Sky Captain
Metal Whisperer
Reged: 11/07/04
Posts: 7177
Loc: Issaquah, WA.
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Another thing that has helped in finding objects, is that I recently switched from Starry Night to Stellarium's free star program download. I like the extra info displayed when you select an object to view/find. I also like the fact that the selected object still has its location in alt/az updated live and shows the coordinates as they are changing. It helps me to make finer adjustments in my setting circles to anticipate the objects movement.
The photo shows an example of the info when an object is selected...much better than the other program I was using.
If interested, you can find it here----> Stellarium.
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Equipment Overload!
Kerry
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Stumble
member
Reged: 09/03/09
Posts: 13
Loc: Durham, NC
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Thanks Sky Captain. I am new to this hobby, and the manual setting circle set up works perfectly with my 32mm eyepiece. I have a limited field of view due to trees around my house. I use the free Distant Suns application on my iPhone to locate different things dial them in with the setting circle and enjoy.
I use Stellarium to compare what I saw after a night of viewing. It is hands down the best application I have seen. I wish there was a Stellarium iPhone application.
Edited by Stumble (09/30/09 09:32 AM)
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Sky Captain
Metal Whisperer
Reged: 11/07/04
Posts: 7177
Loc: Issaquah, WA.
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Quote:
I use the free Distant Suns application on my iPhone to locate different things dial them in with the setting circle and enjoy.
Stumble, I'm glad that's working out for you, I don't have an iphone, but the screen seems large enough to work better that some of the "palm" style devises that are in use. I have recently been looking at one of the small netbooks to use instead of the largelaptop I currently use to get my coordinates.
Something else you might try for fun is locating a few daytime stars. MAKE SURE YOU DON'T "SWEEP" THE SUN WITH YOUR SCOPE. Pick a day when the moon is visible in the sky, and do an alignment on it as your starting point (that's what I did). Find a few stars on your program with the brightest magnitude that are up during the day and see if you can find them. When I did it, I found several and even Venus during the day is a good object to find. I sometimes use a Moon filter for bright daytime observations of Venus.
Have fun viewing! 
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Equipment Overload!
Kerry
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Stumble
member
Reged: 09/03/09
Posts: 13
Loc: Durham, NC
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I have viewed the moon during the day, but didn't think to try and locate anything else. I am currently bent on seeing an iridium flare, and plan to give that a shot tomorrow evening.
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Sky Captain
Metal Whisperer
Reged: 11/07/04
Posts: 7177
Loc: Issaquah, WA.
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After many years of EZT ownership and trying various methods of adapting setting circles to it, I finally succeeded. In keeping with the method I adapted to my 12" Light Bridge scope, I used a similar method here. I started with a 6" diameter degree circle sold at most office supply stores. The 0-360 scale is printed right and left but the outer scale (to the right/clockwise) is the same as the one used on my 12" LB.
I began heading to the shop on Friday with plans to make the parts from machined aluminum. Half way there I started thinking that maybe I should use plastic parts instead of aluminum, because of the contact with the EZT head. This would eliminate any scratching of the EZT finish and reduce the amount work I would have had to do to the aluminum to make it not scratch the painted surfaces of the EZT head.
On the way I stopped at the local plastics shop (Tap Plastics) and inquired if they could make the parts I had designed. They said yes, (naturaly this saved me hours of machining) and I waited there for an hour so they could do it. Since the degree circle is clear with black lettering, I went with a 1/4" thick by 6" diameter piece of white acrylic so the numbers would show easily. This would also provide a stiff flat surface that won't flex or bend over the long run.
The other two pieces were routered out of a plastic called HDPE. This is a little more "flexable" and won't chip like the acrylic would.
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Equipment Overload!
Kerry
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Sky Captain
Metal Whisperer
Reged: 11/07/04
Posts: 7177
Loc: Issaquah, WA.
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The bottom ring was cut at 1/2" thick and 1/2" wide (wall thickness). It was cut with the same I.D. as the O.D. of the EZT base diameter. I used a 2" sanding drum on the drill press to hand fit the I.D. of the ring so it provided a "little" friction on the base of the EZT. I also flipped the silver trim piece up side down, to provide a flat surface for the 6" setting circle to ride on.
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Equipment Overload!
Kerry
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Sky Captain
Metal Whisperer
Reged: 11/07/04
Posts: 7177
Loc: Issaquah, WA.
