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diy widefield binos

Horwig

By Horwig
in DIY Astronomer

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Horwig

Horwig

Posted
Posted

Having seen this thread via the binoculars section here:

http://www.cloudynights.com/topic/536652-home-built-nikon-2x54-widefield-binos/

 

Guess what Santa's little helpers delivered today:

01.jpg

Daylight use is promising, will be interesting to see how they perform under the stars. I wear glasses for distance viewing, not a very strong prescription, so lets see how they work.

The objective diameter happens to match my inter pupil distance spot on, so I'm just going to glue them together, but will try them out with tape first, just in case.

 

Huw

 

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Horwig

Horwig

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No stars tonight, but I have some street lights on a hill about three miles away. Without glasses, I am just on the edge of focus with these lenses, with glasses, I can get focus, but it's not at infinity, does that make sense, looking at the lights without the lenses, letting my eyes focus, and then putting the lenses to my eyes, I have to focus my eyes to a different plane.

Will need more thinking and playing.

 

Huw

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Horwig

Horwig

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It cleared up, I'm trying not to be too excited, but what they said in the film is true, 'my God, it's full of stars!'

Without glasses, I'm just out of focus, but with glasses it all comes alive. the skies cleared after a heavy shower, and transparency was abysmal, but with and without the binos was a relevation, on Orion, with unaided vision Sigma Orionis was not visible, but bright with the binos, as was the Orion nebula. I think I was making out quite an extended oval om the Andromeda galaxy, but nothing at all with unaided vision.

Reckon these are going to be good.

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PeterW

PeterW

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Find the 3d printed mounts on thingiverse and use 3dhubs to print them for you. I have designed some lens shields to help keep out straylight. They definitely make the sky better (more stars regardless of your light pollution)... can only imagine what would happen at a REALLY dark sky!

i wouldn't say the sky is *full* of stars, you need different tech to get that effect, but these are a real bang for the buck!!

 

Good that Santa could find some of those lenses for you!

 

peter

 

IMG_9964.JPG

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Horwig

Horwig

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Right, I'm not going to rush into this, so for the time being, a bit of self amalgamating tape, insulating tape and two cable ties are going to do have to make do:

02.jpg03.jpg

The self amalg is there solely to stop my glasses being scratched!

The insulating tape was to hold them steady whilst I tightened the cable ties, and the cable ties are doing a grand job of holding the lenses in collimation, just been trying them out now, spot on, well impressed.

The only improvement I can see useful at the moment would be a light shield to stop stray light going around them directly into my glasses.

 

Huw

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  • 2 months later...
Racey

Racey

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On 21/12/2016 at 20:00, Horwig said:

Right, I'm not going to rush into this, so for the time being, a bit of self amalgamating tape, insulating tape and two cable ties are going to do have to make do:

02.jpg03.jpg

The self amalg is there solely to stop my glasses being scratched!

The insulating tape was to hold them steady whilst I tightened the cable ties, and the cable ties are doing a grand job of holding the lenses in collimation, just been trying them out now, spot on, well impressed.

The only improvement I can see useful at the moment would be a light shield to stop stray light going around them directly into my glasses.

 

Huw

Huw

Just managed to track down 2 of the lenses as well...

May I ask, did your set advance beyond the cable tied version ? Did you use 3dhubs to print the plans from Thingverse ?

Simon

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Horwig

Horwig

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On 13/03/2017 at 15:21, Racey said:

Huw

Just managed to track down 2 of the lenses as well...

May I ask, did your set advance beyond the cable tied version ? Did you use 3dhubs to print the plans from Thingverse ?

Simon

No I did not, if it aint broke etc...

 

Huw

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Racey

Racey

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On 14/03/2017 at 17:33, Horwig said:

No I did not, if it aint broke etc...

 

Huw

If you did fancy "upgrading" I did get the plans printed Huw. Turned out well...

