Baader White Light Solar Filter for Vixen 80M

[SnakeyJ]

 I got a large cardboard tube through the post (shower curtain rail from an Amazon seller - sure the postage must have been more than I paid for the whole item!).   I was about to dump this, when I 

noticed that the plastic end caps looked a possible candidate as an end cap or plug for my Vixen 80m or the Telementor.      I tried this out this afternoon and discovered this is a remarkably snug and secure fit over the dewshield of the 80M.

With this in mind I decided to knock up the solar filter that I've been meaning to do since getting the scope (inspired by posts about a new big AR rounding the limb).

Nothing too high tech, but quite pleased with the finished result, using scrap materials that I had to hand:

And finally mounted on the 80M - just need to find a short vixen dovetail bar to mount this on the telementor mount until I can get a AZ4 or similar.   Looking at 12dstring FOV calculator, my 8mm BST should give me the full solar disk in all it's glory, I should also be able to get about 2000x2000 pixels on the 1100D!

No doubt the weather will change and we'll have the wettest April on record

[Stu]

Looking good Jake!! Glad to see the old girl being cared for.

Did you get the projection screen through?

[SnakeyJ]

Looking good Jake!! Glad to see the old girl being cared for.

Did you get the projection screen through?

Stu,

I'm sorry not to have messaged, but this had completely slipped my mind.   It arrived last week in a very fetching and sturdy triangular package, prompting much speculation/interest from the kids!   Typical Vixen quality and very nice to have - thanks for sending this on!

I managed to source an original Vixen dovetail from ENS last night, which completes the scope as original.     I'm currently toying with the idea of replacing the stock focuser with a GSO 2" monorail or equivalent, though a dedicated AZ mount is higher up the agenda.

Hopefully I will get first light on it this week and get a chance to compare it with the Telementor, provided my M44 to 1.25" adaptors arrive.   Can the smaller Zeiss 63mm objective get the better over the Japanese 80mm?

[Stu]

Thanks Jake, no problem at all, I know you have your hands full over there ;-)

Glad you liked the packaging, it sort of defined itself by the awkward shape so I just went with it :-).

Will be interesting to see the results of Zeiss vs Vixen!

[SnakeyJ]

I finally got my first light with this scope yesterday and was spoiled with stunning detail in AR2339 - http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/243916-first-light-vixen-a80m-and-first-white-light/

The cell performed very well, but I need to make something a little neater for the finder scope, than half a pair of baader eclipse glasses and lots of electrical tape