10133 replies to this topic

[CHASLX200]

Got a new mak jacks and never saw a Vixen rail not fit my GP mount. Had to wedge in some plywood on one side. Never saw a V rail so thin.

[deSitter]

Got a new mak jacks and never saw a Vixen rail not fit my GP mount. Had to wedge in some plywood on one side. Never saw a V rail so thin.

 

Then it's not a Vixen rail or a clone. It's just a rail. Probably an accessory rail. Probably not meant to carry the scope.

 

-drl

[Bomber Bob]

Yeah... many years ago, I ordered a couple of LONG custom Vixen-style dovetails from eBay (that retired guy in KY).  Nicely-made, and he put recessed bolt holes in where I needed.  But... they were maybe 2mm narrower at the base than "standard" Vixens, and those ADM clamps I had on the Mizar EQs wouldn't lock them in place... Not good.  But the SVBONY clamps with the brass teeth do grab them tightly enough... OTOH, ADM makes much longer clamps / bases -- for our LONG old refractors -- haven't found an SVBONY version yet...

[CHASLX200]

Then it's not a Vixen rail or a clone. It's just a rail. Probably an accessory rail. Probably not meant to carry the scope.

 

-drl

Scope is 80mm.  Looks soft at daytime. It is on loan to try for kicks.  Most of my stuff is going next weekend.  House is gonna get torn apart so need it all gone before the county takes my house away.

[deSitter]

Scope is 80mm.  Looks soft at daytime. It is on loan to try for kicks.  Most of my stuff is going next weekend.  House is gonna get torn apart so need it all gone before the county takes my house away.

 

Ah- it's likely one of those little Skyoptrists or whatever they are called with a photo-tripod dovetail. 

 

-drl

[CHASLX200]

Ah- it's likely one of those little Skyoptrists or whatever they are called with a photo-tripod dovetail. 

 

-drl

Naw it is a normal looking V rail. I STARTED a thread jed in the SCT section.

[Bomber Bob]

Mizar KAISER Center Brace / Tripod Brackets...

 

Man!  Oh, Man!  My poor right hand!  (Pix coming... as soon as I can hold my camera!)

 

My KAISER included the central brace, with its 3 x 1/2" holes & locking thumbscrews.  But oddly enough, those 3 x near-perfect Vixen Legs didn't have the swing-down brackets with 1/2" rods...  

 

No problem.  I found a set a U-Brackets that fit between the legs; and, each bracket is pre-drilled for 3/8" bolts.  Except... I bought 3 x 1/2-13 8" long hex-head bolts, for a perfect fit to the brace, thinking Boring & threading 3 holes in the brackets should be short work, right??  Wrong.  This thick steel put up a fight... Not quite D-Day, but felt pretty dang close!

 

Got those brackets done.  Only hard task left is lopping-off the hex heads with my Dremel.  I want that unthreaded part of each bolt to fit in the bracket, and get the thumbscrew marks.  This is also slow-going.  When the bolt gets HOT to the touch, I take a break, and let bolt & blade cool back down...

 

Once the decapitations are done, the hardware will be ready to attach to the Vixen tripod.  Found some dark gray vinyl tubes at HD that'll cover the bolts -- won't look too much like a BB Project.

 

 

Hoping to test this old mount & tripod tonight.  (I'd cross my fingers for Luck - but they're still too stiff for that.)

Edited by Bomber Bob, 09 April 2025 - 05:59 PM.

[CHASLX200]

I took some stuff apart to go in the car and meet a buyer. Hope my EV has the range.

[cavedweller]

I am putting all the best parts from three CI-700s together to make one super-CI-700. This latest one I picked up has a lot of flare pieces, like aluminum knobs, stainless hardware, and modded fully adjustable height tripod. I prefer the non-GOTO controller and I moved the Casady saddle from my other CI-700. I bought a Losmandy pier extension a while back and got around to fitting that on also. Here it is holding my Celestron C6R with Chromacor looking at an almost full Moon (with no false color). This will be my portable large refractor setup; it is substantially lighter than the Meade 152ED and LXD650 setup.

