Better Camera adaptor

[Terry B]

I have had my SBIG10XME connected to my vixen scope with a vixen camera adaptor. This has worked but it did not securely hold the camera. There was about 1mm of play in the connection that was held by 3 set screws. If you did one screw up tight it pushed the scope 1 way giving blurry stars in a corner of the image. I had to fiddle for ages to try to get it correctly positioned. The focal distance wasn't quite correct either by about 2mm. This added to the blur in the corners.
To overcome this I have machined a new adaptor out of a single piece of aluminium. It now connects the camera very rigidly with no play and the camera distance is within 0.1mm of the correct measurement.
I enjoyed making the adaptor as it gives me a reason to play on the lathe.:P

[peter_4059]

Nicely done Terry. Making these things on the lathe is quite theraputic I find. What did you use to blacken the internal surfaces?

Peter

[Terry B]

I used some black oven spray paint that I happened to have in the shed. It is quite matt so seems to be OK.