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Doc

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Everything posted by Doc

  1. I have have been using a black out sheet for years, as you say very effective.
  2. Here's my little collection of Clave' of Paris eyepieces, it doesn't show my new 5mm Clave so that is 12 eypieces in total.
  3. It seems like a lifetime now but I bought my 16" Lightbridge of him. I remember how enthusiastic John was when he showed me around his littte summerhouse that housed his scopes. RIP John you will be missed.
  4. I have had so many different eyepieces during my time enjoying this fantastic hobby. The stand outs for low power were the Televue Nagler 31mm, a Pentax XW30 mm, William Optics 28mm UWAN, and the Clave of Paris 30mm and 40mm eyepieces. For high power I would say the Baader Genuine ortho range, Clave of Paris 6, 8, 10, amd 12mm, and the 10mm Pentax smc ortho. But if I had to choose it would be any of the Clave of Paris eyepieces. As you can see quite a range so not much help 😀
  5. Is the scope stored in an observatory or shed when not in use? I have one of the early Esprit 120's but mine is kept indoors and so far I haven't seen no issues with mold.
  6. This one is loads better, it looks neater and is a lot more accurate. I have used the following tips from cromwell tools. https://www.cromwell.co.uk/shop/hand-tools/engraving-tools/7400058-a5-standard-points-pkt-5/p/BUR5041615E. They seem perfect for the job. I have decided to go for 2° graduations so 180 divisions. Just ordered a set of 2.5mm stamps so now have to figure a way to make up a jig so the stamping is straight.
  7. 1. Automate my Fullerscope IV Mount 2. Replace my bog standard focuser on my Clave 80mm F15 scope 3. Build my new Alt/AZ mount I have designed. 4. Having completed the Lunar 100 using a 16" dob I want to have a go with the Clave F15 and see how many I can see.
  8. Thanks Monkeypig. I've found some chamfer tools on Cromwell tools so popping down soon to pick some up.
  9. For Christmas I treated myself to a 5" rotary table, I have never used one but it wasn't hard to set up and get it correctly positioned on the milling machine. It came with a MT2 adapter to connect my Myford chuck which was handy. The reason behind the purchase was to engrave degree circles to my DocMount and RocketMounts. I have never owned or used a rotary table before so had to get my head round the mathmatics involved but soon found out I needed a 20 hole division plate. After a few practice runs on scrap material and a practice using a pencil instead of the engraving tool I was ready to go. Firstly I done 36 divisions of 10 degrees for this I needed 2 turns and 10 holes, next was 72 divisions, so 1 turn and 5 holes, and finally 360 divisions which meant 5 holes of the 20 hole plate. A little clean up in the lathe was next to remove the sharp metal left over from the engraving process. Then finally some metal polish to clean it up. All in all I'm pretty pleased for a first attempt. The 10 degree and 5 degree lines look really good, the degree marking a little haphazard. In future i might do 2 degree graduations instead. I also found out I need better quality engraving bits, the cheap ones from amazon or E-bay are not that great and I broke 4 doing this. Next to stamp some numbers.
  10. Very impressive, well done. You will love it more because you made it .
  11. I had this issue a few years back and I put the eyepiece in an airtight bag containing uncooked rice and placed it in an airing cupboard for a few nights, it took the condensation away .
  12. There is also the rarity factor of some brands. Just look at Clave and Zeiss, prices are very expensive as demand outstrips supply, both companies have a very loyal fan base who are willing to pay top prices. Some of the older vintage glass is fantastic and collectors are willing to pay for it.
  13. What a great project you have there. Hope everything works out the way you want.
  14. I have decided to add manual setting circles to my DocMount and RocketMount. This thread is about the DIY dials I'm adding to the DocMount which is a DM6 clone. I've added a few photos as they describe the process better then words. This dial is then machined to fit around the UHWPE bearings. Once fitted it looks like this. A = The pointer which will be scribed this does not move and is fixed. B = This dial moves 360° and will be scribed 0° to 360° C = This is a locking screw once tightened it will lock B to the plate connected to the dovetail Finished article Now the maths: Setting circle dial is 132mm in diameter. So Pi (3.141) x D 3.141 x 132 = 414.612 414.612 divided by 360° = 1.151 So am I correct in saying there is a gap of 1.151 between each division. Is this a division in degrees or millimetres? Also does anyone know a UK company that can laser print, or laser engrave degree circles so it looks similar to this TIA
  15. I have been restoring my Fullerscope IV for a while now and have totally striped it down and added new motors, I just need to add a control board now to drive it. In my opinion it's a bit agricultural compared to the newer mounts, it takes a long time to set up the worm to wormwheel backlash adjustment, but on the other hand it does feel solid and takes a lot of weight. Here is a video of mine.
  16. The more glass you add to your light path the more the image degrades. Personally I don't use barlows at all, in my experience I would get as many eyepieces as I can to plug all the magnifications I think I will need.
  17. That's a cracking observation session Stu. I'm really pleased members are still using my Lunar 100 list and observation reports. It seems like a lifetime ago I wrote those up.
  18. Well I used to have a complete set of Televue Delos and a 31mm Nagler and I actually prefer the Clave's. They do have a few shortcomings such as fov and eye relief but then they are sharper on axis and show more colour. Most of my viewing is in the centre as I'm always nudging my scope.
  19. I've collected these over a few years. Mine are from various private buyers a few from France and one from Italy. They are rare and very hard to find. You can see the 8mm, 10mm and 12mm are side marked so they are 1 of 150 made with side markings. I still have the 3mm, 5mm, 35mm, 45mm, 65mm, and 75mm to find then I've completed the whole set. I'll 80 years old before I finish it at this rate. And yes it's the Sky Atlas 2000 but not sure of the date.
  20. I use my RocketMount most of the time.
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