Reticule eyepiece

[gooseholla]

Hi,

Considering the cost of a reticule eyepiece - bet it illuminated or cross hair - I was wondering: would a surplus cheap £5 25mm eyepiece with a carefully marked dot in the centre of the lens work just as well? I know the crosshairs can show the travel of an object and allow for easier corrections, but I am thinking more of for lining an object up perfectly centre in the eyepiece for aliging a goto mount.

[Merlin66]

The "dot" would need to be on/at the focal plane of the eyepiece...where the aperture stop is positioned.

You could make up a small ring with a couple of fine cross-wires ( the fine transformer wire from ol' transistor radios works well) and position this inside the eyepiece at the focus????

[dmahon]

The illumination really helps, plus you need to be in focus. Painting a dot won't work very well I fear.

Cheapest place for them used to be Pulsar Opical, but I think they have increased the price.

[gooseholla]

Ah well... was worth a try in the never ending quest to save money!

[rwilkey]

I have the 12.5mm reticle eyepiece and have to say it is superb and a great help, even though I only use manual scopes and use it for finder alignment etc.

[lukebl]

I remember back in the day (1970s), I tried a project published in Sky and telescope or something which used one of your own hairs to make a reticule, by gluing then in an X in an old eyepiece! You had to get the position precise to ensure the hairs were in focus, but it worked as far as I recall.

[Merlin66]

Only problem using hair, is that it sags with humidity.

The fine transformer wire works better...same principle.

[JamesF]

How much is "too much" for the illuminated reticle EP?

I recently purchased one from Sky's the Limit (or whatever they're called) for about £36. It's perhaps not as well-engineered as an £80 one, but it does the job for me.

James

[ollypenrice]

I bought a Meade one years ago and it was both expensive and awful, with black paint kicking about on the inside. I can't think why I didn't send it back.

I also have a home made one with wire cross hair. It isn't bad but sags in hot weather! The one that comes with the Altair Astro finderscope is pretty good.

Olly

[Mark Scott]

How much is "too much" for the illuminated reticle EP?

I recently purchased one from Sky's the Limit (or whatever they're called) for about £36. It's perhaps not as well-engineered as an £80 one, but it does the job for me.

James

I new I saw one around that price somewhere. Just checked for you and it's £37.99. Looks the same as my one (mead or skywatchers). I paid about £85 around 5 years ago.