Chriske

FInished ; In a few days I will be adding the decals.

Dam... Chinese rubbish...!... 😡 I thought I had replaced all SSR's. Seems I forgot one SSR swap...

This is how it all started on my laptop... It'll be 1.2m high(about 4') Fairing filled with Starlink satellites.

We sent images to a company to have the decals cut by them. There were lots of problems with that company. The files we've sent were not high enough resolution, it was not in the correct format, then the files were not big enough, then the files were to big. Seems that company does everything in it's power not to agree to do that simple job, doing what they're suppose to do, making posters and cutting decals....strange...🤨 So in the end I cut these decals all myself by hand. Still working on that LUT right now. For each stages I need 24 bolts M2.5x6

Built a few rockets in the past, most of them printed. And all of them were 'real' rockets. This time I'll build a rocket out of the '50 era. First man on the Moon were actually Tintin, captain Haddock and Bobby, the dog. It's a very beautiful machine I think. Most of the parts already printed. In fact the trigger to make this rocket was a friends challenge to grow hot peppers in a not so 'logical' way....🙃 The challenge is to grow his peppers upside down. The question came from a group of people busy growing only peppers. Purpose is to make the challenge as original as possible. Well my friend Yves asked me to make him this rocket, and he will grow yellow peppers. These peppers will exit at the bottom of Tintin's rocket and represent the flames during launch. At the same time I will make a second one to be installed at our observatory. This is how far I got right now. Completely finished it will be about 1.7m high. Printing time for these 8 parts about 14 hours. All is done in 'SpiralVase' modus using a 1.5mm nozzle. Still to do the 3 landing feet + 'wings'. For these feet I need to finish the printer in the picture aside the rocket. I can print 490mm with it, I like to print these feet in one piece. Before red paint is applied a little sanding is needed to remove a few irregularities. To be clear on the matter, there were in fact a few other rockets before Tintins landing, I know, I know. But these rockets did not land but crashed on the surface like Georges Méliès rocket. It crashed in the Moon's right eye...😄.

Lots of water all the time....L-O-T-S of it..., to avoid dust(glass) particles getting airborne.

Second mirror installed, next the focusing-part.

I'll be using SkySafari-V4 and also my phone.

This is how I do it with large mirrors. Hogging out is done with this 'machine' the rest is done with my MoM. It took me about 1.5 hours hogging out this 20" f/5.6 mirror using a angle grinder with a diamond disk. The surface is rather bumpy and to remove these irregularities it took me a 2 hours(or so) using a MOM(mirror-O-matic) and carbo #120. It is not futuristic looking I know, but this device saves me lots of work. When I need another ROC, I make me another set of curved side panels(using a router), that's all there is to.

Are you aiming for a Go-To alt-az, or just tracking.

Still at it... First-mirror cells 'installed'. Don't know yet what I'll use to move the eyepiece housing(red). I have three options LMUU bearings, Iglidur bearings, or just plain PLA bearings. As the eyepiece housing do not move to often and not very fast at all, I think LMUU bearings are overkill. These housings will be riding on 2x 8mm brass rods. The eyepieces are at its widest position in the drawing, so for observers with 76mm IPD. The closest the IPD can get is 54mm, that will cover most of the kids eyes.

It has begun... To do : IPD-unit and focusers

erased double post.

I'm planning to control the software from my smartphone(android). I do have SkySafariPro4 installed already. It is tempting to make a go-to, but maybe, just maybe I'll go for a push-to and tracking. On second thought, the latter is (maybe) not possible, Don' know(yet) need to find out. In the past I already made a push-to. That was installed on my very first printed telescope(Printsonian). It had two encoders(selfmade out of old mice) and worked very well.

Has anyone made a working OnStep tracker for a Alt-Az scope..? No derotator required. Thanks

Correction : my mounts closes as I explained higher up. The hinge is at the east side of the mount, the threaded rod at the west side. So I need to close the box to track the stars.

