latest buys.. the S.W.V.G :P

[L8-Nite]

A can of pink spray paint.

I'm going to refinish the tube on a recently acquired Prinz Astral scope, its for our five year old Great Niece.

I think she will like it.  

[L8-Nite]

Our Astronomy Library is increasing.  

Today I stopped in to nose about in a Tenovus Charity Shop and found a book called.......

" Stars  shown to the children " - by  Ellison Hawks  ( 1910 ) 

There are about 120 pages with 49 illustrations / photo plates, a couple are of an interesting large reflector.

I'll post photos after I find my camera charger.  

[Matthew]

Ive bought a 2" Lumicon OIII visual filter and 2 - 1 1/4" Lunar / Planetary filter sets ( light and dark ),im a few bob lighter but very excited

[Mr Flibble]

Mat, I've had excellent views with the Lumicon OIII so its money well spent!

[Mr Flibble]

Well its not strictly a purchase but I have had a huge conker tree in my back garden felled, so indirectly I've bought a new big chunk of sky to play around with :-)

For all tree huggers I should point out that two baby native trees have been planted albeit in a far less intrusive area of the garden!!

[garethmob]

today arrived for me some collimation knobs (collumate)  a tripod guider, eyepeice holder  and controller holder for the LX90 and an ETX adapter plate to put the ETX onto a normal tripod (got it attached to the celestron AZ tripod i have:)   gonna give it all a wurl tomorrow me thinks!!   and i got them all from astroboot for the nice pricly sum of £25   not bad haha

[daiwelly]

Just purchased a

Celestron Neximage 5 Colour

From FLO, and sold the skywatcher 130

[L8-Nite]

Our Astronomy Library is increasing.  

Today I stopped in to nose about in a Tenovus Charity Shop and found a book called.......

" Stars  shown to the children " - by  Ellison Hawks  ( 1910 ) 

There are about 120 pages with 49 illustrations / photo plates, a couple are of an interesting large reflector.

I'll post photos after I find my camera charger.  

Camera is charged. 

Its nice to have some new (old) reading material for these cloudy nights. Judging by the condition of the silk page marker the book has been well used.  Here are a couple of photos.......

[Freff]

I was passing an antique shop yesterday and popped in with the wife. This old'ish compound microscope caught my, so proceeded to pull everything apart to get at it. I was pleasantly surprised to see it complete and in pristine condition for a circa  !960/70. Apparently it came from university and was serviced regularly.

The microscope came in a purpose made lockable box,  with 4 x object lenses including a 100x to use with emmersion oil, and 4 ocular lenses.  I have several antique microscopes which are mainly ornaments and show pieces.

I always fancied something a bit more up to date but not to spend several hundreds doing so. This microscope is Russian made with great optics. Although I would have preferred a linear stage and electric light source, this one is more than adequate and capable of seeing bacteria. My needs are more simple, looking at grains of meteor dust from my house gutters is all I need it for. The price...well the chap at the shop wanted £85, yea I bet he did. I struck the deal at £40. He must have taken to my wife's fluttering eye lashes.  

[L8-Nite]

Wow,   that's nice Tony ! 

Last time Dorothy & I flew out of San Francisco, there was a microscope exhibit in the terminal. We arrived early so I had a chance to take some photos of the show cases. Not sure, but I think I uploaded them before either on the SGL Microscope forum, or maybe it was on another site.    Anyway I'll post them in the "South Wales Lounge", to keep this thread on topic.

[L8-Nite]

This morning looked like the begining of a nice day, so my Wife and I decided to postpone our work plans, and head out of town. We ended up in Abergavenny, had lunch, and walked about town. While on my usual hunt for books in charity shops, I happened to catch a glimpse of a small telescope in the back room staff work area. I asked to have a look at it, and needless to say, it came home with us. 

Its a 60mm Prinz Astral Model 100 which has correct image view.  Label states made in Japan  ( Circle K ) 

Just need a few washers for the tripod.

Update:  I took a couple hours break from working on the house today, cleaned up and refinished the little scope. 

Here are some photos. Think it will be a nice little starter scope for our five year old Great Niece, she likes pink.  

[valleyman]

Not sure that its your niece that likes pink Mike    

[L8-Nite]

Sorry Pat, I'm not on that bus.    

[L8-Nite]

Just picked up my order for a piece of plate aluminium and round bar stock.

It will be used to modify a SuperWedge for use with a larger fork mount

[stevetynant]

You need a Len on hand by the sound of it Mike- the wonders that fellah can do with a bit of ali bar lol

[lennylovit]

alu and  bar stock mmmmmmmmmm , tell me more

[L8-Nite]

Well, they say a picture is worth a thousand pence.    Here are three. 

Five 10mm holes for attachment to the wedge, four spacers cut from barstock,  a bit of trim work on the outer edges of the plate, and it should up and running for our October Star Party. 

Edit: Forgot to post photos, duh. 

[lennylovit]

spacers between wedge and plate or on top of plate ? how dose the scope mount ( pic of under side of scope plz ) , looks like a simple job , cnc will be free later today wheel hubs for my steam traction engine will be finished

[L8-Nite]

The scope is in storage at the moment, but the mount attaches with a single long 3/8" bolt (or piece of all thread & nut) going through the center of both plates. I'll have everything marked for layout.

Edit: Spacers to be "between" both plates, about  1 3/8" or 35mm high, four of them.

[valleyman]

Celestron Nextstar C8 SE

So that's messed it up for tomorrow night   :evil: 

Pat 

[L8-Nite]

Celestron Nextstar C8 SE

So that's messed it up for tomorrow night   :evil: 

Pat 

Come on now Pat, think good thoughts.  

[L8-Nite]

Found these rolls of closed cell foam at a " 99 Pence" shop in Bridgend.  Looked good for making dew shields, lining cases, etc. 

Described as a Closed Cell Foam Mat -  500 mm  x  1000 mm  x  4 mm  thick. 

I have use for one, but it picked up a couple extras at the bargin price.

[Freff]

They look useful Mike, I'll have at least 1 if I may, 2 if nobody else wants any.

They will be great for lining my boxes. Thanks.

[lennylovit]

Put me down for one plz Mike

[L8-Nite]

Ok Tony, Lenny, you got um !