9500 replies to this topic

[clamchip]

My new RV-6 is really great and I can see many more wonderful evenings with this fantastic telescope.

I've got to have a reflex sight on a scope I'm going to be out with a lot.

Today I thought I'd try this out, it works well.

A short piece of PVC to take the place of the optical finder, and just mount the little dove tail bar to it, the one that

comes with the red dot finder.

Robert

 

[oldmanastro]

I had a chance to work on my new Dynamax 8 today. This is the DX8 Alan gave me. 

Nurse Mendy and Frenchie said they are going to the beach. 

The corrector was really stuck good. I struggled with it until I left it out in the sun and heated it up and

it came loose without to much effort. Michelle  wanted to blow the corrector with explosives so I'm 

glad the sun did it. My backup would have been to dribble iso alcohol along the corrector edge.

The corrector and cell have index marks which are a welcome sight.

Cleaning the old Silicone off the tube was not for the faint of heart, in fact I almost did faint until I hit

the right tool for the job, a pocket knife. Hold the blade perpendicular to the surface and work your

way around with a scraping action.

Robert 

 

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That corrector seems to have a nice smooth border. I remember that the one in my infamous BL8000 had a very rough border. There was no effort in making that border smooth. This may indicate that Dynamax 8 correctors may be much better that what Criterion produced under B&L. Nice project. Many years ago I saw one Dynamax 8 for sale here. They were asking $100 but by the time I called, it was gone. 

[Nick Will]

I fitted my C100 to my Vixen Super Polaris. The rings for my Tak FC-100 work good after making and installing longer clamp screws. It rides on it pretty good but this big dude should be on an EQ6 class mount. Looking forward to the next clear night. 

 

[andylsun]

Since I got the Tak EM-2 up and running I’ve been fighting a sticky DEC. when guiding, it ignores changes for a while then jumps a few arc seconds suddenly. This EM-2 had a bent DEC worm shaft that I managed to straighten, but I was never able to take the worm mechanism apart to confirm it was straight the whole length and check if the bushings need replacing.

 

I'm going to try the 10:1 planetary gearbox stepper on DEC and see if it just needs more torque. I’ll guide in just one direction so gearbox backlash will not be an issue.

 

Also at some point first light on the Parks 10”. Maybe Thursday based on the cloudy forecast.

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Edited by andylsun, 29 September 2024 - 04:17 PM.

[jragsdale]

Got the Goto 452 (60mm f/20) mounted up on my homemade pedestal grab and go mount and it worked great, can't wait to try it on the planets.

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[norvegicus]

Got the Goto 452 (60mm f/20) mounted up on my homemade pedestal grab and go mount and it worked great, can't wait to try it on the planets.

I love how the OTA and pillar tubes almost match in shape.   How long does it take to settle at high mag?

[jragsdale]

I love how the OTA and pillar tubes almost match in shape.   How long does it take to settle at high mag?

Probably about 3-4 seconds. Most of it comes from the casters so if I wanted to get more sturdy I could switch those out with solid feet. The tube is filled with rubber mulch for the upper 3 feet for low frequency dampening and the bottom foot is filled with sand to lower the COG and absorb some of the higher frequency resonance.

[jkmccarthy]

Not long ago in "...The Ask Away Thread" I posted ...
 

I recently received this photo:
 

 
... from someone with a sage-green Vixen SP mount whose axis-clamping lever is now broken as shown, asking me if I happened to have a spare.   Unfortunately I do not (short of removing one from an otherwise-complete SP mount) and suggested JB Weld might be worth a try.  Meanwhile I also volunteered to post the picture in this thread and inquire if anyone here might have a spare axis-clamping lever "left over" after having parted-out a Vixen Super Polaris mount ?
 
If you do have an extra such lever, contact me (and/or post a reply in this thread) and I will make sure the person needing one gets in touch with you.  Likewise if anyone knows a source for non-matching but functionally-equivalent levers (in the Vixen Super Polaris, this fits over a hex nut that measures 13.0mm across its opposite sides), by all means please post a reply here with a link to any retail source --- to help this person out, I'd be willing to put two functionally-equivalent levers on the axes of the least-pretty of my SP mounts, in order to send one Vixen sage-green original lever to the individual needing one.
 
Thanks in advance,
 
         -- Jim

 ... to which deSitter replied ...
 

The same levers are found on Synta light-medium duty mounts and Meade/Bresser medium duty mounts.
 
-drl

I did not have any luck on-line locating a Synta, Meade, or Bresser lever, but deSitter's reply prompted me to search on-line for a modern-day Vixen equivalent, which I did succeed in locating as Vixen part #25816 for the Advanced Polaris (AP) mount.  The least expensive on-line source I found was here:   https://www.bhphotov...lamp_lever.html ... but note it says "Expected availability = 4 to 6 months" (!).   Per my "to help this person out...." strategy above, early last week I ordered quantity=2 of the #25816 part, and sent the person needing an original SP lever one I removed from the spare sage-green SP mount I've been hanging onto.

 

Well, in today's U.S. Mail there was a small box containing --- surprise! --- two even smaller Vixen spare-parts boxes, each containing a Vixen AP mount #25816 black lever consisting of a hard-plastic cap screwed onto a brass square-headed bolt, whose length and thread (metric M8) exactly match the analogous hex-headed bolt used on the Super Polaris mount.   Delivery was in 8 days, not 120-180 days.   So after a few minutes work to install these replacements, my spare SP mount now has two matching black axis-clamping levers --- which aesthetically (to me, anyway) certainly do *not* look out-of-place on the classic SP despite not being original ....

