catman161 Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 After my first outing with the NEQ6 Pro I discovered quite quickly that the eyepiece ends up at some funny angles. I had read about using an extra tube ring as an anchor and having the two mounted tube rings set slightly loose so as to enable turning of the OTA without the danger of it slipping through and upsetting balance or worse damaging the scope. I read astro baby's mod of recessing the bolt so the extra tube ring sits flush. So I looked around for scope rings. Most places I found them for between £40-£50. I didn't really want to spend that much but will keep an eye on the S/H market for a single tube ring for a 200P. So I set to looking at what others had done to overcome this in other ways. Being a very talented bunch of people I found what I was looking for on a thread on SGL. So I bought the following bits from homebase and halfords and set to making my own. -Quick lock hose clip 25-700mm -scotia plastic moulding -Glue (already had this) -camping foam (had this also) So I started by measuring the circumference if the OTA and then cutting the scotia plastic to the appropriate length. I then did the same with the camping foam and glued this on to the flat side of the plastic. I left this under weight for 24 hours. When this had dried I just took the hose clip and placed it on top of the plastic and tightened up around the OTA. I still need to recess the bolt on the tube ring so that it all sits nice and flush but not bad for around £12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brantuk Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 Nice job there Felix - some folks do it with a length of garden hose cut down the middle but yours looks very neat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philjay Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 Nice one Felix, I remember Fullerscopes used to make a plain ring for their newts in thev70s for just this purpose. Its something ive been thinking about for my 8" f6 project as its alot safer than having the tube slip out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DaveJW Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 Neat job Felix, a wise precaution too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman161 Posted January 11, 2013 Author Share Posted January 11, 2013 Thanks guys. I certainly didn't feel safe rotating it the other night plus I spent ages trying to balance it all and then when I needed to rotate the OTA the first thing that happened was it slipped down a little which meant it was no longer balanced in the vertical. So hopefully a little bit of drilling and I can get a bolt with a smaller head and it will sit nice and flush all the way around Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+RonC Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 You can drill out a little and countersink the existing bolt heads, that's what I did Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ibbo Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 spare ring for 200 ? pm Sheila Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T A WOW Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 Nice little mod! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman161 Posted January 11, 2013 Author Share Posted January 11, 2013 spare ring for 200 ? pm Sheila Thanks Ibbo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAZ Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 Nice one Felix, it certainly makes life a bit easier don't it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+RonC Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 2 rings and an alloy handle! Well worth the effort! Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman161 Posted January 12, 2013 Author Share Posted January 12, 2013 (edited) That's very nice Ron-how did you fix the handle to the OTA? Edited January 14, 2013 by catman161 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+RonC Posted January 16, 2013 Share Posted January 16, 2013 Used the camera mounting holes M5 I think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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