An equipment wedding is announced...

[ollypenrice]

Since the imaging is now done with a robotic setup based here, I've decided on a marriage between our 14 inch Meade SCT tube assembly and our venerable Mesu 200 mount, to have a great visual observing setup. The LX200 Alt-Az mount is handy but wobbly and has now started acting the goat electronically. It's over 20 years old and I think that, even if I fixed it this time, it would most likely act up again. This is no good in my circumstances. Stuff has to work. The Mesu observatory is small for visual but the SCT is nice and short. We'll lose the convenience of alt-az but gain the convenience of a Moonlite Crayford which we can't use on the fork mount for fear of collision.

So, Mesu, do you take this 14 inch SCT to be your lawful wedded wife?

We'll find out when the Losmandy dovetail for the Meade arrives and I've de-forked it. (Nearly 300 euros for a dovetail? Better than over 1,100 euros for two tube rings. Not a misprint!)

Olly

[Merak]

I take it the tube rings are made of gold?!?!

[Elp]

How do you determine bride and groom?

[SthBohemia]

43 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

(Nearly 300 euros for a dovetail? Better than over 1,100 euros for two tube rings. Not a misprint!)

^^ Geez dunno whether to laugh or cry. The last dovetail I made cost between 5-8 Euros, a 16mm thick aluminium bar milled to shape. You could purchase a rolls machine for a fraction of 1100 Euros and mass produce scope rings and sell them for a tidy profit @50 Euros a set 🙂 

[ollypenrice]

2 hours ago, Merak said:

I take it the tube rings are made of gold?!?!

I'll never know because I won't be buying them!

lly

[tomato]

Nice one Olly, is this the first time someone has used a Mesu for visual astronomy?

1 hour ago, SthBohemia said:

^^ Geez dunno whether to laugh or cry. The last dovetail I made cost between 5-8 Euros, a 16mm thick aluminium bar milled to shape. You could purchase a rolls machine for a fraction of 1100 Euros and mass produce scope rings and sell them for a tidy profit @50 Euros a set 🙂 

The guidescope on my RASA8 is mounted on a length of square profile steel tube which previously saw service as the retractable handle on a hand luggage suitcase. I try to spend my astro budget on stuff I definitely cannot make myself.

[gorann]

What you should have Olly is of course a Homeyer 14" cradle. I was lucky enough to get a Homeyer with my second-hand 14" LX200, but then of course she does not yet have the luxury of sitting on Mesu 200. Unfortunately Homeyer died in 2013 but maybe his cradle could be found on the used market. Apparently Homeyer's cradle takes off all problems with flex in such a big tube, but for visual that may not matter.

Cheers, Göran

Edited October 28, 2022 by gorann

[SthBohemia]

Regarding dovetail bars, and the absurd prices they sell for... Many years ago I made one from well seasoned beech wood, maybe a bit heavier than a bit of extruded aluminium but it proved to be rock solid and performed its function as well as any of the overpriced lumps of aluminium!

[newbie alert]

On 28/10/2022 at 16:23, ollypenrice said:

I'll never know because I won't be buying them!

lly

A proper marriage usually has 2 extortionately priced rings.. 

[RobertI]

On 28/10/2022 at 13:49, ollypenrice said:

Since the imaging is now done with a robotic setup based here, I've decided on a marriage between our 14 inch Meade SCT tube assembly and our venerable Mesu 200 mount, to have a great visual observing setup. The LX200 Alt-Az mount is handy but wobbly and has now started acting the goat electronically. It's over 20 years old and I think that, even if I fixed it this time, it would most likely act up again. This is no good in my circumstances. Stuff has to work. The Mesu observatory is small for visual but the SCT is nice and short. We'll lose the convenience of alt-az but gain the convenience of a Moonlite Crayford which we can't use on the fork mount for fear of collision.

So, Mesu, do you take this 14 inch SCT to be your lawful wedded wife?

We'll find out when the Losmandy dovetail for the Meade arrives and I've de-forked it. (Nearly 300 euros for a dovetail? Better than over 1,100 euros for two tube rings. Not a misprint!)

Olly

That sounds like a wonderful visual setup Olly. 👍

[ollypenrice]

16 hours ago, RobertI said:

That sounds like a wonderful visual setup Olly. 👍

I hope so. I'm also hoping to fix an Altair Astro 80mm triplet to the top in order to have a widefield alternative view.

Olly