 

 

 

 

Edited by cavedweller, 11 April 2025 - 09:49 AM.

[Bomber Bob]

Hope my EV has the range.

 

Which EV??

 

On Topic:   My Dakin 4 & KAISER EQ + Vixen Tripod is on Display; but of course, it ain't Done...  I want all the leg hardware to match, so I'll be on McMaster-Carr this weekend, shopping for over a dozen bolt + washer + nut options -- primarily chrome.  I restored all the original hardware - got all the rust / corrosion removed - but with our humidity... I have to check & clean all my Shed Tripods at least 3 times annually - especially the Mizars.

 

This Display will be indoors 99% of the time, and should stay rust-free.  Y'all, it's a very fine display - so glad I kept the Dakin.  It's also practical:  To use just the Dakin OTA, all I have to do is remove the 2 x 1/4-20 "caps" (from a GOTO EQ) to free the 14" dovetail, then it can be mounted on the Tall Meade SF, or the Kenko NES.  [Thanks Again Gary!  The MSF DEC slow-motion gearing works great!]

 

My man cave refractor-rack has lots of empty spaces now (told y'all I was downsizing!).  4 of my 5 TAKs are either in their cases, or in the shed.  So, the Dakin Rig is the only complete kit on display - ready to go.

 

Our dog has enjoyed it.  Jake has sniffed every part he can get to.  Apparently, even after oiling the legs, there's 50 years of odors that he can smell...

Edited by Bomber Bob, 11 April 2025 - 10:49 AM.

[clamchip]

Like all telescopes that move the primary to focus my new Lomo Astele 95 has a little image shift.

Whenever something like this comes up with a MCT or SCT I look up to Questar. Check out the

"Wobble Paper" under additional info:

 https://web.archive....com/questar.htm

I don't think I'll ever get it down to "one Jupiter diameter" but quite a number of Lomo owners report

no image shift so I think I'm out of spec.

My wobble is the mirror carrier/baffle tube interface. I can feel a high viscosity film on the baffle tube 

but I don't think it's enough after decades since built. The wobble is to the point I must do something

about it and I think I'll try Super Lube to restore. Too much grease is not good, too little is not good

ether on this scope although I'm tempted to try running it dry for starters.

 

Robert

Edited by clamchip, 11 April 2025 - 11:25 AM.

[Bomber Bob]

Robert, I got rid of the wobble in my Kenko SC125L here:   https://www.cloudyni...2#entry11642115

 

(I'm not crazy about any of these "moving mirror" focus designs - except in my Questar, of course.)  

 

Very sensitive at several points that makes trouble-shooting tougher.  But, so far, it's held.  Like my 130SL, this scope gets used often during Sweat Weather -- 6+ months in & out of its case, on & off the mount.  Lots of opportunities for some thing to get out of whack...

Edited by Bomber Bob, 11 April 2025 - 11:36 AM.

[CHASLX200]

I took some stuff apart to go in the car and meet a buyer. Hope my EV has the range.

Bolt held back to 80% with the softeware fix until 6k miles.

[cavedweller]

I removed a very nice Losmandy dovetail bar from a previously deforked Meade LX200 making sure I used shorter screws to plug the screw holes.

 

PSA: Always use shorter screws when plugging the holes after removing an accessory from your SCT. The screws holding the accessory are probably too long and will likely interfere with the primary mirror or front corrector.

[CHASLX200]

Loaded up my stuff to sell in the car and taking a trip.

[Bomber Bob]

This poor 1960s Eagle (USA) Surveyor Tripod has been swapped around like a red-headed step child...

 

 

 

If this Kenko KDS AZ passes the stress-test tonight with my FC-76, it's a Keeper.  My Orion VersaGo will slip down to occasional use.

 

So far, daylight testing is satisfactory:

 

- Places the scope on top of the mount.

- The SVBONY clamp has 3 holes that perfectly aligned with the original platform screws.

