Click here if you are having trouble logging into the forums
Privacy Policy |
Please read our Terms
of Service | Signup and
Troubleshooting FAQ | Problems? PM a Red or a Green Gu.... uh, User
Rob Willett
Vendor (Degree Circles)
Reged: 02/07/05
Posts: 653
Loc: London, UK.
|
|
Black velvet with velcro is probably the way to go. Thats what I'm going to do,
--------------------
Thanks,
Rob
|
TheDarkOne
super member
Reged: 01/16/08
Posts: 121
Loc: Bishop
|
|
I am currently thinking about building one of these "strut Refractors" and using it in conjunction with the small Manfrotto photo tripod available in most photo shops. I have looked at the Surplus Shed web site and it poses some tantilizing ideas. 70mm? 80mmf5, 80mmf11? Pehaps two scopes since I will be ables to breal them down so small. The toatal estimated weight of the 80mmf5 strut along with the tripod will be less than a pair of 10x50 binoculars, and abouth the same Volume, when broken down.
--------------------
Things are not as they appear...
|
Rob Willett
Vendor (Degree Circles)
Reged: 02/07/05
Posts: 653
Loc: London, UK.
|
|
I think the F11 would be interesting to build, but would be a little wary of as there could be flex in the threaded rods. I've been thinking of ways to beef up the flexibility or rather how to stop the flex and think a series of rings acting as both baffles and supports is the idea. Time is precious at the moment so am not going to be able to push this for the next month or two.
--------------------
Thanks,
Rob
|
ebfoxbat
member
Reged: 01/21/08
Posts: 23
|
|
I would think one could build in rings along the rods as needed to inhibit flex since you would cut the span the rods ran. Said rings could also be thicker for stability but double as a baffle which can only help.
|
jcjr
professor emeritus
Reged: 01/06/08
Posts: 563
Loc: TN, USA
|
|
For scopes 80mm or less, the platters out of burned-out 3.5" hard drives might make good ring material. They seem awfully stiff and hard. Not particularly heavy. Already round on the outside, so you only have to drill inside holes the correct size.
The platters are beautiful when you first take them out of a dead drive (unless the head crashed and scratched em up). A beautiful mirror finish.
Dead hard drives are also a great source of high-quality 'free' miniature ball bearings for focusers and such, but it can be some work to extract them intact, because commodity hard drives are constructed surprisingly well.
--------------------
CPC 1100, C102SLT, SV F80, Meade 70 & 60 AZT
Q70 38mm, Pan24, Meade 5K 18mm UW, Axiom LX 15mm, 10mm, 7mm, Nagler 13T6, Expanse 20mm, 9mm, 6mm, BO/TMB 5mm, 2.5mm
Edited by jcjr (01/29/08 10:09 AM)
|
TheDarkOne
super member
Reged: 01/16/08
Posts: 121
Loc: Bishop
|
|
Quote:
For scopes 80mm or less, the platters out of burned-out 3.5" hard drives might make good ring material. They seem awfully stiff and hard. Not particularly heavy. Already round on the outside, so you only have to drill inside holes the correct size.
The platters are beautiful when you first take them out of a dead drive (unless the head crashed and scratched em up). A beautiful mirror finish.
Dead hard drives are also a great source of high-quality 'free' miniature ball bearings for focusers and such, but it can be some work to extract them intact, because commodity hard drives are constructed surprisingly well.
plus your recycling and helping the enviornment
--------------------
Things are not as they appear...
|
Owen
professor emeritus
Reged: 06/21/07
Posts: 513
|
|
The question has to be how accurate is a hard disk mirror then..?
You are also ensuring data security - a reworked disk kills any data held.
Owen
|
ebfoxbat
member
Reged: 01/21/08
Posts: 23
|
|
Can an old hard drive platter even be drilled?
Also, be careful, the magnet in a hard drive was specifically designed to crush the tip of your finger against any hard metal object.
|
stevenf
member
Reged: 10/11/09
Posts: 31
Loc: Vancouver, BC
|
|
I came across this old thread and now I have visions of building a small, portable, strut refractor of my own. Has anybody done this (besides Rob, above)? Any advice or tips?
This would be my first ATM project, thinking of doing it over the next few months. Am I biting off more than I can chew? Or is putting together a small refractor fairly easy (I won't be grinding my own lenses!).
Thanks for any advice!
--------------------
Meade ETX-60BB
Meade ETX-90EC UHTC
Skywatcher ST80
Orion ST120
Skywatcher 90mm Mak
Meade 9x63 binoculars
Celestron Explorascope
|
|
2 registered and 3 anonymous users are browsing this forum.
Moderator: Don W, Mike I. Jones
Print Thread
|
Forum Permissions
You cannot start new topics
You cannot reply to topics
HTML is disabled
UBBCode is enabled
|
Thread views: 865
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
[Re: 
Edit
Reply
Quote
