Pillow Block Mount Build

[MattT]

Now I have finished the Gaunt it's time to get on with a new project.

This one is a 2" Pillow Block Mount. What is involved in building an EQ mount?

Just a bunch of bits bolted together....just has to be the right bits :)

Opticraft in the US have a number of designs. I chose to do a copy of the Gaunt for this project. The mount needs:
1. To hold 40+kgs of scope...just a random figure I picked.
2. Adjustable in Alt and Az as much as possible.
3. Have a RA slipclutch and motor drive.
4. Tangent arm on the Dec...cause I like this more than gear and worm.

Tools used....low tech again. Drill press, Hand held Jigsaw, Bench Vice and Files. Lastly...time and lots of it.

The build so far....

I started in March this year buy buying 4 Pillow Block bearings of ebay. These came from Boltons in the UK and cost $35 each.
A pair of SFQD bushes from Sprokets in Yarraville. The qd bushes are the essential joiner between 2" shafts and aluminium plates, expensive things that cost $200 for the pair.
A pair of 500mm long Stainless Steel Precision shafts. Precision shafts are need as I don't have a lathe and are perfectly round and straight, they also weigh a lot of kg's. $250 each...:eyepop:
A bunch of bolts and washers from Metro bolts in Richmond.
A visit to the Aluminium Trade Centre for various amounts of Aluminium flat bar and sheet, then to George White for some Brass rod and 1.6mm flat sheet.

Also have bought a 10" slipclutch and worm with 12V stepper motor from Ed Byers in the US. To drive the gear a simple driver and hand control box that can slew up to 20x from AWRtech in the UK. Lastly Gary from Wildcard Inovations has supplied the encoders, cables and gearing for Argo Navis.

All that has been involved so far is cutting the aluminium to the correct size, drilling holes for the bearings and attaching the QD bushes. The hard part is designing what I want...lots of fun though.

The sides are 18mm thick made up of 3x6mm sheet JB'welded together with machine screws for added strength. Cutting 6mm sheet is easy with a jigsaw. Lots of fileing to smooth the edges.

Design is Steampunk...what else :D So the finishes will be Black and Brass.

Eventually it will sit on a pier in an Obs. The pier I'd like to make from a Victorian street light base, I see these things all round the place in Melbourne.

Some photos to start with. This is still in the building phase, here is what I have done so far.

L to R it starts with Aluminium and Brass Flat bar and Sheet. The counterweight section is still under construction.
Two views of the mount so far.

To be continued....couterweight section, that is a CW bar, next.

[Kunama]

Looks good Matt, Well Done so far !!!
Re the Victorian streetlight base, be careful you don't get hit by cars when 'obtaining' one ;)

I am going to make a 1:5 scale version of the Gaunt Mount for my bookshelf !!!

[codemonkey]

That looks awesome so far, congrats! I'd love to make my own mount.

What's the advantages of a slipclutch RA and a tangent arm DEC? I ask this question without knowing what the hell a slipclutch or tangent arm is ;-)

I wanted to learn a bit more about this kind of stuff and look at building a mount with harmonic drives... way, way out of my area of expertise, but it seems like a fun project.

[MattT]

Matt, I thought I'd be OK wearing one of those Hi Vis jackets....no? Actually a renovation Yard, like Steptoes here in Melbourne, might have what I want.

Lee, A slipclutch is in the photo below. The central part is bolted to the shaft and the slipping part is controled by the bolts and springs which press a teflon lined plate onto the bigger outer part with the teeth on it. There is a point when there is enough friction applied, via the springs and bolts, for the worm with motor attached to rotate the gear and scope at sideral rate. When you want to move the scope by hand that is possible too while the motor is still engaged....sounds harder than it is. A Tangent arm has a couple of parts, one attached to the telescope and the other bolted to the mount. The mount part needs to have a lock/unlock clamp of some description so you can move the scope in Declination and lock it in place. The design I used on the Gaunt has a threaded rod that has limited travel of 20º either side of a central position.
The Tangent is an old way of telscope control when gears were expensive and hard to make with accuracy. I still might just add a worm and gear on the Dec axis instead as it is possible to turn it into a GoTo mount with the right electrics. My idea is Argo Navis as the digital setting circles (DSC's) so GoTo isn't really needed, just tracking with a bit of slow slewing to centre objects.

