What did the postman bring?

[Saganite]

16 hours ago, paul mc c said:

Just picked these up, Meade 8.8mm smooth side uwa, in perfect condition, always wanted one of these and a 6.3 reducer......not the best photo but..

I recognize the 8.8 Meade Paul and I can vouch for its excellence !

Enjoy it. Two in a bino would have been incredible if I had eyes like Gollum...

[TerryMcK]

I have just had notification that my Lakeside motorized focuser kit is on its way and should be with me Friday - thanks FLO - also found that Ekos has a Lakeside driver built in for it in the Raspberry PI4

In anticipation my mount has a loose USB B cable (of the right length) ready and waiting to be hooked up.

Edited February 13, 2020 by TerryMcK

[paul mc c]

8 minutes ago, Saganite said:

I recognize the 8.8 Meade Paul and I can vouch for its excellence !

Enjoy it. Two in a bino would have been incredible if I had eyes like Gollum...

Yes,bought of a good guy, Mike who is very fussy about his eyepieces, 2 weeks ago and still hav'nt had a chance to use it yet.

[johninderby]

Postie just dropped off my new saddle for the Rowan AZ100 mount. 👍🏻

[Saganite]

A Moonlite stepper motor for the Moonlite focuser on my 5" f15 refractor. With such a long tube it is not possible to focus without the image dancing around, and on high powers is annoying to say the least, so this I hope will vastly improve if not eliminate the problem. 

[Sky-searcher]

Hyperflex zoom arrived today thanks to FLO. Purchased one to check out the quality, as want a pair for binoviewing. 🤞

[Alan White]

1 hour ago, Saganite said:

A Moonlite stepper motor for the Moonlite focuser on my 5" f15 refractor. With such a long tube it is not possible to focus without the image dancing around, and on high powers is annoying to say the least, so this I hope will vastly improve if not eliminate the problem. 

Now that combination is a thing of beauty.
 

[AdeKing]

2 hours ago, Saganite said:

A Moonlite stepper motor for the Moonlite focuser on my 5" f15 refractor. With such a long tube it is not possible to focus without the image dancing around, and on high powers is annoying to say the least, so this I hope will vastly improve if not eliminate the problem. 

Love the polished finish on the Moonlite Steve.

I picked up one of the steppers attached to a single speed Moonlite for my Starwave f/11 which is tad under mounted on the EQ5.

Its made a huge difference to the useability of my setup. 

My example has unfortunately got quite a bit of backlash in the stepper gearbox, but by listening to the noise coming from the motor, I know when the backlash has been taken up and the focuser is about to start moving again now I've used it a few times.

I'll be interested to hear how much nicer it makes your viewing experience with the f/15, that must be a Looooooooonnnnnnngggggggggg tube, what do you have it mounted on?

Ade

[Telescope40]

3 hours ago, Saganite said:

A Moonlite stepper motor for the Moonlite focuser on my 5" f15 refractor. With such a long tube it is not possible to focus without the image dancing around, and on high powers is annoying to say the least, so this I hope will vastly improve if not eliminate the problem. 

Hello Steve. Nice looking set up. I’ve got the same SV finder. As per AdeK. 
would love a few shots of the whole scope in these photos. Curious as to how the finder bracket is attached to the OTA. Pre drilled holes maybe. 

Regards. John 

[Saganite]

4 hours ago, Alan White said:

Now that combination is a thing of beauty.
 

Thank you Alan.  I have to agree...

[Saganite]

2 hours ago, Telescope40 said:

Hello Steve. Nice looking set up. I’ve got the same SV finder. As per AdeK. 
would love a few shots of the whole scope in these photos. Curious as to how the finder bracket is attached to the OTA. Pre drilled holes maybe. 

Regards. John 

Hi John, 

I will pm you with some images.

The finder foot is held in place with two set screws through drilled holes, and nuts on the inside. The focuser of course was removed to achieve this.

[Saganite]

3 hours ago, AdeKing said:

Love the polished finish on the Moonlite Steve.

I picked up one of the steppers attached to a single speed Moonlite for my Starwave f/11 which is tad under mounted on the EQ5.

Its made a huge difference to the useability of my setup. 

My example has unfortunately got quite a bit of backlash in the stepper gearbox, but by listening to the noise coming from the motor, I know when the backlash has been taken up and the focuser is about to start moving again now I've used it a few times.

I'll be interested to hear how much nicer it makes your viewing experience with the f/15, that must be a Looooooooonnnnnnngggggggggg tube, what do you have it mounted on?

