rwiederrich
Goldfinger
Reged: 11/17/05
Loc: Always Dark skies of Belfair W...
|
Re: 8" Brandt------------->10" Istar -- The Remake
[Re: mikey cee]
#5199910 - 05/01/12 11:13 AM Attachment (25 downloads)
|
Edit
|
Reply
|
Quote |
Quick Reply
|
|
|
Quote:
Final pic. By the way the stalks may look fragile but they surprised the heck out of me. They are rigid as all get out!  Mike
Outstanding bro...outstanding. I was waiting for you to possibly say something about it. I knew you had clipping..you had to. And you went the extra mile and corrected it. Those rich field spotters need lots of room...see mine.
|
rwiederrich
Goldfinger
Reged: 11/17/05
Loc: Always Dark skies of Belfair W...
|
Re: 8" Brandt------------->10" Istar -- The Remake
[Re: rwiederrich]
#5200006 - 05/01/12 12:09 PM
|
|
Edit
|
Reply
|
Quote |
Quick Reply
|
|
|
By the way...good thinkin out of the box. taking texture and painting into account you were able to successfully fabricate very nice extensions and to the on looker, they look machined that way. Good job bro...excellent.
Did you happen to see my new 5" iris in my 4" focuser? This focuser has been optimized for use with a camera for astro imaging.
Put a 30mm~45mm EP in that 6" apotter and you will have a great rich field spotter too.
Rob
|
mikey cee
Postmaster
Reged: 01/18/07
Loc: bellevue ne.
|
Re: 8" Brandt------------->10" Istar -- The Remake
[Re: rwiederrich]
#5720581 - 03/08/13 01:43 PM Attachment (15 downloads)
|
|
Edit
|
Reply
|
Quote |
Quick Reply
|
|
|
It's been awhile here are a few updates on this retirement project.  First off I solved the problem of a decent looking lens cover. I got so tired of rags and shower caps plus in the dark I never could find them without turning on a blinding light. So I solved it with cardboard covers. They are made from the lids of circular cardboard crafts boxes at my wife's crafts stores. They range in size from 2"O.D. to 10 3/4"OD. I screw on a wooden knob for a grab handle for my fingers. The 2" and the 2.4" scopes also have one each. Here is a pic of them in place.
Edited by mikey cee (03/08/13 06:58 PM)
|
mikey cee
Postmaster
Reged: 01/18/07
Loc: bellevue ne.
|
Re: 8" Brandt------------->10" Istar -- The Remake
[Re: mikey cee]
#5720593 - 03/08/13 01:49 PM Attachment (14 downloads)
|
|
Edit
|
Reply
|
Quote |
Quick Reply
|
|
|
Next pic shows that they are affixed to a lanyard and then screwed to the plywood ceiling. Now they go along for the ride when the roof opens and are neatly held out of place. No stepping or sitting on them in the dark. When the roof is closed they are right at hand to be put back in place.....no wondering "where are those *BLEEP* things at now?"!
Edited by mikey cee (03/08/13 02:10 PM)
|
mikey cee
Postmaster
Reged: 01/18/07
Loc: bellevue ne.
|
Re: 8" Brandt------------->10" Istar -- The Remake
[Re: mikey cee]
#5720635 - 03/08/13 02:15 PM Attachment (11 downloads)
|
|
Edit
|
Reply
|
Quote |
Quick Reply
|
|
|
Bye bye see you two later tonight. 
|
mikey cee
Postmaster
Reged: 01/18/07
Loc: bellevue ne.
|
Re: 8" Brandt------------->10" Istar -- The Remake
[Re: mikey cee]
#5720671 - 03/08/13 02:33 PM Attachment (18 downloads)
|
|
Edit
|
Reply
|
Quote |
Quick Reply
|
|
|
I finally got around to a better way of accessing my focuser knobs. With the scope in all types of configurations focusing and rotationg eyepieces and binoviewers got to be a royal hassle. Ta-da problem solved. My friend, machinist and fellow CNer John Battleson came up with a rather unique way of dealing with the problem. It's a rotating focuser with 12 built in click stops. The focuser is rotated by grabbing either of the two grab handles. The torque needed to change positions is just perfect. Firm enough to hold binovewers parallel to the floor and move the scope all around yet smooth enought click into another position. I got to hand it to John I'd have never seen the light of his idea. All aluminum on the inside where the detents and spring loaded bearings are located are hard anodized to stop wear. That is good because the way things are designed you can't disassemble anything. Several metal pins must be bored out to get the rotator apart. That is just too good. I'm lucky to have someone like him around. In this first pic we are in the 12:00 o'clock position parallel with the 6" Jaegers focuser knobs.
