Telescope Reviews: A Cave 8" f/6 Model B Deluxe

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Bob Myler
scholastic sledgehammer

Reged: 05/18/06

Loc: St Louis, MO

Re: A Cave 8" f/6 Model B Deluxe new

[Re: Datapanic]
#3526278 - 12/28/09 05:39 PM

Dan, this is so beautiful. After going thru four polishing wheels - do you still have fingernails?

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tim53
Postmaster

Reged: 12/17/04

Loc: Highland Park, CA

Re: A Cave 8" f/6 Model B Deluxe new

[Re: Bob Myler]
#3526650 - 12/28/09 09:04 PM

Very cool!

Hey, my case of wrinkle black showed up today! Now I just hope to get some time this week to paint the parts for my LW Deluxe.

-Tim.

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Datapanic
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 10/17/09

Loc: Tucson, Arizona

Re: A Cave 8" f/6 Model B Deluxe new

[Re: tim53]
#3526682 - 12/28/09 09:27 PM

Bob - so far, no boo-boo's, just a lot of waxy, greasy grime. And I'm out of polishing wheels for the Dremel!

Tim - It will be interesting to see how that paint works out. I tried Krylon's Hammered Iron but the texture came out unevenly hammered, so I went with the metallic silver instead.

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Datapanic
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 10/17/09

Loc: Tucson, Arizona

Re: A Cave 8" f/6 Model B Deluxe new

[Re: Datapanic]
#3528191 - 12/29/09 05:59 PM Attachment (129 downloads)

The cradle on my 75 Lightweight had cork linings from the factory where this one had felt - maybe, there wasn't much left of anything there. I decided to keep things the same and go with cork on the Heavy Duty mount as well. A 1/8" thick 1" wide strip of cork is cut to length and a 7/16" hole is punched in the middle. Contact cement is used to glue the cork to the cradle. A 3/8" bolt helps guide the cork as it is attached to the cradle since contact cement does not allow for repositioning very well. The ends of the cork are trimmed off afterward.

Looking at the underside of the cradle, I noticed the Dec shaft bore hole was a little off - 1/16" of center! There's not much to do about that.

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Datapanic
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 10/17/09

Loc: Tucson, Arizona

Re: A Cave 8" f/6 Model B Deluxe new

[Re: Datapanic]
#3528204 - 12/29/09 06:09 PM Attachment (128 downloads)

The Dec shaft housing is attached to the mount, using some ARP Thread sealant on the tip of the bolt to the RA shaft. The Dec shaft needle bearings are packed with white lithium grease. Before the Tangent Arm ring is slipped on, the inner brass sleeve is coated with a light layer of white lithium grease. The Teflon washer is also coated with a light layer of white lithium grease. All ready for the cradle and Dec shaft!

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CHASLX200
Post Laureate

Reged: 09/29/07

Loc: Tampa area Florida

Re: A Cave 8" f/6 Model B Deluxe new

[Re: Datapanic]
#3528211 - 12/29/09 06:13 PM

Looks first class. The paint just flakes off at the touch of a finger on the 1967 10" F/8 i picked up. It's in ugly shape but both motors work and the mount works fine. I plan to tear down the mount soon and start making it look pretty i hope.

Chas

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Datapanic
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 10/17/09

Loc: Tucson, Arizona

Re: A Cave 8" f/6 Model B Deluxe new

[Re: Datapanic]
#3528219 - 12/29/09 06:16 PM Attachment (133 downloads)

Oh Shoot! (Well, that's not what I really said, but keeping it clean here!) The threads on the Dec shaft are bad! The damage must have happened when I removed the bolt. Time for another trip to Ace to get a 1/2" - 13 tap. The photo doesn't show well, but the threads are not crossed, just turned down.

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CHASLX200
Post Laureate

Reged: 09/29/07

Loc: Tampa area Florida

Re: A Cave 8" f/6 Model B Deluxe new

[Re: Compressorguy]
#3528233 - 12/29/09 06:23 PM

Quote:

Mine also lacks the dec shaft tension bolt/knob similar to the leveler knobs vs both of your scopes which have them. I'm pretty sure the allen socket head set screw in mine is not threaded to accept one and it doesn't thread in far enough to contact the shaft to provide any friction. I'm considering adding it to mine to eliminate some slop.

Your mount is about a twin of my 1967 10" F8 Cave i just picked up. Same dec drive and gear, i also have two power cords coming out of my RV Drive housing and a small wire that runs along the polar axis into the RV drive housing.

The color looks to be the same but 90% of the piant is down to bare metal.

Chas

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Datapanic
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 10/17/09

Loc: Tucson, Arizona

Re: A Cave 8" f/6 Model B Deluxe new

[Re: CHASLX200]
#3528562 - 12/29/09 09:50 PM

Quote:

Looks first class. The paint just flakes off at the touch of a finger on the 1967 10" F/8 i picked up. It's in ugly shape but both motors work and the mount works fine. I plan to tear down the mount soon and start making it look pretty i hope.

Thanks Chas! All the black wrinkle paint was flaking off when I started on this mount as well. It looks like there was no primer used underneath at all. After washing the parts with soap and water and a stiff brush, there was very little sanding left to do as most of it was bare aluminum and just needed a little roughing up so the primer and paint would have a good surface to bond to.

