Moonraker-ing my ED80!

[parallaxerr]

I've been lusting over Moonraker scopes for some time which gave me the idea to add a few extra bits to my ED80 for the Moonraker effect. After returning a recent scope purchase I had a little cash lying around so I decided to treat the scope to some moonlite goodness, especially as FLO had red CF2's on sale, a perfect match for my red Altair diagonal...

I wanted to add some nice anodised & stainless bolts but the moonlite, being made in the US, uses imperial bolts and I couldnt find a decent source for nice ones in the UK. Soooooo....drill & tap time! I know, I thought I was mad too but having drilled and tapped many hundreds of holes in $30million aircraft, I figured I could manage it. The #8-32 UNC bolts used on the flange mount have a major diameter of 4.1mm so I used a 4.2mm drill to clear and tapped M5...

I fitted stainless M5 bolts with red anodised washers to the focuser flange. I also replaced the front bolts in the laser finder with M4 red anodised and the rear alignment screws with M6 stainless.

Here's the result, not quite moonraker but I think it looks nice. I need to do something with the remaining white parts and maybe I'll price up a nice set of polished/anodised moonraker tube rings, hmmmmm. Something to fill the other finder shoe may also be in order!

[John]

Very nice !

I have the same focuser on my ED120. The matching diagonal panels are a nice touch too !

 

[StevieDvd]

I'd love to get the dew shield on my ED80 pair pimped to match the moonlite focuser but more importantly to get a cap that does not fall off all the time

[Daniel-K]

Some red CNC tube rings would look sweet.

[parallaxerr]

On 02/03/2016 at 19:49, John said:

Very nice !

I have the same focuser on my ED120. The matching diagonal panels are a nice touch too !

 

Thanks John, the red diagonal came first so kinda sewt the theme!

On 02/03/2016 at 19:59, StevieDvd said:

I'd love to get the dew shield on my ED80 pair pimped to match the moonlite focuser but more importantly to get a cap that does not fall off all the time

I must be lucky with my cap, it stays on "most" of the time! Might try some vinyl wrap on the shield...

On 05/03/2016 at 08:48, Daniel-K said:

Some red CNC tube rings would look sweet.

May have accidentally requested a quote for said items from Moonraker

[Coastliner]

Nice - I have the ED80, can I ask what mount yours is on? I currently have mine on an AZ-EQ5,  is that the 4se mount?

[tooth_dr]

On 02/03/2016 at 19:59, StevieDvd said:

I'd love to get the dew shield on my ED80 pair pimped to match the moonlite focuser but more importantly to get a cap that does not fall off all the time

Glad it's not just mine. I use a piece of insulating tape 1inch long and it grips well enough now to stay on most of the time. 

[Coastliner]

3 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

Glad it's not just mine. I use a piece of insulating tape 1inch long and it grips well enough now to stay on most of the time. 

I used one side of self-ahesive Velcro on mine, a couple of pieces about an inch long, packs it nicely. I'm amazed that these things fall off, the Celestron ones are the same.

[parallaxerr]

41 minutes ago, Coastliner said:

Nice - I have the ED80, can I ask what mount yours is on? I currently have mine on an AZ-EQ5,  is that the 4se mount?

It's the 6/8SE mount. I no longer have this setup but if you're thinking of doing similar, be aware that there are clearance issues with the mount, it would be worse with the 4SE mount.

[Davesellars]

I put the flocking material FLO sell on the inside of the dew-shields on my refractors.  This makes the cap fit very snugly.