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10"F/4.6 MakCass with 23% C.O.

Started by APM M.Ludes , Jul 17 2012 03:00 PM

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43 replies to this topic

#1 APM M.Ludes

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Posted 17 July 2012 - 03:00 PM

APM dectied to start a small production run of highest quality maksutov Cassegrain 10"F/14.6 with 23 % Co.O .
We wil use quarz mirrors, with rear side polished
Each sets is certified by a Zygo report with 1719 wavefront p.t.v, 1750 wavefront RMS and 98.4 % Strehl.
Each Tube will be very light weight build by my expert matthias Wirth
We will start a first run of 5 scopes.

If we see a interest , we may start with same optical design as a 11" and possible as a 12" Maksutov Cassegrain.
The complete optical tube will be less heavy then any ever build 10" Maksutov cassegrain.

The Optical design will be made by Astro-Optik Philipp Keller, or Massimo Riccardi, we have not yet decited.
The Optics will be made exclusivley for us by INTES MICRO
The Quartz we will buy in USA

if you have a interest , contact me now

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#2 Jeff B

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Posted 17 July 2012 - 03:26 PM

I must say Markus, you have been coming out with some intensely interesting stuff lately.

Keep going!

Jeff

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#3 Sgt

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Posted 17 July 2012 - 04:46 PM

I wonder if he just monitors the forums then puts out whatever's trending

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#4 APM M.Ludes

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Posted 17 July 2012 - 05:20 PM

wait and come to NEAF 2013 :-), I dont make Jokes on such stuff

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#5 ewave

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Posted 17 July 2012 - 08:50 PM

Markus

see you at NEAF 2013.

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#6 GeneT

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Posted 17 July 2012 - 09:55 PM

Very interesting! Keep us updated.

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#7 IDONTSEEIT

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Posted 17 July 2012 - 10:08 PM

Is it f/4.6 or 14.6? Title says f/4.6, write-up says f/14.6:question:

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#8 APM M.Ludes

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Posted 18 July 2012 - 05:17 AM

f/14.6, sorry
:-)

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#9 ASTERON

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Posted 18 July 2012 - 09:17 AM

can you give a guestimate of the cost ands weight of such OTA ?
Thxs

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#10 APM M.Ludes

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Posted 18 July 2012 - 02:59 PM

a gues of weight yes, around 29 to 30 lbs maximum

Price no gues now. Maybe in 1,2 weeks

In any case I will do a run of 5 pc

here what I am going to do in any case :
- quarz optics of highest quality
- optical design by my own designers. INTES MICRO was already asking if we cannot use a excisting design, i told them, NO, for me it means I have to pay new testing glases and tools, but I am ok with that
- secondary focusing for fast back focuse change
- 2.5" Starlight feather touch focuser at the end
- bino viewer friendly without need of optical path corrector
- cooling fans at rear mirror
- cooling fans at side of tube with cented holes opposite
- vented meniscus cell
- ultra light weight alu tube construction
- ultrathin primary mirror baffle with holes to heavs very little mass for cool down
- primary mirror alignment
- secondary mirror alignment
- Matthis Wirth made mechanics

our goal: we want to build the best ever build 10" Mak ....tuff ? Maybe, so lt me surprise you.

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#11 Howie Glatter

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Posted 18 July 2012 - 04:59 PM

> - secondary focusing for fast back focuse change

Will the moving secondary be mounted from a hole in the corrector or will there be a spider? Motorized focusing?

Curious minds want to know

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#12 BWAZ

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Posted 18 July 2012 - 06:33 PM

I believe Markus meant to say the secondary focusing is for coarse and quick focus change while the motorized focuser on the back is for the fine focus.

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#13 Alan French

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Posted 18 July 2012 - 07:19 PM

I thought f/4.6 was not doable, especially with only a 23% obstruction.

