Heath Robinson affair (no offence Heath)

[Keithp]

After being a bit too impatient with my scope, and then the happy warm glow of getting my first luna pic , quite proud of that actually...I decided to utilize some of the junk I have lying around.

Got my 1.25 eyepieces that came with the scope (skywatcher 250px) and looked at the spare logitec webcam I had lying around, 640 x 480 recording, and thought...hang on, the lens size of the cam is very close to the eyepiece size...Heh out with the dremil and very quickly an interference fit for 1.25 eps and the camera front body.

Removed the lense, the tube to the ccd chip and slotted the eyepiece in... looking good so far.

Day time out to the workshop and hooked it all up to the laptop, put the eyepiece in the scope and tried to focus the setup.. problem... no objects in sight to focus down on but at least getting an image on the laptop... just waiting for the clouds to clear, Monday (02/02/2009) next week looks good though if we get good weather for some trials on the Moon.

Going to try the avi route and registax, anyone got any opinions whether this will work or not?

Regards

All

KP

I'll post up the first couple of tries here (if thats okay moderators)

[GS]

I like your style....

'proper' amateur astronomy should at some point (in my opinion anyway) involve the use of power tools in the workshop!

look forward to seeing the results....just need a break in the clouds....

[Ant]

I'll post up the first couple of tries here (if thats okay moderators)

Fill your boots mate - that's what we're here for! I bodged the adapter on the SPC900 webcam as well.

Look forward to seeing the trials...

Cheers

Ant

[Keithp]

Just waiting for the clouds to clear (fat chance this weekend) but noticed when I was testing it out the other day although I could not focus properly the image seemed to look like a negative....found out, of course, the original lense on the webcam had an IR filter built in.

Read a couple of posts elsewhere that removing it can enhance the picture under certain conditions, does anyone know anything relating to this? Would I be best getting an IR filter to put between the lense and ccd chip?

Regards

Alll

[Psychobilly]

A man after my own heart when it comes making things ... my first off's of anything are usually quick and dirty lash ups then they get worked up... what I am guilty of is hardly ever finishing anything i make for my own use... As I have a lathe and a milling machine does that make a pro-am bodger...

I use a Baader UV/IR cut filter on the nosepiece of my webcam.

Billy...

[Dangerous-Dave]

Good stuff Keith. The only thing I've ever tried bodging were Bahtinov/Hartman masks but found the process edifying and rewarding.

[jgs001]

Good work Keith, look forward to the results. my one bodge up never got beyond that stage, but it's delivering results