Chriske

Both focusers just finished assembling, tested and they do work magnificently well. I'm very pleased with them. I can also use 2" eyepieces, but not these very large diameters eyepieces.

indeed... But after the soap gets dark brown I always put it immediately in cold water. Doing so the alu stay soft and manageable.

Both drives done now :

Coffee...?😳

If not correctly prepared, aluminium will crack when bent. Especially thicker pieces. You need to heat aluminium up to a certain temp, (not to hot, and there's a simple trick to do just that), then cool it very rapidly in water to make it softer. I know many of you will think hey..! that is what I used to do with metal to make it hard and brittle, that is correct. But this procedure done with alu will do just the opposite compared to metal.

First fork completely printed and assembled. 4 ball-bearings for each fork. Going to add a very thin strip of brass around the alt-bearing, 40mm wide. That’ll be necessary I think, otherwise the ball-bearings will dig itself in the PLA when the scope is stationary for a long time at the same spot. I have no idea of the weight of the complete scope this moment. Better save than sorrow... On the other hand I think nothing will happen because the scope is supported by 8 ball-bearings.

https://all3dp.com/2/chocolate-3d-printer-all-you-need-to-know/

Yep, I could do that, but for that to do I need another nozzle. In fact the printer need a major overhaul. Instead of PLA(or whatever) you need to push chocolate through that nozzle. Printing chocolate you also need a 100% sterile environment. All parts should be made in SS. Otherwise it would not pass food-inspection. And it would be a slow process too printing chocolate, not to mention details would not be very good at all. The best way to deal with this is making a silicone mould as mentioned higher up.

amazing indeed, i'm drooling already...

And now he's busy working on these. That is one paint job if you ask me...!

And this one... It would be a shame to eat it all..;-)

But look at this one... A offered me a box of pralines (I already eat most of them)

Bjorn is not only a chef but also an artist. This is done with a mould I made earlier for him. This is rather simple task...

Busy printing 'First step' and making a silicone negative of that printed part. Printed 'First step' using 0.1mm layers. Still, the layers are visible. Smoothing the layers with white glue now. The idea is to use that silicone mould to fill it up with chocolate and sell it during open door at our local observatory. That piece of chocolate is 100x100mm or 150x150mm. The printing and smoothing stuff is done by me, our chef Bjorn is doing the chocolate part. He's a master in these things.

Printing the fork's. It takes almost 24 hours to print one. I even needed to cut them in two because my bed is not large enough. The square slots in the forks are for M6 nuts. Purpose of these nuts and threaded rods is to keep both parts together but most of all to keep the forks firmly to its platform. When all is done , I'm planning to close the slots so there's no trace of these nuts and rods.

Peter, The balance of that bino is the very last thing I'll be dealing with. Decades ago I've built several larger Kutter-telescopes. Not one of these Kutter was built using the same materials. So back then I never knew in advance where the COG would be. But because of my experience with these scopes I have a good estimate. Compared to these old Kutters I've built in the past, I have now kind of a lead. Inventor tells me were the COG is, But that also is an estimate because Inventor thinks the complete scope is made using the same materials. Above that pivotpoint is a lot of material indeed. Most of it is PVC and PLA and one mirror. But below that same point is the SS secondary tube. That'll compensate for the mass above. I will only know about that COG when the scope is completely assembled, even eyepieces and two powerpacks will be taken into account. That is the moment where I need to add some weight(s) somewhere 'around' that scope. I'm also planning to hide as much as possible of these weights, (out of sight). This is were the COG Inventor thinks it is now, so for the moment it is 94x82 mm wrong. But for the moment that COG is changing constantly, just a litlle bit, because I regularly add a part in that assembly, and sometimes I remove one. So for now I don't bother at all were Inventor tries to tell me were the COG is.

Not an easy task, let that be clear. But I like a challenge, especially building telescopes.

Altitude worm-wormwheel unit . On the right there's that hole. I was planning put a piece of metal/brass and a bolt in it. That bolt would prevent the worm from axial movement during action. But there's no need at all because there's no axial play at all in that stepper's gearbox(hidden in that printed part). The upper-centre hole is the rotating point to release the worm from it's wormwheel during assembling and back. Stepper Gear box 1:100 Worm/wheel : 1:42

Both IPD units with that renewed linear ball bearing system installed. There's no play at all and the action is very smooth. This is far better compared to the earlier system with these LMUU8 linear bearings. I'm very happy with it. Inside the big holes of these IPD-units there are hex-holes around the perimeter. In these hex-holes I insert nuts and with set-screws I'll be able to adjust the direction of the focusing-tubes. Both these tubes should be absolutely parallel. I'll be able to adjust IPD from 55mm to 72mm. So only very little children are not 'covered'. Pity I know, but that's the price I have to pay, otherwise I would not have been able to use 2" eyepieces in that bino.

AWESOME..!!

Change of concept. Worm on top of the wormwheel. The worm is springloaded pushing the telescope very gently in its fork. Telescope in action To hang it in or remove the telescope out of it's fork I rotate the worm away

Very hard to machine indeed SS. That's why I rarely use it. I use brass instead. Polished it looks awesome.

I did use these steppers in another astro-project Gina, they're incredibly good.

Removed one post to have free view on the Alt-drive. Altitude bearings running on 8 ball bearings.

ok 🤞