Clear skies, Alan

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#14 IDONTSEEIT

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Posted 18 July 2012 - 10:04 PM

I figured it was f/14.6, but with Markus, one never knows

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#15 APM M.Ludes

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Posted 19 July 2012 - 06:23 AM

Hi BWAZ

Markus meant to say the secondary focusing is for coarse and quick focus change while the motorized focuser on the back is for the fine focus.

yes thats right. Such system does all you want to have for focusing. It allows us to make mirror cell and rear much less complicated and less heavy, less heavy means less material to cool down :-)

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#16 APM M.Ludes

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Posted 19 July 2012 - 09:35 AM

we design now a 254 m and 280 mm Version, get quotes and then make a decision :-)

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#17 Benjamin B

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Posted 19 July 2012 - 03:54 PM

It sure sounds very interesting. I will follow this with great interest!

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#18 jonbosley

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Posted 19 July 2012 - 04:06 PM

At F14.6 you are looking at a small market these days so I wouldn't bother with a 10" go straight to a 12" or larger if you really want to make one or two. I would recommend you put your design skills and resources into a F8 corrected cassigrain-quarz mirrors-very nice, much larger market interest.

Jon

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#19 pbsastro

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Posted 22 July 2012 - 01:21 PM

At F14.6 you are looking at a small market these days so I wouldn't bother with a 10" go straight to a 12" or larger if you really want to make one or two. I would recommend you put your design skills and resources into a F8 corrected cassigrain-quarz mirrors-very nice, much larger market interest.

Jon

I am not on the market for a CAT right now (open tubes are totally out of the question), but...
I would prefer a faster scope (f/8 to f/10) with larger CO.
But I think the big key for success is cool-down time.
Roland said many times his Maks have a secret trick to make them cool much faster. I think even equivalent Aries Maks do not have this trick. That is why till now AP Maks have no competition.
Markus, do you know what this secret trick is, and what are your plans regarding cool-down?

But, thinking better, what the world needs is a visual-photo Ricardi-Honders at F/8. That would be something! THE dream scope if it includes the cooling fix.
An F/8 RH with cooling fix would take the world by storm. I think one day all mass-market CATs (Celestron, Meade, whoever) will al be like that. Now, there is a window period of many years with no one offering them. When it comes, I will be there!

Pedro

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#20 APM M.Ludes

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Posted 22 July 2012 - 02:35 PM

Hi Pedro

Roland Christen knows Matthias and his work how he build telescopes and Roland called Matthias a Artist in building telescopes. I think thats one of the highest possible compliments

and yes we know the secrets.

Officina Stellare has many diameters of Riccardi Honders Astrographs.
If there would be the need on the market for another model, Officina Stellare would do it right away.

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#21 Chris_H

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Posted 22 July 2012 - 06:38 PM

23%, does that include the secondary baffle? A 23% mirror doesn't mean squat if the total CO ends up at 40% with the baffle

How come you didn't go for a DK design instead (cooling wise)?

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#22 ValeryD

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Posted 22 July 2012 - 10:55 PM

But I think the big key for success is cool-down time.
Roland said many times his Maks have a secret trick to make them cool much faster. I think even equivalent Aries Maks do not have this trick. That is why till now AP Maks have no competition.

Pedro

During designing of these telescopes me and Roland exchanged by handred e-mails or more, discussing all the sides of scopes construction. So, there is no reason to think that Aries' Maks are different ideologically. They are quite similar. More so, the cooling system in Aries' Maks is somewhat more efficient and our scope cools a bit faster.

However, this is only a second main point of these Maks. The main one is optical design and optics performance.

Valery.

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#23 APM M.Ludes

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Posted 23 July 2012 - 02:24 AM

Hi Chris 23 % C.O. total yes, as Roland and Aries also have.

DK is a cheap way doing scopes, coma like F/5 newtonians, open tubes , spiders, dusty mirrors etc etc...we let others d such systems

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#24 Chris_H

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Posted 23 July 2012 - 09:20 AM

Well the Mewlon seems to pull it off so it can't be that bad!

Wow, that sounds awesome! If you master the looooong cooldown problem we face here in the north, I might just have to add this to the list as well! Going to be an expensive year... :crazy: