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New scope in the works

Discussion in 'Telescopes and Mounts' started by Scopejunkie, Feb 15, 2019.

New scope in the works

Started by Scopejunkie on Feb 15, 2019 at 4:14 PM

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  1. Scopejunkie

    Scopejunkie Well-Known Member

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    The optics are on the way. Hope to put together something interesting (Coulter 10" F/16 Cass) in time for the moon and the planets.
     

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  2. Scopejunkie

    Scopejunkie Well-Known Member

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    We have old Coulter GLASS! Fingers crossed. Hope this works out as planned. :D
     

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  3. Scopejunkie

    Scopejunkie Well-Known Member

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    The first parts have been fabricated. Now the real fun begins, killing the design "bugs" as I go :confused:
     

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  4. Ed D

    Ed D Well-Known Member

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    I'll be following this thread. I like making things and ATM-ing is a lot of fun.

    Ed D
     
  5. Scopejunkie

    Scopejunkie Well-Known Member

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    Hi Ed,

    Primary mirror is now mounted (clipless). Nylon tipped setscrews keep the mirror in place. Hopefully, since the primary is 1.8" thick, mirror flexure (loss of figure) should not be a problem. The mirror mounting design should help minimize temperture affects since most of the heat from the glass surfaces will be out of the light path. Best laid plans...

    Should have more time to ATM tomorrow!
     

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  6. Scopejunkie

    Scopejunkie Well-Known Member

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    Primary cell and mirror cover completed. Rubber gromets used for primary collimation. Collimatable baffle installed. Hope to have the primary up on the rail in soon. The parts are done. Just have to tie it together. So far, so good...
     

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  7. Scopejunkie

    Scopejunkie Well-Known Member

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    Primary mirror cell assembly is up and mounted. Now to add the focuser and finder.
     

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  8. Scopejunkie

    Scopejunkie Well-Known Member

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    The hacking continues... Focuser and finder installed. Now on to the secondary mount. This will be a bit more of a challenge. I could not find a short piece of, reasonably priced, 5" tubing so I may go with a 2 vane spider.
     

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  9. Scopejunkie

    Scopejunkie Well-Known Member

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    Found an "abandoned" steel dew shield in my scope junk. Hand cut to 3 inches length. And the ATM project continues...
     

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  10. Scopejunkie

    Scopejunkie Well-Known Member

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    Well... The hardware portion of this project is all put together. Now its time for the tweaking and adjustments to begin. Fingers crossed ;)
     

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    Last edited: Mar 3, 2019
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  11. Ed D

    Ed D Well-Known Member

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    Beautiful work. I'm a big fan of long focal length Classical Cassegrains and Maks.

    Ed D
     
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  12. Scopejunkie

    Scopejunkie Well-Known Member

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    Well it's up and mounted and wouldn't you know it, it's raining outside :( The tweaking continues...
     

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  13. Gabby76

    Gabby76 Well-Known Member

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    It looks good, hopefully you can get it out soon!
     
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  14. Ed D

    Ed D Well-Known Member

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    Like I said in my previous post, BEAUTIFUL WORK!!! Not that it needs it, but, will you be painting the box tubing and finishing the wood?

    I really hope you get clear skies ASAP so you can take your scope out for a good run. Can't wait to read your performance evaluation of this elegant masterpiece.

    Ed
     
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  15. Scopejunkie

    Scopejunkie Well-Known Member

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    Thanks Gabby76 and Ed.

    I hope to get first light tonight. Did some rework on the circular spider to reduce the sensitivity to vibration. Working today on other small various design bugs.

    When all the bugs are worked out then the fine detailing and painting will ensue. The hacking continues...
     

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  16. Scopejunkie

    Scopejunkie Well-Known Member

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    Well, the prognosis is…

    Seeing 3—4/10. 35 degrees. 60% humidity. No wind. The first star viewed revealed some mis-collimation. Star collimated the optics and performed some general viewing. Zeta Orion was well seen. Easily split at 150X. The Trapezium revealed all six stars at the same magnification. The star test hinted at a very good level of the overall optical correction. Need a better night to give a more precise evaluation. My 250lpi glass ronchi grating revealed 4 straight bands with no edge hook. I will try again on a better night using only two bands. Pleased so far. Zero temperature affects visible in the out of focus star pattern.

    The moon was well seen. I homed in on one of my favorite lunar targets, the Triesnecker rill complex. It was very well seen even though the moon looked like it was under flowing water (seeing). The F & G craters next to Triesnecker were clearly seen including the one in-between them when the seeing would settle a bit. Not too bad for such a soft night.
     

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  17. Scopejunkie

    Scopejunkie Well-Known Member

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    Getting lazier by the year. Scope now on a "sit down" GEM put together from some of my "other junk."
     

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  18. Scopejunkie

    Scopejunkie Well-Known Member

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    Added self-alignment side plates to the spider holder and counter slotted the slots for the cap screws. Didn't realize that the heads were in the light path :eek: Put the scope back on the larger Cave Astrola mount after making another, shorter, pier section for sit down observing. Slotted the holes on the top of the pier to aid in polar alignment. I guess I was a bit spoiled by the greater stability of the larger 1.5" Cave mount compared to the 1" Cave mount. And the tweaking continues...
     

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  19. Ed D

    Ed D Well-Known Member

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    Nice touch on the adjustable secondary. Really like your scope project.

    Ed D
     
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  20. Scopejunkie

    Scopejunkie Well-Known Member

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    Thanks Ed D! The adjustable secondary allows me the ability to use my land based test targets (300ft) as well as infinity focus. Also, I may change the focuser in the future so with this mod I can adjust for this change as well (learned from past mistakes).

    Despite the bad astronomy weather, I was able to run 380x on Zeta Orionis through a "sucker hole" in the cloud deck last night. The seeing was good enough, through the high clouds, to reveal two well defined airy disks. I was able to tweak the collimation and center the first diffraction ring on the stars. Brought a smile to my face :) After that short viewing window the clouds became worse. Crap! Nothing but showers and fog today :(

    When the weather warms/dries up, the painting and detailing will begin.
     
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