csa/montana
Den Mother
Reged: 05/14/05
Posts: 39604
Loc: montana
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Kerry: 
Beautiful job! And great photos; thanks so much for adding yet another great improvement to our thread!
Carol
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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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BWBlackett
newbie
Reged: 01/11/07
Posts: 1
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Does anyone know somewhere in the UK where I can get a circle printed and laminated?
I have a 10" Dob whose base is 20.5" diameter so I think I need to resize the 19" pdf by 1.08.
Thanks,
Brian.
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csa/montana
Den Mother
Reged: 05/14/05
Posts: 39604
Loc: montana
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Brian: Welcome to Cloudy Nights! Thank you for joining our forums!
We have many UK members, so I'm sure they will step forward to help you find a place.
Again, welcome!
Carol
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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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Downward Bound
Adrenaline Junkie
Reged: 03/29/06
Posts: 2629
Loc: Seattle
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Nice work Kerry!
with everything you've done, that scope won't even remember my name or that it once shared many a great view with me 
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Bill
'flector: R200SS, 22" f/3.6 (on order)
'fractors: PST, AT-66, TV-85, FS-102, NP-127, TMB-152
'bins: 15x63, 10x52, 22x85
410+028B, Sphinx, Telepod, EZ Touch, G-11
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Sky Captain
Metal Whisperer
Reged: 11/07/04
Posts: 7110
Loc: Issaquah, WA.
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Quote:
Nice work Kerry!
with everything you've done, that scope won't even remember my name or that it once shared many a great view with me
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Bill
Would it help if I name it little Bill? 
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Equipment Overload!
Kerry
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Sky Captain
Metal Whisperer
Reged: 11/07/04
Posts: 7110
Loc: Issaquah, WA.
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Well, here's where I left off the other day. The method I came up with to view the setting circle was a 3" plastic cord feed for office desk tops. I got it at Staples while waiting for the circles to be printed and laminated.
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Equipment Overload!
Kerry
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Sky Captain
Metal Whisperer
Reged: 11/07/04
Posts: 7110
Loc: Issaquah, WA.
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I installed a switch, a red LED, an aluminum indicator arm, and a #2023 button cell (3 volt) holder. I cut in the switch but had to fab and JB Weld the other components to the inside base.
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Equipment Overload!
Kerry
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Sky Captain
Metal Whisperer
Reged: 11/07/04
Posts: 7110
Loc: Issaquah, WA.
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Here is a shot of it installed in the base.
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Equipment Overload!
Kerry
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Sky Captain
Metal Whisperer
Reged: 11/07/04
Posts: 7110
Loc: Issaquah, WA.
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This shot shows the base to level the scope and I installed a dual axis bubble level that is counter sunk into the top board.
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Equipment Overload!
Kerry
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Sky Captain
Metal Whisperer
Reged: 11/07/04
Posts: 7110
Loc: Issaquah, WA.
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Here is a closer shot of the counter sunk bubble level with the scope on the base. This way I can level the scope with the full load on it in the up right position.
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Equipment Overload!
Kerry
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Sky Captain
Metal Whisperer
Reged: 11/07/04
Posts: 7110
Loc: Issaquah, WA.
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Here it is, all ready for action! First light to test it will be in a few days, I'll post here my results.
Again, many-many thanks for everyones input to this thread, of which I wouldn't have been able to do this job as well as I did. I hope my ideas and photos will in turn help others to build something great too. 
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Equipment Overload!
Kerry
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Sader762
member
Reged: 06/29/06
Posts: 66
Loc: East Texas
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Show-Off................... 
J/K....man that looks nice. I dare say that Meade could not have done a better job........ 
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Orion 10" XT Classic
Meade 8" LX5 SCT
Celestron 6" Star Hopper Dob
Telrad
about 20 various eyepieces
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rnabholz
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 07/25/04
Posts: 897
Loc: Iowa
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Congratulations on a super installation. The level of ingenuity and skill evident is really first rate.
I really like your LED install. Very clean and professional.
