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Skywatcher GOTO-C14 Conversion

Discussion in 'Telescopes and Mounts' started by Scopejunkie, Oct 5, 2019.

Skywatcher GOTO-C14 Conversion

Started by Scopejunkie on Oct 5, 2019 at 5:53 PM

7 Replies 2252 Views 1 Likes

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  1. Scopejunkie

    Scopejunkie Well-Known Member

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    Scopejunkie, Oct 5, 2019
    #1
    Po' Boy CPC C14 o_O
     

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  2. Scopejunkie

    Scopejunkie Well-Known Member

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    Scopejunkie, Oct 23, 2019
    #2
    I thickened the ground board to 1.5" for greater stability (gorilla glue and screws). Finished detailing the MOD components. CPC14 completed. The old guy is still hacking...
     

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  3. squeege3000

    squeege3000 Well-Known Member

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    squeege3000, Oct 25, 2019
    #3
    What a project to be immersed in. Mine are usually dobsonians, and have also built tripod for a 6" nexstar SCT. l love your custom finderscope, looks like a barrel from 12 x 70 binoculars.
     
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  4. Scopejunkie

    Scopejunkie Well-Known Member

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    Scopejunkie, Oct 25, 2019
    #4
    Good eye! The finder is a 70mm Orion Multi-Use finder scope. Some of my projects are birthed out of frustration. As I have shared elsewhere: "When I went looking for digital setting circles for my old school C14 fork mount I had a bad case of sticker shock when I ran into prices as high as $1600.00 just to add DSC's to this old school fork mount. This price shock brought me to the idea that I could purchase a used GOTO dob for way less money and, with successful modification, have DSC's, full GOTO, and computer control! All I had to do was come up with a way to convert one of these mounts for use with my C14 OTA."
     

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  5. Scopejunkie

    Scopejunkie Well-Known Member

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    Scopejunkie, Dec 15, 2019
    #5
    More tweaks. Added internal rear braces to aid focusing (minor vibration) during high magnification lunar/planetary photography. Notable improvement in visible high power focusing/observing (500x). Hope to test on the next lunation.
     

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    Last edited: Dec 15, 2019
  6. Scopejunkie

    Scopejunkie Well-Known Member

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    Scopejunkie, Jan 20, 2020
    #6
    I made a sub-aperture mask for my C14 with interchangeable apertures. The two main sub-apertures are 4.625” unobstructed. Either aperture of the mask can be blanked off for different visual experiments. I have some crazy ideas bouncing around in my head that I would like to try out. As an example, I’m looking forward to having a good hard “look” at how much of a “real” difference an obstruction makes for visual observing versus unobstructed, math equations, and computer simulations (contrast). I have extra blanks for future experiments and also a blank for a solar filter should the sun get active again. Still messin’ around…
     

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  7. Orion25

    Orion25 Well-Known Member

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    Orion25, Jan 22, 2020
    #7
    That's some quality work. Can't wait to hear the results of your experiments!

    Regards,
    Reggie ;)
     
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  8. Scopejunkie

    Scopejunkie Well-Known Member

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    Scopejunkie, Jan 26, 2020
    #8
    I finished more apertures for my visual experiments. My tests are similar to Robert E. Cox’s visual diffraction effects shown in the September 1960 issue of Sky & Telescope, Gleanings for ATM’s, pg.166. I will run similar obstruction/diffraction tests but my real purpose for all of this is a bit different. I will keep those purposes under my hat for now. ;) This could be a total waste of time but it is an old itch I have to scratch :D
     

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