New Product Alert - Heritage 150P

[JeremyS]

38 minutes ago, Stu said:

Yes, would be interesting to know what @JeremyS scope is like, mirrored or frosted back of mirror?

So, the mirror on my Heritage 150P is properly aluminised on the font (correct) surface. The rear surface is not frosted and not aluminised: so whilst it is reflective when you look at the back, like a mirror, the reflection is caused by the aluminium on the other (correct) side. 

Hope this helps?

[FLO]

18 hours ago, Lockie said:

FLO, please let me know if you want me to place this on a separate thread, but here is my first look and comparison to the H130p video

No problem. Thank-you 🙂 

Steve 

[Dannomiss]

2 hours ago, Pixies said:

HI Chris,

In your video, the rear of the primary mirror looks mirrored, rather than frosted. Can you confirm?

Mine is mirrored 

[ElderBarry]

Can anyone that has this telescope tell me the length of the collapsed tube? I can't seem to find that information. Thanks in advance.

Edited June 22, 2020 by ElderBarry

[Cornelius Varley]

6 minutes ago, ElderBarry said:

Can anyone that has this telescope tell me the length of the collapsed tube? I can't seem to find that information. Thanks in advance.

You should ask the OP of this thread

 

[JeremyS]

11 minutes ago, ElderBarry said:

Can anyone that has this telescope tell me the length of the collapsed tube? I can't seem to find that information. Thanks in advance.

41 cm

[Corncrake]

What an interesting thread, I am learning allsorts.
I didnt know Ronchi gratings were available to buy, I always meant to make one but never found the rountuit !

and non-frosted rears, who'd av thort it !

which raises the question :
why were mirrors traditionally frosted on the rear surface ?

 

[Chris]

OK then, seems like the polished reverse side of the primary is Skywatchers new vibe after all. It would be cool to know why? it seems like more work than just grinding the back of the mirror flat with the frosted finish. 

[Chris]

25 minutes ago, Corncrake said:

What an interesting thread, I am learning allsorts.
I didnt know Ronchi gratings were available to buy, I always meant to make one but never found the rountuit !

and non-frosted rears, who'd av thort it !

which raises the question :
why were mirrors traditionally frosted on the rear surface ?

 

Here's the link to the Ronchi eyepiece I bought (there is also a photographic version):

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/specialist/gerd-neumann-ronchi-eyepiece.html

 

As for why the back of the primary is usually frosted, just rough grinding the mirror flat will leave a frosted surface, so maybe it's simply to enable a flat surface. Some could also say that it stops stray light entering through the back of mirror, but if the mirror coatings are good then I don't think it would be a big deal compared to the stray light entering elsewhere. 

 

[Corncrake]

27 minutes ago, Lockie said:

Here's the link to the Ronchi eyepiece I bought

Thanks.

Thanks all good points, I had wondered about coating imperfections, a lick of black paint would sort that !
But flatness would aid mounting stresses (maybe?) and look better than rough casting (or float imperfections I suppose these days)

I wonder how flat, optically, they are ? Might be a source of cheap flat for an ambitious optical bench.
But to test for that would be bad news for your sample - - because I think you would need to frost the front to do that test LOL !

 

[sputniksteve]

This is  very tempting proposition. I think I might need to get this IN ADDITION to the Skymax 127 that I'm lusting after. 

 

Chris, thanks for the review. Looking forward to other videos. 

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

On 11/06/2020 at 14:10, Lockie said:

...

You can fix anything with gaffer and PTFE tape, WD40, and by turning it off and back on again 😁

And a hammer

 

[Corncrake]

59 minutes ago, michael.h.f.wilkinson said:

And a hammer

In England we call them "Birmingham screwdrivers"

I dont know how well the 'joke' will carry overseas? In fact I'm not even sure if it carries to other parts of the UK ? But our overseas friends can probably guess how it came about, probably have a similar joke ???

 

 

Edited June 26, 2020 by Corncrake

[Stormbringer]

theres nothing a hammer cant fix lol🤣

[Chris]

I received a few concerns about the stability of the H 150p and it's ability to handle heavier upgraded eyepieces, so I upgraded the 24g Super 10 eyepiece to a 187g 10mm Explore Scientific 52 degree LER and did a little experiment:

 

[Dannomiss]

59 minutes ago, Lockie said:

I received a few concerns about the stability of the H 150p and it's ability to handle heavier upgraded eyepieces, so I upgraded the 24g Super 10 eyepiece to a 187g 10mm Explore Scientific 52 degree LER and did a little experiment:

 

I upgraded lenses to the BST StarGuider ones and I would say its around 3-4 seconds. When using my smartphone I put it on a 5 second timer so vibrations are settled before it takes a picture. Iver the the focuser much more of an issue than the rods... I've found those pretty secure. Infact what amazes me... If you leave them unfightened and look at collimation through the small cap with a hole it it, and then tighten the rods while looking, it comes straight into alignment, so I know there's not much movement in those rods. I've even attached an extension arm with my phone on to one of the Rods to test it too and no movement whatsoever

Thanks for the video 😁👍

[jetstream]

23 hours ago, Lockie said:

did a little experiment:

I would be interested in your findings if you test the effect of eyepiece weight on the collimation of the H150.

