why a field tripod might need rough levelling- this helps speed up setting up (i.e. the latitude scale will be close). But in a permanent pier installation the only thing that needs to be well aligned is the polar axis of the mount. Having a level pier head is nice, but not essential. All the adjustment you should need is built into the mount mechanics. The only good reason I can see for having a stand-off is to allow access to the mount retaining nut under the plate.

In fact there is a school of thought on SGL that UNLEVEL mounts might be a way of avoiding bent latitude adjuster bolts. The theory goes that if you tilt the pier adaptor plate backwards by 30 degrees the latitude adjuster bolt starts to act on the mount's latitude lug at a more sensible angle......but that's another story!

Why do pier mounts need levelling?

Why the three long bolts?

its only a little bit more

Took me over a year to make the site level.....LOL

you can see the slope i have there now, so this is where i need to decide which of 3 routes to take,

go up another course, bearing in mind i still have 145mm joist and 12mm ply to go.

leave it as it is and dig out around the right hand side and put a path around that end below block level,

or a split level floor with the warmroom floor being higher than the scope half, the roof will be the same height all round though.

A tip; put some boot polish on the fine threads of all these infernal spacers or they will cold weld themselves together for eternity just before you find just the right chip distance...

I can vouch for the cold welding experience. A 48mm photographic filter wrench is a good accessory too. Saves getting a plumbers pipe wrench and wrecking a 2" narrow band filter like I did.....

Good piece of kit- can't wait to see the results.

Nice image, those reducers are a real special bit of kit if you can get the fine tuning right (Colimation & CCD distance). Working at F2.9 can give you a real speed advantage. I'm still working on the fine tune with mine but I can use it with two scopes, a 12" F4 and an 8" F4. You might find that correction doesn't quite reach the edge of a DSLR CCD as the corrected circle is 'only' 20mm across. But when I looked at the price of the 3" version I nearly fell of my chair!

Why is it so high? The mount is at head hight so placing a bahtinov mask etc when at the zenith is going to be tricky???

Steve

Might be using refractors? When building a permanent pier you almost have to make a decision as to whether you're mainly going to be using refractors or reflectors!

My permanent pier is head high. But my 12" Newt is set at waist high at the shortest tripod setting- and that's still too high. If I put the Newt on my obsy pier the business end would be some ten feet off the ground! Now I could have made a shorter obsy pier- but then I would not see over the obsy walls and I like to opperate my cameras at about head high! Lots of things to weigh up when making a pier.....

Shocked to learn the news. An inspiration to all and a real 'one off' character.

An explosion mid flight?

Thanks guys. I do have binoculars so will keep my eye in.

Sorry to hear the bad news with the scope. But as you say the binoculars will be your friend for a while. It's amazing just what you can see with bins, all of the Messier objects are visible in 10 x 50's from the right place (i.e. fairly dark).

But yesterday I ordered a home heating oil top up, my wife found the tanker driver looking at the observatory with filling hose in hand to ask her where does he attatch the nozzle.

LOL !

Asda are currently selling a cheap LED camping torch with white LED at the front and a red LED illuminated handle. The LED module can be easily reversed to give red out the front.

No need for nail varnish, sweet wrappers, mini babybells etc!!

I'm not sure where in the market the Esprit scopes are meant to pitch at?

They're not exactly cheap and there are a selection of perhaps better known brands at similar price levels with proven quality.

I'm North Powys / Gwynedd - Machynlleth.

Would be great if something happened - you do kind of feel like the only astronomer for hundreds of miles when you're out here! Having said that I also spend time in Stratford-upon-Avon on a regular basis and there the abundance of astronomers is counteracted by the abundance of streetlights :/

Ah, so the choices are lonely and dark or bright company

Think of it as an 'open cluster' of astronomers rather than a 'globular cluster'

just not fair - all those lovely non light polluted skies and so few of you using it lol

The fact there are so few people here is why the sky is dark.

Simple equation..........People = Light Pollution.

