The Great 'EQ' Restoration - OOPS!

[ballaratdragons]

For the interest of any restorers in here I thought I would give a blow by blow report of the restoration of the EQ mount that Bert (avandonk) kindly donated to me.

This way you can see how the EQ started out from rusty memories to a fine piece of Astronomical equipment. I will add more pics as it goes along.

One thing I have learnt is that it is not a good travel mount so it will eventually be permanently mounted and I will hopefully get one of Mick Pinners Dob Wedge Trolleys for travelling about.

These first 2 pics are of the EQ mount where it sat at Berts for many years. It looks disastrous but everything that should work did!

[ballaratdragons]

On arrival back at my place I assembled the mount as best as it would assemble and tried it out.

Pic 1: It works!!! (I placed Jake & Harry's 8" in it to test it)

Pic 2: Dissassembled ready for the restoration work.

[bird]

Looks good Ken. Nice to see you back on the forums too!

Bird

[danielsun]

Good stuff Ken!!! that'll keep you busy for a little bit!! i look forward to seeing it progress!

[janoskiss]

Looks like you've got a bit of work to do. How would you polar align it?

[ballaratdragons]

For the time being Steve I will polar align by placing the setting circles on Zero and point the mount as close as possible to Sigma Octans.

When I permanently mount it I will remove the Polar axis assembly and polar align it with a finderscope on the Polar shaft and aim it exactly at SCP.

Yep, a bit of work to do but loving every minute of it! I have spent the last 2 weeks solid on it already.

[h0ughy]

A wonderful project Ken, this will make it far better for the final product?

[asimov]

Welcome back dude.

Looking good mate, a good sand blasting & a lick of paint etc etc good as new! Going to make it track in RA?

[ballaratdragons]

Way ahead of you Asi.

Here is what 2 weeks without internet does. I have actually spent about 12 - 14 hours a day on it every day for the last 2 weeks! Even though I have an angle grinder I chose to hand file and hand sand everything. I also hand polished all the alloy parts!

Pic 1: Close up of the head and Setting Circles

Pic 2: Where I am up to after 2 weeks solid work

[Striker]

Ken,

Remind me never to pay you hourly rate......lol

Looking good....paint it red like the paramount mount that david posted.

[[1ponders]]

Excellent Ken, what a ripper! Fantastic job you've done there.

And thanks again to Bert for giving Ken a hidden treasure.

[Robert_T]

What a transformation Ken! Hard to believe it's the same thing you started with :)

cheers.

[janoskiss]

Wow, Ken! :eyepop: What a difference! Not having internet makes you very productive.

[ballaratdragons]

Haha! Thanks guys.

But like the ad on telly says "but wait, there's more!"

Here is my control room set up. (I use this set up with my 12" dob already)

Pic 1: What to do with that old Cubby House?

Pic 2: Stick the pooter in it! (the skateboard allows me to roll the Monitor back to shut the door!)

Pic 3: What a great combo! (and the 5 metre TouCam USB extension reaches with plenty to spare!!)

[davidpretorius]

Haaa Haa HAAA



Astronomy & Imaging "the aussie way"


Ken, get that sheep in for the lawns and then take a picture for Nasa!!!!

It reminds me of "The Dish"

Well done mate, I am having trouble typing due to tears in my eyes!!!

[ballaratdragons]

Yep Mate, I was also thinkin' maybe some barbed wire for the USB extension but the General Store sold out :lol:

Don't worry about any sheep eating the grass. On Saturday, next-doors 3 horses are coming in for a week of feeding on my backyard overgrowth! Then they attack the paddocks!! ;)

p.s. Speaking of Aussie enginuity I was thinking about a Holden V8 for the tracking but I can't get one to idle in Sidereal Time, only Lunar and Solar Time LOL!

[h0ughy]

Ken that is absolutely magic :)

[asimov]

Aaah yes! the good O'l puter in the cubby trick! LOVE ITTT!

[davidpretorius]

ken is back!!!!

and back to his best!!!

[ballaratdragons]

Hey, if it works . . . use it!

Scarey to think how the real observatory is going to look when I build it!! :scared:

At the moment I am thinking of the bottom half made from a round water tank and one of those paper-mache domes on top. Still gotta work out how I am going to make it all spin around without blowing off in a strong wind. Oh well, I'll probably invent some weird system out of junk in the shed.

I gotta finish the EQ mount first, then attack the dome problem!!!! :confuse3:

[Dave47tuc]

Welcome back Ken. ;)

Geez the mount looks great :thumbsup: Well done.