Well done!!
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Rod Nabholz
Home Built Astronomy Projects
Wild Bird Photography
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csa/montana
Den Mother
Reged: 05/14/05
Posts: 39604
Loc: montana
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Kerry: Outstanding job! Wow, that is absolutely perfection!
This thread just keeps getting better & better; going from primative, to elite!
Thanks for your contribution & photos, to help others!
Carol
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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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Roger51
member
Reged: 09/05/06
Posts: 61
Loc: Michigan
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Kerry,
Nice job! Is there a part number for the insert you purchased at Staples. I just received my 16 inch Lightbridge and would like to use your method.
Thx
Roger
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Roger
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Roger51
member
Reged: 09/05/06
Posts: 61
Loc: Michigan
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All,
Anyone interested in knowing the base diameter for the 16" Lightbridge it's 31.5 inches.
Roger
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Roger
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Sky Captain
Metal Whisperer
Reged: 11/07/04
Posts: 7110
Loc: Issaquah, WA.
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Thanks everyone for the kind words! This was a very fun project, though a bit much on the money side, but still well worth it.
If anyone needs additional pictures\angles, just let me know and I will post them here.
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Equipment Overload!
Kerry
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Sky Captain
Metal Whisperer
Reged: 11/07/04
Posts: 7110
Loc: Issaquah, WA.
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Quote:
Kerry,
Nice job! Is there a part number for the insert you purchased at Staples. I just received my 16 inch Lightbridge and would like to use your method.
Thx
Roger
There probably was Roger, but I threw it out several days ago. It was in the office\desk area of Staples and it was the 3 inch version. I looked around at other places but could only find 2 inch versions. A 4 inch version would be nice on the 16 in. LB you have. The 3 inch just fits the 12 inch base.
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Equipment Overload!
Kerry
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BradC
sage
Reged: 01/31/07
Posts: 446
Loc: St. Louis, MO
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Quality workmanship, Kerry. Great design, and looks real professional.
One question: Is the hole going to be wide enought to be usable? Based on the scale of the circles, there are a lot of positions that all you will see through the hole is a bunch of lines with no numbers to tell where you really are. Maybe numbers every 5 degrees instead of every 10 would help this.
Let me know if this is a problem when you test it out.
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My God! It's full of stars!
Zhumell 10" dob - First Light Report
Celestron OptiView 10x50 LPR Binoculars
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Sky Captain
Metal Whisperer
Reged: 11/07/04
Posts: 7110
Loc: Issaquah, WA.
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Quote:
One question: Is the hole going to be wide enought to be usable? Based on the scale of the circles, there are a lot of positions that all you will see through the hole is a bunch of lines with no numbers to tell where you really are. Maybe numbers every 5 degrees instead of every 10 would help this.
Let me know if this is a problem when you test it out.
I was wondering that too, but I'm glad I kept looking for the 3 in. version as opposed to the 2 incher's I had been seeing. Numbers every 5 would be better, but in practice it was very easy to use. The program I downloaded from the beggining of this thread only had the markings as shown and it does spread out a bit when enlarged.
Last night I got a chance to use it, as I was invited to an outreach program at an elementry school for 4th graders. Tom (square-peg) hosted it along with the Maple Valley Astro (MVAS) club. After setting up and leveling the scope (9:00pm) it was still very light out and the only thing visible was Venus. So I decided to start with that one. I looked up the Alt\Az numbers on Starrynight and set the ring\az to the correct number. Saturn was not visible because of it being still bright and the thin marine layer of clouds in the sky. I looked up the position for Saturn on the lap top and moved the scope to those readings...there it was, in the EP (I was using the 12mm Speers WALER at 127x !!! I would have liked to use it more but there was one HUGE problem, (not really )...over 175 people showed up for the out reach! The line at my scope was 30 people deep, all night, just to see Saturn and Venus.
I will try to view again with my wife tonight in a more controlled enviroment and report my findings. Overall I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out and how easy it is to use. 
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Equipment Overload!
Kerry
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