DaveL59

always good to have the right tool for the job, well done mate 🙂 

Now, where's the HD video showing the action... 😉 

They'll be a japanese made pair, I have a shorter Falcon pair that are 8x40 ish IIRC that are similarly styled and aren't bad, tho looking toward the sun can give a bit of flare as the objective tubes aren't as black as they could be. Can't say if these are the same and of course you could always flock them tho you'd probably put the collimation out if you remove the objectives to do that.

so far we don't believe you can tweak when you're using the app so a lot seems to be down to how well you can align it at the start. I tend to align at night onto a bright object, either planet or star if I can so you know it's at a good distance since there's not much I can see from the garden that is any great distance away.

I assume you're doing the pinch-to-zoom bit to expand the view to get that bit more accuracy?

Never tried but if you can't quite get the cross-hair onto the on-screen target I wonder if its also possible to make a little tweak on the XY control wheels to get that last little adjustment?

I have the LT70 version myself and tbh it isn't all that bad optically. I built my own cradle which is currently on my TAL-1 where on testing it worked pretty well on the EQ mount. But then again the TAL is an ally OTA so no steel to interfere with the phone sensors. You do of course rotate the OTA in its rings to get the eyepiece to a useful place but the starsense still tracks ok with my phone and setup even at crazy tilt angles you can end up at while pushing to target.

13 minutes ago, paulastro said:

Many thanks Dave, Ill pass this onto my friend, unlike me this would be a walk in the park for him 🙂.

Now you've mentioned the possibility, I can imagine some enterprising person setting up to do this for other people.  Much as years ago someone did this to adapt customers PSTs ,  to PST mods. They had a stall at Astrofest one year!  I think I remember who it was, but I won't say in case I've got it wrong 😄.

 

 

there's a thread on here if you do a search, easiest to use a prism tho from a brief test I did a regular mirror will also work (as in not first surface)

1 hour ago, paulastro said:

Phew, thank you, that's good.  A friend of mine has just ordered one of the non-dobs for transfer to another scope.

tis a very handy mod to do, tho once he has it and the unlock code its not that hard to make your own cradle and have both scopes usable with the app 😉 

10 hours ago, Mike Q said:

The mail lady asked what was in the bag because everything was trying to stick to it.  I said it was 4 half pound magnets to help balance a telescope.  I have never seen such a puzzled look in my life

Hopefully there weren't any compasses or CRT TV's in amongst the other deliveries in the van or some other customers might be a bit disappointed in their new purchase 😉 

22 minutes ago, Alien 13 said:

I cant see the Webb surviving more that a year perhaps two at most before its destroyed by impacts.

Alan

I guess the mirror array and sensors are a lot more exposed, but at the speed things might travel out there chances are even enclosing it all in armour plated OTA wouldn't help too much

6 minutes ago, Zeta Reticulan said:

Good point. I might have to splash out on a fallout shelter. I'm guessing they're all now made in China, right?

and soon to be delivered via a direct drop from the sky, so no excavating required 😉 

Just fill the hole back in and you're done...

and the debris lands on a city

China rocket: Uncontrolled return to Earth raises concern - BBC News

25 tons heading back in on Sunday night, get to the bunkers folks!

oops 00:24 Sunday so saturday night in fact 😊

5 minutes ago, henry1983 said:

Haha What do you think they would sell for? Not that I want to at all but just curious?

hard to say but I've seen big Swift 20x80's go for upwards of £80 even with some minor issues. yours tho are in good condition and have the tripod carrier too as well as more aperture so >£120-150 maybe. All depends tho on if there's a target audience wanting them. Then again rarity could bump that much higher.

As a total contrast...

Nikon Binoculars MIKRON 7 x 15 M CF Black from Japan 4960759207715 | eBay

and that's lower than I've seen them in the past, thankfully I paid a lot less for the ones I have 😉 

Looking at the pic wonders if it's also worth flocking the inside of the focuser tube?

Looks awfully light/silvery in the photo.

for me, these just dropped thru the letterbox

fingers crossed I can fix the USM ring motor that has a failed silver trace in that big 150-600mm camera lens 🙂 

I wonder if you could get something like this that is sized to fit around the centre column so it can be sat onto the leg stays?

That way the hook would be free to use. 

