Mission Complete: Polarscope Illumination

[TopHouse]

OK, after a couple of very slight snags I now have these sorted, it's a dimmable polar scope illuminator for EQ5 EQ6 etc

It woerked out a lot more economically viable to buy parts to make 5 of these, so today I've made two, I just have to test when it goes dark but to be honest I can't see there being any issues, the led dims from practically zero to full illumination by use of the knob.

Biggest problem was finding an adhesive to fix the shrink tubed led assembly to the PVC clip, I used clear high modulus silicone for the one illustrated, it's not completely cured when photographed so hasn't gone clear properly yet, but I reckon it'll definitely be a strong enough bond.

2 pics, one of the illuminator having a rest on the couch and one of it in use, the battery box/controller could easily be just velcro'd somewhere.

[Chris Stacey]

Looks smart!

Are you making these to sell? Would be interested if you are.

[TopHouse]

Forgot to mention, it's powered by 2 x AA batteries, the reason i chose those is that they are probably the most common and I have a number of these in NiMh rechargeable for my red torch, my Telrad, Dig camera etc so....

First I was going to squeeze the assembly into a 3 x AA battery case but the dimmer ended up being too big to fit correctly, so this is a converted 4 x AA switched case. Still a very comfortable size.

[Starblazer]

OO does that mean you'll be selling some

Put me name down if so please mate, this would be a great help.

[rawhead]

If it works half as good as it looks.... :p;)

As soon as you want the readies please let me know

Cheers

Jon

[zedds]

If they are for sale and there`s any left can i put my name down also.

[Psychobilly]

Nicely done Sir

Peter...

[TopHouse]

UPDATE

After testing in the dark, I'm not 100% happy, it needs a little more resistance to dim it down even more, it's a process that can't really be done with working out on paper, the actual illumination level/range is a bit critical in that it has to illuminate the reticule whilst not washing out the brightness of the target star (polaris)

Parts ordered and final build should be Monday or Tuesday. I can't get the whole reticule in my camera view as holding a camera to a polar scope doesn't work very well but :-

[TopHouse]

FURTHER UPDATE

Must have been eating a lot of fish lately as I've had a brain wave. How about if I make this unit modular. So, the lead coming out of the box is attached with a jack plug, making the polarscope illuminator part detachable, the reason being, you can now plug in...... drumroll .......... this!

[TopHouse]

This is another one I can go two ways with, the reason being i have found a source of maglite reflectors of the size that goes into their AA sized maglite, so am now wondering whether to convert those and use a single led instead. Might have to make one of each and see.

[TopHouse]

Composite of the torch head adaptation in use, obviously this would be dimmable using the same control as the polar scope assembly.

[rawhead]

All down to the costs really, don't think I want to pay too much more for torch functionality...

Great idea though.

[TopHouse]

Another idea for an add on, I reckon slightly differently designed clip and I could make this a finder illuminator too to illuminate the reticules in standard 8 x 50 finders.

[TopHouse]

http://stargazerslounge.com/sale/111177-polar-scope-illuminator.html