Sky Captain
Scope Builder
Reged: 11/07/04
Posts: 5743
Loc: Seattle Washington
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Way to go Preston!!! 
Your "little" project is getting better & better...I like the CF usage, great job making it all.
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Equipment Overload!
Kerry.
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Panza
sage
Reged: 09/26/07
Posts: 222
Loc: Lillehammer, Norway
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I just read this and I'm very impressed. I have done my share of machining and I know how time consuming it is to do it on manual machines.
I am really looking forward to the continuing story here. And the end product off course. Good luck on the rest of the work.
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10" LX200R
Losmandy G-11
Astro-Physics 2" MaxBright Diagonal
Some TV Eyepieces
Canon 1D Mk2 and 5D with lots of lenses.
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PrestonE
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 04/29/05
Posts: 817
Loc: Houston,Texas
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Hi Kerry and thanks. I've got the OTA mount to make shortly after I finish the design.
The hunk of aluminum is 9 inches by 15 inches long by 2.25 inches thick and weighs about 40 pounds. Hoping to get it under 10 pounds in the end and will be trying to see if we can machine aluminum on our CNC router.
I'd send it up to Jim if they did shipping, but since they do not it's either on the CNC here if it will do it or manual here...and I'm definately not looking forward to that much time in front of the Bridgeport. 
Regards,
Preston
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A few I enjoy,
and a few more in the works ;<)
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PrestonE
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 04/29/05
Posts: 817
Loc: Houston,Texas
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Panza your most welcome and one that appreciates the amount of manual machine time.
I had purchased a very nice Hurco CNC mill, but it was damaged in tranporting and with this build...I've not had the time to get her back up and running, close...but not yet...
I will say, that after this if finished in the next few weeks...the CNC mill will be finished and running before any other projects get in the list. And then the CNC lathe...all of those tube ends were not fun doing manually.
Best Regards,
Preston
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A few I enjoy,
and a few more in the works ;<)
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rwiederrich
Goldfinger
Reged: 11/17/05
Posts: 5981
Loc: Bremerton Washington
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Quote:
And finally the dry assembled parts.
On the right is the Mirror Mount assembly. It lacks the outer CF ring and interior CF support tubing, but shows just how well the fit is coming from the CNC router.
At the top of the CF tube will be a Nylon bushing that has the outer edge rounded like an Oring. This will fit into the larger tube of the Spider Support assembly and keep the secondary centered.
On the right is the Spider Support assembly again dry assembled and without the outer small tubes.
That's all for today and I'm glad that none of the CF parts were lost due to accidents in machining or operator error.
Regards,
Preston
Dang...Preston...I love your work. It is amazing to see you use CF like this and to form it in the shape and style you need. It will make your scope very rigid and light.
Unlike my steal monster. 
Rob(sweet job)
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www.goldmtobservingcenter.com
Providing a great place for amateur astronomers, and ATM's to come and enjoy their hobby.
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rwiederrich
Goldfinger
Reged: 11/17/05
Posts: 5981
Loc: Bremerton Washington
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Quote:
Panza your most welcome and one that appreciates the amount of manual machine time.
I had purchased a very nice Hurco CNC mill, but it was damaged in tranporting and with this build...I've not had the time to get her back up and running, close...but not yet...
I will say, that after this if finished in the next few weeks...the CNC mill will be finished and running before any other projects get in the list. And then the CNC lathe...all of those tube ends were not fun doing manually.
Best Regards,
Preston
Yes..if you are doing repetative or removing large quanities of material CNC is your friend. Being the slow old school guy that I am, and not so precise...I can stay under the radar with a lot of manual work. I mean...your work is the apitomy of precision and quality...while mine is more like......well less precise. Except the bearings and moving surfaces...they have to be precise.
Love this scope Preston...can't wait for the reveal.
One trivial question. I'm keeping in the traditional theme, I'm painting my new scope and mount Palomar green...well it's called *Celary*. Black OTA interior and *Celary* on the external. Kinda like TAC green.
What color are you looking at?
Rob
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www.goldmtobservingcenter.com
Providing a great place for amateur astronomers, and ATM's to come and enjoy their hobby.
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Michael Miles
professor emeritus
Reged: 02/11/05
Posts: 604
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Quote:
...What color are you looking at?
Rob
I'd vote for candy apple red; it looks really great against the dark of the CF. Some sort of deep, rich blue would be nice too.
I think Tak green would be kind of Taky... Hospitals used to be painted that color - very negative associations.
However, I also like the photo-paint options like M42 on the ETX (maybe in one of the Hubble palettes, being an RC and all...).
 Design consultant Michael
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LXD-75 w/
Stellarvue 102ED
Hardin 10" Newt
Antares 8" Newt
Meade AR-5
Meade N-6
Celestron 102mm refractor
Canon 300D, Meade DSI guiding
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rwiederrich
Goldfinger
Reged: 11/17/05
Posts: 5981
Loc: Bremerton Washington
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Quote:
Quote:
...What color are you looking at?
Rob
I'd vote for candy apple red; it looks really great against the dark of the CF. Some sort of deep, rich blue would be nice too.
