Grey Scope and Clear Skies

Well I had a beautiful clear sky last night. I spent the first hour or so with my eye glued to the eyepiece. I was bowled over by the awesome views of Jupiter and the Moon.

I used my 6mm eyepiece and saw things on the Moon I've never seen before. It was definitely worth the build and minor hassles to get this scope done.

Before I came in for the night, I took a couple of quick shots with the Pentax ist DS.

I'm looking forward to a night with my webcam and laptop.

Grey Scope Done

I had the scope done and ready to test. Then the problems started. GRRRRRR

The scope would not come to a focus. I was seeing three of a planet and they would not totally merge.

Now I had made my own secondary. I'd done them before out of Polaroid mirrors. I figured I'd just got a bad one. So I then made one from some Kodak 1/8" first surface mirror. Well this was a bit better, but still not right. I decided I'd just buy a secondary and give up. Well while waiting for it to arrive, I read a thread on CloudyNights.

DUH!!!

I had used two strips of double stick tape to attach the previous two secondaries. I'd never done this before, but didn't think it would be a problem. Big no no.

I had induced warping by holding the glass too rigid. So now I have two extra secondary mirrors.

Live and learn. :)

New secondary installed and the clouds move in. Figures.

Well I sat out there for a good while and caught a small gap in the clouds.

Hot Damn!!! Jupiter looked awesome. I saw detail I'd never seen before. It lasted about 5 minutes, then the clouds closed back in. I'm so pumped waiting for a truly clear night.

It was worth all the trouble in the end.

Grey scope 2

As things came together I started thinking about some extras. I turned wooden rings to protect the tube ends. I then made a cap to close off the front of the tube. Next I made a rear cap with a computer fan to help cool the mirror quicker.

The base was made of particle board and has 4 coats of outdoor paint. The bearing pads are made from a 1/4" cutting board. The bearings are plywood with 8" PVC bands pressed on.

I painted the inside of the tube with Ultra Flat Black Krylon. The outside was white gloss Krylon.

8 inch Grey Scope

I'd been thinking of building a larger scope. Well I finally bought an 8" mirror from a CloudyNights member.

Then I had to start scrounging for materials again. The 10" concrete form tube turned out to be the problem. No one in my area even knew they made them. I spent 3 days on the phone before finally locating one.

Once I had the tube, I could design the rest. I built the tube girdle and bearings first. I used particle board and oak. I wanted the tube to be easy to slide. So I used a carriage bolt and a outdoor faucet handle.

Next I built the mirror cell and spider for the secondary. The mirror cell is particle board, painted to seal it. The spider I made from PVC, wood and sheet metal. The focuser is a Tectron that I bought on ebay some time back.

Finder parts

The elecrical parts came from Radioshack during some other project.

First photo

1) 10K ohm resistor, 15 turn cermat

2)SPST mini switch

3) 3vdc battery and holder, from a computer.

Second photo

1) 10mm red LED, 5000mcd, sanded flat

2) plexiglass screen painted black. I used a hobby knife to scratch the thin lines for the crosshair.

Telrad knockoff

Decided I'd try my hand at building a knockoff of a Telrad finder for my big scope

Turns out it was an easy project. I used just a plain crosshair on the screen, rather than 3 circles.

I built it from 1/8" masonite and 1/4" plywood. The outer clear viewing screen is plexiglass. The glass inside is window glass painted black on it's back.

Sector Drive P3

I had decided to build my own bearing system. I designed and cut a two piece block with an oversized shaft hole. I then cemented two layers of heavy duty aluminum foil in the channel. I lightly greased the shaft and test fit. I used the blue tape as shim material. Being such a slow turning shaft, this will be quite OK for a bearing. Then came time to give the drive a good test run. Ran perfect from the start. The cold rolled threaded rod is much better than cut threads. No bits and pieces to cause hang ups. Now all I had to do is build a suitable base to hold it. I used a piece of glued up plywood, 1", to make the base. I installed T nuts so I could use 1/4" carriage bolts as leveling feet. Camera bracket installed and waiting for suitable weather.

Another project from the scrap bins.

Sector Drive P2

I soldered a small copper strip to each end of the curved rod. This allowed me to mount the rod without trying to use epoxy. I didn't want the job of cleaning out the threads. ;)I installed the straight rod in it's channel with bronze bushings. I had made sure to give it a way to back off allowing the sector to be easily returned to the start position.I installed the drive system on the back plate and tried it out. Ran perfectly.

