6737 replies to this topic

[member010719]

sickfish

 

That socket is a great idea , high versatility , thank you !

 

Ziridava

[BradleyB]

First practice use of the new mini-lathe. Did a little facing, boring, and turning. The finish was ok, it will do. First project will be to bore out a 2" x 1 1/4" adapter to work with my incoming Prominar zoom.

 

Brad

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Edited by BradleyB, 07 May 2017 - 10:40 AM.

[Andreas_Roerig]

Hi,

 

found this on the bulky waste yesterday.

 

 

It is a Bresser 114mm Newtonian with mount and tripod.

On the outside it was full of dust and spieder webs. The optics however were surprisngly clean.

So I cleaned it from the outside and after a collimation it is ready to use again. It should make a nice grab and go scope.

 

Andreas

[Pinbout]

I had fun with the router...

 

https://youtu.be/xUVFYsRR6qI

 

Edited by Pinbout, 07 May 2017 - 05:23 PM.

[dave brock]

Took some pics of the primary and secondary (through the back) with a 133 lpi Ronchi screen of the 8" Cass. from post #1812

 

Primary inside focus

 

 

Primary outside focus

 

 

Secondary inside focus

 

 

Secondary outside focus

 

 

Primary is smooth but with a bad kink. Centre and edge undercorrected.

Secondary is zoney with a bad tde. A bit hard to tell how much of the zoneyness is from looking through the back of the glass though.

 

Oh well, I did buy it as a do-up project.

What surprises me is that it isn't unusable as is. For example it does show Jupiter's great red spot.

 

Dave

Edited by dave brock, 08 May 2017 - 06:23 AM.

[member010719]

Andreas

 

You are a lucky guy , what a sweet little scopes !

 

Dave

 

It mean that optics deserve to be fixed ,isn't ?

Goodluck and looking forward for news about your progress.

 

Ziridava

[brave_ulysses]

printing some rings for my st80

 

pla, 0.4mm layer height

 

aluminum dovetail cut on tablesaw - needs some cleanup and holes tapped

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Edited by brave_ulysses, 08 May 2017 - 08:36 PM.

[Bob4BVM]

Of late i have been trying to refine some of my old equipment with the goal of making it easy-quicker-less hassle to setup and use in the dark.

My approach is to note things that could be made better/easier while i am using the gear.

One of the things i have struggled with for years (since 1985 ! ) is mounting my SCT on its home-made wedge... I slip the heavy beast with the top bolt attached unto the wedge but getting it aligned to put the other 2 bolts in has always been a hassle, especially in the dark.

 

So I finally made a locating bracket, now it slips into exact alignment every time with no effort or thought on my part.

Amazing what we 'just live with' for so long !!! 

Bob

 

Edited by Bob4BVM, 09 May 2017 - 01:24 PM.

[Michael Miles]

First practice use of the new mini-lathe. Did a little facing, boring, and turning. The finish was ok, it will do. First project will be to bore out a 2" x 1 1/4" adapter to work with my incoming Prominar zoom.

 

Brad

I think you'll love the little lathe.  Had one for about 10 years before selling it an upgrading to a 9x20 (a project in its own right).

[brave_ulysses]

if you haven't found it already:

http://www.mini-lathe.com/

 

First practice use of the new mini-lathe. Did a little facing, boring, and turning. The finish was ok, it will do. First project will be to bore out a 2" x 1 1/4" adapter to work with my incoming Prominar zoom.

 

Brad

[Rusted]

The fun and games wheel-barrowing 20+ tons of self-compacting sand & gravel is mostly over.

 

I have now made a start on the 10' diameter x 12' high octagon obs. building:

I made a first test cross brace to act as a gauge for the concrete footings.

A 2"x 6" fixed with 2 x 4" crews @ 22.5° to stumps of 4"x 4" main posts.

This confirmed the angles and length of the brace matched my needs. 

 

Now I can start mass producing 24 of these cross braces on my miter saw.

The real posts are 12' [4m] high. The cross braces will act as perimeter joists.