Advantages of slipclutch...no noisy motors, other than that I dunno.
Advantages of Tangent....no motors at all, cheap to build, more threaded brass rod and gears visible and I love the control rods hanging off the end of a scope, in this case an 8" f10 R50 Refractor coming out from Istar next year.

I could have just gone out and bought an EQ8 or something like that but I'd rather build my own....

[mswhin63]

This is so very close to what i want to build for a larger scope. Very nice. I have some stainless steel rods 20mm diameter that I will be using for counterbalance rods.

[codemonkey]

Awesome, thanks for the explanation Matt :-) I'll be following this thread.

[nebulosity.]

This is an amazing build Matt, I am very inspired by your constructions!

I have had big ideas of building something like what you are, but so far have only got the shaft.

Will be keen to view your progress.

Cheers
Jo

[MattT]

Have been beavering away on the counterweight section...but first.
Malcolm, any plans etc...love to see more of this stuff here. Thanks Jo, your creations are first class...if you build a focuser this is easy(ish).

As this mount is for a refractor I have seen lots of 19th Century mounts. The first photo is where I got ideas from for the CW shaft. I could have done a 1" thick SS shaft but that is not really what I wanted and have built this. Made up of aluminium with the usual pile of bolts holding it all together. An SFQD bush will be bolted to the 2" shaft. The central shaft is 20mm thick and bolted at both ends. 5/16th brass threaded rod on the outside to stiffen the contraption up. Inside up to five Skywatcher 5 kg weights fit beautifully, don't think I'll ever need five.
Eventually the central shaft will be SS or perhaps Brass. I have a Brass rod that is .5mm too thick for the CW holes, so a lathe might just be around the corner...
Now this is together, is it too over the top I wonder? A 1" SS shaft might still be the go....:shrug:

I weighed the mount...tips the scales at 44.3kgs so far :eyepop:

In the pipeline....Tangent arm...some kind of dovetail arrangement...RA gear assembly...Az adjustment....some form of plate to attach to a pier/tripod.

[MattT]

First there was the Gaunt....then Mega Gaunt ;).....now baby Gaunt :lol:

You going to put a 50mm f12 refractor on it?

[Kunama]

I have a spare brass refractor 40mm f15

Re the counterweight shaft: bore out the counterweight rather than turning down the shaft.

[MattT]

Thanks Matt....your right. Now sporting a nice Brass shaft. Paint the rest of this satin black :D Have drilled out and threaded two 5/16th UNC grub screws in the qd bush, should hold it.

40mm f15 brass....nice. How old?

[AlexN]

This is looking sensational.

[MattT]

The tangent arm starts to take shape. Cut out with my Jigsaw and 102mm hole saw. This part of the tangent is being made with two 6mm thick pieces of aluminium with a 1.6mm thick sheet brass sandwiched inbetween....naturally the aluminium will be black and the brass polished, the lot being bolted together on both sides. This took about an hour of cutting.

[MattT]

Several hours later....two 6mm parts with 1.6mm brass sandwiched together. One half of my clamp assembly is in place, made up from 6-12-12mm aluminium JBed and bolted to the arm with 3x 5/16th bolts. The other half of the clamp is nearly finished, and like the Gaunt mount will slide up on 40x40mm blocks bolted to the wings on the outside. As I don't have a scope for this mount the other half of the tangent is part of the saddle plate.

[codemonkey]

Looking good, Matt!

I've been thinking about building my own mount again lately. I think I'm going to have a crack at making a friction drive mount. Originally I was thinking of some ways that I could design the axes which required more machining done, but then I remembered this thread... I think the pillow block approach will be perfect!

Now I just have top stop spending all my money on filters and focusers so that I can start putting it towards a DIY mount.

Was there any particular reason why you went with the bushings that you did, and why they they were so expensive? Was it just because of the shaft size?

[MattT]

Hi Lee,
I know there are cheaper PB bearings out there. I chose these for the compact size as well as the 50mm shaft size. There wasn't a lot of choice at the 2" shaft size. 2" is massive in real life :eyepop: The bearings with bolts on the outsiude were all wider than the standard 160mm Aluminium flat bar I used, which is why I went for compact. I didn't expect the SS shafts or the qd bushes to cost as much as they did either :shrug: Cest la vie :lol:

1.5" would have been cheaper but was too close to the 1 1/8" size of the Gaunt mount.

Will have a few photos soon of the tangent arm, which is nearing completion....slowly. Lots of drilling and tapping of the clamping section going on...I'm waiting on the RA electrics from AWR Tech in the UK before deciding how to attach the worm, gear and motor. It should be shipped next week I hope.

[MattT]

Here is progress to date...a lot of drilling and tapping for this part which is the clamping section to the Dec axis. Just like the Gaunt only everything is bigger. The Gaunt has 5/16 bolts and threaded rod with 8mm brass rods. This mount has m12 bolts m12 threaded rods and couplers and eventually 12mm brass rods. There will be a central m12 lock bit on this mount too to help keep it in place. Up front I added a small brass counterweight. Solid as and weighing quite a lot more than it did before. One more part to build and then the tangent is done....sometimes I think it would have been easier to get a 7" Byers drive for the Dec...:rolleyes:

[MattT]

The tangent so far. This part is so simple on paper but so fiddly to build.
Not the prettiest part, steampunkig happening later :D The cylinder block is a 40x40mm Aluminium block with a 20mm cylinder and in that a 12mm cylinder threaded for 5/16th brass rod. Both cylinders move... up and down for the 12mm and back and forth for the 20mm which allows the rod to stay straight :thumbsup:

A pair of brass bevel gears will have a brass rod for slomo hand control to the back of the scope. Only taken about 10 hrs in the shed to get this right :screwy: I must be nuts. Lottas fun though :lol:

Quite a bit of range in Dec with this...maybe 20º either side of centre.

The RA electrics, hand control and stepper motor driver, from AWRtech in the UK has been built and is in the post.

[MattT]

The tangent now works. Made a knob for the side...an experimental knob that I like. The control rods for the clamp and slomo hand knob...which is an old one from Matti that came with the Gaunt...are going to be held in place with brackets on the top plate of the tangent and move with the tangent arm as it travels across. All possible with double universal joints in the photos :D

The three rods will be brass 8mm for the slomo and 12mm for both sides of the clamp. The movement is nice and smooth...not bad for a drill press.

[Kunama]

Have you organized a crane to lift it onto a pier Matt? :lol:

I think a 220mm F15 Istar will sit nicely on that mount...... I know where there is one which is still awaiting a mount to be restored.

[MattT]

This mount is 'modular'....only need a couple of tools to assemble it.... kind of like an IKEA design :screwy: so I don't need no crane no more :D

I'm sure the ANU would eventually miss the f15 :question:

In other news the AWRtech drive and controller showed up today, thanks to the Royal Mail...maybe thats what Ozpost is missing...the 'Royal' part.

Now I can get on with the RA.

[MattT]

Here is the driver and hand control in one box connected up to the stepper and it works.... Sidereal rate with a pot to increase or decrease the speed and 20x slew rate, not that fast but if I want more its muscle power and watch the cursor move on an ipad or watch the numbers on the Argo Navis unit.

Now to work out how to attach the worm gear to the mount...

[MattT]

Now it is the RA 's turn for attention. Have moved the rear bearing up over the pivot point and have cut a solid base instead of two smaller bits. Stiffer and now there is a base to bolt a brake on the shaft, a polar scope and encoder for DSC's.

Now working out the worm block, might go under, in the traditional spot or might be on top...

[OzEclipse]

Matt,

I haven't been on IIS much lately. Pleased to see progress on your mount - it looks great.

One thing I don't understand. It looks like those universal joints drive the tangent arm from a manual twist knob. Your controller looks like a two axis controller. Why not motorize the tangent arm using the dec control from the AWR controller?

Joe

[MattT]

Hi Joe,

The universal joints operate the clamp around the Dec axis, there are two of these 180º's apart. I do have a a few stepper motors that could be put on the tangent and I might just do that. Hadn't thought that far ahead :)

New is the RA worm block is in place, and now working on mounting the RA motor. Wanna get this baby finished as much as possible before Christmas.
With luck I might get it on a tripod with my 6" f12 on top and test it out.

I just hope the supplied stepper on the RA is up to the task...the same stepper as the Losmandy G11 uses...works on the Gaunt, will find out in due course.

Will have a few more pics in a couple of days.

[codemonkey]

Ah ok, cool, thanks :-) 50mm shaft does seem very large, I'll probably aim more for about half that if I ever get around to starting mine.

Updates looking good, and you must be excited being close to finishing up if the Christmas target is still on schedule.

How does the altitude adjustment work?

[Baza]

Fabulous build. more photos please.