I think Tak green would be kind of Taky... Hospitals used to be painted that color - very negative associations.
However, I also like the photo-paint options like M42 on the ETX (maybe in one of the Hubble palettes, being an RC and all...).
Design consultant Michael
Since peoples opinions are usually driven by what other people think.......I'd have to agree that most RC scopes I have ever seen are the colors you mentioned.
I, on the other hand don't generally follow what other people think..so my scope WILL be painted *Celary* or Palomar/TAC green. I mean..I need to stay within the palette of Green...since it is my favorite color.
Just look at my other scopes.
Rob
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www.goldmtobservingcenter.com
Providing a great place for amateur astronomers, and ATM's to come and enjoy their hobby.
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PrestonE
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 04/29/05
Posts: 817
Loc: Houston,Texas
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Thanks Rob, I just finished cutting the carbon fiber ring that goes between the 2 mirror mount plates. It's 5.7 inch diameter and 1/2 inch wide...
This morning I finished the SS half spheres for the collimation and tapping half of them to 10-32...then cutting the 10-32 SS all thread to length.
Battery on the camera was low, so it's in the charger. No more pics for another hour 
I've got to cut the CF tubes for the Mirror Mount Plate assembly and the Spider Vane assembly... but my diamond saw is kaput
May try angling the 90 degree head on the Bridgeport and use a small fine toothed slitting saw 
As to your question regarding color...well, I'm not sure as it will be leaving here right after first light...
Naked CF, aluminum, stainless steel, Invar and bits of plastics here and there... 
The guys in the group responsiple for getting it up and running robotically are champing at the bit, so it will be up to them if and when it ever gets any color.
But, IF I were to chose...  I'd engine turn the back plate, and do anything facing away from the optical path a nice burgandy like an aged Pinot Noir
Might even have my wife do some foo finished grape leaves somewhere
Couple of wine glasses would be cool 
But, alas...it will really be out of my control.
Every thing facing the optical path will be flat black...
We were going to go with Aeroglase, but the minimum from one of the Lord dealers for the product quoted me a $500 minimum and a quart price of $47...so unless I can find 10 other people wanting Aeroglase flat black like the big boys use...we will just use Ultra Flat Black from Krylon.
More pics tomorrow.
Regards,
Preston
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A few I enjoy,
and a few more in the works ;<)
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rwiederrich
Goldfinger
Reged: 11/17/05
Posts: 5981
Loc: Bremerton Washington
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Wait...I thought you WERE one of the big boys...... 
Paint is a daylight thing anyway.......
Rob(Looking oh so sweet)
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www.goldmtobservingcenter.com
Providing a great place for amateur astronomers, and ATM's to come and enjoy their hobby.
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PrestonE
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 04/29/05
Posts: 817
Loc: Houston,Texas
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Rob I am one of the Big Boys, but only the designer and maker of the OTA...and they want this big time...
Truth be told, I'll miss having it gone as I was looking forward to doing automatic primary mirror covers and a lot of special little things...
But the 2 years of design and manufacturing has taken a toll...my raised observatory on the back workshop has not been touched in all of this time...and the floor is dry rotting...and the dome is still on the ground lacking the last 5% to finish...
Maybe on the next scope ...the Rosin designed by Mike Jones
I'll get to chose the colors...
Best Regards My Friend,
Preston
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A few I enjoy,
and a few more in the works ;<)
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Gene Hunter
super member
Reged: 12/29/07
Posts: 194
Loc: SC
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Preston, Just a note. I got around to cutting my tube today. Luckily I had some room to play and I cut outside my limit the first several tries. Bandsaw did not work squarely. My modified chop saw did not work the first or second try. Seems being square perfectly is pretty hard.
Finally after giving up on all that stuff , I ended up wraping another tube around the outside of the CF tube and using that as a guide to cut. Then I sanded out any anomalies. That worked really well but I would hate to have to cut two tubes for every tube I make.
Do you have any tricks for an easy way to cut a tube squarely?
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Clear Skies
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PrestonE
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 04/29/05
Posts: 817
Loc: Houston,Texas
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Hi Gene, If your mandral is concentric than cutting the tube ends is easy...if not...it's almost impossible...
Thus, making the mandral and then turning it to get is concentric is critical to getting everything concentric..
Does this make since???
Regards,
Preston
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A few I enjoy,
and a few more in the works ;<)
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Sky Captain
Scope Builder
Reged: 11/07/04
Posts: 5743
Loc: Seattle Washington
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Quote:
The hunk of aluminum is 9 inches by 15 inches long by 2.25 inches thick and weighs about 40 pounds. Hoping to get it under 10 pounds in the end and will be trying to see if we can machine aluminum on our CNC router.
Preston, I believe Jim's machine will only handle aluminum 1-3\4" thick. I never asked why the limitation though...might be the router bit length.
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Equipment Overload!
Kerry.
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Gene Hunter
super member
Reged: 12/29/07
Posts: 194
Loc: SC
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Mandrel was concentric the issue was the device I was using to cut the tube. I have a work around for now but I am looking for a better method to cut larger tubes and get a consitent good cut.
