Popular Post +Graham Posted July 21, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted July 21, 2018 Today was the day my newly re-coated mirror saw the light of day. The box. The excitement was beginning to build. All wrapped up and ready to open. This was just like Christmas. First sight of the mirror. Question. How the heck do you get a mirror and cell that you can barely lift one meter off the ground and into the OTA. Then keep it there whilst you put in the retaining bolts. This question had me thinking for a bit but I came up with a cunning plan. With the aid of a bedside cabinet. A car jack. One strop. About 20 off cuts of 4 X 2. I set about inching the mirror and cell into its home. Taking the strop I attached it to both of the OTA's pivot points running it under the center point of the cell. Then using the ratchet on the strop I inched the cell upwards until I could get a couple of the off cuts under it. Once safe it was time to breathe again. Repeating this maneuver several more times until I could get the car jack under it. Then it was a case of jacking it up into the OTA all the time adding to the stack of off cuts just in case something untoward happened . The final result. After several more deep breaths and a calming cup of tea I attached the spider and the secondary mirror. It is now roughly collimated. All I need is a clear night to get the collimation sorted and it is ready for its first light. Smithysteve, BAZ, tuckstar and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Bino-viewer Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 That looks very impressive Graham. Are you pleased with the flocking paper ? It looks nice and dark in there...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bottletopburly Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 Well done Graham , can’t wait to see the results ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Graham Posted July 21, 2018 Author Share Posted July 21, 2018 8 minutes ago, Bino-viewer said: That looks very impressive Graham. Are you pleased with the flocking paper ? It looks nice and dark in there...? That flocking paper was the bees knees. Great tip, thanks. 7 minutes ago, Bottletopburly said: Well done Graham , can’t wait to see the results ? Thanks David. I can hardly wait either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+RonC Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 That's looking good Graham! looking forward to some great results (no pressure of course!!) ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Graham Posted July 21, 2018 Author Share Posted July 21, 2018 25 minutes ago, Ron Clarke said: That's looking good Graham! looking forward to some great results (no pressure of course!!) ? Thanks Ron. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ibbo Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 hope it goes well. You may need an arm extension to reach the bottom bolts ? +Graham 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweedledee Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 Looking forward to your first light report. ? Very ingenious getting the mirror in. It all sounds a bit precarious but you obviously knew what you were doing. 5 hours ago, Graham said: With the aid of a bedside cabinet. A car jack. One strop. About 20 off cuts of 4 X 2. I set about inching the mirror and cell into its home. When I first read "one strop" I thought you'd got frustrated with it. ? +Graham 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Graham Posted July 21, 2018 Author Share Posted July 21, 2018 2 hours ago, Ibbo said: hope it goes well. You may need an arm extension to reach the bottom bolts ? Going to use the point grey and a laptop. 1 hour ago, Tweedledee said: Looking forward to your first light report. ? Very ingenious getting the mirror in. It all sounds a bit precarious but you obviously knew what you were doing. When I first read "one strop" I thought you'd got frustrated with it. ? Way too much at stake to get annoyed with it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post +Graham Posted July 22, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 22, 2018 With all the cloud this evening I had all but given up on trying out the new scope. After watching the late film I decided to have one last look outside before going to bed. Wouldn't you know it --- it was reasonably clear. So I decided what the heck Rolled off the obs roof, took the cover off the scope and popped in an eye piece. It took a while of trial and error to find the focal point but once I had set the focuser position I was away. I was limited to looking at the Southern sky due to the piles of bags of sand and cement strewn across the obs floor making things a little precarious for moving around in the twilight. As I was not prepared for a clearish sky I had not set up the laptop or the point grey camera so I could collimate the scope this ment I had to use it as it was. Despite it being a fair ways out of collimation it was still giving some great views. I have no idea what I was looking at but the shear amount of stars on view was staggering. The amount of light this thing pulls in compared to my small fracs is astounding. Managed a couple of hours of browsing the heavens before the clouds rolled back in. Once I manage to get the scope sorted I can see me having a lot of fun with it. BAZ, Bottletopburly, Tweedledee and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bottletopburly Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 Superb Graham so chuffed for you hell of a lot of effort in a short space of time , Well done ? +Graham 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweedledee Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 Exciting stuff. Glad you managed to get a look through it despite the clouds. ? +Graham 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+RonC Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 Sounds good Graham, did you have much adjusting to do? How was your initial collimation? Cheers Ron +Graham 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smithysteve Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 You have cracked on at a great pace! First light through your scope must have been both exciting and also reassuring that after all the hard work, it works! A big aperture like yours will deliver some wow moments! So I hope you try out your ep’s a bit more on this scope, you will be stunned! ? +Graham 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Graham Posted July 22, 2018 Author Share Posted July 22, 2018 Further update. I have just got the stepper motor drive to work. This Astro EQ board I built works a treat. This means I can now run any mount using EQMOD. Happy days I am now off to work out what plates I need to fit the steppers to the scope. BAZ, Bottletopburly and +Ibbo 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAZ Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 Top effort Graham, I can't wait to hear how it performs when it's all squared up and with a clear night. +Graham 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philjay Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 Good one Graham. You realise that after this step by step build up we are expecting grest things from the both of you ? Bottletopburly, +Graham and +RonC 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Graham Posted July 22, 2018 Author Share Posted July 22, 2018 Had a great hour on the moon tonight. Set it up in Cass mode for the first time. Managed a few pics as well. ( Posted up in the Luna imaging section. ) Not very good mind but hey ho it is a start. Bottletopburly, BAZ and Smithysteve 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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