+Graham Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 Hi all Been busy again getting ready for the arrival of my new baby. A Helios 120mm Frac to go with my Helios 200mm Newt. I have decided that I wanted to mount them side by side so when I am using the Newt I can use the Frac for guiding and vice versa. So it was raid the Stainless Steel rack and manufacture a mounting bar. I set up the newt on one leg found the balance point and then welded the leg into place so the balance point is central in the mount. I then did the same for the Frac. I have added a central support to remove any chance of sagging or movement in the set up. The photos give you an idea of how it works. I will post up more photos when I have it all set up and ready to go. Thanks Graham. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Graham Posted April 4, 2012 Author Share Posted April 4, 2012 Well its me again posting up the photos of the completed set up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tweedledum Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 Bloomin heck Graham, that was quick work. Looks great & blue sky!! Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz Type-R Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 Good grief, that did not take you long, also, what is all that blue stuff in the background of your pictures. Aint got none of that round these parts! Super bit of DIY there, nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Graham Posted April 4, 2012 Author Share Posted April 4, 2012 Hey I don't hang around when theres important stuff to be made. lol Once the scope arrived I finished off the mount locked up the workshop and headed off home to fit it. Well you have to get your priorities right don't you. That blue stuff wont be here long now its ready to go. Mind I did have to laugh, when I was doing some test runs to make sure nothing bad happened the Police helicopter flew over. It did an abrupt 180 and came back to see what the hell I was doing. I reckon they must have though I was putting together a missile or something. Anyway it all seems to be working ok I just have to wait for a clear night now to test it for real. Thanks Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz Type-R Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 Ha ha, nice. Can just imagine the police come knocking on your asking to see the rocket launcher or hauling you off to the nick! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAZ Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 Looks good. Enjoy your new frac! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulG Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 Flippin eck Graham mounting plate manufactured before 10.41am lol. That's one hell of a set up and nice to have matching manufactured telescopes too. How thick is that plate Graham, looks around 6mm ?. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Graham Posted April 4, 2012 Author Share Posted April 4, 2012 Hi Paul. Yes spot on the parallel mount is made from 50mm x 6mm 316 Stainless Steel flat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tweedledum Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 must have been thee 12KW green laser pointer that attracted the bover chopper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweedledee Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 The pair of them look like a match made in heaven. Very impressive job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Graham Posted April 6, 2012 Author Share Posted April 6, 2012 Last night I got to use the setup for the first time and I could not be more pleased with the results. I acutally managed to properly Polar align my scope due to the mod I did with the Brass collet I made. First thing I did was to swing the scope around to Venus so I could check the alignment of all the scopes. I set Venus in the centre of the Frac's field of view so I could set up the finder scope. Once Venus was in the center of the cross hairs I checked the view from the Newt. Incredibly there was Venus and only very slightly off centre. So the upshot of this modifacation has to go down as a total success. I can locate the target in the finder scope and it will be pretty much centered in either scope. So that makes one very happy bunny located down here in rural Suffolk. Thanks Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+RonC Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 Well done Graham, Happy Easter mate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Graham Posted April 10, 2012 Author Share Posted April 10, 2012 Thanks Ron. I must admit I am well pleased with the way it turned out. It will come as no suprise but since I did the comparison test it has been wall to wall cloud ever since. I am itching to see how the frac does on a galaxy. I have even managed to get hold of a cheap Cannon 350 D so I can start doing some real DSO stuff. Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyboy1970 Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 Hey I don't hang around when theres important stuff to be made. lol Once the scope arrived I finished off the mount locked up the workshop and headed off home to fit it. Well you have to get your priorities right don't you. That blue stuff wont be here long now its ready to go. Mind I did have to laugh, when I was doing some test runs to make sure nothing bad happened the Police helicopter flew over. It did an abrupt 180 and came back to see what the hell I was doing. I reckon they must have though I was putting together a missile or something. Anyway it all seems to be working ok I just have to wait for a clear night now to test it for real. Thanks Graham The dark site that the Central midlands stargazers use is right next to the Police helicoptor station and when they return they always hang around hovering before landing while we have 4-6 scopes pointing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Graham Posted April 12, 2012 Author Share Posted April 12, 2012 The dark site that the Central midlands stargazers use is right next to the Police helicoptor station and when they return they always hang around hovering before landing while we have 4-6 scopes pointing. Christ Andy I bet that goes down well if someone is halfway through a 10 minet sub. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyboy1970 Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 They have never popped across to see what we are up to but I guess with their imaging equipment they can see exactly what we are up to! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Graham Posted April 13, 2012 Author Share Posted April 13, 2012 Andy can you just imagine what sort of pictures you could get if you had their camera on the end of your scope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyboy1970 Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 Mmmmmm, if only. I advised someone on Astronomy shed to get in touch with you as they are looking for a peir top for a CGEM mount. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Graham Posted April 15, 2012 Author Share Posted April 15, 2012 Thanks for that Andy apreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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