Hope to see it in action soon. :)

[bird]

I recognise the "AOS" logo on that beast... did they build it, or just badge it?

AOS = Astro-Optical Supplies, in Sydney

Bird

[ballaratdragons]

Bert bought the Setting Circles from Astro Optical in Melbourne about 20 years ago. He built the whole EQ mount at work. Man 'o' man it is strong. Both axis are car axles and hubs!!! It is very cleverly designed and so simple.

[bird]

Is it registered?? can't wait to take it for a drive...

:lol: :lol:

Bird

[ballaratdragons]

:lol2:

Ah Bird, your a Classic!

[ballaratdragons]

Actually, I have only just noticed that you can't tell the size of this beastie in the pics.
I will get Cheryl to take a pic of me standing next to it tomorrow!

I might even have a shave for the pic :lol:

[janoskiss]

No, the piccies probably don't do it justice; looks pretty tame to me. When you were talking about struggling to lift it and so on I imagined it to be a lot bigger.

[h0ughy]

:scared:

please please don't do that!! Just more loving shots of a happily restored rig!! :)

[gaa_ian]

Ken .. you are an absolute legend mate ....
You make us all proud to have you with us as an Iceinspacer !
Go old Aussie inventiveness, treasure out of trash !

[ballaratdragons]

That's why it needs a comparison shot :thumbsup:

Ha Ha Mr. Houghmeister :lol:

[Starkler]

Looks great Ken :thumbsup:

I can see the Ballarat observatory wanting that eq mount :lol:

P.S. Good to see you back :)

[ballaratdragons]

Thanks Ian, just call me Steptoe :lol:

I'm used to improvising with junk!

[ballaratdragons]

Thanks Geoff. And they are not getting it!!!! :mad2: :lol:

[h0ughy]

your not toothless an old Ken :P , your as restored at that wonderful mount, mind you I bet Cheryl would like a lick of paint on the old structure to beautify it probably :lol:

[astroron]

Ken what a great effort you have put in with your time away from the forums,it looks terrific, look forward to the finished product :thumbsup: :cool: :2thumbs:

[iceman]

Looks fantastic Ken, Bert did a good thing giving it to someone who will make great use out of it, and a great restoration too.

[slice of heaven]

And I called you a Slacker :scared:
I take that back :prey2: :prey2: :prey2:

Brilliant BD!
What's the boys new scope like? Does it have a mount anymore? ;)

[Starkler]

Is that RA worm drive recoverable?
To see that lovely big RA drive gear rusting like that seems like a crime.

[ving]

great stuf ken, i want one now :P

it'll be great to see it all set up in an observatory :)

[avandonk]

Yes it is recoverable it's just a matter of running the worm to bed it into the gear.The gear is cast iron and the worm is steel so with some oil the oxide should polish off.The worm holder is stainless and the worm bearings are a press fit so there is no backlash.When I used to do astrophotography(hypered film) with it only needed a slight correction every five minutes or so.It should come up like new.
I dont know what the periodic error is like but its small.

I had to look twice to recognise it.Kens done a great job.I am pleased it has a new home.

Bert

[ballaratdragons]

Thanks for helping with the info Bert. Even I didn't know the worm holder is Stainless Steel! The gears have bedded in nicely already!!

Here is a size comparison shot taken today. Steve is right though, it doesn't look heavy, but you try and lift it.

The pic is with the boys 8" in it. The Focuser is well out of reach and it will be even higher when I mount the 12" in it!! Thank God for step-ladders.

[davidpretorius]

gee you are short!!!

[ballaratdragons]

Hahaha! Yep Davo!

The pic is taken on a weird angle, coz the cradle that the scope sits in is level with the top of my head!!!! and the Dec setting Circle is level with my shoulder.

The angle of the scope is at the SCP so imagine how high the Focuser is when I look at anything above the polar alignment.

[Striker]

I just looked at the monitor on the skateboard picture.....thats GOLD Ken.

Brilliant.

[davidpretorius]

just jump mate, and grab a view as your eyeball passes the eyepiece.

make sure you lift your head, otherwise you may leave youe eyeball behind!!!

[ving]

i pictured you as a mid to tall person ken! :eek:

got a pot o' gold? ;)

[ballaratdragons]

Like I said Tony, "use what ya got".

I might have to get the trampoline back into action :lol:

Most of what I will be doing will be TouCammed anyway. For eyeing the sky I can just plonk it into the Dob mount. Only take about 1 minute to change mounts. Or mount a guidescope down near the bottom of the scope and leave it in the EQ!!!

