D.I.Y Wedge

[paul mc c]

With the price of a wedge for my Meade 8" ,even on ebay going for well over £100,i decided to make my own,it is still rough round the edges but tried it and am actually pleased at the way it has turned out,very solid all made out of 1" marine ply.

I will paint it black and add wing nuts when i get the chance.

[Dave Lloyd]

1 inch ply is pretty rigid. Hope it works well.

[michael8554]

Nice work Paul.

No sign of cameras in your lineup, should be fine for visual use.

I modded my stock Meade wedge incorporating  Megawedge features, but that's for imaging use.

I would suggest larger diameter steel washers on your pivot and locking points.

Michael

[paul mc c]

Thanks Michael,yes i will be adding larger washers and wing nuts when i finish refining it,it was set up to see if it functioned,i will be doing some very basic photography using a dslr,just for fun.

[paul mc c]

Finally painted and ready to go,and all for the hefty price of .......£2.50.

[Peter Drew]

DIY at its best!.   

[fatboy1271]

Looks great! I've roughed out a DIY Wedge for my little Celestron 90SLT. I can barely get 2.5 seconds of exposure of M42 but I was able to get decent 27 second exposures in the Alt/Az before. One thing that is frustrating when reading instructions on setting up Polar Alignment is that I don't have Alt and Az adjustment screws. Without being able to make those adjustments should I ditch the idea of AP on this wedge?

[michael8554]

I may be wrong here, but if the 90SLT previously tracked for 27 seconds on an Alt/Az tripod, then the software must have been driving it in Alt and Az.

A scope on a wedge should only need RA drive, since the wedge removes the need for Az/Dec.

So you need to go into the scope menus and select Polar mode instead of Alt/Az mode - but your scope's software might not have that option.

Yes the lack of adjustment screws means you will have to make subtle adjustments to the length of your tripod legs to get the right "tilt" - not easy!

Michael

[fatboy1271]

I may be wrong here, but if the 90SLT previously tracked for 27 seconds on an Alt/Az tripod, then the software must have been driving it in Alt and Az.

A scope on a wedge should only need RA drive, since the wedge removes the need for Az/Dec.

So you need to go into the scope menus and select Polar mode instead of Alt/Az mode - but your scope's software might not have that option.

Yes the lack of adjustment screws means you will have to make subtle adjustments to the length of your tripod legs to get the right "tilt" - not easy!

Michael

Thanks Michael! You are correct in your thinking.

When I got the 27 sec exposure I had the tripod level and done the SkyAlign; however, I should point out that my 27 seconds also got me a little bit of rotating stars because of the Alt/Az alignment.

I do have Polar Align on my hand controller, NexStar+, and since building my wedge I have been doing alignments using it. It has worked best in EQ North Two Star Align vs the one I want to use which is EQ North AutoAlign.

Since I have no Alt/Az adjustment screws if I make the adjustments via the tripod legs will it not matter that my tripod is then not level?

5x30 sec exposure of M42; Alt/Az tracking and stacked:

[fatboy1271]

I didn't mean to ninja this thread, sorry about that! That being said I've read on another forum that the tripod being level is all that important so I will try out the leg adjustments this weekend!!!

[happy-kat]

With reference to my barn door which sits on a wedge, the angle of my wedge means for my location afaik it points to Polaris so I only have to alter the left and right position to line up in my case the hinge at Polaris. The mount has to be level so I have leveling feet and a 2 way spirit level.