[Chris]

1 hour ago, jetstream said:

I would be interested in your findings if you test the effect of eyepiece weight on the collimation of the H150.

Hi Garry, it's a great idea, I'm just wondering how I would do this as you would need the focuser for the eyepiece so it kind of rules the focuser out for a collimator. I could defocus a star (maybe Polaris so it doesn't drift) then look for any pinching of the doughnut when using EP's of different weights maybe? I would need to make sure the star is bang centre in the EP's but that should be fine with Polaris.

My heaviest EP is my new ES 52 LER at 187g, but I could add my Revelation Barlow also.

As there is quite a bit of play in the focuser I might also wait until I've got round to the PTFE mod so tilt is reduced. 

Very interesting question thanks for the suggestion. It's on the video list

[Chris]

On 09/07/2020 at 22:02, Dannomiss said:

I upgraded lenses to the BST StarGuider ones and I would say its around 3-4 seconds. When using my smartphone I put it on a 5 second timer so vibrations are settled before it takes a picture. Iver the the focuser much more of an issue than the rods... I've found those pretty secure. Infact what amazes me... If you leave them unfightened and look at collimation through the small cap with a hole it it, and then tighten the rods while looking, it comes straight into alignment, so I know there's not much movement in those rods. I've even attached an extension arm with my phone on to one of the Rods to test it too and no movement whatsoever

Thanks for the video 😁👍

Hiya. Congrats on the new eyepieces, the BST's are superb for the money. I nearly went for them again myself but got curious about ES's newish 52 degree LER range. The BST's seem to have a similar dampening time to the ES 52's which makes sense. 

Glad you thought to use a delayed exposure for afocal imaging, I use timers a lot for astro imaging and wouldn't manage without it! 

I agree about the focuser verse the truss rods. I think the truss rods do a great job considering there is only two of them. There was a chap on my channel who was worried about the rods, and I hope I put his mind at rest. 

Are you using the extension arm to hold your phone with a gps night sky app? 

 

[jetstream]

30 minutes ago, Lockie said:

I'm just wondering how I would do this

Back a couple of years ago I checked all my newts for this, including the H130. For the H130 I used a simple 1.25" Celestron cheshire/sightube combo strapped with weights simulating eyepieces. I checked for weight "height" also simulating taller eyepieces. It is amazing how well these scopes work when used with appropriate eyepieces.

I'm wondering if the H150 can take a bit more EP weight than the H130- are the truss tubes the same diameter and length?

Btw, checking my 15" dob revealed that past 1/2 travel on the Moonlight would de collimate (focuser flex) using binoviewers and on the VX10 the tube would flex and de collimate. Actually very hvy eyepieces in conjunction with the needed focuser extension would aggravate this.

I really like your videos Chris and look forward to watching more

Edited July 10, 2020 by jetstream

[Nerf_Caching]

On 22/06/2020 at 18:04, Dannomiss said:

Mine is mirrored 

Looks good for doing your makeup🤣. Quite strange to have a reflective rear in my opinion.

[Chris]

Here's a step by step guide to making a light shroud, which can stay permanently on the scope! plus the Simple PTFE tape fix for the focuser. I spent maybe a tenner doing these mods so well worth it in my opinion.  I hope it's useful :) 

 

[Dannomiss]

2 hours ago, Lockie said:

Here's a step by step guide to making a light shroud, which can stay permanently on the scope! plus the Simple PTFE tape fix for the focuser. I spent maybe a tenner doing these mods so well worth it in my opinion.  I hope it's useful

 

Very nice. I think I'll upgrade to a foam shroud 🙂

[Mark at Beaufort]

Well done Chris I am sure it will be well received by many members that have purchased the 130P or 150P. By the way have you link to the foam you purchased from eBay.

[Chris]

28 minutes ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

Well done Chris I am sure it will be well received by many members that have purchased the 130P or 150P. By the way have you link to the foam you purchased from eBay.

Thanks Mark, hopefully it's useful, it was fun to do  I linked the foam in the video description on Youtube, but that won't show here. I'll pop it below :

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/A2-Giant-Foam-Sheets-for-Arts-Craft-Projects/302450788780?hash=item466b78c9ac:g:vdEAAOSwf1ReqfTU