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Blog Comments posted by astronymonkey
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Well Rich, I would say that identifying a problem and then choosing the best solution is a successful outcome, rather than a failure. Excellent work on getting the mirror this far and as you say its better to get john to sort it now before it gets too thin.
As far as as not doing everything yourself, dont worry as unless you were going to aluminise the mirror yourself there was always going to be a point when you handed the mirror over to have it finished.
Its a big bit of glass you have there, so when you get a queue forming at the first star party you take the finished scope to then it will all be worth while.
Cheers
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Hi Crash,
Looking really good, despite the scratches it must be much easier with a wooden base rather than the plaster one.
Keep going, not far to go now !
cheers
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Good luck rich, nearly there !
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Hi rich,
that mirror is coming along nicely so keep at it. A 22 for your first grind seemed crazy when you first took it in but ive got to say your doing a grand job.
Having moved to the south coast though youre a long way from John Nichol if you need a hand but Im sure you'll manage.
Nice bike by the way, ive heard good things about boardman bikes but I agree with having the car to fall back on. But being in the south coast youre gonna miss the tour de france in yorkshire which is a shame as it looks like its gonna be a good weekend .
Keep grindin mate, but be careful of leaving skid marks ;)
Cheers
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From what I gather the main changes from the old to the new ones are:
Better secondary mirror cell which encases the mirror better and means it is held in the holder rather than being stuck to the stalk with silicone
Truss poles and the rings on the end of the tubes are painted black to reduce reflections.
The top ends of the truss poles have a small bracket to hold the top tube in place before its boltedminto position
I also think at some time in the past they have upgraded the focusser to a dual speed one.
collimation bolts on the primary have been improved and I think the springs are better.
in general they are good scopes but like everything they benefit from some tweaks but thats part of the enjoyment.
Id disagree though about astronomy being a hobby for the rich. Many years ago a 10inch scope would be considered huge and a 12inch scope was something inly a club would have. To say these scopes are now even in reach of amateurs is extraordinary and a good 12inch scope can be bought secondhand for approx £400 which is a lot of scope for your money.
You will love the lightbridge , its good on planets even with the supplied eyepieces and you can upgrade these as you go.
Thanks
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I use a new style lightbridge and with a few mods they are excellent scopes. I know the current ones are badged as new versions but im sure they changed them about 18-24 months ago.
I added a raci finder which I would say is essential and used side by side with the red dot makes finding things easier
cheers
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I read the s@n article but felt pretty underwhelmed by the second installment. I have vista as an operating system and it turns out the software isnt compatible with that system so im glad I never made the aeriel between editions.
your system looks good though so it will be good to see how it goes,
cheers
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Hi rich,
this is sounding good and is coming along nicely. How many hours do you think you have left until your ready for silver ?
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Hi crash,
at this stage do you use any grit , or is it tile on glass and nothig else ?
cheers
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Hi crash,
great work.
out of interest how did you get the curve on the cement tool , and how did you get it to match the curve of the mirror so well ?
cheers
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Nice one Crash, its really coming along nicely. Looks like a nice even curve so hopefully the next stage will go just as well.
this is gonna be a monster scope once done .
cheers
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Im tempted to grind one myself eventually, but then again Im also tempted to just buy one from John Nichol. I must admit though that the idea of first light with my own mirror is tempting.
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Im gonna opt for 18inch f4, below that will be punishing on eyepieces and the low f ratios would give too big an exit pupil for me. At f4 I could get away with a 22mm eyepiece and still have a 5.5mm exit pupil, with an 82 degree eyepiece this would give me just under a one degree field so would fit the orion nebula in one field.....only just !
mind you, if I see you with the 22 at a star party id be first in the que.
cheers
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Not bad, so by the time its aluminised youll have a 22inch mirror for about a grand assuming coating costs are a few hundred ?
Thats really good value .....
by the way how heavy is that disk , it looks huge, and is it a 2 inch thick one ????
cheers
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Looking good and hasnt taken as long as I thougtnit would have taken.
hope you dont mind me asking but is there any chance you could give a running total of the spend so far as you go along ?
Keep up the good work !
Cheers
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The 200p is is a great scope and sgl is fantastic for debating the pros and cons before buying....... but groucho wouldnt be happy.....didnt he say "PLEASE ACCEPT MY RESIGNATION, I dont want to belong to any club that will accept people like me as a member" : )
Cheers
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swallowing my pride
in crashtestdummy's Blog
A blog by crashtestdummy in General
Posted
Garage .... sounds better than the greenhouse you had in one of your older blog entries, at least it will keep a more constant temp. :)
Cheers