DaveL59

6 minutes ago, John said:

I'll raise you...

thankfully it's still alive and well and being picked up again 🙂

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-66371569

As David's said, try killing the fungus using sunlight but don't point them directly at the sun and then leave them unattended - you don't want to overheat the glass too much nor start a fire. You can use a UV light if you have one, usual precautions re looking at the light  etc apply. Also add a desiccant sachet into whatever you store them in to keep humidity down.

For cleaning, well that'd be nice but depends on your skills to dismantle and reassemble as it may well have found its way between the lenses in the eyepieces, on the prisms as well as the objectives. Then you'd really need to remove all grease etc and clean the casings. Finally you'll have to reassemble it all and then re-collimate so they are usable once again. Without the right equipment, collimating them won't be easy nor technically correct so you could end up with a nice clean bino that isn't usable at all other than as 2 monoscopes if you split them at the central hinge...

On 13/04/2023 at 14:22, Chaz2b said:

Don’t know why I didn’t add text to this pic, but it shows a eq5 atop a TAL wooden tripod, I bought the tripod head from a SGL member and 3D printed six spacers to pack out between the wood and metal, fits perfectly.

chaz

Ahh I did something similar, tho I bought some nylon penny washers to do the padding (no 3D printer here). Makes a great combo too, nice and stable plus a more classical look about it 🙂 

worth taking a look via the objective end to see if there's any damage to the prisms too, would show if looking at a bright source like the moon or a lightbulb.

Fingers crossed it's just a little battle scarred but hopefully fully functional 🙂

7 hours ago, Macavity said:

Or, better still, the Actual Article (with prototype pictures)! 😅

ahh so the technique has moved on significantly since I last messed about with one then, sounds very interesting. Wonder if we'll be able to get a nice, light 36-inch frac made with one of those... 😉 

probably not so good for the solar observers here tho depending on what its made from unless you want one of those wobbly fairground mirror effects as it melts under the heat.

interesting, tho I'd have thought a fresnel would create constructive & destructive interference given the rings? Been a long while since I looked closely at one tho but I do recall they could be had to put in front of smaller screens to give a bigger screen "feel" at little cost. Not good for off-axis viewing tho.

Made the drive all the way to coventry and back just to collect the 100RS I have, lovely scope and it has a Tal-1 and Tal-M reflector for company, neither are motorised however. The 100RS is on an EQ5 so I can swap that between the Synscan goto or the dual-motor one which is on TAL wooden legs nowadays.

Good luck sorting your Tal-2, I doubt it needs much current so a 12v AC 2A transformer should do it, just be sure to put an in-line fuse between it and the mount 🙂 

3 hours ago, bosun21 said:

The only drawback of this is that unless you build in a phone adjustment mechanism otherwise you will have to use that phone for ever.(no upgrades). Phone lens placement changes as well as dimensions in different models and makes.

Agreed on that. I custom made a carrier for my Samsung Note 10+ from Delron sheet and used a prism to reflect the sky into the camera, works well. Our lost friend Johninderby did his with a cut down cheap diagonal for the reflective surface, there's a thread here somewhere where we did all that a couple years back. I know @markse68 3D printed a custom carrier for his phone so we all went slightly different routes. I no longer have the scope here as its now with my daughter but can still use my current phone, I'd have to make a new carrier if I do change phones but since I tend to use the same one for a few years, not so big a deal for me, daughter has the exact same model so a nice simple switch around if we ever need to 🙂 

I guess another possibility would be to adapt a NeXYZ carrier and fit a mirror/prism under it, given the starsense holder is the same mechanism  minus the eyepiece clamp.

I was thinking about rings for it also but never quite got around to that. I do kinda miss not having it here now too, so easy to just pop it out in the garden for a quick look when clouds permit vs the setting up of the bigger scopes. Was almost tempted to get one of the DX fracs but resisted the temptation so far, I'd like a mount with slo-mo controls if I was going to get another, but then I DIY'd a phone carrier that I can use on any of mine and they really should get more use than they have been.