[MattT]

I have got the motor on and running. Yep it works...phew. Had my fingers crossed so Im happy so far. Seems to be at sidereal rate as far as I can tell on the bench. Slip clutch works too...really well. I need to find somewhere to put the wires and connector block and a panel mounted 6 pin female plug too, rather than the plug it has now.

Altitude adjustment is via the bolts holding the discs on the front of the mount, so friction only. Its a tight fit as is but to be safe I'll add a threaded rod that will go under the inner part (the bit with the pillow blocks on it) and should then hold the lot secure and do double duty as a fine Alt adjustment.

A couple mote photos.
1. My ugly..for now...motor mount.
2. The worm from the back. The worm block is screwed to a 6mm plate that is has a small amount of adjustment to get the worm to sit as close as I can get, to perfection.

Edit: The second photo makes the worm block look askew...its a camera angle thing it is square on.

[MattT]

A few years ago I built a tripod that has been sitting around doing nothing since. I have thought of putting this mount on it For a bit of fun here it is. Still a long way to go, but getting closer all the time. A wooden pier is my first choice or possibly the Victorian style lamp post idea. This is a good height for the 6" f12 frac compared to the Gaunt, which is a bit low for Zenith viewing.

[jenchris]

Helluva time machine you're building there.!
I am in AWE!

[codemonkey]

Looking awesome! Are you planning on cladding the mount with something to protect the gears / electronics?

[Baza]

Really impressive work.

[MattT]

As the weeks roll on bit by bit more gets done on this project.
The Byers gear is in perfect position...no binding anywhere just a smooth as silk, a piece of machinery that is worth worth every cent spent on it... and then some :thumbsup: I decided to add some wood to the mount and what better than Vic Ash...though I prefer Merbu (spelling?) A bit to fill out the spot between the RA gear and PB bearing and the RA brake too, encased in Brass.

Other than brake on the RA shaft, should I need it, new is the RA encoder brackets for DSC's. Built much along the line of the Gaunt's brackets which adjust every which way, to ensure perfect meshing :D

The Dec axis gets the same bracket for the 10K encoders.

I have no plans to cover the RA gear and electrics yet, other than the long term one of a dome at some stage. Thanks for the appreciative comments from everyone...keep 'em coming :lol:

Not long til I can get a scope up on this for a test run...fingers crossed :)

Well...actually there is a fair bit still to be done before I can attempt that one :astron:

[Baza]

Beautiful, keep posting

[brian nordstrom]

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: you are the man Matt !! beautiful bit of airloom telescope making , cant wait :).
Brian.

[MattT]

Brian...me 'ol refractor mate good to hear from you :thumbsup:

Bit of a big build this is. Have spent a while drilling and tapping my way around the mount in all sorts of places. Have finished (nearly) the encoder brackets. The Dec bracket needed a bit more support and instead of an ugly 90º bracket I made up a steampunk bracket...naturally. When this baby is painted black the brass will stand out :D

I have put a ruler next to it for scale. Its around 30" or 760mm high and around the same in length....big in other words. Still to do the 6 pin connectors at the back, not long to go.

[brian nordstrom]

:question: , Mate your 6 inch f12 is going to be the ducks nuts sitting on this bad boy congratulations, my hat is off !!!! .
Brian.

[MattT]

The 6" f12 frac is going to have to wait a while. First track...to coin a phrase, took place last night. For the first time ever I wasn't working on the ASV Messier Star Party, or any ASV event for that matter, but missed it due to the more important (to me) try out of this mount. Was I happy or what....the Byers gear and worm is brilliant. Super smooth is all I can say....impressed. It tracks good and slews at the touch of a button. My tangent arm is pretty good too. A bit of backlash exists in the cylinder block, not being the tightest of constructions, but I had to go with what I could build. It does move the scope both ways really well though.
Thanks to Steve Lee, I have bought a 10" Mathis gear slipclutch and worm that will replace the tangent arm at some stage...GOTO is a possibility later on in the future.

Photo shows my 10" OOUK Newt on my temporary 'Pier' which is really the box I put my battery on when using the Gaunt. With this set up focusing is dead easy...a little wobble coming from the wooden box....this will be rock solid on a proper Pier or Tripod....leaning toward a Pier at this stage.

An 8/9" Refractor or 12+" Classic Cass would be perfect for this mount....does it ever end?

Anyway..... so far so good :D

Matt

[Kunama]

Very very very impressive build Matt.

