This week I have been mostly...

[Joe_L]

...taking apart some old binoculars.

Had an old pair of 8x40 bins with a knackered focus mechanism. I thought one tube might make a visual finder as an alternative to the red dot on my Nextstart 6se. I've got an old diagonal so I pulled out the prism to lengthen the light path, but that wasn't enough so I chopped the front section of the tube. Seems to focus ok, but now I have come to realise the diagonal's not up to the job. Need to look out for another one. Trouble is the bins' eyepiece is 0.96 so I guess will be hard to find a suitable diagonal.

Cut some angle aluminum bar as a mounting bracket plus a small plate with 2 screws which can be screwed in differentially so the alignment angle can be trimmed. This works for one axis, the other is set rather coarsely with a screw in a sliding slot, crude but just about does the job.

The other tube of the bins I'm planning to mount alongside with a second webcam so I have a video finder for remote control. Had a brief trial last night: It's a great help as it allowed me to bring Saturn back into the field of view of the main webcam chip fairly easily without lots of running in and out of the house (Phillips 900nc at the moment which has a very narrow FOV) .

This is my first optical project, the only other thing I've attempted so far is a dew heater with a string of resistors. The binocular dual-finder needs lots of refinement yet but its a tester project to get a feel for things. Next project might be a reticule for the visual tube. And of course it needs some black spray paint...

Joe

[Gweedo]

sounds interesting - any photos?

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice project. 0.965" to 1.25" adapters do exist (I might even have one lying around somewhere, if you need one, give me a shout), and there are diagonals for that size too. Alternatively, you could use a 1.25" barrel of a defunct EP (I got some from useless HM9 and H20 EPs that came with a little scope that was otherwise useful (as a finder). If I were you, I would get a 1.25" 90 deg Amici prism, which will turn this into a right-angled correct-image (RACI) finder. This is so much nicer that using a regular star diagonal (and also a bit better than the 45deg Amici prisms).

[Macavity]

The (boring, neglected!) wood / metalwork on the internals of my observatory. Setting up cables / software "properly"? Reading program documentation re. EQMOD - Working out strategy for retaining "settings", distributing applications? Refining my naff polar alignments... Trying out AlignMaster (qv) this time!

Next up, rebuilding my pier top. Fiddling with an N x 60 "super-finder".

So also INTERESTED in fast / budget electronic finder development!

(Michael, if you add cross-hairs to that eyepiece, do "publish" how?)

Some (occasional) nights of Astronomy. As a result of all the "outdoor activities", peering at this screen through streaming eyes! "Hay fever" - Another dubious feature of our delayed / minimalist "Summers"?

[Peter Drew]

This week I've been digging out and laying foundations for a housing to get my 30" Dob back into service.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Apart from debugging code, I have been building an alt-az mount (still putting finishing touches on it)

[Joe_L]

sounds interesting - any photos?

Here's some photos

Nice project. 0.965" to 1.25" adapters do exist (I might even have one lying around somewhere, if you need one, give me a shout), and there are diagonals for that size too. Alternatively, you could use a 1.25" barrel of a defunct EP (I got some from useless HM9 and H20 EPs that came with a little scope that was otherwise useful (as a finder). If I were you, I would get a 1.25" 90 deg Amici prism, which will turn this into a right-angled correct-image (RACI) finder. This is so much nicer that using a regular star diagonal (and also a bit better than the 45deg Amici prisms).

Thanks for the offer Michael - first of all I need to decide whether to carry on using the 0.96 eyepiece that came with the bins as I've cut the lengths to match. That would require a 0.96/0.96 diagonal provided I can find one. If I can't find one the alternative of going to a 0.96/1.25 is quite attractive but I may need to alter the path length again depending on the EP.