[ballaratdragons]

I'm only 5' 7 1/2" (1714mm)

[ballaratdragons]

Jake and Harrys scope is very good. I gave the mirrors a good wash, the scope a bit of re-adjusting, collimated it and it gives lovely views. They are rapt!

I am going to make them a Dob mount and also leave the EQ cradle unaltered. That way they can use the EQ mount and a Dob mount. It's no drama to change the cradles over (when I make the 12" one). They will get to EQ until about 10pm (Friday & Sat nights) and then I will pop in the 12" cradle and go all night!

[xstream]

Well done Ken. Looking good!

How come you hid your face in the shadow? :P :lol:

[ballaratdragons]

Coz it's hot here John and I was standing in the shade. Makes a nice umberella doesn't it. LOL!

[xstream]

Rain, rain go away. LOL!

[avandonk]

The 8" scope mirror was optically checked by Ken Beard (ASV )many years ago (25+)and he reckoned at the time its better than 1/10 wave when equilibrated.The flat is almost 1/20 wave.It is still a very useful scope.I built all the hardware myself.The tube is a piece of downpipe I obtained from ?.

I now have a TAL200K for visual so this very nice old scope was going to waste.

I think I told Ken all this but there was so much to explain.

Bert

[ving]

you gave him the scope to go with the mount bert!!!
so generous! :)

[h0ughy]

now i can picture a lovely 16 truss tube assembly on that, sorry Ken you wouldn't have shade then!

[avandonk]

I am not at all religious but a wise man (JC) said something along these lines

'to he who has been given much, much more is expected'

bert

I didnt mean to be cryptic, but this applies to me as I have had a very fortunate life,and its up to me to pass it on.

[RAJAH235]

Hi Ken. :hi: Well done. Just luv the cubby..... :D L.
ps. Perhaps 'lift cubby, place on large lazy susan, slide off roof & view'?

[ballaratdragons]

Yep, thought of that Laurie. It's too small though, it's only 4' x 4'. I had 2 cubbies left over when I stopped making them and a local bought the larger one of me. This is the only one I had left. When I make my dome I will probably use this 'cubby' method for the control room only a lot larger. It is made of MDF sheets with lots of coats of paint to keep the water out.

Yes he is David, that's my boys 8". Bert gave it to them and I got the mount. Christmas came early in this household!! :lol:

[ballaratdragons]

What a day!!!!

I went into Ballarat today to buy the 2 bearings to finish off the main work on the mount but while i was there I bit the bullet and bought all new bearings for the whole lot. If I can going to do this properly I might as well replace them all! :)

Off to a good start. Dismantled the Mount again and OOPS! Whilst removing the section I wanted some of my flashy new paint started peeling off!!! :scared: NOT GOOD!!!

Took the section I needed inside to pull out the old bearings and the paint was peeling off it too!!! :confuse2:

I went back out to the mount and found that my new paint is starting to peel off in lots of places. :scared: :scared: :scared:

Bearings have been put to the side and the strip down of paint has begun AGAIN!!!! :mad2:

Well I never said I was a good painter! :P

[h0ughy]

maybe you need an etch primer then the top coat?

[ballaratdragons]

Yep. having much the same conversation with Laurie (Rajah) in skype at the moment LOL!

[h0ughy]

Great mind think alike, oh well maybe not mine :lol: .

[ballaratdragons]

Yeah LOL!!!

The paint I used said 'no primer needed'! Bull!!!!

[ballaratdragons]

Some parts stripped back AGAIN.

Here is a pic of the worm drive & housing stripped, new bearings, nuts & bolts, and brass parts polished, ready for the fitting of the motor drive and paint.

[asimov]

Geez mate! that's actually a nice looking worm. I know how much it would cost to get made nowadays! Your a lucky lad!

[ballaratdragons]

Yeah, it's built like a Harley. Everything is bigger & stronger than it needs to be. Nothing will ever break on it!

[asimov]

Yeah, everything needs to be beefier than some people expect on an EQ mount.

[asimov]

1 question if I may.

The main pier/upright...is it solid bar or pipe?

[[1ponders]]

Awesome looking mount Ken. It looks like it would it would even carry your 12. I'm looking foward to hearing about its stability and how it tracks

[ballaratdragons]

Paul, it was designed to carry up to a 16" reflector.

Asijohn, it is pipe. 4 1/4" diam with 1/4" thick wall.