I have been there once actually - but from what I remember we were quite high up but surrounded by conifers- its not as far and the access is probably better so it may well be worth doing a bit of further research

Getting a good southern horizon might be a problem as you say due to trees and also the steep valley sides. Worth a recce though I guess?

Thanks LJ - gonna have to do a bit of research before I (we) set off on a group meet and I agree probably Autumn is the better idea.

I pass signs for Lleyn Briane when I go through Llandovery to the South of Claerwen - perhaps this is the best route to take - plenty of time to get my barings - I'm not planning any off roading so doesn't sound like access from Tregaron is an option - thanks for the heads up though.

Llyn Brianne might be a good observing option anyway? Not been there for a few years but it has a few car parks for anglers and picnic areas dotted around.

I sense an expedition from S Wales some time in the future - only issue is at the moment is the nights will be getting lighter for some time so bearing in mind the distance, for me at least, we're probably talking end of August , September perhaps? (although if theres an advance scouting party I'm still up for it)

Actually looking at that map I spend quite a bit of time in Tregaron which is just to the West of Claerwen- just doesn't look like theres any decent road network there which doesn't suprise but perhaps I can take an advance reccy sometime over the next few months when I'm in that part of the World.

Some serious Welsh name pronounciation required in Mid Wales though Mike- might be another challenge lol

In a dark sky site you really notice the twilight effect. In June here it never gets truly dark even at midnight- there's always a blue glow to the north horizon. I would definitatley put it off till later, September is when I consider the 'season' to start. Would be worth scouting out potential sites to set up beforehand though?

Getting from Tregaron to Claerwen by road is not easy- even with a 4x4 the direct route over the mountains is now closed to motor vehicles. Google maps suggests you can drive the direct route (15 miles) but I think this is incorrect. The route north is 43 miles and south is 48 miles!

Yes, there are so many good viewing places here in the middle of Wales. Me, I wouldn't bother to travel the few miles north to the Elan Valley when, on a clear night in the summer, I can see the Milky Way as a striking, vivid band of light just by going out of my back door! And that's with the kitchen light on!

When I posted my initial message here, I was really just trawling to see if there were any SGL addicts who lived in 'lets-get-together' distance of me for the occasional evening's sky watching. Organising a real Society of, say, 15 people living inside a 40-mile radius, would be nigh on impossible. No-one can travel those sort of distances for monthly meetings these days, where there's no public transport and petrol costs are so high.

There's the Preseli Astr. Group 68 miles to the west of me. The Marches Astronomy Group looks good, but it's almost as far to the east. Swansea is £30-worth (round trip) of petrol to the south. And here I am, with a 6" Newtonian on a posh mount (shortly to become an 8" jobbie) and I've got no-one to share the experience with! More to the point, there's no-one to give me hints, tips, advice on how to improve my observing!

But if there are really any astronomophiles (is that a word?) anywhere near me, please do get in touch!

Yes the distances are surprising - it's a 50 mile round trip to get to Newtown (nearest 'big' town) for us. Aberystwyth is 60 miles- the price of diesel doesn't help.

I can concur that the blackness of the sky at Claerwen is complete having spent an evening there once. You can park near the top of the dam or even go a little way along the north access road which is a Right Of Way almost to the far end of the reservoir. From this road you have a relatively unobstructed view.

Claerwen is in the centre of this light pollution map:

I am about 40 miles due north of Claerwen, with nothing but high moorland in-between the view south can be quite good- Milky Way down to the horizon is possible if the sky is clear.

Count me in- i'll form the northern contingent!

I think it involves undoing six screws and fitting a suitable dovetail....

That's about it.

I use a C11 OTA with a Losmandy dovetail on a NEQ6pro.

I am intrigued by that second, red anodised instrument/camera on the back of your scope. Is it some kind of spectrometer?

Regards adding the dovetail rail- if necessary I would drill & tap the C11 tube directly, I just wondered if it was pre prepared for such mounting?