New toy - more work...

[ChrisLX200]

They got you by the short 'n curlies with these accessories, I bought a focal reducer for my refractor which is fine, but it's going to need more spacers and connector adapters to make it useful. Just glad I have a lathe and can make what I need because those little bits are expensive, and I can't even find an adapter listed to connect the 65mm reducer to the Atik EFW2. ! So I'm just measuring up what I need to machine at the moment.

ChrisH

[Davey-T]

Seriously thinking of buying a small precision lathe for this sort of stuff , recently purchased an adaptor from TS, basically just a piece of tube about 20mm long with an external T thread on it cost 32 euros 

Haven't used a lathe since I was at school, great big things left over from war time manufacturing, so might be a bit of a learning curve. 

Dave

[ChrisLX200]

Although machining the bits I need isn't a problem I cannot anodise them at the moment because I no longer have the kit set up for it. A bit of matt black paint will sort the inside out though to make it anti-reflective. If you get a lathe don't get the cheapest thing you can find, you just need read Gina's thread about the Warco saga to realise why!

ChrisH

[lensman57]

Although machining the bits I need isn't a problem I cannot anodise them at the moment because I no longer have the kit set up for it. A bit of matt black paint will sort the inside out though to make it anti-reflective. If you get a lathe don't get the cheapest thing you can find, you just need read Gina's thread about the Warco saga to realise why!

ChrisH

I have a Taig and a Sherline , fine for up to 40mm or so but beyond that the precision goes out of the window. Anything larger and I have start oiling my 1947 Myford ML7. Shame that they are out of the buisness now.

Regards,

A.G

[laser_jock99]

I regret selling my Myford Super 7- quality piece of kit......

[lensman57]

I regret selling my Myford Super 7- quality piece of kit......

Hope you got a decent price for it, have you seen the prices of the decent ones recently?

A.G

[Davey-T]

I have a place near me that sells second hand equipment, trouble is I don't know enough about them to avoid buying a lemon.

Dave

[ChrisLX200]

If you have the space a (good quality) big lathe can be picked up for peanuts, it's the small Myfords and Boxfords that fetch stupid prices.

.oOo.

Well I finished the tricky bit - the adapter between the FR and the filterwheel, it's now in the oven having the enamel paint hardened off (don't tell the missus!). The other extension is simple to make, just a tube with a 2-1/4" x 24tpi thread each end, and the length is not critical but I will include a facility to mount the 2" LPAS filter internally.

ChrisH

[Davey-T]

If you have the space a (good quality) big lathe can be picked up for peanuts, it's the small Myfords and Boxfords that fetch stupid prices.

ChrisH

I'd have the space if I chucked some stuff out, remember the ones at school had big cast iron frames bolted to the floor, getting it to the bottom of the garden could be a problem, do they break down or do you have to move the whole lump ?

Dave

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MYFORD-ML7-240-VOLT-TUNING-LATHE-/171324364391?pt=UK_Home_Garden_PowerTools_SM&clk_rvr_id=631512097468

How about this, is it suitable, a good price, like to find one nearer to home as I'd have to collect it.

[ChrisLX200]

I'd have the space if I chucked some stuff out, remember the ones at school had big cast iron frames bolted to the floor, getting it to the bottom of the garden could be a problem, do they break down or do you have to move the whole lump ?

Dave

Usually they are moved intact, on a pallet with a forklift or something. Breaking it down is not impossible but most sellers will not provide that facility so that's left to you to sort out if you need to pick it up yourself. The best you can get is a pallet delivery, they turn up with a truck and say 'where you want it mate?' and promptly dump it on your driveway You see a fair few on auction sites being sold by dealers at laughable asking prices, these have initially been purchased for their scap iron value only and the dealer tries to sell it on at huge profit (to them). To an engineering firm they have no value whatsoever as a working machine, they simply don't exist as an asset, especially so if the firm has closed its business like so many manufacturing firms have recently. So the dealer with the facilities to move such things is on a winner - asking 1k or 2K for a hunk of scrap. If I had the room for it I would prefer one of these machines instead of the little Myford I have now.

ChrisH

[lensman57]

I'd have the space if I chucked some stuff out, remember the ones at school had big cast iron frames bolted to the floor, getting it to the bottom of the garden could be a problem, do they break down or do you have to move the whole lump ?

Dave

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MYFORD-ML7-240-VOLT-TUNING-LATHE-/171324364391?pt=UK_Home_Garden_PowerTools_SM&clk_rvr_id=631512097468

How about this, is it suitable, a good price, like to find one nearer to home as I'd have to collect it.

Hi Dave,

That is a good price for the machine as long as the base is included and the bed is not too worn out nearthe chuck end , that is where most of the work is done. I took the motor and the end piece off and I could lift it into my car, ML7 that is, the only thin is thatthis one does not have a clutch but those are quite rare as it was an add on by Myford.

 Sorry I have to remember that this  is an AP related forum not a model engineering one.

Regards,

A.G

[Davey-T]

Thanks for the reply,will have to start new thread in non astro, can pay up to about £1000.00 if it's local and worth it, just something else eating into my 10 Micron savings

Dave

[nightfisher]

I wish i had the money and the space for a Colchester Bantom manual turning lathe, i have a project in mind but no facility's 

[ChrisLX200]

Work completed

The new imaging train with the reducer now consists of 4 components, I had to make (from the left) numbers 1 and 3 - the adapter between Atik EFW2 and reducer (incorporating a facility to mount my LPAS filter internally), and an extention between reducer and the TV IS nosepiece.

The adapter between filter wheel and reducer, only a painted finish (inside matt black outside black synthetic enamel):

So assembled together they look like this, and the reducer spacing is correct at 55mm:

Have to keep my fingers crossed the images look OK

ChrisH