[MattT]

Cheers Matty:D It's all your fault for selling the Gaunt in the first place...I'm happy to say.

I have now put my 6" f12 Istar ATM on the mount and it looks good, tracks good,slews good. The tangent backlash is more than I wanted so will make the decision to re make the 2 cylinders in the square housing or ditch the lot and go with the 10" Mathis gear and stepper motor later.

I'm trying to imagine how this will look on a 5' or so high pier.....

A couple of awful photos from my ipod.

[brian nordstrom]

:eyepop: Blardy hell mate !
Makes the 6 inch look like a small Frak !!! .

Ready for the 204mm f/9 R30 iStar by the looks of it ? .... Sweet bit of gear Matt , be proud my friend its worth it .

Brian.

[MattT]

Now the tangent is done, it's time for a re-build of the Dec axis...with lots of thanks to Steve, sl, I now have a beautiful 10" Mathis gear and worm. The tangent is going...after hours of work :sadeyes: to be replaced by this slipclutch and worm with a stepper motor :thumbsup:

To get electrical I bought a digital multimeter from Jaycar and via youtube have found out which wire is what on a few steppers I have around. An old Hurst motor for the Dec axis from the Gaunt works, and I hoping I can get a gearbox for the newer g11 motors, a pair of which Erik in Lakes Entrance has sold to me...thanks Erik.

Photos show the back and front of the RA worm with motor wires ending in a terminal block for both axes. The Ra is OK...will probably solder the wires together and get rid of the terminal but the Dec wires come straight out of a 6 wire telephone cable type ending with a RJ-45 plug on the other. Is there any other way to do this? The wires are thin....something a bit more substantial would be good, if it exists.

For the Dec axis I'm working out a worm and motor mount. This mount can have GOTO added in the future if wanted.

[MattT]

A month later and I have nearly finished part one of a pier for the mount. Basically an Aluminium box that solves how to keep the RA gear worm and motor out of the way of a pier or tripod....it's on its own mini pier. This bit will be bolted down to a pier somewhere in the not too distant future.

Matt

Edit: One year to the day since starting a pic of where I'm at. Working on the Dec gear, worm and motor mounting.

[MattT]

Have mounted the gear and worm on top below the OTA. One small issue,perhaps, is the OTA will be 5" above the RA gear which I can reduce to 4" by cutting down the QD bush. Just the motor to mount and this then will be ready for use...after I build a pier...does it ever end?

[MattT]

I have been waiting on a collar that has arrived :D The dec gear and motor is now going down at the counterweight end, meaning I can lower the height of the OTA by 4" Now I'm working out how to mount the worm, in a better way than the pic.
After this it's build the Azimuth adjuster plate and pier plate...nearly done :)

[MattT]

Been 'fecunding' in the shed again :D and have come up with this for the Dec axis...All I need is to wire the thing up make the base plate and Az adjust mechanism then build a pier....paint, polish and lacquer the brass...

[Kunama]

You'll need to book the crane to lift it onto the pier also! Looking mighty impressive!

[mental4astro]

OMG, Matt! :eyepop:

This is turning into a Steampunk masterpiece! :astron: :atom:

Dead set mate, this is truly spectacular.

Careful with the fecunding you do in the shed. Those metal shavings you really don't want to get into areas that they have no business being in... :whistle: :prey: :face: :evil:

[MattT]

Greetings ATMers....

Of late I have been testing this mount in the shed. It works :) Not a lot else to say.... just need a pier and then it will be useable under the night sky. Having the Mathis 10" gear on the Dec axis instead of the tangent arm means I'm able to use two 5kg counterweights instead of three...a good thing. No problems with the telescope slipping in any angle. I have started the base plate and Az adjust....then its build a pier.
A special thanks to Alex for introducing me to the word fecund....:thanx: :lol:
My shed, for the first time in 3 years, is aluminium shaving free.

Photos with my 6" f12 Refractor.

[Kunama]

Well that is the easy part out of the way Matt. Now you just need to dismantle it, prime and paint or clear coat all the components and try to remember how it goes back together.

Have fun.....

[dannat]

i vote clear coat; you should also have a cheese night to celebrate first slewing..invite fellow long f/l fractorholics :D

[MattT]

A cheese night...good idea Dan :thumbsup: Might do a bit more than cheese too :drink: However its going to take a while(months) until I build the pier. I like the clear finish too, but due to my lack of cutting skills gaps have been filled with my ol friend JBweld...so black paint and lacquered Brass it will be.