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CHASLX200
Post Laureate

Reged: 09/29/07

Loc: Tampa area Florida

Re: A Cave 8" f/6 Model B Deluxe new

[Re: Datapanic]
#3529018 - 12/30/09 06:12 AM

Quote:

Quote:

Looks first class. The paint just flakes off at the touch of a finger on the 1967 10" F/8 i picked up. It's in ugly shape but both motors work and the mount works fine. I plan to tear down the mount soon and start making it look pretty i hope.

Thanks Chas! All the black wrinkle paint was flaking off when I started on this mount as well. It looks like there was no primer used underneath at all. After washing the parts with soap and water and a stiff brush, there was very little sanding left to do as most of it was bare aluminum and just needed a little roughing up so the primer and paint would have a good surface to bond to.

What would be the best primer i could use? I'm thinking of painting the mount gray.

Chas

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Lew Chilton
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 10/20/05

Loc: SoCal

Re: A Cave 8" f/6 Model B Deluxe new

[Re: CHASLX200]
#3529856 - 12/30/09 03:46 PM

I've been using a light gray etching primer, which is available in spray cans. I think you can buy it at automotive paint suppliers and other places as well.

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Datapanic
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 10/17/09

Loc: Tucson, Arizona

Re: A Cave 8" f/6 Model B Deluxe new

[Re: Lew Chilton]
#3530213 - 12/30/09 06:57 PM

After re-tapping the threads on the Dec shaft, I again mounted the cradle to the shaft but it was not going in smooth as before! Well, it turned out that the bolt hole on the cradle was off centered. After rotating the cradle I found a position which lined up properly with the threaded shaft hole and finally go the cradle mounted to the shaft!

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tim53
Postmaster

Reged: 12/17/04

Loc: Highland Park, CA

Re: A Cave 8" f/6 Model B Deluxe new

[Re: Datapanic]
#3530224 - 12/30/09 07:03 PM

Yesterday, I had a few minutes to squirt some wrinkle black on a 5 lb barbel weight I had laying around, to see how it does. Today, it's nicely wrinkled!... ...but it's raining, and I'm working on wainscoting the attic theater room (and Hatch Observatory!) walls, so I won't get a chance to put any on the LWD parts until after this task is behind me (and it clears and warms up a tad).

But it looks good! The instructions say to put two HEAVY coats on, 3 minutes apart. I did, but it looks like I should have gone a little heavier than that.

A very nice paint, though.

-Tim.

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Datapanic
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 10/17/09

Loc: Tucson, Arizona

Re: A Cave 8" f/6 Model B Deluxe new

[Re: Datapanic]
#3530230 - 12/30/09 07:06 PM Attachment (124 downloads)

The tangent arm threaded shaft is actually made of brass! Here it is all cleaned up and polished.

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Datapanic
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 10/17/09

Loc: Tucson, Arizona

Re: A Cave 8" f/6 Model B Deluxe new

[Re: Datapanic]
#3530602 - 12/30/09 11:04 PM Attachment (122 downloads)

Progress has moved along more quickly than I expected. Here is shown the stand and mount so far. The Tangent Arm assembly is back on without the motor, the Dec circle, retainer rings and counter weights on as well. Still to do with the mount are the Dec shaft locking knob and the clock drive housing guts.

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Datapanic
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 10/17/09

Loc: Tucson, Arizona

Re: A Cave 8" f/6 Model B Deluxe new

[Re: Datapanic]
#3530611 - 12/30/09 11:10 PM Attachment (109 downloads)

The initial disassembly of the clock drive ring gear and clutch assembly. The little pieces of black strips are actually dried out lubricant. This will only require a cleanup and lube.

The little Craftsman screwdriver on the left I found when I was a 6 year old kid in Idaho.

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Datapanic
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 10/17/09

Loc: Tucson, Arizona

Re: A Cave 8" f/6 Model B Deluxe new

[Re: Datapanic]
#3532345 - 12/31/09 07:59 PM Attachment (123 downloads)

The clock drive ring gear and clutch assembly were soaked in mineral spirits. I ended up using a plastic scraper to get the dried up grease off. The ring gear was polished and the Teflon clutch material was cleaned with soap and water.

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Datapanic
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 10/17/09

Loc: Tucson, Arizona

Re: A Cave 8" f/6 Model B Deluxe new

[Re: Datapanic]
#3532351 - 12/31/09 08:02 PM Attachment (122 downloads)

The motor mount and worm gear block were painted the same as the other black parts. These are originally bare metal, but I like the effect

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Datapanic
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 10/17/09

Loc: Tucson, Arizona

Re: A Cave 8" f/6 Model B Deluxe new

[Re: Datapanic]
#3532361 - 12/31/09 08:07 PM Attachment (117 downloads)

This is the first time since I started that I could put an OTA on the mount. This is the f/7 from the Lightweight. It looks like I am going to need more counterweight!

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Datapanic
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 10/17/09

Loc: Tucson, Arizona

Re: A Cave 8" f/6 Model B Deluxe new

[Re: Datapanic]
#3534014 - 01/01/10 06:29 PM Attachment (117 downloads)

Next, the mount is wired for electric. A computer power cord was used for the wire and plug. The power and motor drive wires are soldered to the switch. Heat Shrink is used to cover the leads. The power cord ground wire (yellow & green) is grounded to the mount. The red and black wires for the Tangent Arm motor are bundled up and secured for now.

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