The 4"x 4" posts will stretch from the ground to the underside of the 10' Ø dome ring.  

With three cross braces per octagon side: Ground floor, obs. floor and dome ring.

I shall make diagonal braces for the lower frame sections out of 2"x 4".

Raising alternate sides and supporting them while I fix braces between them will be even more fun.

 

[roscoe]

Wow, standing all that looks like a 'have a couple of friends come and visit' sort of afternoon!!

 

Likely you have thought of this, but you might want to join the crossbraces to the posts with splice plates - those punched-steel framing plates  that are around 4x6", that you could bend to your angle and fasten to the wood with a bunch of short nails - on this side of the pond we can buy bags of short nails made specially for anchoring such hanger-plates.

 

You could also notch the sides of the 4x4's slightly (like maybe 1/4-3/8" - 7-10mm) that the crossmembers would set into, which would add a good deal of vertical strength.  A router in a jig would make short work of that job.  I'd still use the splice-plates here, though.... and don't forget to lengthen the crossbraces if you do so!

[Rusted]

Wow, standing all that looks like a 'have a couple of friends come and visit' sort of afternoon!!

 

Likely you have thought of this, but you might want to join the crossbraces to the posts with splice plates - those punched-steel framing plates  that are around 4x6", that you could bend to your angle and fasten to the wood with a bunch of short nails - on this side of the pond we can buy bags of short nails made specially for anchoring such hanger-plates.

 

You could also notch the sides of the 4x4's slightly (like maybe 1/4-3/8" - 7-10mm) that the crossmembers would set into, which would add a good deal of vertical strength.  A router in a jig would make short work of that job.  I'd still use the splice-plates here, though.... and don't forget to lengthen the crossbraces if you do so!

Hi Roscoe

 

Many thanks for your excellent suggestions and very timely too given my plan to start cutting bevels tomorrow.

Luckily I haven't been able to do any serious sawing because of today's rain.

 

I am familiar with nailing plates and the specialized short nails.

I used them on my house roof and still have some 4"x8" plates and a box or two of nails left.

 

Given the short spans of these joists/braces and having eight supports I thought I had enough vertical strength already.

I do see your point though: At the moment it's all hanging on those 4" long 1/4" / 6x100mm screws.

 

While I could wrap a 4"x8" plate over these present joints.

Or, two 4"x 6" plates could stand vertically and provide plenty of timber coverage for nailing.

They would also clear the footing support brackets while the 4"x 8"s might not.

 

Pocket notching the posts as you suggest would be a good idea.

Though the shape of the sockets is rather odd.  

The rear of the braces needs a skewed shoulder.

Any thoughts how best to achieve this socket with a router?

I don't have much practice with router jigs.

Should I skew the back of the sockets with a chisel?

Or use a shaped router bit?

 

Thanks

 

[roscoe]

I will send you a sketch of a router jig in a couple of hours

[roscoe]

Rusted-

 

Here is a sketch of the router jig.

 

it is a thin plywood base with a 3-sided edge made of wood strips on the top and a fourth making the fourth edge, except it is underneath the plywood.

It is sized so the router, following along the edges, cuts out a segment of the 4x4 the same size as the cross-member...you'll have to do the math to make it work with your router...with the cutter set to the depth needed to cut through the plywood and the required depth in the 4x4.

 

A standard straight cutter notch will indeed need beveling on the back edge, as well as cleaning out the rounded corners that the router needs, so some chisel work will be needed in each pocket.  you might want to only lightly nail or screw the parts together for a test run, to be sure all the sizes are right, then fasten everything more securely when you are satisfied.

 

You'll want to clamp the jig securely to the 4x4 each time you use it, and once you have cut out the jig, you can use the edges of the cut to line up with your reference lines on the post.  Any questions, don't hesitate to ask..... I'll check in again tonight (it's 10 PM here) and again in the morning....

 

[jtsenghas]

Roscoe suggests a good way of doing that and, provided the jig is clamped securely and doesn't slip, if you fail to keep the router against the fences on the first pass you can clean up the cut with a repeat pass. 

