That Lightbridge circle will do just fine. I'll get it printed and laminated tomorrow.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Allan_L
Hi Glen,
Welcome to IIS
Richard's Azimuth scales are great. I have one for my 10" SW Flex Dob.
It really makes finding faint stuff easy (if you have a ALt/Az co-ord for what you want to see).
I use the free web site Tonights sky for a selection of Alt Az co-ords for selected items based on your input.
I use a Bunnings inclinometer for the Alt.
If you want to bring your dob to a dark site, check out the "Star Parties" forum and the thread for Mangrove Mountain Pony Club this weekend.
Directions in the sticky section.
Hope to see you.
Allan
PS: Thanks Again Richard
Thanks Allan, I also have a Celestron 130 Astromaster with motor drive on the CG-3 eq mount, and have been using SkyX First Light application to find my way around. I have already bought an inclinometre for the GSO from ebay, which has a magnetic base to attach to the tube.
Hi Glen,
Welcome to IIS
Richard's Azimuth scales are great. I have one for my 10" SW Flex Dob.
It really makes finding faint stuff easy (if you have a ALt/Az co-ord for what you want to see).
I use the free web site Tonights sky for a selection of Alt Az co-ords for selected items based on your input.
I use a Bunnings inclinometer for the Alt.
If you want to bring your dob to a dark site, check out the "Star Parties" forum and the thread for Mangrove Mountain Pony Club this weekend.
Directions in the sticky section.
Hope to see you.
Allan
PS: Thanks Again Richard
Hi Allan,
Good to see that they are being used. I think you and Peter (mozzie) are the only ones that are using them. There maybe others who choose not to let me know.
Quote:
Originally Posted by glend
Thanks Richard,
That Lightbridge circle will do just fine. I'll get it printed and laminated tomorrow.
Good to see that they are being used. I think you and Peter (mozzie) are the only ones that are using them. There maybe others who choose not to let me know.
Hope it works out okay Glen, let us know.
i have the scope out know waiting for the weather to clear..
these settingcircles are fantastic i have mine laminated with drafting film.easily seen and crystal clear...
i am taking scope to astrofest those interested in richards setting circle can have a look there....i use a digital inclimator as well..the wikey 365 i think works a treat...bought a cheaper one of ebay but well you know..been caught buy the best then
I think I remember meeting you at Snake Valley a couple of years ago?
I'm wondering if you could generate a PDF of azimuth and altitude circles for me, for my 10" DIY dob mount?
Azimuth needs to be 500mm diameter, and the altitude bearing would need to be 142mm in diameter. I have a Wixey to use, but your circles would make it look very nice!
I should be able to get both circles printed and laminated on a single A1 sheet at the local copy center?
No problem, I'll sort one out tomorrow.
For the altitude, obviously you only need 90 deg, but for appearance it sounds like you want the full 360deg at 142mm diameter, is that wright?
No problem, I'll sort one out tomorrow.
For the altitude, obviously you only need 90 deg, but for appearance it sounds like you want the full 360deg at 142mm diameter, is that wright?
Hi Pete, good to hear that you are using it.
Cheers
Richard
Yes please Richard, full altitude circles if I may.
There's no rush, when you have the time.
Chris, here's your calibrations. Check them out, you may want to do a normal A4 print of the altitude and part of the azimuth printed at 1:1 to see if the calibrations are okay.
Well, pictures as promised. Out ready for an evenings viewing.
I just need to do the adjustable pointers and she's done.
I'm also going to put a vernier on the azimuth scale.
I've put in a perspex window to stop dust getting in the bearings.
Chris, you may find it very difficult to get the vernier to pivot at the exact same center point as the azimuth. Worth a try, I didn't succeed so I have lost some of the extra precision of the vernier. Still ok but room for improvement.
A good magnifying glass over your azimuth scale works well.
Hi Richard,
Have you ever done graphics for the small black collars on the Celestron CGEM series of mounts?
Hi Danny
The answer is no. I have no idea as to what graphics you would need, and I'm not familiar with these mounts.
At the moment I'm not keen on expanding beyond what you see on this thread.
I finally got around to trying out the 10" Skywatcher circle with my 6" Skywatcher and it was a perfect fit. It was only $2 to print it on an A1 sheet at officeworks and around $10 to laminate it once I had cut it out. I glued it on the bottom layer of the dob mount and cut a 10 cm x 3 cm slot in the top layer on the viewing side with a small jigsaw. I hammered in a small pin for a pointer. I tried it out tonight and it works a treat! I was easily able to quickly find many faint globular clusters up to 6.3 magnitude on my 6" scope. As you can see my altitude scale is still pretty rough and ready, I got the angles using a gyro/compass app on my ipad called "spyglass".
Again many thanks to richardda1st for your efforts!
I finally got around to trying out the 10" Skywatcher circle with my 6" Skywatcher and it was a perfect fit. It was only $2 to print it on an A1 sheet at officeworks and around $10 to laminate it once I had cut it out. I glued it on the bottom layer of the dob mount and cut a 10 cm x 3 cm slot in the top layer on the viewing side with a small jigsaw. I hammered in a small pin for a pointer. I tried it out tonight and it works a treat! I was easily able to quickly find many faint globular clusters up to 6.3 magnitude on my 6" scope. As you can see my altitude scale is still pretty rough and ready, I got the angles using a gyro/compass app on my ipad called "spyglass".
Again many thanks to richardda1st for your efforts!
I have used your settingcircles on the Dobsonian telescopes that my Son's Primary School have just purchased. I know it isn't quite the setup that is preferred but for the time being they can get used to the system and we can drill holes in the base later to improve the layout.
This link will take you to the post with the photos.
I have used your settingcircles on the Dobsonian telescopes that my Son's Primary School have just purchased. I know it isn't quite the setup that is preferred but for the time being they can get used to the system and we can drill holes in the base later to improve the layout.
This link will take you to the post with the photos.
Old thread I know. Accept my apologies in advance.
I've printed the 10" azimuth scale for the base that was provided via a link on another thread and it's smaller than my base.
My question is that if the dob base is bigger in diameter than the scale I printed, and I was to have it enlarged to the correct diameter, would this throw the measurements out?
Hi Scott.
Scaling up or down will not change the circular degree calibrations. I always scale using the centre point of the circle. Just work out the scale ratio to suit your base. Which azimuth scale are you using?
Richard, I'm using the 10" one provided via a link. I can't remember where I found it. When I printed it, it's not big enough to fit on the base of my dob. I was wondering if I had it enlarged, would it still work?
In saying that, I just had a thought. A circle is still a circle no matter how big, correct? Therefore each degree would be the same spacing on the dial no matter how large it was copied. As the copy gets bigger, so does the spacings between each degree. Does that sound legit?
Maybe I've just answered my own question. I'm not very good at maths. Ha ha ha.
Just didn't want to cut a section out of the base if it wouldn't work.