Any other colour choices I should consider? British Racing Green? Sky Blue?

[MattT]

Recently got back into the shed to do a bit more to the mount. A week or so ago I had the 10" Newt out for a trial run, still sitting on a wooden box.

Tracking is pretty good, hard to tell with rough polar alignment but at least the Dec and RA motors work. Keeping the scope East heavy was a tiny problem so I bolted a 1kg piece of brass to a rod to help with this...brass weight goes on when the CW shaft is on the East side and comes off when the OTA is on the East side. Will trim the rod to size at some stage.

I have re-built the RA motor which is now bolted to a plate that makes it easier to adjust the gear mesh. I also put a Losmandy G11 stepper on with the 6 pin RJ45 connector with a view to replacing the flimsy wires at the terminal blocks soon.

Have bought all the aluminium parts I need to make my own 1.5 meter high pier, which will put the Refractor high enough to view at Zenith sitting comfortably :) Hope to have this made in the next two weeks....:lol:

Pics...East heavy brass weight and new motor plate.

[AndrewJ]

Gday Matt
Considering the Steampunk nature of your beast, i reckon you could also use a lead weight on a brass chain to provide an East heavy preload.
That way, you can balance perfectly first, and then the preload wouldnt need to be changed unless you changed the scope.

Andrew

[MattT]

Back to making aluminium chips :lol: Pier sides are cut as are the side angles.
Azimuth plates have also been cut out. Bottom square plate is 380x380mm and built from a 6-12-6mm sandwich of 6mm and 12mm aluminium. Round palte is 6-6mm JB'ed together. To make things easy I bought a Dewalt 8" slide compound mitre saw...great saw....cuts prefect 90º angles, unlike my dead Ryobi mitre saw.

Nice idea for East heavy Andrew....Chrome chain and a big Brass Padlock perhaps :question:

[AndrewJ]

Gday Matt

Even a nice flexible stainless wire would suffice, and a fancy brass fusee type mechanism between the pillowblocks would fill out the space in there. Can never have too much brass.
I tried this method once with my LX200, and it worked well.
The big benefit is ( assuming you balance close to perfect first ), it keeps the RA worm under a constant preload, no change is required as you slew around

Andrew

[MattT]

Now I get you :thumbsup:
A fussee….had to look it up. I have a brother-in-law who did an apprenticeship as a clock maker, he would be impressed. Not exactly sure how to employ this idea yet, but love it.
TBC….:thanx:

[AndrewJ]

Gday Matt
You wouldnt use a true Fusee mechanism unless you also used a spring mechanism ( like in a clock/watch ) to provide the preload.
If you use a hanging weight, ie where the torque stays constant over time ( unlike a spring ), the "fusee mechanism" would be a simple cylinder that provided a constant torque from the hanging weight.
Again the more brass bling, the better :-)

Andrew

[MattT]

Putting 'Brass Bling' to one side...here is my latest effort.

[MattT]

Now on the pier with Az adjust, just needs knobs. The turntable rotates on a 20mm shaft. A load of rivets to put in too...

[MattT]

Rivets done...Dome nuts done...Az done...it has 10º either side of centre. Now waiting for a clear night so I can get the 6" f12 Refractor on it for a trial run. The only big thing to do is pour a concrete foundation. Other bits are a a small redo of the connections to the stepper motors, make a Polar Scope (not really needed as I can't see the pole from my location) add a couple of wood panels on the pier for RA and Dec hand controller, Argo Navis unit, ipad with skywire and a 12V power splitter. When it works as I want it then...pull it apart and paint.

[brian nordstrom]

:eyepop: AWEbloodySOME !!!!.
Brian.

[MattT]

:lol: Thanks Brian. Now got the thing up in the backyard...it was blue skies when I started with a promise of a clear night...and I'm not working :shrug:

Ummmm its big...bigger than I thought. At least I can do straight through viewing without any trouble at all :)
This is the first time with the Refractor on top, I hope it works as well as before with the lighter shorter Reflector...

This is an f12 150mm refractor which is a bit over 2 metres long with Dewshield and it looks small up there....just a bit of a feeling of... oh dear what have I done! :question:

[Atmos]

A serious bit of kit there Matt! Love what you have accomplished!