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Clear Skies
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PrestonE
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 04/29/05
Posts: 817
Loc: Houston,Texas
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Hi Gene, For the sake of clarity I'm going to run through
a brief definition of concentricity.
It is the relationship between two similar shapes in this
example. In this case circles or more exactly two circles
a set distance perpendicular to each other. Ie the ends
of your mandral.
Within these circle ends of the mandral are further two
more circles or the axle around which the mandral may
turn.
In order for the Mandral to be concentric to the axle, both
ends of circles must be perpendicular and the axle must
be located in the exact center of each end circle.
If this condition is met, then by constraining the motion of
the tube such that it cannot move laterally along the length
of the axis one can place a rotating cutter anywhere along
the mandral and by rotating the mandral cut a square tube
end.
Thus the conditions necessary to cut a square tube in this
manor are the following:
1 Concentric tube mandral to mandral axis.
2 Constrained axial motion of said mandral.
3 Rotation of mandral into a fixed cutting tool.
These are vary similar to the action of a lathe.
If you look at the pics of how I cut the tubes, they are done
with a rotary table mounted at 90 degrees on the Bridgeport
mill. The mandral was turned concentric on a lathe and is
mounted into the chuck on the rotary table. Thus the end
is fixed and constrained from any lateral movement in the
axial direction. And finally the cutter is advanced in small
increments perpendicular to the mandrals axis while rotating
the mandral with the rotary head.
Hope this helps a bit.
Regards,
Preston
--------------------
A few I enjoy,
and a few more in the works ;<)
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Michael Miles
professor emeritus
Reged: 02/11/05
Posts: 604
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Quote:
...I, on the other hand don't generally follow what other people think..so my scope WILL be painted *Celary* or Palomar/TAC green. I mean..I need to stay within the palette of Green...since it is my favorite color.
Just look at my other scopes.
Rob
de gustibus non est disputandum
--------------------
LXD-75 w/
Stellarvue 102ED
Hardin 10" Newt
Antares 8" Newt
Meade AR-5
Meade N-6
Celestron 102mm refractor
Canon 300D, Meade DSI guiding
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rwiederrich
Goldfinger
Reged: 11/17/05
Posts: 5981
Loc: Bremerton Washington
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Quote:
Rob I am one of the Big Boys, but only the designer and maker of the OTA...and they want this big time...
Truth be told, I'll miss having it gone as I was looking forward to doing automatic primary mirror covers and a lot of special little things...
But the 2 years of design and manufacturing has taken a toll...my raised observatory on the back workshop has not been touched in all of this time...and the floor is dry rotting...and the dome is still on the ground lacking the last 5% to finish...
Maybe on the next scope ...the Rosin designed by Mike Jones
I'll get to chose the colors...
Best Regards My Friend,
Preston
Being either the Designer/builder or the paint sellector is a tough spot to be in..... 
Your design and build has inspired me to push the envelope with my own scope. I threw out the window any restrictions of weight...so that made any crazy design ideas I had possible. You're pulling off a great scope design with weight limitations in mind and probably in great demand.
And since one of your expertise is CF manufacturing...that pays off well. My history of scrounging for what I needed cuz I didn't have the money to buy it...has proved itself again in my current project. Plus my cousin has nearly 80 years collection of so much old military surplus and hardwere. It makes it far easier.
A dear friends father passed several years ago...and his son-in-laws emptied out his workshop of all its machines, and larger tools. However.... they left what I see as more important(trash to them really). Lots and lots of 1/2-3 horsepower motors and boxes of hardwere, bearings and bolts and metal and every kind of tinkering THING you can imagine.
I of course get to pick through this at my leisure and for pennies. The motors alone can be in the thousands of dollars. It's like a valt of ATM stuff.
Any way enough of that.
Did you ever mention what mount your scope will sit on?
Are you making that too?
Rob(great work)
--------------------
www.goldmtobservingcenter.com
Providing a great place for amateur astronomers, and ATM's to come and enjoy their hobby.
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rwiederrich
Goldfinger
Reged: 11/17/05
Posts: 5981
Loc: Bremerton Washington
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Quote:
Quote:
...I, on the other hand don't generally follow what other people think..so my scope WILL be painted *Celary* or Palomar/TAC green. I mean..I need to stay within the palette of Green...since it is my favorite color.
Just look at my other scopes.
Rob
de gustibus non est disputandum
Interpreted to mean: It's a disputible issue and I don't want to argue or dicuss it......
It's a personal preference issue.
Rob(I agree)
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www.goldmtobservingcenter.com
Providing a great place for amateur astronomers, and ATM's to come and enjoy their hobby.
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Michael Miles
professor emeritus
Reged: 02/11/05
Posts: 604
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I meant no disputing taste - for celery or anything else,
Michael
--------------------
LXD-75 w/
Stellarvue 102ED
Hardin 10" Newt
Antares 8" Newt
Meade AR-5
Meade N-6
Celestron 102mm refractor
Canon 300D, Meade DSI guiding
|
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