460 replies to this topic

[Sky Muse]

The steel splint has now been sawn off, and away from its "mother"...

 

 

There is where the slot will be crafted(in red), sculpted out, for the splint, and through the outer frame...

 

 

The slot will not be overly tight, the splint will not be hammered into position, as I don't want to disturb the "feng shui" of the original position of the secondary-hub, and after the two remaining stalks are cut out.

[Earthbound1]

Love your work and wit!!! Learning AND shooting liquids from my nostrils..! The best of BOTH worlds! I had telescope fever SOOO bad that I almost convinced myself to buy one of these NEW, after reading Space(cadets).com's review of the best telescopes under $200, then found one for sale on CL "Like New" for $50...(wonder why, hmmm) but was unable to complete the transaction as someone saved me from it! Oh the dissappointment I had felt earlier that day, which coincidentally was the same day I discovered and joined Cloudy Nights and then my nights were changed forever for the better! That same night I learned how fate had saved me from this oft found "delight" from China on CL! For, on that very night here, on CN, I learned the difference between a Jones-Bird, and a Bird-Jones...! Lol. Now I await to see if you can turn a sow's ear into a silk purse! If anyone can, my money's on YOU!!!

Edited by Earthbound1, 05 June 2019 - 11:07 PM.

[Sky Muse]

Thanks, Chip.  I can handle the mechanical aspects of this, and the eventual collimation, but my hands will be tied as to whether or not the spherical primary and the "corrector" were well-figured and polished there at the factory.

 

If the "corrector", the doublet,  proves to be a dud, then perhaps I could swap it out with that of one of my better barlows...

 

 

But then, there's no telling what I might see, or rather not see, upon the viewing.

[Earthbound1]

But...but, "My God! It's filled with STARS!"

[Mitrovarr]

I doubt replacing the corrector lens with a barlow is going to make the scope better. If you take out that corrector, it's just a F/3.3 spherical newtonian, and no amount of barlows is ever going to make that usable.

 

I suspect whether the scope is worthwhile at all is all going to depend on that corrector; it is almost certainly the limiting factor of the entire telescope. If it doesn't work well, nothing is going to save it short of making a better corrector (and probably placing it in the proper position ahead of the secondary mirror).

[Earthbound1]

Hmmm, what's a Paracorr go for these days, anyway?!!! Lol

[Sky Muse]

I doubt replacing the corrector lens with a barlow is going to make the scope better. 

I doubt that as well, perhaps even more so than yourself.

[Sky Muse]

Getting there...

 

[Sky Muse]

I've been reading multiple reviews of this telescope, and about the same number as the number of kits on an Amazon warehouse pallet -- and they love them.  The reports are oft more glowing than dim.  Could it be that they've never looked through a proper telescope; or, is it truly as wonderful as they say it is, and fresh out of the box?

 

In any event, I wish I had gotten one of theirs instead.

[Earthbound1]

The devil's pitchfork is nice for when you don't want to see what you're looking at though! I'm going to take a wild guess and venture that it would not "hook" most first time buyers into the hobby after being poked or jabbed by it...

Edited by Earthbound1, 06 June 2019 - 01:03 AM.

[Sky Muse]

 

 

 

Won't it be purty once I J-B Weld it in place, cut out the two side stalks, and smooth everything down?

 

The question is rhetorical.

[Sky Muse]

The devil's pitchfork is nice for when you don't want to see what you're looking at though! I'm going to take a wild guess and venture that it would not "hook" most first time buyers into the hobby after being poked or jabbed by it...

In which instances would you not want to see something in the night sky?

 

It's the low price and short tube that reels them in.  My first eekings of interest in this particular telescope began here...

 

https://www.cloudyni...limate-it-help/

[Sky Muse]

The surfaces to be joined must be roughened and scored, then cleaned with 100% acetone...

 

[Earthbound1]

In which instances would you not want to see something in the night sky?

It's the low price and short tube that reels them in. My first eekings of interest in this particular telescope began here...

https://www.cloudyni...limate-it-help/

When that something in the nightime sky IS the devil's pitchfork heading straight for you of course! And I believe it was that very thread that I read that made me feel better about not having purchased the "like new" one off of Craig's List..! I eagerly await your finale' of this tear down and rebuild, as I too, read so many glowing reviews online about this very telescope!

Edited by Earthbound1, 06 June 2019 - 05:33 AM.

[Sky Muse]

Just as I have added wood dust to wood-glue and standard epoxy, so I'm going to add steel dust to the J-B Weld epoxy...

 

 

J-B Weld is allegedly "steel reinforced", but I've never seen any steel in it. 

 

In any event, adding the steel dust will strengthen the epoxy further, prevent cracking, and in joining the steel splint to the aluminum stalk and frame of the cowling.

 

Making steel dust is labourious.