Sector Drive Camera Mount

And yet another project in my insanity shop. :)

I read about the sector drive being used to drive a telescope EQ mount. Hey says I, why not a camera mount for long exposure astro photos.

Time to dig in the scrap and junk bins.

I found a 1 rpm timing motor, 1/4" threaded rod and some goodies for making a transmission system.I used some 1/2" plywood to make the sector. I made sure to mount the curved threaded rod at 11.43" center of shaft to center of drive rod thread pitch. I used a piece of cutting board as my slippery surface, to ride against the polished aluminum strip on the back plate. I used a piece of hard 3/4" copper pipe as my central shaft. And some aluminum washers ( DIY ) for spacers.

2 beam scope final

Well the mirrors arrived. I immediately set about finishing the scope. I used a black aniline leather dye for the beams. Then I just sprayed a light coat of clear to seal it.The guard under the front, is made from a 6" mailing tube and some roof flashing. It and the focuser mount are flocked to prevent glare.

I took it out for it's first light last night. A clear sky for a change. The views were tack sharp. Jupiter and it's moons were knock out awesome. The open design was little effected by outside light sources. The design proved sound, and worked beautifully. Well worth the effort.

Circus Mount ----- End For Now

I'll of course report back once I have put the scope and the new mount through their paces.

I should have asked for faster UPS shipping on the mirrors. :(

Circus Mount P2

I will be using the 2 beam scope on this. If the #%^&^%^$# mirrors ever get here. The guy mailed late, and the holiday ( July 4th ) has them sitting in some post office somewhere. :(

In these photos you can see how the timer and gears are setup. It tracks at solar rate. But with a little math, different rates could be put to use.

Circus EQ Fork Mount

Circus for the loud colors. Hey, it was left over paint I had laying around.

I had been thinking of a DIY EQ mount for some time. But a good fellow by the name of Art Bianconi got me really ready to build.

The upright part of the stand is made from 1.125" particle board. The lower half being hollow

The adjustable feet are from 1/4" carriage bolts and Corian discs for knobs.

The shaft for the fork is 3/4" hard copper pipe, that rides in lignum vitae waxed bearings.

The drive gears are made from 1/2" plywood discs and the toothed belt from an old film scanner I stripped. The drive motor is a 24 hour light/appliance timer made by Interac. Usually available from Radioshack and others.

The angle of the shaft is 41.5 degrees, my latitude.

The 6 little bearing pieces on the half circles are from a small cutting board that used to belong to the wife. :)

Almost There

I have all the parts ready for the final clear coat. Then I can assemble, and try it out. I'll be having to design a mount. Something on the order of hooking up to a sturdy photo tripod.

I started this as a filler while I waited for the mirrors for the 2 beam scope. Well this is almost done, and the mirrors are somewhere in the USPS netherlands. :(

I hope to soon have photos of both as they are done and in use.

Stay tuned. ;)

Folded Refractor P2

I next went to work on the sled focuser. I had stripped an old film scanner for the parts a while back. From toothed belt I cut two pieces the length of the sled. I glued them to the wood with super glue. I used one of the gears to make the adjustment assembly. I took my usual PVC pipe and made the eyepiece holder. The secondary mirror came from an old russian spotting scope. As did the mirror at the rear of the scope. The wood was stained using black leather aniline dye. Then waxed to make it nice and slippery.

Folded Refractor

I salvaged a small 60mm X 800mm refractor scope from the garbage bin down the road.

Since it is rather small, I decided to try a folded scope as a test project. The underlayment is luan and masonite. I'll be veneering with redwood after all measuements check out.

I really need to do drawings one of these days. :)

Lastest Photos

Here is the scope frame on the completed mount. I also have made the focuser mount, for the recycled/repaired focuser.

I'll be posting as I figure out some of the other engineering challenges.

Recycled Parts

Here is a shot of the basic scope frame on the Recycled Meade tripod. And a couple of the mount.

Follow Up Photos

Close shots of the pivots, front plate and spider. And the rear Corian plate.

Here We Go Again

The design is one suggested by Art Bianconi of Cloudy Nights forum.

It is based on 2 hollow beams to support the scope. It has sliding pivot points for adjusting balance. All materials are from the scrap bins in the shop and house.

The mirror set is a 4.5"/f10 that was used by Celestron.

The beams are 1" X 2" outside, hollowed to save weight. The rear plate and mirror plate are from black Corian. The spider and secondary holder are made from wood and coat hanger wire.

Front palte is 1/8" aluminum plate. Knobs are made from the same Corian, with 1/4" carriage bolts embedded in them.