Edited by mikey cee (03/08/13 02:54 PM)
|
mikey cee
Postmaster
Reged: 01/18/07
Loc: bellevue ne.
|
Re: 8" Brandt------------->10" Istar -- The Remake
[Re: mikey cee]
#5720679 - 03/08/13 02:41 PM Attachment (18 downloads)
|
|
Edit
|
Reply
|
Quote |
Quick Reply
|
|
|
In the next pic we see the focuser rotated CCW into the 10:00 o'clock position. The eyepieces will clear the control knobs on the left. I'm simply beside myself. John is absolutely the best guy to have around for an ATMer!  Mike
Edited by mikey cee (03/08/13 02:49 PM)
|
mikey cee
Postmaster
Reged: 01/18/07
Loc: bellevue ne.
|
Re: 8" Brandt------------->10" Istar -- The Remake
[Re: mikey cee]
#5724563 - 03/10/13 07:29 PM Attachment (9 downloads)
|
|
Edit
|
Reply
|
Quote |
Quick Reply
|
|
|
Another recent alteration came to the RA brake. Without a brake the drive clutch cannot dampen the oscillations from focusing and hand slewing effectively. I needed a better way to fine tune this application. Pillow block mountings like this one are too sensitive to movement coupled with the tremendous moment arm torque of the 10" refractor. Now I can precisely adjust the correct amount drag to work in unison with the drive clutch. The result is an image that stays put at the center of the FOV when momentarily slewed or tapped out of place with your finger. Jupiter as an example now returns to the center of the field in one non overshooting reaction to a lateral thump. No more 1-2 sec jittery stuff like some mounts. Now I have a mount that clearly "approaches" nearer to a professional set up. The breeze however will still affect the performance to some degree. The moment arm is just to great. My Hargreaves strut that I had on my 8" might mitigate that somewhat. However I'll have to wait until warmer weather for that. Here's a pic showing what was done with a 3" exhaust pipe clamp wth a masonite filler for just the perfect drag. Too cold to paint and the steel shafts could use a little polish also. Mike
|
mikey cee
Postmaster
Reged: 01/18/07
Loc: bellevue ne.
|
Re: 8" Brandt------------->10" Istar -- The Remake
[Re: mikey cee]
#5724581 - 03/10/13 07:33 PM Attachment (7 downloads)
|
|
Edit
|
Reply
|
Quote |
Quick Reply
|
|
|
Another angle. Sorry that it's a little too dark. The thing I enjoy the most about ATM is thinking outside the box.....but not too far.  Mike
Edited by mikey cee (03/11/13 04:53 PM)
|
mikey cee
Postmaster
Reged: 01/18/07
Loc: bellevue ne.
|
Re: 8" Brandt------------->10" Istar -- The Remake
[Re: mikey cee]
#5736171 - 03/16/13 12:23 PM
|
|
Edit
|
Reply
|
Quote |
Quick Reply
|
|
|
Well the last two nights we have tested the rotateable focuser and it works beautifully. Remember we are using 515x in a 20mm 65° eyepiece. When viewing Jupiter in the center of the FOV we also look into the 2" finder, the 6" and the 2.4" and the planet is in the center of the FOVs. All scopes are aimed correctly. That's just the way I like it. I could see no discernable shift in the diffraction ring patterns around the components of Castor. Several days earlier I did the laser collimation and clicked thru all 12 stops. The red dot on the objective made an orbit about the size of a nickel. I thought man that's plenty good enough for me. Besides refractors are more forgiving than other designs when it comes to being off in collimation. To say I'm pleased is an understatement.  Plus it's a joy now to be able to rotate my focusing knobs to be horizontal to the floor no matter the attitude of the scope. Mike
|
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