[Earthbound1]

It has magetite in it. That's what makes it black/dark gray. Hold a magnet to it. It's what has inspired me to eventually build a ballscope and use magnets in the mount to overcome balance issues they're prone to with heavy EP's or AP equipment... I'm going to coat the ball and make a "skin" out of epoxy mixed with magnetite powder... Your idea of reinforcing it is GENIUS! Steel wool would be a great "fiber" for this...

Edited by Earthbound1, 06 June 2019 - 10:13 AM.

[Mitrovarr]

I've been playing with the old Meade Bird-Jones I picked up from a yard sale ages ago. I managed to get the focuser kind of working (the rack teeth were destroyed - I filed it flat and stuck rubber around the gear, so it's kind of a cheap Crayford sort of focuser now). I would like to test the optics but the seeing was so bad last night even this scope was seeing limited.

[Sky Muse]

It has magetite in it. That's what makes it black/dark gray. Hold a magnet to it. It's what has inspired me to eventually build a ballscope and use magnets in the mount to overcome balance issues they're prone to with heavy EP's or AP equipment... I'm going to coat the ball and make a "skin" out of epoxy mixed with magnetite powder... Your idea of reinforcing it is GENIUS! Steel wool would be a great "fiber" for this...

Yes, I've read that it is slightly magnetic.  I never thought about steel wool.  That could be added for larger applications.  I would shred it up first.

[Sky Muse]

I've been playing with the old Meade Bird-Jones I picked up from a yard sale ages ago. I managed to get the focuser kind of working (the rack teeth were destroyed - I filed it flat and stuck rubber around the gear, so it's kind of a cheap Crayford sort of focuser now). I would like to test the optics but the seeing was so bad last night even this scope was seeing limited.

I would never have thought, and with one of those plastic focussers.  I can imagine a few scenarios where folks keep turning the knob after it stops.  They must've been trying to focus it, ah, but to a sharp focus, and there was never one to be had in either direction; shame, that.  I have only one Crayford, a JMI...

 

 

I've never used it, nor the telescope to which it belongs; some day I hope.

[Mitrovarr]

Yeah, I would probably just buy a new focuser but since the lens is part of it I can't (and mine's glued in, too).

[Pinbout]

I took my son’s apart and tested the spherical primary, it’s definitely better than 1/8~ spherical 

I tested the secondary against a know flat and it tested very well.

 

but with the corrector I wasn’t very happy with a 1mm exit pupil.

 

i believe I was getting something like a f3.something when testing RoC.

 

i plan to aspheric it, cause I can   throw the corrector in a optics bin.

[Sky Muse]

Yeah, I would probably just buy a new focuser but since the lens is part of it I can't (and mine's glued in, too).

I don't have it separated from the Bird at the moment, but I think that the entire cell for the doublet can be removed from the chromed-plastic drawtube...

 

 

It could be that the entire cell screws into what may be the threaded end of the drawtube.  A replacement wouldn't be threaded, but that wouldn't prevent epoxying the cell into same.  

 

Removing it from the original however does pose to be problematic, for most that is.  I would take a Dremel with a diamond-wheel and make angled cuts in both directions all round its perimeter to free it from the drawtube, chipping the pieces of same away, carefully and patiently; perhaps with a little acetone at the ready, but not too much; don't want to melt anything.

 

The real problem lays in the getting of a replacement chromed-plastic drawtube.  I had ruined this one, at right, and got a replacement under the telescope's warranty, at left, and for about $10 or less...

 

 

It's a genuine Orion replacement, and with their owner-only policy, even scarcer than proverbial hens' teeth.

 

There's just not a long line waiting for these "carnival arcade" drawtubes.

[Sky Muse]

I took my son’s apart and tested the spherical primary, it’s definitely better than 1/8~ spherical 

I tested the secondary against a know flat and it tested very well.

 

but with the corrector I wasn’t very happy with a 1mm exit pupil.

 

i believe I was getting something like a f3.something when testing RoC.

 

i plan to aspheric it, cause I can   throw the corrector in a optics bin.

What's wrong with a 1mm exit-pupil?

 

I was wondering as to what might be done with the rest post-light.

 

But then it wouldn't be my "C5" anymore. 

 

I'll have to learn to love it, and as it sits.

[Sky Muse]

As an aside, and in having delved into righting the cowling at hand, I may now have a solution for that of my 100mm f/4...

 

 

But I would integrate an aluminum splint, since the cowling is of plastic.  Plastic and aluminum go so good together, and on a mass-produced scale...

 

 

At its 400mm focal-length, and coupled with my least favourite ocular, 10x, and most binocular-like; for Andromeda.

 

Enough playing; back to making more steel dust...

Edited by Sky Muse, 06 June 2019 - 07:43 PM.

[Sky Muse]

It finally dawned on me; this, and instead of the diamond-wheel of the Dremel...

 

 

I don't need a lot; don't want to overwhelm the epoxy.