[strongmanmike]

Looks awesome Matt...but gee, I can't keep my eyes off the Byers drive there...those beautiful gold gear teeth :love: really interested to hear how it tracks :thumbsup:

Congratulations on a great project, impressive.

Mike

[bojan]

It really needs a dome...

[MattT]

Thanks Colin and Mike...it ain't finished yet. About 2 years ago when I started this project I put an ad for a Byers drive and got the response from someone..can't remember who...that once you have a Byers Drive you keep it so better get a new one, which was great advice. Only wished I had bought two, a 7" one for the Dec, but at that stage it was a tangent on the Dec I was wanting :shrug: Yes Mike the Byers gear is a thing of beauty and so far in tests very smooth...soon I'll have the mount on concrete base and get it polar aligned, then I'll find out how it tracks.

A dome is on the list Bojan...a hand built dome perhaps. Seen it done over on CN. Have seen Bloodhounds dome too... defiantly possible, all in good time.

[MattT]

The pier is in :) Dug a 600x600x400 hole and filled it with concrete mixed by hand. The base has 4 M10 bolts extending down with big washers for staying power. A couple of coats of etch primer and 3 of satin black all from spray cans. Happily it stayed level enough, and is facing true south so I hope for minimal Az adjustment. Three wood panels are on with Copper handles, cause I thought that would look really good...and it does. I made Brass cradles for the motor controller and Nexus unit.

Now to pull apart the EQ head and give it the same treatment.

[Kunama]

Looks beautiful Matt, I am coming down for the F1GP in a few months and will come by to have a closer look.....

[mental4astro]

Matt! What's happened to that one time massive OTA!!! It's shrunk! :eyepop:

:rofl: :lol: :D :P :whistle: :2thumbs: :nerd: :innocent: :jump2: :evil2:

Just stunning, mate. One day the clouds over Melbourne may even part and allow you use that superlative instrument you've created.

Beautiful.

And a little reminder of what the set up first looked like:

207032 207036 207033 207034

Now you can see why the jibe about the shrinking OTA! :)

Alex.

[MattT]

Here is a bit more....hard to know how to paint this thing so I started with the RA part..stripped it down carefully putting bolts into marked containers, etch primed it, 2 coats and 3 of satin black which dries to a magnificent smooth finish.

Matt...let me know...will be up and running real soon.

Alex....:cheers:..:thumbsup: The Gaunt looks small next to the 2" PB...going to have to find a name for it...weather in Melbourne...can it get worse than the past year? Probably...yes.

One pic of the RA box. At least the weather has been kind for painting.

[MattT]

In painting mode..First photo is the Dec axis in my 'paintshop' after a first coat of satin black.

Up on the mount for the first time is the RA. Set at the correct angle and hopefully close to the SCP.

Under the RA is a pile of teflon 1mm thick furniture slides to aid smooth movement of the RA in Azimuth.

Another week and I should be done :D

Seriously think of a solid 12kg Brass counterweight :screwy:

[MattT]

Nearly there....only the counterweight section to strip down paint and polish.

[MattT]

OK all done...hope its clear tonight for a try out with the 6" f12 on top.

[Occulta]

A possible name ...

[sharpiel]

How about "Old Light"

[imhimmelkommter]

Matt. I am impressed by your mount its quite an inspiration one. Just a small request can let me know how your Argo Navis as the digital setting circles (DSC's) on the mount goes. I am too, opting out of GoTo and my 10" drive is on the way from BYERS's to venture into a home made mount. I like the idea too, of a tangent DEC control. Michael (Warrnambool, Victoria)

[MattT]

Nearly two years after starting....it's done :)

Drift aligned and tracks very smooth...as far as I can tell.

Any Melbourne long FL Refractor types wanna pop over and have a look, just send me a PM. This thing is a heavy lump of aluminium and brass.

As for a name....think I'll call it a PB2....

Matt

[traveller]

That's one spectacular mount Matt.
Still portable if you have a one tonne ute :D
Will the scope be mounted as needed or permenantely?
May have to book in for a squizz sometime....
Bo

[MattT]

Hi Bo,

When not in use and it looks fine (not heavy rain that is) I cover the scope with a couple of tarps tied down and hope for the best :eyepop: I did manage to leave the scope out covered one night last year...so I thought...wake up in the night to hear rain falling and not worry about it as the scope was covered, but not tied down....woops. Of course wind had blown the tarp off and the mount and scope had been rained on for a few hours. No damage done to anything.... lucky me. At least the electric parts, hand controller Nexus etc was indoors. Now I tie the tarps down :lol: It takes about 10 minutes to mount the scope when its off the mount, not hard once I worked out how to do it.