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Next was the pointer. This was cut with the same inside diameter as the bottom ring, only the wall thickness is 1/4" instead of 1/2", so it would not interfer with the mounts AZ tension knob. This was hand sanded on the 2" sanding drum as well and has a much tighter fit so it won't move but will still slip on and off if needed. I cut a 1/16"ths thick by 3/8"ths wide by 4" long strip of aluminum for the pointer and hand filed a recess groove in the upper ring so the pointer would be inset into the plastic ring and provide a much more rigid mounting. The HDPE plastic is very easy to drill and tap, and I used a stainless phillips screw to hold the pointer in place. Only a 64th" of the screw was poking out on the inside of the ring along with a small portion to the pointers top. This was smoothed out and a contour to match the EZT's O.D. diameter with the 2" sanding drum.
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Equipment Overload!
Kerry
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Sky Captain
Metal Whisperer
Reged: 11/07/04
Posts: 7177
Loc: Issaquah, WA.
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Here is a close up shot of the inside of the upper pointer support ring and the smoothed back of the screw and pointer.
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Equipment Overload!
Kerry
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Sky Captain
Metal Whisperer
Reged: 11/07/04
Posts: 7177
Loc: Issaquah, WA.
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The top 6" diam. acrylic disc and the bottom HDPE ring were secured together with 4 stainless steel 8-32 by 1/2" screws. The top acrylic disc can chip and break if not drilled carefully. There are several methods to do this including special drill bits that have a 60 degree taper point and the method I used was to use an end mill in the milling machine to bore the holes for the screws to pass through. Once the 4 holes were made, I lined up the bottom ring and transfered the marking to it and drilled and tapped the bottom ring. These types of plastic can not be glued together. The degree circle had an alignment bar through the middle of it. This was cut out except for a couple of "tabs". One of the tabs was used to secure the ring to the top of the acrylic disc using on of the 4 mounting screws just installed. Since the degree circle and the top 6" disc are both made of acrylic, I thought of just using acrylic glue to secure them together, but I was informed at the plastic shop that it melts them together and the numbering system printed on the bottom side would more than likely be ruined...thus the mounting screws.
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Equipment Overload!
Kerry
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Sky Captain
Metal Whisperer
Reged: 11/07/04
Posts: 7177
Loc: Issaquah, WA.
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Last nights test went great! Trying to find DSO's with a full Moon would be pretty tough without some kind of go-to or setting circle devise. After alignment on Jupiter, I was able to hit anything I wanted. I'll probably make a few minor adjustments, but will post the results when done.
The alt. finder was the Wixey DAF used on my LB.
Total cost was around $55.00 for all the parts including the degree circle and the screws. A seemingly large amount of money for plastic, but it was the labor to cut the pieces that made it so much. The plastic itself only cost $10.00.
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Equipment Overload!
Kerry
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mclewis1
Thread Killer
Reged: 02/25/06
Posts: 3935
Loc: New Brunswick, Canada
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Nicely done Kerry, now if it only had slow motions ...
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Mark
C11, C6, APM/TMB115, and AT80ED - Tandem mount CGE and CG-5A, WO EZ-Touch and AT Voyager
25x100s and 8x56s, T-Mount Light, Mark 1 eyeballs - Modded 350D, DSI-P, SPC900, Mallincam
Just because you can doesn't necessarily mean that you should
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Sky Captain
Metal Whisperer
Reged: 11/07/04
Posts: 7177
Loc: Issaquah, WA.
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Quote:
Nicely done Kerry, now if it only had slow motions ...
Thanks Mark.
"Slow motions"?
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Equipment Overload!
Kerry
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Sky Captain
Metal Whisperer
Reged: 11/07/04
Posts: 7177
Loc: Issaquah, WA.
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I tested the setting circles again last night just before the Moon started to rise. With an O-III filter and the 17mm Hyperion I was able to see the Ring Nebula, Veil Nebula and the Dumbell Nebula along with a host of Globs and Jupiter and Uranus. All were near the center of the FOV.
This morning I used the same set up, but changed out the OTA for my Tal 4" f10 refractor. At 6:50am just before the Sun came up I observed Venus, Mercury and Saturn.
Venus was point and view and I aligned the setting circles on it and hit the other two pretty easy after that.
Just as a side note, I tried a different leveling method this morning since it was a last moment effort. I set a level on top of the EZT head and leveled the tripod this way and just rotated the head 90 deg. and checked level in that position. Before, I had leveled the top of the tripod and then set the EZT head on after level. This seems to be just as acurate and faster as well.
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Equipment Overload!
Kerry
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Sky Captain
Metal Whisperer
Reged: 11/07/04
Posts: 7177
Loc: Issaquah, WA.
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Here is another in the field aid that might help some. I found that I need to recheck the Wixey from time to time for proper level. I bought a small pocket level (5.5" L x 1.25" H x .75 W) from Home Depot (electrical dept.). On the bottom it has 3 powerful round magnets. Marked with a red arrow in the photo is a stainless steel thumb knob I added by drilling and tapping that end so the screw knob would fit.
