DIY 16" binoscope

[BinocularSky]

Thanks for that, Keith; exactly what I wanted to know. (Conditional alignment is when the optical axes are parallel, but are not -- in your case -- parallel to the centre axis. In a "normal" binocular, it is when they are not parallel to the hinge.)

[burf2000]

Dont know how it works but truely amazing!

[Enrico]

Wow. Not a lot more I can say.

[keef_uk]

thats an awesome bit of kit - cant wait to see the results

[jimmythemoonlight]

TOP DRAW !!!!!!!!!!!!!! this is an amazing project totally impressed at every level just one question maybe 2 do you favour one eye or the other when looking through and how would you move it to say the countryside could you take it apart easily my brother was a very good student of engineering in school so much so he built a normal telescope from scratch and got a a level for it and it was put on the school roof unfortunely the scool is no longer there but he also built one in our back garden he is nine years my senior hence my attraction to this wonderful subject by the way the schools name was john hamilton in liverpool once again AWESOME !!!!!!!!!!!! jimmythemoonlight

[Mr Bond]

Fan- bl@@dy- tastic work.

Wow!!!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[xboxdevil]

You might not fancy it but If you ever had an open viewing session I'm sure that there would be a lot of interest!

Congrats, it looks like a fantastically engineered bit of kit, it's almost a shame that it lives under the poor UK skies.

[robbie c]

I think I'v just seen the 8th wonder of the world it is incredible well done

[Klitwo]

Check out the following links:

Astronomy Technology Today Magazine

Astronomy Technology Today Magazine

It's an ATM GOTO 102mm f/6 Celestron Binoscope completed in 2010, with a 40,000 object database and a Warren Estes Memorial Merit Award winner at the 2011 RTMC (Riverside Telescope Makers Conference) at Big Bear City, CA.

Klitwo

Edited August 15, 2011 by Klitwo

[Klitwo]

Here are some more photos of my ATM GOTO 102mm f/6 Celestron Binoscope showing the Sky Align NexStar 4SE electronics, dual axis drive gear and clutch system with a 40K+ database........It's a very simple user-friendly ATM GOTO 102mm f/6 Celestron binoscope that provides a very pleasing and comfortable field of view for the observer, all mounted on a Lumicon Altazimuth adjustable height tripod. Very simple to transport, setup and use.

[Tinker1947]

This thread has just had a injection to revive it, thats a awesome bit of kit, as its a couple of years since the last post, has it been completed and does it work as you would like, some more piccies would be good..

[J_M_Franklin]

I love this thread, and I am now wondering IF..and it's an enormous IF, I could convince the other half to let me redesign my 20" Nasmyth to a 20" Binocular...drooolllll over this thread...

Thanks for the link to it, certainly given me some serious pause for thought.....now where can i buy a small cheap and second hand CNC machine?????

[Budding Star Gazer]

that looks like an amazing bit of kit, out of interest how much would it go for ?

[robjohnb]

That's some well engineered scope, looks highly professional.

One immediate thought, looks like your head will obscure some of the light path?

Rob

[GJBC]

Phew; one of of not the best projects i have seen on this site. i just put my hat on just so i could take it off to you ..

[NickK]

I don't suppose you could do a M84P1 to M68P0.75 using your extensive workshop?

[sungazer]

A superb example of ATM production,wish I could build one to that quality. Very well done. Good viewing ,

,

[keith5700]

Wow doesn’t time fly! Here’s a quick update on the binoscope.

I did a full overhaul last year, converted to 3 legs to make it easier to level.

I’ve built an anodising setup, so did some colouring of various parts. It has a Nexus 2 push to system, which is great.

I still hardly use it though, I think my biggest pleasure is in making things. I think it may be time to sell, but where, and how much, I’m not sure. I can’t face putting it on Facebook Marketplace, with all the stupid offers I’ll get, so any suggestions welcome.

I don’t really know how to price it either, I reckon it owes me between £6-7k, so maybe somewhere round there?

cheers.

[John]

It's an amazing instrument and it looks to be really well thought through and engineered 👍

If you really want to part with it, the UK Astro Buy & Sell website might be worth a try. It is generally a respected place to buy & sell astro equipment:

U.K. Astronomy Buy & Sell (astrobuysell.com)

[keith5700]

Thank you, I’ll take a look.

[PeterW]

Or the SGL for sale page. Big scope, but unique… good luck on the sale, someone is going to be happy! Do you have fresh building plans…?

Peter

[keith5700]

On 28/06/2023 at 12:51, PeterW said:

Or the SGL for sale page. Big scope, but unique… good luck on the sale, someone is going to be happy! Do you have fresh building plans…?

Peter

If I get enough money for this I’d like to make something a bit more compact, or easier to set up.

Still a binoscope, but with something like 2 x Celestron C11’s. 
I’ve still got to do some sums to see if it would be worth just selling the optics from this, because there’s a load of stuff on this scope that I’d have to buy again for the new one.

[Mr Spock]

Incredible engineering. Is it easy to collimate?

[AstroKeith]

Nice engineering!

The price you get is proportional to the size of the market. This is a pretty unique instrument and you may be searching for a customer, rather than the other way around. Anyone interested in forking out say £6k is going to be pretty demanding too. (If it was me I'd worry about dew)

So I definitely consider selling just the mirror sets.

[keith5700]

39 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

Incredible engineering. Is it easy to collimate?

Well, the initial setup took around 2 days. We had lasers and plumb lines and all sorts of stuff in the workshop, but that was because as well as being collimated individually, and as a pair, it also had to be aligned axially to the central tube, as the main mirrors travel up and down the tube, for focussing.

After that however, I’ve hardly had to touch it. It’s pretty much exactly as I set it initially, presumably because it’s all rigid with no slop anywhere, and it all assembles repeatably on dowel pins, etc.