One mod is to the Dec axis which was very 'rubbery' I added a 6mm plate bolted down with 11 bolts and machine screws and now it doesn't flex at all.

After a few months of stuffing around with sliding weights and adding an 8x50 Sky Watcher straight through finder, I needed a second finder, it is now complete. My solution to the East heavy problem is a 500g brass sliding weight at the focuser end...slid it down when the scope is on the East side to maintain gear mesh on the RA.

I have settled on an 80mm f7.5 achro with a TS 2" field flattener on a 2" GSO dielectric diagonal as the wide field scope, which gives 4º TFOV with a Pan 35 showing pinpoint stars to the very edge...an improvment over having the last 20% suffering Field Curvature.

The Byers gear tracks smoothly and now having found the perfect balance I can change from a TEC turret to a Pan 41 to WO Binos with the scope not moving, other than tracking.

Even though I built this scope and mount there was still a learning curve to use it.

Solid as a rock and moves like a well oiled machine :D

Matt

[bigjoe]

Matt.

YOU'VE DONE WELL thats what you've done!!
Drooooooooooooool!!
Like Ive gone back in time. Long focal length refractors RULE AGAIN!!
bigjoe

[bigjoe]

No I won't comment. .....WORDS FAIL ME!!
bigjoe.

[Wavytone]

Very Steampunk, Matt !

/me is envious of the Byers drive... A big worm wheel >> the scope aperture is so solid and works wonders.

[MattT]

Thanks bigjoe and Wavy...The byers gear is brilliant, as is the Mathis one too.

A new mod to the scope....from the land of smooth...a Feather Touch focuser on the 6".

This focuser has been kicking around my shed for a few years...bought it, sold it and bought it back again...:shrug: what to do with it :question:

Use it...that is the answer. The GSO is a good, but not in the same league as the FT.

I bought a round adaptor meant for Newtonian scopes that has collimation bolts. All I needed to do was cut a flange out of 6 and 12mm aluminium sheet to mount the FT on the scope....easy :thumbsup:

Gave it a bit of 'steampunk' interest with black paint and a brass backing plate.

Uber smooth :)

[mental4astro]

Absolutely Fantastic, Matt!

Dead set gorgeous bit of kit you've created for yourself :D

Alex.

[MattT]

Thread resurrection.

Three plus years on its time to wrap up the loose ends.

What’s new...a solution to east heavy which is a brass weight slid on when the Counterweights are on the east side of the mount and slid off when the the CW’s are on the west side....simple.

A year ago from the classifieds I bought a 7” Byers gear and worm. This is a perfect fit on the Dec shaft. It replaces the10” Mathis gear. Nothing wrong with the Mathis but now I have twin gold anodised Byers gears...looks and works so good.

Onto the scope. I built this in 2013 with an Istar 6” f 12 objective. Various focusers have come and gone. My final focuser is a 3” GSO linear bearing with Rigel systems stepper electric focuser control. I bought a base plate meant for GSO RC scopes and mounted that on a 6mm aluminium plate. Push pull screws on the GSO plate make collimating with the objective easy. The GSO focuser is as good as the feather touch and easily holds heavy eyepieces like the ES 17mm 92.

Everything else is the same. Argo Navis is perfect for this mount...one star alignment is all it takes, done in 30 seconds. AWR controller is flawless.

I’ll change the chrome plated dome nuts for high grade Stainless Steel at some stage as the the chnome is showing rust as are some of the other nuts on the mount...not bad considering I leave this covered with a Weber BBQ cover all year round.

[Rainmaker]

Looks great Matt. Like a giant Gaunt Eq.

More pictures would be nice too......

[MattT]

Matt as you may remember I sold gave away the Gaunt not so long ago. Mark did a great job in its revival.

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=179235

It spent a long time gathering dust in the corner of my rear verandah. It was time to move it on. The experience of reworking that piece of history led me onto building this one.

One day I intend to re make the tube of the 6” f12 into something much lighter in weight, black, brass and rivet steampunk of course...long gone are thoughts of an 8” f15 :)

[anj026]

It does look great Matt and I am sure gives much pleasure to observe with. I still have an old Parks 1.5" equatorial that needs restoration. Your thread has inspired me.