What did the postman bring?

[DaveL59]

5 hours ago, markse68 said:

New focuser

Almost a new telescope!

Not a TAL100 OTA is that Mark? does have a very familiar look to it esp with those rings  

[markse68]

8 minutes ago, DaveL59 said:

Not a TAL100 OTA is that Mark? does have a very familiar look to it esp with those rings  

Well spotted Dave. Trouble is it’s an RS with short tube and it lost its og focuser so I’m going to have to figure out a way to extend it I think...or new tube 🤔

[DaveL59]

7 minutes ago, markse68 said:

Well spotted Dave. Trouble is it’s an RS with short tube and it lost its og focuser so I’m going to have to figure out a way to extend it I think...or new tube 🤔

 just measured my 100RS, between the holes for the objective and focuser its 72.5CM if that helps at all. Was the tube modified in the past then?

[F15Rules]

13 minutes ago, markse68 said:

Well spotted Dave. Trouble is it’s an RS with short tube and it lost its og focuser so I’m going to have to figure out a way to extend it I think...or new tube 🤔

Mark at Moonraker scopes used to do bespoke small jobs like this Mark..he chopped 5" off a 5" F15 tube about 5 years ago and did a lovely job. Might be worth dropping him a line to ask the question?🙂

Dave

Edited May 7, 2020 by F15Rules

[AdeKing]

57 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

A rather large shoe box arrived today..that's funny, I had my new walking shoes delivered just yesterday??

Hang on, it's not a new box, it's an old one, and it contained a rather large eyepiece...

I've shown it next to two of my Carton Japan "normal" eyepieces😱😱..it's a Large Unit!!

I've almost stopped buying eyepieces in the past 12 months, but once in a while something pops up that is hard to resist -and this was one of those things!

I've read very good things about these Speers Waler variable power EPs..not a zoom in the strict sense of the word, but certainly offers large (80 deg+) fov at each magnification (7 steps from 5mm to 8mm in half mm increments), but some refocusing is needed between steps. The photos show it "closed" at 8mm and "open" at 5mm!

I'm really looking forward to trying this big fella out soon!

Dave

OMG Dave, I've just looked these up and they are enormous.

I've just read that the 8.5 - 12mm is 200mm long when zoomed out to 8.5mm.

Will you need an adjustable offset counterweight to balance your OTA when it's fitted?

Ade

[markse68]

45 minutes ago, DaveL59 said:

 just measured my 100RS, between the holes for the objective and focuser its 72.5CM if that helps at all. Was the tube modified in the past then?

That’s the same length as mine Dave thanks. But the og Tal focuser has a really long tube- this one is 185mm. That leaves me about 8cm short- a bit more to be safe with all my eps (the Siberia 50mm erfle focuses 15mm inside the barrel step) 

Dave F15rules thanks- I’m toying with the idea of just making a longer tube- maybe a nice polished aluminium one or I’ve been looking at phenolic rocket tubes!

Edited May 7, 2020 by markse68

[DaveL59]

9 minutes ago, markse68 said:

That’s the same length as mine Dave thanks. But the og Tal focuser has a really long tube- this one is 185mm. That leaves me about 8cm short- a bit more to be safe with all my eps (the Siberia 50mm erfle focuses 15mm inside the barrel step) 

Dave F15rules thanks- I’m toying with the idea of just making a longer tube- maybe a nice polished aluminium one or I’ve been looking at phenolic rocket tubes!

true, the orig RS focuser body is 10cm to the where the drawtube meets it. The drawtube travel is 13cm to fully extended on mine.

hmm a polished ally tube, you know when I'd stripped the TAL-M OTA to bare metal I was so thinking maybe get it machined, polished and a diamond-cut pattern along its length and clear-coated. Bit too bling tho perhaps  

Edited May 7, 2020 by DaveL59

[F15Rules]

18 minutes ago, AdeKing said:

OMG Dave, I've just looked these up and they are enormous.

I've just read that the 8.5 - 12mm is 200mm long when zoomed out to 8.5mm.

Will you need an adjustable offset counterweight to balance your OTA when it's fitted?

Ade

Hi Ade,

Yes, it's a lump all right!

I haven't tried it in the scope yet but I think it will be fine..I regularly use binoviewers with a diagonal and two eyepieces which must weigh as much together as this ep. I'll check it out and post a photo tomorrow all being well (I'm going to do an eyepiece thread so as not to hijack this thread..)

Dave

[John]

4 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

Hi Ade,

Yes, it's a lump all right!

I haven't tried it in the scope yet but I think it will be fine..I regularly use binoviewers with a diagonal and two eyepieces which must weigh as much together as this ep. I'll check it out and post a photo tomorrow all being well (I'm going to do an eyepiece thread so as not to hijack this thread..)

Dave

The SW zooms have a great reputation. There have been a number of versions but yours looks like one of the more recent ones ?

I'll be very interested to hear how this one performs Dave. I've only used some of the fixed length SW's which were a mixed bunch I have to say.