- The clamp's brass claw grips the dovetail without scratching / scoring it.

- Same clutch hardware as my Kenko NES EQ.

- Same 360* rotation slow-motion controls as my NES.

- Low Vibration and sub-second damping at 100x.

 

Let's see how well it carries the FC-76 at 200x on Jupiter tonight.

 

***   It's a Keeper.  Sorry, VersaGo.  ***

Edited by Bomber Bob, 13 April 2025 - 11:08 AM.

[Mike W]

[Adam S]

For 10 years I used a Tak EM200 USD non goto for photography and visual with 5" refractors.  Anyone who's used a Tak mount of this era knows they purr, seriously, my AP 600E is silent as it tracks, this thing purrs (not so much when slewing).  It's sound I'd recognize anywhere- it was great to hear it again.   I got lazy and purchased the AP goto mount in 2018 and haven't touched the EM200 since; I've decided to sell it so took it out and used it over the weekend for one last spin.  Tak gear is built to a level a quality and engineering rather than price, lots of fun using it with the 1993 100FC F, a beautiful combo.

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Edited by Adam S, 13 April 2025 - 03:16 PM.

[cavedweller]

For 10 years I used a Tak EM200 USD non goto for photography and visual with 5" refractors.  Anyone who's used a Tak mount of this era knows they purr, seriously, my AP 600E is silent as it tracks, this thing purrs (not so much when slewing).  It's sound I'd recognize anywhere- it was a rush to hear it again.   I got lazy and purchased the AP goto mount in 2018 and haven't touched the EM200 since; I've decided to sell it so took it out and used it over the weekend for one last spin.  Tak gear is built to a level a quality and engineering rather than price, what a great time using it with the 1993 100FC F, a beautiful combo.

 

I recently acquired an EM200 (with a non-Tak OTA I wanted), with the intent to resell the mount, but after the seller demonstrated it to me, I decided to keep it. It is the next project in line after the CI-700.

Edited by cavedweller, 13 April 2025 - 06:50 PM.

[Adam S]

I recently acquired an EM200 with an OTA (non-Tak) I wanted, with the intent to resell it, but after the seller demonstrated it to me I decided to keep it. It is the next project in line after the CI-700.

The CI-700's a great mount- similar capacity to the EM200.  Both are the type of gear that become part on an observing session's experience rather than the focus of it- they do one thing and do it well without taking your attention.

[CHASLX200]

Took out the GP to look at the sun.

 

The CI-700's a great mount- similar capacity to the EM200.  Both are the type of gear that become part on an observing session's experience rather than the focus of it- they do one thing and do it well without taking your attention.

Both of my 700's were not good at all.

[Mike W]

Rain stopped so I worked on my CST/Berger surveyors tripod. I'm shortening so it'll fit in my car better.

 

[Airship]

The Jaegers 6" f/5 is a wonderful wide field scope and when used in that mode the image is sharp across the field with no visible color spread from the chromic aberration. However, the violet halo becomes quite visible on bright targets at high magnification like the moon. Fortunately, these bright targets don't need the full 6" aperture, so an easy fix it to stop the telescope down using an aperture mask. This shows the Jaegers fitted with a mask made from foam core art board that converts it from its native 6" f/5 to a 3" f/10. This restores the sharp image without the violet halo. This is a quick'n easy tool to have in the toolbox while sitting out at the scope.

 

 

Excellent!

[k5apl]

Today I cleaned a 9mm HR eyepiece.  It is .965 diameter, and I took it apart, cleaned the lenses, and then reassembled it.  I used a magnified headset and bright LED light, with the same cleaning fluid that I have used on objectives.  It works so much better now.  Glad I took the time to do it.

Wes

[k5apl]

I found an inexpensive (cheap) fix to increase tension (tighten) the focuser tube.  If more tension is needed, the hose clamp is on standby.

Wes

 

Edit:  The rubber washer fits a common water hose.....available almost everywhere.

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Edited by k5apl, 20 April 2025 - 05:45 PM.