 

IMG_8445.thumb.JPG.7789cd4b3a44da73f27409c35b27523b.JPG

 

IMG_8446.thumb.JPG.39f53376dfc8cc3365a932fbbca91655.JPG

image.thumb.jpg.6cbb34cd532f69fe6de181b2c535d9a0.jpg

 

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Racey

Racey

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1 hour ago, PeterW said:

Looking good! I have some prototype light shields that go on the front. 

 

peterW

I did see those Peter. But I couldn't find them on the Thingiverse... They looked mighty impressive. All you need is a U-Boat and a big knitted Polar neck !!!

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PeterW

PeterW

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... cos I have not yet got round to creating a thingiverse account. They are "mark 1"... there are bits I could improve, but they work. PM your email address and I can email you the files or maybe I could upload them to a post?!

 

peter

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Racey

Racey

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10 hours ago, PeterW said:

... cos I have not yet got round to creating a thingiverse account. They are "mark 1"... there are bits I could improve, but they work. PM your email address and I can email you the files or maybe I could upload them to a post?!

 

peter

Done... With a second PM to add the email I forgot in the first !! :rolleyes2:

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Horwig

Horwig

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On 16/03/2017 at 15:05, Racey said:

If you did fancy "upgrading" I did get the plans printed Huw. Turned out well...

Nice, how do the Nikons fit into the shells?

I really like the eye shields, trouble for me is that I need glasses, so on mine I've wound some self amalgamating tape round the back element of the Nikons to let me get my glasses as close as possible without scratching.

Huw

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Racey

Racey

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32 minutes ago, Horwig said:

Nice, how do the Nikons fit into the shells?

I really like the eye shields, trouble for me is that I need glasses, so on mine I've wound some self amalgamating tape round the back element of the Nikons to let me get my glasses as close as possible without scratching.

Huw

Printed carefully, using Z-ABS Huw, the tolerances are such that the lenses merely push into the housings and stay there. 

For the eyecups, for spectacle wearers, I'd suggest sourcing a 32 / 33mm diameter rubber eyecups. The sort Baader provide as after market options. Those would fit over the flange just below the screw thread where the rear caps fit. 

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Horwig

Horwig

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1 minute ago, Racey said:

Printed carefully, using Z-ABS Huw, the tolerances are such that the lenses merely push into the housings and stay there. 

For the eyecups, for spectacle wearers, I'd suggest sourcing a 32 / 33mm diameter rubber eyecups. The sort Baader provide as after market options. Those would fit over the flange just below the screw thread where the rear caps fit. 

Thanks Racey, now as I don't do any 3d printing, where would I get some made?

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Racey

Racey

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1 minute ago, Horwig said:

Thanks Racey, now as I don't do any 3d printing, where would I get some made?

Neither do I. I went on to 3DHubs.com. 

I loaded up the designs I wanted printed. I had got those from the Thingiverse site. 

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1560347

The zip file has all his revisions. So don't send the whole lot off. I only uploaded the "New versions with strap mount" for left and right and the eyecups I wanted. 

You then can select who you want to print it. I used the person listed as PrintHubLondon. A lady called Semra. She posted free of charge 1st class. She's worth using as she did mine so well and she's just done another set as a friend wanted me to build some for him. 

 

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PeterW

PeterW

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I printed the eyecups slightly under size (scaled them slightly) in PLA (haven't got the flexible material printing yet), then I put a saw cut in, the flex holds them in place nicely. Printed myself some for my other bins too. Made them in dark grey too... someone used up all the black!!

 

cheers

 

peter

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Racey

Racey

Posted
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17 hours ago, PeterW said:

I printed the eyecups slightly under size (scaled them slightly) in PLA (haven't got the flexible material printing yet), then I put a saw cut in, the flex holds them in place nicely. Printed myself some for my other bins too. Made them in dark grey too... someone used up all the black!!

 

cheers

 

peter

I had the eyecups printed as per design. I was advised that printing in flexible materials is a bit hit and miss and ridiculously expensive comparatively. (Maybe because the Hub I used doesn't do it ??)

We stuck to the Z-ABS and I heated the inner ring with a heat gun until it softened. Then, before they cooled and hardened, I slipped them over the backs of the lenses...

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