34 replies to this topic

[John_Gillies]

Nothin' like pickin' up a little Bino-time in the day time!

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[rboe]

Not so fast Mr. Gillies! I expect some photo's in the equipment section on that little conversion you have there.

Can you explain what you have, how you did it: You know the drill!

Or did you "borrow" more stuff from your brother?

Ron

PS: It does look pretty slick though. Is that the only star you can see during the day from your latitude?

[John_Gillies]

You know how it goes Ron...something borrowed something blue! Allright...the only thing borrowed from Pat is his 1.25 OCS. The rest is all mine! I traded off a Radian for the Meade tripod, wedge and drive base from a 2080, and mounted my Skywatcher (blue) ST80 with the Coronodo Solarmax 40 BF5 combo. Pretty simple. A nice sturdy mount with the drives. Maybe a little overkill, but it does the job and the price was right. I took all the elements out of the finder and put cross hairs at either end. Sure I can only look at one star with it, but that star changes every day. If you haven't looked through a solarmax yet Ron, you better not. You would have another reason for not buying a binoviewer.

[rboe]

OK; that's a nice start. But I'm interested in the gizmo you have that adapts the scope to the mount. Is it something you made, purchased (OK, we know now you didn't steal; I'm sorry, Borrow it from your brother)or modified something.

And that was quite a trade you engineered there!

Being a Celestron guy I'm tempted to comment on the nice optical upgrade you performed.

I really do not need anymore reasons to avoid a binoviewer. The Vet visit this weekend set me back a bit - again. If it wasn't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all. At least I finished the kitchen trim this weekend. Didn't get the wheels done for the dob though. Maybe during the week. I really don't have a good plan yet. One that I'm really on board with.

Ron

[Don W]

Well, I went a different route. More expensive scope on a cheaper mount

Here's my setup, a TV Pronto on a Nexstar 80GT mount. This was at Astronomy Day so I didn't have the Denkmeier mounted.

Don Wyman

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[John_Gillies]

Hi Ron...Let's see if I can cover everything here.

"I'm interested in the gizmo you have that adapts the scope to the mount."

The bracket is made of oak painted black for the time being. Still modifying a little and when it's finished, I'll take it in to work where a friend of mine will fashion one out of aluminum for me...on company time of course! When I get the finished product I'll post a picture of it. In the mean time, this works great!

"Being a Celestron guy I'm tempted to comment on the nice optical upgrade you performed."

Are you suggesting that the Skywatcher is an upgrade to Celestron??? I wouldn't have said it out loud...but if you feel that way, well...it works for me!

"The Vet visit this weekend set me back a bit"

I hope what ever the Vet did to you didn't hurt too much! I can imagine the size of those pills and where you gotta put em'!

[rboe]

I didn't realize a Hoover and an X-acto knife were legit Vet tools. Fast though. At least he didn't ask me to cough. Says I can sit down when ever I start feeling comfortable to do so.

From your comment on the Skywatcher vs. Celestron I can see you use the same Vet but perhaps you cheat on your meds. :^)
(the problem with Quick Reply; no gremlins).

So you have access to a CCM mill or something? In the old days they used the wood to make a casting. Nice twist.

And sorry to hear the health care in Canada has fallen on hard times. Maybe we could loan you some US trained Vets.

Ron

PS: I hope you're not a snowbird!

[John_Gillies]

Hey Ron...No I'm not a snowbird. Although sometimes when viewing in the winter here I feel like a snowman! It's not quite like you Arizona Wussie boys have it. I have access to a very talented maintenance division. I get the hairball ideas and they put them to metal. I'm not real creative...more on the antagonistic side. Don't you think?


Hi Jim... I've been walking on the double edged sword ever since I got into this hobby. It's getting down to a few core items so the big stuff is pretty much out of the way, but as I tell Capital Budget (wife) there will always be the little things here and there.

[rboe]

John;

Being formally from Northern Minnesota I'm tempted to take exception to the title of Wussie Boy (although it does seem nicer than Ol' Geezer) until I recall the times it got down into the 50's (degrees F) and I wussed out. I just can't believe you folks and your viewing reports when it was ONLY in the 30's.

How the mighty have fallen.

I envy your maintenance division. And I miss access to the machine shop in college. But be fore warned. I really want to move back north when I retire. I need four seasons and less people. And cooler weather. Besides, with all that winter gear on the girls can't tell how skinny I am.

Ron

[John_Gillies]

That's my problem here at home. I never did get out of serious motorcycling. Did manage to get my Recreation permit, but I think I'll stick to building RC airplanes and leave the ones I fly up to the pro's to build. Although there are some pretty nice kitplanes out there. Even my wife enjoys Oshkosh and Sun 'N' Fun. (where I stole this thread title from)

[rboe]

Not another airplane nut!? John; we can't talk, I can't afford to get into real airplanes (I've been thinking about getting a sailplane license since I can't have a regular pilots' license) I'll have to give up one of my other interests.

Are we going to have to start an airborn astronomy thread?

Ron

[Don W]

Well this is a small world. I live 3 blocks north of Wittman field in Oshkosh.

[John_Gillies]

Well Don just became the guy I envy. 3 Blocks north of Wittman field and I probably never would have gotten into Astronomy. I'd be too busy at the airport. Mind you my cottage is on a very small spring fed lake with the local airport about 2 blocks away with the approach/departure of the main runway being left to right in front of my dock. Every Sunday morning is a fly-in breakfast gathering. It's like an air show every weekend while sitting on my dock having coffee.

To keep things on topic, my cottage telescope is a Meade LX10, and I transport my binoviewer to and from. Does life get any better? OH YEAH!!

[Pat G.]

Hey Tom, did you sell your kit plane to a guy in Guelph? A friend of mine (Charlie Miller of BlackHole enterprises) used to buy unfinished kit planes, complete them and sell them. I guess we would know if you sold it to Ron. He would have built two left wings and would still be flying in cirles

Pat G.

[rboe]

How do you think I ended up in Sunny Arizona?

I'm starting a bookshelf; kinda keen on how I'll mess this one up. And I'm still looking for a way to hitch a dolly to the dob (I'm thinking pin and hook; like a bed frame) so I can save my back hauling the sucker around in my biplane.

By the way, a friend of mine and her husband (she's a test pilot, he's the new owner orientation pilot) work for Cirrus. Be nice or I'll make sure they won't sell you one.

Ron

PS: Still have ten fingers but the weekend is young.

[Pat G.]

"I can save my back hauling the sucker around in my biplane"

Hey Ron, if you have a biplane then you really do have two left wings!

Just to keep on topic here, has the binoviewer moved up any on your wish list?

Pat G

[rboe]

Pat;

Has not moved up. Bought a Porter-Cable biscuit cutter today, new harddrive and cables this weekend (see all the talk in the computer section: A couple of us are playing with the Lycoris Linux distro).

The bookshelf project pushed the biscuit cutter up to the top. We're looking at a digital camera too (trip back to Minnesota this June for Wussy Boy and Wife). My office is a real mess with magazines collecting on the floor and books off to god knows where so a bookshelf kinda was critical. I get too many mags (most are on airplanes, past current and future: I really should have been an aeronautical engineer).

However; it has not been pushed back and I don't expect to be unless I go wild with the camera. Maybe I could sell some sperm for extra money.

Have our friends North of the border been blesses with spring yet?

Ron