You'd need 12v AC I believe, hence the 50Hz so a battery wouldn't do it and may cause damage since it'll be feeding DC. Not sure what the current requirement is but it may be possible to get a 12v AC supply and change the socket on the mount to suit if you can't locate a compatible unit. 

Welcome to the club Stu 🙂

It is surprisingly good as a unit using a mobile phone isn't it. I have the LT70 version and tbh it ain't a bad lightweight scope, just the tripod and mount but I swapped those for wood legs and a sturdier yoke which made it a lot more stable and didn't cost me much to do. I also fixed the slop in the focuser with some teflon tape and added a tasco motor focuser, much easier than trying to hit focus with it wobbling about.

That rig is now with my daughter and grandkids to enjoy in SELondon tho they've not had much chance with doing a lot of work on the house etc. I did supply it with a proper star diagonal and a zoom eyepiece so they'd get an easier and better experience.

Looks excellent 🙂

I used a prism for the DIY holder I made from Delron sheet, works very well. I did in early testing try just a plain mirror to see if it'd work as it was kicking around (fell off the handle of one of those folding travel hair brushes). The Mirror also seemed to work OK but never tested much with it, so it may be feasible to use a non first-surface mirror to get a working setup.

Yep, I'm sure he will put something more out on this one. Hopefully Spaceport Cornwall will be OK after losing their lead mover too...

Game over, sadly

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65692302

Likely it's square-mm of the eyepiece lenses, probably the sum of both too, just to get a nice big number to draw in the unsuspecting.

So these will be possibly from the 60-70's, JB32 tags as Miyako Seiki but they perhaps (very likely) made to order with specific branding for an outlet. Is there also a JTII sticker, not that that matters as they fall off or are removed often. Pretty generic ZCF style bino, can't say if that maker is good or not as I've not met that one before, I've some that are JB54 or JB56 (swift, who are good) and some other form factor (reverse porro or roofs from JB8/20/93) If you find ones that are JB7 then those are from a company now known as Nikon 😉 

Glass is likely single-coated (blueish colour) but could be quite usable if the unit as a whole is in good shape and the collimation is ok. Modern multi-coated will give much better views of course.

nice grey cloud and the occasional flash of lightening, sadly nothing like as magical as the view you describe 😉 

2 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

Which one are you referring to? the dobs labelled "starsense explorer" use the phone module (the only dobs celestron makes) plus there are a few newtonian and refractor models which also use the phone modules.

That's what I was figuring was being asked about but without "explorer" it could be the one that has its own camera module as can also be added to some SW mounts. I don't particularly know the celestron range but do have the LT70AZ explorer version which I adapted my own cradle before passing the scope on to my daughter/grandaughter to use.

Worth mentioning too if its the starsense explorer which uses your phone vs the other more self-contained version.

47 minutes ago, PeterW said:

The Pentax papillon binoculars focus to 50cm and are  great for bugs and the like. Hopefully you’ll find a cheaper way to get such close in views.

 

Peter

They are indeed, I bought a pair for my daughter & grandaughter recently, new but damaged box so £99 vs the more usual £120 ish, link in the "What binos do you own" thread. They do come up on the bay-of-e so its possible to get a used pair for less of course.

Temporarily here as I bought them for my daughter/grandaughter

BNIB from the bay-of-e discounted as there's a slight ding in the OEM packaging (box). Perfect condition and wow the close focus is good, tho hard to keep steady at 50cm range even with only x8.5. Little terror will love these for close looks at bugs etc I'm sure 🙂 

In case anyone's after a new pair there are a couple left at time of posting this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/394441915391?epid=16016189243&hash=item5bd691fbff:g:f4wAAOSwWk1d1VQH

ouch, bankrupt

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65172594

I did similar when I refurb'd the little TAL-M following @johninderby's lead, esp as the TAL tube inners can be a difficult surface to adhere onto, not to mention its a pretty narrow tube to try to work in. I was concerned the flock might lift away and droop given my scopes sit in the conservatory which gets quite "warm" so to counter that possibility I also tacked the flock to the plastic with needle and thread, just in case. Worked a treat, simply slide the plastic into place and refit all the bits and enjoy the results 🙂 

Oh dear, news gets worse re Virgin Orbit 😞

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65133099