CDK17 arrives

[gregbradley]

Well the Planewave CDK17 arrived today. It looks boxier than I though it would :lol:

http://www.pbase.com/image/124695462

I haven't opened the crate yet. The crate has a neat little glass ampule on the side that if it is red in colour it means it has been subjected to a nasty shock. All was good there.

Spent all day building the observatory. Roof frame was finished today and the sliding frame all done. Ended up replacing all the wheels as they ended up too wide.



Greg.

[Omaroo]

I'm not entirely sure that I understand the cast-iron constitution that it must take to leave such a box unopened. I'd be ripping the lid off before it hit the floor...:lol:

Congratulations Greg - I'm all green here. ;)

[bokglob]

open the box!open the box!open the box!!!! Congrats Greg, can't wait to see more. How long untill firstlight?

[Lester]

Nice looking box. Guess you are out finishing off the observatory under Moon light now.

All the best with the new toy.

[peter_4059]

Can't believe the lid is still on that box. Next you'll be telling us you read the instructions!

It's like waiting for Christmas.

Peter

[strongmanmike]

:lol:...love it, what a beauty :thumbsup:

There are a lot of shipping boxes in that room...? :shrug:

Mike

[gregbradley]

Thgat's funny. I kind of can't believe it myself but wanted to get the
roof frame finished today and worked under lights to finish it. Tomorrow!



I have the mount, cameras, Observatory is not far behind. I am waiting on a permanent pier which probably should be ready shortly as well. So maybe 10 days.



You got that right. I was.


I hope there are instructions!



Yes a lot of projects in play.

[renormalised]

Yum yum...yum yum!!!!:):):):)

[bert]

I hope you didnt take short cuts for your sake!

Cant wait for the uncrated pics.

Brett

[Octane]

Greg,

Congratulations, mate!

Looking forward to first light. What's going to be your first target?

H

[Benny L]

Jealous Much!!! :eyepop:

That's my dream scope! Good thing i don't know where you live because I may open the box for a sticky beak :lol:

Really looking forward to seeing some results with it, what camera will you be using?

Ben

[multiweb]

... and you post a picture of the box? What a tease mate! :lol: Ditto can't wait to see first light. :thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

I don't know - what do you suggest?



Cameras are FLI PL16803 or FLI ML8300 at the moment.



Yes it is a tease isn't it. Been heavily at building the observatory. The bulk of that is now done and it should be finished fully in a few days work.

[Bassnut]

Gaud, rip the box open already, gimme a pic :poke::D

[Hagar]

I cannot believe you haven't ripped the top off it yet but then again there seems to be a few unopened boxes in your shed. How do you do it?
Come on loosen the braces and give us a look.

[wasyoungonce]

He's like a someone I knew once...he had a habit of buying a scratchy card and rubbing one icon out...putting it in his pocket ...doing another icon about an hour later and so on till done.

He obviously liked to saviour the experience! Get his monies worth.

Are you him?:lol:

[Bassnut]

I know, its a wind up. Inside is an RCOS or a Tasco.

[Vanda]

After what the Auzzie dollar did today thank your lucky stars!

[TrevorW]

Nice box seen bigger

[Jeffkop]

This astro game has taught me patience Greg ... but PATIENCE ENDS when the box arrives mate ... your into FRENZY stage now !!!!!

[RB]

LOL, I've heard of keeping a lid on things but......
Open the box Greg, at least just to check that there's something in there......:lol:

My glass ampule just turned green !!! :D

Congrats mate, can't wait for first light.

[GrahamL]

:thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

I opened the box!

Inside there was indeed a Planewave CDK17.

Its bigger than I thought:

http://upload.pbase.com/image/124847387

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/124847281/large


Pier should be arriving within a week, extra counterweight is on the way.

Greg.

[renormalised]

Yep, that looks like a PlaneWave:):)

Nice bit of kit!!!:):)

Tell you what, it would look really good mounted on one of those new Chronos mounts.

[bloodhound31]

You opened the box!!!??? There goes our clear skies.. Couldn't you have waited until AFTER the new moon?

Me, jealous? Much!

Baz.

[gregbradley]

Sure would.



Hehe, sorry about that Chief.

[MrB]

That kinda sounded like a hint. :D

[Lester]

What not open yet?? Faster, faster. You are using up the warranty period.

[gregbradley]

Hehehe, box is opened, see the pics. Link is a few posts below.

Greg.

[Vanda]

Holy moley! The OTA weighs about 48 Kg. Its a monster! My 10" DOB is wimpering in the background!

[gregbradley]

Its going to take 2 people to get it on the mount. Its bigger than I expected. 17 inches is a lot of aperture (432mm), that's approaching half a metre.

I hope I can do it justice.

Greg.

[Octane]

Greg,

First targets:

Centaurus A
Omega Centauri
M20
M6

These four would be perfect; a galaxy, a globular cluster, a nebula and an open cluster.

H

[MrB]

three? ;)

[Octane]

Hah! Leave me alone -- it's late and I'm tired!