[[1ponders]]

Whooo Hoooo :cool:

[ballaratdragons]

Woo Hoo allright! To give another example of how strong this mount is the RA & Dec axis are car hubs and car axles!!!! Nothing small on this monster.



Here is the beautiful new bearing (well the cup can be seen) in the stripped for painting 'Declination Axis Hub'.

Nice and shiny and spins smoooooooooooth!

[asimov]

And just like a car, they are adjustable tension!

[ballaratdragons]

Yep John! The bearings in the hubs were still good but I thought "Blow it, I will replace them all whilst its apart". They are Holden Wheel bearings.

[h0ughy]

so are you a ford or holden man Ken!!! LOL. nice to get quality from cheap parts!

[ballaratdragons]

Holden Houghy (even though I presently own a Ford).

The 3 best makes of transport: Holden, Harley & Chev. (funnily, they all have the same bearings, engine parts etc!) Must be something in that :confuse3:

[avandonk]

Can I just interrupt here, this was a mount designed by the workshop guys and myself over 25years ago when motor driven EQ mounts cost the earth.Who said if you design a horse by committee,you end up with a camel!The decision to use adjustable tapered roller bearings was unanimous,no detectable axial or radial slack (wobble).
Even then we had aperture fever hence the ability to adequately hold a 16" Newtonian.


Bert

[ballaratdragons]

You certainly may inretupt Bert! You made the mount so your the one that knows about it. I can only relay what I can remember you telling me about it.

Thanks for your hospitality today Bert. I very much enjoyed the visit. My boys did too. Poor Jakey got car sick coming home (too many Plums methinks!!). Good luck with sorting the motor drive.

[avandonk]

Thats OK Ken,some were green.How did the lappy go in the car,did the battery last?

Bert
:)

[ballaratdragons]

Yep! Pinball all the way home. :help3:

The bargain price I got it for was nothing compared to see Jake & Harry's happy faces and the fun they got out of it.

Pity it was the last one at the special price my very good mate helped me out with as I'm sure lots of folk in here would want one.

Thanks for putting the Stepper Control program in it for me. Should drive the mount just perfect!!!

[avandonk]

Yes I was worried about the battery as I am too lazy to run games non stop for more than five minutes.Your boys put it to the torture test and it passed.Thats good.So I dont have to complain to the supplier (or bust something of his),thats good.I am too scared to do that sort of thing.

Bert

[ballaratdragons]

I hate computer games! They sure put it to the test. I checked it out with the Toucam tonight too (indoors unfortunately) and all is well!!!

When we got home the boys were going flat out to Cheryl: "Berts a really nice man, we saw heaps of planes fly over his house, we ate plums off his plum tree, he's got a Hagrid's House in his backyard, his garden is great, etc etc"

I think they enjoyed their day! :lol:

[avandonk]

What is Hagrid's House ? Am I missing something?

Bert

[ballaratdragons]

Hagrid is a character in the Harry Potter movies and he lives in a house that looks just like the little pointy roofed building in your garden.

Jake also said you have a bucket drier in the middle of your yard :lol:

To explain to the others why this is funny, Bert has an EQ mount in the middle of his yard and to keep rain off it he has a large bucket, tipped upside down, over the head.
Jake thought it was a thing to put a bucket on so the bucket can dry!

Kids. Don't ya love em!

[avandonk]

The pointy roofed building is a circular mud brick building with an old top of a chook feeder for a roof.It used to be our outside dunny.It is a perfectly normal thing to have in the backyard.I think?
The bucket dryer is self evident!

Bert

[janoskiss]

Nice! Me too! ... except for the games I play for a living, which don't run very well on Windows. :)

[ballaratdragons]

LOL! But Steve, the games you play are probably worth playing!!!

Bert loaded a game into my new lappy today! It's a beauty. It's called 'Stepper Motor Control Program'! :thumbsup:

[avandonk]

I have used Unix for a long time in line command ,far more powerfull than a click of a mouse. rm *.* from root comes to mind.What power!After changing read write etc priviledges from root.
Let me know how the job is going.I am sure you will be well looked after.All you have to do, is be the best!

bert

[janoskiss]

They've got that one on Windows too, but it goes 'del *'. I once instructed someone who was having trouble using the GUI deleting a lot of files from a floppy to just go to the a: drive and type 'del *' at the DOS prompt. They did so but forgot to change directories and ended up deleting the contents of c:\windows\. After that I was told to stick my command line to where the sun don't shine.