Would suspending a weight (from your bottle solution) from the hook at the end of the centre column not help to improve the tripod stability further.

Otherwise a great bit of experimenting there and elastic anchoring of the objective end seems to have helped a lot to achieve more usability 🙂 

7 minutes ago, SthBohemia said:

^ that's not pleasant.... Thought UK transported all crooks to Oz-trail-iya. Maybe I look 2 poor (I am)and the place 2 much of a dump (it is) to bother robbing 🙂 Plus don't have much worth pinching!!

we've grown a lot more since those days 😉 

14 minutes ago, SthBohemia said:

Never been bothered with optional insurance as it is a scheme to make insurers rich 😞 Simply not worth it when the mongrels simply don't pay up...

Having been burgled twice I'll always insure and will list high risk items like camera, lenses etc but it'll usually fall below individual item limits, well to be determined if I ever need to claim the camera body plus lens(es) if they get robbed while out and about. You can almost bet the insurer will try and say single item... hopefully will never need to test that out 🙂

Wonder how many actually take out these optional phone insurances tho, mine is covered by the home insurance so I don't see the point of paying again for it. Given the replacement cost I'd likely just get another on contract or outright purchase before an insurer would pay out anyway.

nice, a quality name at least so any issues they should send a replacement if it dulls on the first use 🙂 

The set I have is V similar if not same as this one:

Tap and Die Set, 110 Piece Screw Taps Tool Set, Heavy Duty Carbon Steel Tapping Tool Set, M2-M18 Screw Nut Thread Taps Dies Set with Wrench Handle : Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools

Not the dogs B's perhaps but enough for the use I put them to, which is occasional cleaning/clearing existing threads and the occasional new when for example re-making a binocular focus arm. They've worked just fine tho I have also bought in some of the much smaller 1.3-2.5mm for specific jobs like tapping for those teeny tiny grub screws optical gear seems to love to use. 

Do be aware @wookie1965 that the second set you listed says only M6x1.0 so is that the size you need or did you need 0.75 or both?
If you get the metric only set you do get both thread pitches in the set.

Nice they include a thread pitch gauge tho, I had to buy one separately.

5 minutes ago, SthBohemia said:

After all this discussion about a 6mm hole I hope Mr Wookie takes lots of pics of the tapping operation of the accursed hole.

I am sure Dave59 and (definitely myself) expect a turn by turn description of the operation!! With numerous pictures 🙂  of the finished article!!

surely we want a full on action video in HD or 4K? 😉 

6 minutes ago, Macavity said:

Objectively, not the MOST tasteless idea to emerge in recent days? 🤣
The general concept was fairly amply/ably demolished elsewhere too.



 

and the pilots of the Jumbo jet thought they had it hard judging the distance wheels to runway 😄 

4 minutes ago, iapa said:

Do Arthur C. Clarke or Stanley Kubrick now appear on the “bad people” list for using the rotating ring with spokes design? 👹

why? I'm referring to the man and a significant object being named after him despite his known history. Seems NASA maybe hasn't learned or just doesn't consider it important. I'm sure many of us watched 'Hidden Figures' and lauded the administrator who removed the segregation but it does make you wonder how much of that was Hollywood gloss vs the real story.

10 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

I know of a engineers I went there have a bolt made for my tripod to fit to my mount they wanted £120 so I'm not sure how much they would charge. 

This is why I want to do it myself. 

Yikes! £120 to cut a thread, they must've heard that for astro gear prices you take your usual fee and multiply by 60 or something 😮 

Fair enough tho, I find it handy to have a set available when threads on the car, binos etc need cleaning up to chase the crud that can build up out etc.

4 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

Just been looking at that as £34 you have to have delivered. 

If that one is decent one ish I will get that. 

Before you do order any, check the thread pitch on your bolt and ensure that the set you order has one that matches, or better has both thread pitches in the set. Else you'll be no further forward if the pitch doesn't match up.

If you place your M6 bolt against your existing tap do the threads match?

15 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

It's a M6 just checked. 

that's odd then, if the original was M6 then the M6 tap should run through easily into the original M6 threaded hole and maybe clean up the thread tho of course any stripped ones would be cut away. Can you check what the thread pitch is too? I have 6x0.75 and 6x1.0 tap & dies, your original may be the other size compared to the tap you are using.