It was originally three until I bung M6 on to the end of the list. Post has since been edited.

A+ for meticulous attention to detail.

Get on IRC some time. I'm always on there.

H

[renormalised]

Add these two...UKS-1 and ESO 201-10 (AM1). They should stretch things a bit:)

[gregbradley]

Sounds like a plan.

Cheers,

Greg.

[renormalised]

That's where you need one of those small floor cranes. One of them and two people to maneuver the scope into position would make things so much easier.

[Octane]

Or, just hire one strongmanmike for the afternoon; he'll hold the mount with one hand and screw the scope on with the other.

H

[renormalised]

Hmmm...hadn't thought of that:):P

A one man "crane":):P

[gregbradley]

Yeah I've got an engine crane I may be able to use that perhaps.

But 2 men or 1 Mike should be able to handle it.

Greg.

[Gama]

Greg, dont use any mechanical devices to lift.
Use 2 friends. I did and mine was a 20", which is heavier than yours.
Its so much safer using 2 people, and no scuffs or scratches either.

Took 5 minutes to put on the mount, and i have a fork mount. Yours should take less time.

theo.

[gregbradley]

Thanks for that. I'll get my son to help me.

Cheers,

Greg.

[gregbradley]

My Pegasus pier arrived today all 97kgs of it!

Most of the bits and pieces are here now. Just needing a bit more work on the observatory and an extra counterweight and shaft extension and I am ready to put it all together ready for first light.

Greg.

[renormalised]

***Cracks the whip on Greg to get him moving!!!***

:):):P:P

[gregbradley]

Yes its all a bit slow isn't it.

I am still waiting for the 3rd counterweight. Then next week I finish the observatory and mount everything.

Greg.

[Bassnut]

Yeah, what do you recon about those stainless steel counter whieghts at some $400 a pop?.

[Doomsayer]

It does hurt buying additional PME counterweights - but they are a thing of beauty in my opinion, solid stainless, very nicely machined, functional and add to the visual appeal of the Paramount - it's the shipping that stings a bit. I have four PME counterweights and a 24" c/wt shaft. Having a longer shaft is the way to go if you have room.
guy

[Moon]

I recon you get what you pay for :thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

Got the roof on today, I have the pier, the shaft extension for the PME and hopefully pickup the counterweight tomorrow.

Observatory needs a bit more work but will be working on it every day this week to finish it.

Getting closer to first light.

Greg.

[bert]

On the counter wights:
I once had to bore out a paramount weight so it could be used on a Ap1200. It is incrdible hard steel, they did not take any short cuts on the metallurgy thats for sure. It left the poor lathe screaming and bouncing start to finish.

Sorry for the off topic.

Brett

[gregbradley]

My roof does not roll very easily, in fact it fights you pretty hard.

I have 4 wheels per beam which is 100 x 50mm 3mm thick walled steel.
I put M10 bolts through holes drilled in the beam as axles and 75mm wheels.

They are tracking through a 100mm C purlin mounted on its side.
It does not allow much margin as the wheel takes up a lot of the 45mm available and any non parallel of the track etc means it scraps the back of the purlin.

I am think of mounting the purlin on its back and fixing some angle to prevent the roof from blowing off. That should give it more margin to roll without hitting the back of the track so easily.

Any other suggestions? It may be better if I post a photo.

Greg.

[bert]

I always use a captured rail for observatories... ie like a c section but with a rounded bottom that makes the wheels self centering. It makes it very smooth, prevents lift, very low friction and quiet .Check out guys in the attached photo (ignore the guy in the background).

The thread and photos here

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=51449

You could try using a wheel that is mounted horizontally in the c-section (both sides) to the roof to stop the scraping. It is a compromise tho.

Brett

[gregbradley]

Hi Brett,

I like the captured rail. But the wheel is the go. I had trouble finding a suitable wheel as they often seem too wide and then getting a bolt that doesn't stick out the other side of the wheel limiting clearance even further.

Where did you get the wheel and axle from?

Here is a photo of my current setup which seems to be scraping or too much friction:

http://upload.pbase.com/image/125406721

Greg.

[Moon]

I originally had rubber v-groove wheels on inverted angle iron. I changed it over to cast iron v-groove wheels and the difference was amazing.
James

[marki]

Greg I can see two problems with what you have done. The axle setup you have will allow too much flex and if you have limited clearence it will bite and stick. Secondly the rubber on the wheel itself will also bite. Could you get a proper mounting bracket made (a u channel that fits the 4 x 2 perfectly with a short stub axle welded on). You could also try shaving down the rubber or remove it entirely leaving the metal rim to run in the channel (probaly need a larger diameter wheel to keep clearences the same).

Mark

[gregbradley]

I saw cast iron V wheels at Bunnings.



I don't think the axle flexes as its 10mm steel and it goes through the 40mm steel tube. But the wheels plus the bolt head add up to about 40mm and the track is only 45mm max wide so hardly any margin for error.

So a thinner wheel would help or a different track that is wider.

Greg.