Although I made a smaller boxmount with which I've taken pictures of the nightsky, I never used my larger Boxmounts to do astrophotography. I think it would be feasable using a precise threaded rod. For the smaller one I used a threaded rod I did cut it myself on a lathe. for my large Boxmounts I simply buy threaded rods. That's because I never take pictures with that large one. The thick threaded rods are 'rolled', not cut. These rolled rods do not allow smooth tracking, far to many irregularities in the threads itself. But perfect to track stars for visual observing. Tracking stars with these threaded rods there's a 'wobble' in the motion, but only a veeeeeery small wobble, most of the time hardly visible. What could be done to improve tracking precision is cleaning up the surface of the rolled threaded rod with a die. It makes a big difference. Precise tracking to do astrophtography is only possible when the upper part of the platform is near the horizontal position and for a short time. Remember it is in fact nothing more then a barndoor tracker, only 'a bit' larger. The hinge I use is a heavy duty one. To compensate for the weight of the scope + upper part of the platform I always use a pneumatic lift unit. It's nothing more then a pump out of a rear-door of a car(not mine..,-)). You need to test were it has to be installed. You can fine tune this system until the scope 'only weigh just a few grams'. To compensate for different temp outside I place a very small weight on top of the platform. When it gets colder I relocate that (very small)weight more to the west of the platform. Works perfect. That adjustment is only needed to compensate for Summer/winter. The largest Boxmount I ever made is 1m² and is patiently waiting to carry a large binocular I'm busy building(2x20") is on hold now, due to build of 150mm (lens)bino. To fully understand how it works, you need to look at the pictures of my Kutter-Bino. And btw Nigel, the rotation axis of a boxmount is not at the centre of the mount. That axis is mounted at the far-west or the far-east side of the mount. Tracking with that rod is done at the opposite side of the hinge. See here. I prefer to mount the hinge at the east side and the threaded rod at the west, so the telescope is 'falling down' during tracking. You can reverse the two, so you would be pushing the telescope upward. But I prefer the first one. Don't know why but it 'feels' more natural imo. In the pictures of the Kutter-Bino I made the paltform round. That's the only one. All other are square platforms, because it far easier to attach the driving parts.

These are a few leftover from a very old apple tree. It had to go, pity.

Why not use a star diagonal Rusted, so no need to a Limbo...😁

But I think it"s time to leave this thread. Although it is a eq. platform, it has nothing to do with the original post. Sorry Neil...🥴

This is my latest 'boxmount' it differs a lot compared to my original design. It action is very smooth btw. Needles to say, the tripod is very sturdy..:-)) For those who are not familiar with the boxmount ; lots of drawings and pictures on this page. There are lots of (white)printed parts involved btw

The idea btw is not mine. I read about it in 'Astronomy' magazine(late '70, if I'm not mistaken). Prof Greame White(Univ. Australia) suggested that a mount like that 'Boxmount' could solve many problems. He actually never built one himself. In that article were he wrote about his idea, he added a drawing. Noting more then a few lines, not even a real drawing in fact. I immediately started building 'my' version of 'his' Boxmount and wrote a letter + a few pictures of that built and sent it to Mr White. The man had asked in that same article to sent him the result and possibly pictures of his idea, 'to see whether his idea could be build and would do the job' if someone should build that mount. The man was very pleased with my letter and told me to send that same message to Sky&Telescope. After that first built lots of amateurs did copy that build and even improved it. Some amateurs did built a 'nested' boxmount. Anyway, I still use boxmounts for larger telescopes. The Boxmounts I build nowadays are about 15 to 20 cm high, depending on the version. And yes I always install a pneumatic lift arm assist system to compensate for the weight of the dob it'll support. Leave as is Alex, no need to edit that post. So in the end, credit should go to Mr White also. He's the one with that 'silly' idea to mount a telescope on top of a wooden box with a hinge, to track the stars...😂

Do you have pictures of these bino's..?

Yet again as always, I plan to add a IPD unit starting from 55 to 70mm