Ade

Hi Ade,

I bought this scope from Dave (f15 Rules ) just over 5 years ago. and it was he who had the polished chrome Moonlite done, and it is pretty gorgeous. The tube is 6" diameter and 1930mm long, and with such a long moment arm, even on an EQ6 it takes 2 to 3 seconds to settle, which is not bad, but I get the same waggle when focusing even using the 10;1 reduction, and on high powers it is frustrating. Now I will not have to touch the scope to focus so I am pretty excited at the prospect. I will let you know.

[Stu]

4 minutes ago, Saganite said:

Hi Ade,

I bought this scope from Dave (f15 Rules ) just over 5 years ago. and it was he who had the polished chrome Moonlite done, and it is pretty gorgeous. The tube is 6" diameter and 1930mm long, and with such a long moment arm, even on an EQ6 it takes 2 to 3 seconds to settle, which is not bad, but I get the same waggle when focusing even using the 10;1 reduction, and on high powers it is frustrating. Now I will not have to touch the scope to focus so I am pretty excited at the prospect. I will let you know.

I found the same with my Vixen 150ED on an AZEQ6. Even on a Meade Giant tripod there was some vibration when focusing so I fitted a Baader Steeldrive to it and it really helped. Hopefully you will find just the same!

[CraigT82]

Same with my Fullerscope. The 1.7m plastic tube shakes around when touched... No matter how solidly mounted. Motor focus is essential and makes an otherwise unusable scope a dream to use! 

[John]

12 minutes ago, Saganite said:

Hi Ade,

I bought this scope from Dave (f15 Rules ) just over 5 years ago. and it was he who had the polished chrome Moonlite done, and it is pretty gorgeous. The tube is 6" diameter and 1930mm long, and with such a long moment arm, even on an EQ6 it takes 2 to 3 seconds to settle, which is not bad, but I get the same waggle when focusing even using the 10;1 reduction, and on high powers it is frustrating. Now I will not have to touch the scope to focus so I am pretty excited at the prospect. I will let you know.

Similar experience here with my Istar 150mm F/12. Even an EQ6 with Meade Giant Field Tripod could not tame the tube vibrations. That one had a focuser that would have proved hard to motorise and the whole rig weighed too much so I gave up and moved to shorter refractors.

My 130mm F/9.2 is also challenging for a mount but the T-Rex seems to have the measure of it

[DaveS]

This morning Tufnels delivered 4 lengths of V track and V-groove wheels from F C Brundles for the obsy, then DPD delivered a TG cover and Baader H-alpha filter from FLO. The TG cover is for when I'm setting up the new 'scope and mount, likely before the obsy is finished. In the context of £20k worth of kit, £150 for a cover is chicken feed.

[Yawning Angel]

In keeping with Valentine's day, at least in colour. Something to keep me busy while the storm rages on

[Barry-W-Fenner]

On 13/02/2020 at 14:12, Saganite said:

A Moonlite stepper motor for the Moonlite focuser on my 5" f15 refractor. With such a long tube it is not possible to focus without the image dancing around, and on high powers is annoying to say the least, so this I hope will vastly improve if not eliminate the problem. 

That there is a thing of beauty! Excellent fit and finish

[johninderby]

Luggage straps for the StellaMira 80mm f/10 case. While the case is OK for storage wanted a bit of extra security for carrying it around. Never trust the latches on cases like these so better safe than sorry. Quite cheap on Amazon. 

 

Edited February 14, 2020 by johninderby

[TerryMcK]

Not the postman but DHL brought my Lakeside Focuser. Now attached to the WO ZS73 and working fine.

Whisper quiet, accurate and dead easy to use. Manual control is a breeze. Hooked up to a PC on ASCOM or Raspberry Pi using EKOS works great.

Very impressed with the build quality and extremely easy to assemble. Now going to wait a couple of months until a clear spell occurs to try it out - maybe thats why astronomy gear warranties are 2 years ... kit rarely get used to wear out !

The box from FLO does say “May contain clouds” and thats what I expect to see for the next few weeks.

 

[johninderby]

Few bits. 🙂

Small palm ratchet driver, polarising filer, bluetooth shutter release for smartphone and some desicant sachets.

[Captain Scarlet]

A couple of 3/8” photo bolts to allow me to attach a dovetail to the tripod foot of my 143mm widefield refractor (aka Canon 400mm f/2.8). Hopefully much more stable on my skytee2 than the skinny photo tripods I’ve had to use to date!

 

[DaveS]

Two pairs of 300 kg rated toggles for when I get the obsy roof built.

[Frank the Troll]

Hopefully tomorrow, I will be unpacking some clouds, along with a new 80mm ED frac from TS

Camera is primed and ready

[JeremyS]

On 15/02/2020 at 20:09, DaveS said:

Two pairs of 300 kg rated toggles for when I get the obsy roof built.

Those must be large Boy Scouts 🤔