In the field, I found that it's pretty hard to find a level spot to calibrate the Wixey. I set the level on a fairly flat spot and screw the knob down until the horizontal bubble level is level. I place the Wixey on top and zero it's digital scale to match the bubble level reading.
This was the only level I could find that was small and had a spot to add the adjusting screw, but I'm sure that more searching might find other suitable levels for this modification. I mention this because the level in the photo is pretty spendy at around $35.00. Since it has magnets on the bottom and would stick to the OTA and has a 30 deg. and 45 deg. bubble, it might come in handy if the batteries fail on the Wixey, as one could get pretty close by using it.
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Equipment Overload!
Kerry
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Rob E
Pierrot
Reged: 05/20/09
Posts: 1121
Loc: Eastern Virginia
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Sorry about the duplicate. I got distracted..
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Rob E.
Some of us are actually paid to be funny.
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Zhumell 16"
Orion 120ST
Orion Starmax 127
Baader Planetarium Hyperions
Zhumell SWA EP's
There's two ways to do anything...right and twice
Edited by Rob E (10/09/09 09:33 PM)
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Rob E
Pierrot
Reged: 05/20/09
Posts: 1121
Loc: Eastern Virginia
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Here is a link to a half degree circle sized at 150DPI for the GSO 16" (Should be good for a 16" Lightbridge as well.)
Defaults to a 26" circle.
http://www.riffclown.com/half-degree-26-inch.jpg
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Rob E.
Some of us are actually paid to be funny.
------
Zhumell 16"
Orion 120ST
Orion Starmax 127
Baader Planetarium Hyperions
Zhumell SWA EP's
There's two ways to do anything...right and twice
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erikr
member
Reged: 07/12/09
Posts: 13
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Quote:
Here is another in the field aid that might help some. I found that I need to recheck the Wixey from time to time for proper level. I bought a small pocket level (5.5" L x 1.25" H x .75 W) from Home Depot (electrical dept.). On the bottom it has 3 powerful round magnets. Marked with a red arrow in the photo is a stainless steel thumb knob I added by drilling and tapping that end so the screw knob would fit.
In the field, I found that it's pretty hard to find a level spot to calibrate the Wixey. I set the level on a fairly flat spot and screw the knob down until the horizontal bubble level is level. I place the Wixey on top and zero it's digital scale to match the bubble level reading.
This was the only level I could find that was small and had a spot to add the adjusting screw, but I'm sure that more searching might find other suitable levels for this modification. I mention this because the level in the photo is pretty spendy at around $35.00. Since it has magnets on the bottom and would stick to the OTA and has a 30 deg. and 45 deg. bubble, it might come in handy if the batteries fail on the Wixey, as one could get pretty close by using it.
I have a question,
If you first level the Wixey on your level and then put it on your Dob, do you even have to level the Dob's base?
Erik
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Sky Captain
Metal Whisperer
Reged: 11/07/04
Posts: 7177
Loc: Issaquah, WA.
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Quote:
I have a question,
If you first level the Wixey on your level and then put it on your Dob, do you even have to level the Dob's base?
Erik
The dobs base has to be perfectly level as it won't change, (it just rotates) but the OTA will change as it goes up and down while looking for objects. Making the base as close to level as you can get will greatly help in finding objects.
To give an example, if the base isn't level and you align on lets say Jupiter, then all of the objects you try to find will not be there, but if you go back to Jupiter it will be there. If your having trouble finding objects, a non level base can be part of the problem.
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Equipment Overload!
Kerry
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csa/montana
Wild Spirit
Reged: 05/14/05
Posts: 40148
Loc: montana
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Kerry, what an amazing job you did with this! The degree circles have taken on a new life, with your application! 
Thanks for sharing this with us, & the detailed info about it!
Great job! 
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Carol
AstroTech 16" Dob (Thanks ASTRONOMICS!)
Vixen 80MF/AstroTech Voyager
Masuyama's 7.5, 15, 25W, 35mm,
Pentaxes; 5XW, 7XL, 10XW.
14mm Meade 4000 UWA
TV Panoptics; 22, 35
DreamCatcher Dobservatory, #2
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Rob E
Pierrot
Reged: 05/20/09
Posts: 1121
Loc: Eastern Virginia
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Please keep in mind that the optical light path needs to be aligned with the optical tube or the wixey will be off by that amount. If collimated properly, it's already taken care of and shouldn't be an issue but I thought it worth mentioning.
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Rob E.
Some of us are actually paid to be funny.
------
Zhumell 16"
Orion 120ST
Orion Starmax 127
Baader Planetarium Hyperions
Zhumell SWA EP's
There's two ways to do anything...right and twice
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