 

[AdeKing]

59 minutes ago, markse68 said:

That’s the same length as mine Dave thanks. But the og Tal focuser has a really long tube- this one is 185mm. That leaves me about 8cm short- a bit more to be safe with all my eps (the Siberia 50mm erfle focuses 15mm inside the barrel step) 

Dave F15rules thanks- I’m toying with the idea of just making a longer tube- maybe a nice polished aluminium one or I’ve been looking at phenolic rocket tubes!

What about investing in some cheap binoviewers?

With the tube being that much too short, you'd be near to achieving focus natively with BVs without needing to throw a Barlow into the mix.

Just a thought, although you'd need to do a bit of measuring to be sure.

Pretty sure that the original Maxbrights with a T2 prism diagonal have a light path length of 148mm.

Worth investigating maybe?

[markse68]

10 minutes ago, AdeKing said:

What about investing in some cheap binoviewers?

With the tube being that much too short, you'd be near to achieving focus natively with BVs without needing to throw a Barlow into the mix.

Just a thought, although you'd need to do a bit of measuring to be sure.

Pretty sure that the original Maxbrights with a T2 prism diagonal have a light path length of 148mm.

Worth investigating maybe?

But then I’d have to buy loads more eps Ade 🤷‍♂️ 😂

[Alan White]

DHL delivery from Auntie @FLO today, was not expecting a Bank Holiday delivery as was only sent yesterday afternoon.

Pulsar Pier and a Box.
Yet to be unwrapped and checked, but still amazed at speed of delivery.
Nice one all at @FLO

[Dave1]

16 hours ago, F15Rules said:

A rather large shoe box arrived today..that's funny, I had my new walking shoes delivered just yesterday??

Hang on, it's not a new box, it's an old one, and it contained a rather large eyepiece...

I've shown it next to two of my Carton Japan "normal" eyepieces😱😱..it's a Large Unit!!

I've almost stopped buying eyepieces in the past 12 months, but once in a while something pops up that is hard to resist -and this was one of those things!

I've read very good things about these Speers Waler variable power EPs..not a zoom in the strict sense of the word, but certainly offers large (80 deg+) fov at each magnification (7 steps from 5mm to 8mm in half mm increments), but some refocusing is needed between steps. The photos show it "closed" at 8mm and "open" at 5mm!

I'm really looking forward to trying this big fella out soon!

Dave

Very impressive, a Speers Walers eyepiece! and a Zoom! Can't wait to read first light report for that!

[F15Rules]

On 07/05/2020 at 21:27, John said:

The SW zooms have a great reputation. There have been a number of versions but yours looks like one of the more recent ones ?

I'll be very interested to hear how this one performs Dave. I've only used some of the fixed length SW's which were a mixed bunch I have to say.

 

Sorry John, I forgot to reply to your question..mine is a MkII version, which apparently is less prone to dust ingress from outside via the zooming mechanism..certainly the optics on this one (9 elements I believe!) look pristine.

Dave

Edited May 9, 2020 by F15Rules
Spelling correction

[TerryMcK]

A box of assorted stainless steel washers and spring washers.

I installed a pier extension a few weeks back and the supplied cap head screws came loose when I moved the rig back into the workshop for storage. I’ve just refitted the screws with large washers backed up with some spring washers. The pier extension is tight as a drum now.

[johninderby]

A liitle AZ-GTi mount. 🙂

[ShrewView]

These appeared yesterday. 

So I had a chance to sit in the sun and have a browse. All I can say is wow...so much info.

[Barry-W-Fenner]

On 06/05/2020 at 15:25, johninderby said:

And yet another Bresser dob. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Morning John.

Your the man for all things Bresser 🙂 do you know if they intend to produce a 12" dob?

 

Cheers

Baz

 

[johninderby]

21 minutes ago, Barry-W-Fenner said:

Morning John.

Your the man for all things Bresser 🙂 do you know if they intend to produce a 12" dob?

 

Cheers

Baz

 

Not heard a thing about a 12” solid tube dob. Bresser also sells the Explore Scientic scopes whic includes a 12” truss dob.

[Alan White]

Parcel Force delivered earlier, it is Astro related honest, both relate to my recent flush of sucess with the Khazi,


Some sealant for the fence Khazi interface, one tube was not enough!

A very nice set of Marples chisels, this Wood Butcher needs some better wood tooling going forward.
Otherwise, how will I build the Cistern Chapel.....😂 see where we are going with this line.


 

[johninderby]

Hope it all goes well and you are flushed with success.. 😁😁😁

Edited May 9, 2020 by johninderby

[Guest]

Used Canon 600D Peltier cooler. 

 

Edit: Fitted and runs perfectly! 

Edited May 9, 2020 by Guest

[F15Rules]

4 hours ago, johninderby said:

Hope it all goes well and you are flushed with success.. 😁😁😁

This thread's going down the toilet!

Dave

[Davey-T]

4 hours ago, Alan White said:

A very nice set of Marples chisels,

Is there a sharpening stone or diamond sharpener in there ? you need to keep an edge on them after use.

Dave

[JeremyS]

Replacement wheels for my Pulsar dome.

But immediately ran into problems installing them: 😞