 

You might, however want to make one side of the jig slightly adjustable to allow you to tweak it a little for a tight fit.  That's what I did on this similar dado jig. 

 

This photo was from ten days ago when I was whipping off some "homemade Ikea" bookshelves for my wife from melamine coated particle board sold as closet organizers. The jig has an adjustable fence and can be used with various sized straight fluted bits. Here it is set for making 0.765" dados with a 1/2" bit  for that odd thickness shelf. I've used that jig every few years during the last twenty.  The router is run against both sides.  

 

Adjustment doesn't have to be with a slot within a counterbore  as I've done on the underside of this jig (not shown) .  You could simply make the screw holes for one fence slightly oversized and attach it with screws and washers.  This way if a test cut is a little wide or narrow you can loosen the screws slightly, tap the fence and tighten the screws, adjusting it up to the difference in diameters of the screws and holes. 

 

[roscoe]

and....if the dado's a little tight, that hewing hatchet will open it right up!  Most of my cabinet-grade jigs have an adjustable side like yours, though smaller ones - like hinge jigs - work with a guide bushing installed in the router base.

Rusted is installing 2x4's here, so a 'close enough' fit is fine for his task.

[Rusted]

Sorry chaps. I was looking at this from completely the wrong end of the stick.

The sloping back shoulder of the pocket can be completely ignored.

The pocket just needs to be cut back far enough at full depth.

The brace/joist bevel will hit the sharp shoulder at the back.

Then will automatically lie flush with the front of the post.

The empty, prism shaped space at the back of the pocket will be hidden from view inside the joint.

The sharp end of the bevel will need to be cut off [routed] flush with the front of the post.

 

For the jig I'll build something like Roscoe's drawing.

 

 

Thanks

Edited by Rusted, 11 May 2017 - 06:18 AM.

[roscoe]

Yes, exactly!  That's how a carpenter would do it - it's framing, after all, not fine cabinetry.....but I've realized that most of the folks on the forum approach most everything from an outsider's 'gotta be just right' viewpoint....sometimes without knowing what 'just right' really is for the job at hand.  Which means. of course, that too many of us would take those little triangular cutoffs and glue them carefully into the back.....  nonetheless, when I describe a solution, I normally aim in the direction favored by the most OCD of us.... which is why the comment about the hewing hatchet was so perfect!   I leave it up to the more experienced to figure out the shortcuts for themselves....

[michaeldurban]

 i worked on my tables...still rough, but getting there..

 

need to put bread on the table...(pun..yes..)

 

 

 

 

[brave_ulysses]

that's a good looking table. well done

[ATM57]

Made a new HD hand controller for my fork mounted C14.

 

Scopejunkie

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[DivisionByZero]

I'm trying to mono-mod my Canon 20D and continued working on this.  For today, I tried to create a cold-finger with some copper sheet from Hobby Lobby.  Turns out it's 3/64" which is too thick to avoid pushing on the board above the sensor back.  I did, at least, get a good pattern.  I'll see about some thinner copper tomorrow for, at least, the portion directly attached to the sensor.  I did, though, continue disassembly of the sensor itself and removed the low-pass filter assembly and got the new sensor window cut, which was trickier than initially planned.

 

I then started gluing together some PVC for a packed-bed dessicator system for when I go to re-seal the sensor glass.  The PVC pipe will be filled with silica kitty litter and I have an old aquarium pump to circulate air from a small plastic box to the bottom of the dessicator, and then back into the box.  I can set that running for a little while and then the air in the box should be plenty dry, I'm hoping.  I should be able to remove the CFA and reseal tomorrow.

[brave_ulysses]

bueller?

 

Last monday a shipment of 3500 pounds arrived, and I have been moving heavy (real heavy--1000 pounds each kind of heavy) machines into my new shop...In a day or so I will have pictures for you all.

[don clement]

 

bueller?

 

Last monday a shipment of 3500 pounds arrived, and I have been moving heavy (real heavy--1000 pounds each kind of heavy) machines into my new shop...In a day or so I will have pictures for you all.

 

Ferris: [after the end credits] ... You're still here? It's over!