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New Focusing Aid

George

By George
in Imaging - Discussion

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Psychobilly

Psychobilly

Posted
Posted

I saw Ford Prefect's mask for his soon-to-arrive SkyWatcher 190mm MakNewt, it looked really good! (His other half also thought it would make a great BBQ Grill! :( )

Yours should be at SCE by now Steve...

Peter

I havbe Just posted Rob H's pair of 14" monsters and that only came to £8.25 for next day SD did take a load more packing tape though... got some better estimates on prices as well so should be considerably cheaper than Spike-A - although they have reduced the prices of the larger masks...It will be interestign to see how much the Kendrik ones are from Altair Astro but provided people are happy to paint them themselves I think you might like the prices... paintint is provign to be thePITA but I haev been pointed inthe direction of a chemical coating system that looks "intersting" provided people can live with the finish...

Someones just asked for a set for a 36" F15....

Again apologise for posting as Psychobilly - Billysbits goes live once i have confirmed pricing - each mask costs a different amount to produce as its processing time thats the biggest percentage of the cost...scrap has so far been very low but the engineering company have to budget in for that...

Merry Christmas to you all and dont spray the paint near the Candles or the Flamming Yule log...

Billy...

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Psychobilly

Psychobilly

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Beamish please let me know if it doesnt turn up i'll send another...

I def remeber handing it over in the post office but because it went "letter" psot I dont have a slip... yours was one of the three shipped on the Friday night...the post office wanted £4.80 to send then SD even though it was only classed as a standard letter ... OK when they are being paid for but not when I am covering the running around, material , postage and packaging upfront.. not having a rant honest :(

Can people let me know when they get them so I can tick them of the delivered list...

Thanks Billy...

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Jeff RV

Jeff RV

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OK its been a while so stick with me...outgoing PM limits mean I cant get in touch with you all by PM...

So if your on the list and want them before crimbo then I can send them SD up until Tuesday 12 am

I have....

Meade LX10" 2 Pairs of F6.3 & F10 ? & ?

Meade LX12" 2 Pairs of F6.3 & F10 - Jeff RV and Ron (Barkis)

Meade LX14" 1 Pair of F6.3 and F10 - Know they are For Rob Hodgkinson...

Skywatcher250 Steppenwolf , (George & ?)

GSO 8" F4 x 3 - MartinB , TJ & ?

WO 102 x 2 - NickH & ?

WO110 x 2 - ? & ?

Tis a little hectic here at the moment...and my 8" SCT is feeling awfully inadequate ahvign been dwarfed by the 14" masks

Billy...

Fantastic Billy, Wow!! these are going like hotcakes, and my name is on the list :hello1:

No postal rush though for me mate!! no scope at mo :crybaby: I'm in the wrong country.

Jeff.

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Psychobilly

Psychobilly

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Steppenwolfs and Georges SW250 masks have been shipped SD this morning and A replacement Proper ED80 as I had mis-labelled the pack and he ended up with a WO Megrez 72 instead - i told him to hang onto it till he gets a decent STR :( - but if someones after a mask for a Megrez72 he has permission to pass it on... NickH's went first calss as it was either heavy lettter rate of £4.60 SD ...

Billy...

No more packing and posting till the new year now... when i'll do a list of whats left...

Cant remeber who i did the 10" LX masks for... A Pair of masks covers f3.3 - f10 one dosed f3.3 & f10 ( first order at f10 and 3rd order at f3.3) and the other one does f5 and f6.3.

Billy...

Lets hope we all get a chance to try them out over crimbo...

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RobH

RobH

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There was the shortest break in the clouds as I was getting back from taking the hound for his stroll, so I just had to get the gear going....no chance of any imaging but a chance to try out the ZS80 mask.

The scope was still set from my cone neb imaging so I put the mask on and had a look.

Focus was originally done manually using Maxims focus screen and the FWHM and half flux diameter readouts.

Looks like this'll be a really good tool Peter....thanks mate and happy Christmas :(

Cheers

Rob

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Psychobilly

Psychobilly

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Looks pretty good Rob just hope those 14 " monsters will be as good :(

Have you painted it yet? And did your try adjusting the focus to see how sensitive the center line position is to focus changes?

The big advantage is even if you still use Maxim or other focus tools you can "dial" the focus in quickly whenever you make changes to the setup...After a few uses its amazing how you get to know how far out you are and which direction you need to move...

I just trust the mask now :D

Billy...

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RobH

RobH

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Hello Peter,

No, I didn't change focus as I'm still in the middle of gathering data on a couple of targets. I just thought I'd check and it looks spot on to me.

It'll really speed the focussing process up for sure, no matter what method is used.

I'm looking forward to testing it on the 14, and seeing how good robofocus performs, and how quickly, in comparison.

Haven't painted it, and knowing me, it may not happen, despite the best intentions :(

I bent 3 tabs over, and bent 2 of them slightly inwards, as you suggested in an earlier post, but left the 4th unbent. It makes a good handle to pick up the mask, although I won't do this with the 14 as the weight would be too much, and I suspect the tab would bend.

It was just nice to be doing scope stuff under the stars for half an hour....jokes' over, can we have some clear winter sky please :D

Cheers

Rob

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Psychobilly

Psychobilly

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When i bend the tabs inward i use wto pairs of pliers so taht i can put an outwards bend on the last 2mm of the tab this means that the mask "slips" over the OTA . Like the idea of leaving the 4th tab as a handle waht i coulld do... is move to 3 fixign tabs at 120 degree spacings and add a forth tab that hasn't got the bend detail as a handle mid way between 2 off the tabs... this would also take up less space on the sheet and make for more efficient material usasge...it all depends on how much extra work this is for the engineerign company... I am hopign that the designs produced are all fien or only minor tweaks and we can see about going into production in the new year...

We are also lookign at chemical blacking the masks rather than painting which means there will be no chance of paint flakes etc... this might give a marbled finish a bit like you get on some older gun barrels...as it can accentuate the "grain" in the material...

Thanks for the update hopefully some more people will get a chance to try them soon

Clear skies would be a real bonus got so many things I want to try .. my last imaging session was 1-2 of December...

Billy...

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Psychobilly

Psychobilly

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Posted

Thanks all for letting me know they have arrived "safely" ..... if I can get away with packing them like that then it will all help to keep the costs down... I picked up some "Fragile" tape this morning but that might just be a bit of a red rag to a bull....

Looks like there might be a chance of some viewing with clearance spreading from the SE on boxing day... not forecast to reach me though :(

Cheers all

Billy.

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