 

 
 

In addition to material and color, the other notable difference (which I'm reporting as simply FYI) is that the new Vixen AP replacement levers are considerably shorter (25mm radial distance from the bolt axis to the end of the lever) than the original Vixen SP cast-aluminum levers (for which I measure 39mm radial distance from the bolt axis to the end of the lever).  But just as I had hoped/expected, they work fine!

 

Clear Skies,

 

        -- Jim

 

[clamchip]

Today I was thinking about painting my red RV-6  

But now it's too cold outside so someone's telling me think about it Robert.

And then I thought about it again and I changed my mind, I think maybe not.

It has given me many chuckles since the day I brought it home and set it in

a Christmas tree stand because it came with no legs. And then the Ferrari

sticker has been fun too. It performs like a Ferrari, the optics are superb.

It would look really nice in the original white. I'll get a good color match some

where and it will be beautiful because the mount is in really great condition.

I guess I've got a big decision on my hands.

Robert

 

 

 

[norvegicus]

It looks Edmund-y, which I like.

[cavedweller]

So, this is more like what you didn’t do to your classic scope today?

[clamchip]

I have a very good sample of the original white under the finder mount.

Robert

 

Edited by clamchip, 04 October 2024 - 07:26 PM.

[CHASLX200]

I washed off the salt when water went half way up the AP800 pier.  Scope room is a wreck.

[deSitter]

I washed off the salt when water went half way up the AP800 pier.  Scope room is a wreck.

That's great news, no damage to the head! The pier is a lifeless hulk that just needs cleaning and maybe paint.

 

-drl

[Cavs56]

Picked up a Meade 2080 with a bad secondary. I have another 2080 with a bad corrector. Completely gutted both scopes and made one good one. Will part out what’s left. I built an artificial star out of miscellaneous parts and got it collimated. Then I set the finder. Had it out tonight and was very happy with it. Optics are very sharp. This is my fourth try at an SCT I finally found a good one. Tracks perfectly.

[CHASLX200]

That's great news, no damage to the head! The pier is a lifeless hulk that just needs cleaning and maybe paint.

 

-drl

All mounts made it. May not matter as another cane is coming. Hope is stays south so i won't get surge. Lets hope the front to the north keeps way south. I could see not another nitemare any worse than getting another hit and seeing all the junk in the yards floating around. 

Edited by CHASLX200, 05 October 2024 - 05:56 AM.

[jragsdale]

All mounts made it. May not matter as another cane is coming. Hope is stays south so i won't get surge. Lets hope the front to the north keeps way south. I could see not another nitemare any worse than getting another hit and seeing all the junk in the yards floating around. 

Good to hear you didn't have too much scope damage. I don't think the next storm will amount to much. Keep calm and carry on.

Edited by jragsdale, 05 October 2024 - 11:23 AM.

[CHASLX200]

Good to hear you didn't have too much scope damage. I don't think the next storm isn't going to amount to much. Keep calm and carry on.

We will know by Tuse.

[ccwemyss]

Good to hear you didn't have too much scope damage. I don't think the next storm isn't going to amount to much. Keep calm and carry on.

I don’t try to predict storms in areas that I’m not familiar with. Even as someone whose pilot and meteorology teaching experience leads me to open my hot link to the NOAA point forecast first thing each morning, and often dive into the discussion and synoptic maps, I only feel comfortable trying to outguess the experts for my own area, based on decades of experience with comparing what they say with what I see happening. 
 

On topic, I think I finally have a design for the legs I’m making for the Pentax MS3N. Got some aluminum bar stock for the feet and brackets and hope to start cutting metal soon. 
 

Chip W.

[jragsdale]

I don’t try to predict storms in areas that I’m not familiar with.

Fair enough. I'm an eternal optimist, but on this one I'll definitely defer to experts. It just seems unlikely to get hit twice in a row because that seems too cruel? But I know that's not how life works sometimes.

[Kitfox]

I don’t try to predict storms in areas that I’m not familiar with. Even as someone whose pilot and meteorology teaching experience leads me to open my hot link to the NOAA point forecast first thing each morning, and often dive into the discussion and synoptic maps, I only feel comfortable trying to outguess the experts for my own area, based on decades of experience with comparing what they say with what I see happening. 
 

On topic, I think I finally have a design for the legs I’m making for the Pentax MS3N. Got some aluminum bar stock for the feet and brackets and hope to start cutting metal soon. 
 

Chip W.

 

I’ll be watching with interest. I have two of these wonderful mounts and one has third party gams. Not up to the task for such a nice head. 

[CHASLX200]

Moving OTA's around as i cut out drywall.  Just a total wreck in the house. MY A/C started working this AM. These blower motors sure are odd.

[apfever]

"...scope/mount today?"  Today? I don't think so. Lot more than that. However, it is what I woke up to for breakfast. Today. So much more but later today. It was an early morning. 

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[CHASLX200]

Left it all behind. Hope something is left when i get back.

[jragsdale]

Left it all behind. Hope something is left when i get back.

All being all your astronomy stuff too? Is it up off the floor at least? Glad you're getting out of there though, this thing looks scary.

Edited by jragsdale, Yesterday, 06:16 PM.