"Excalibur"

[Kunama]

Made a temporary "Shroud of Excalibur" yesterday, should do until I get a Ripstop nylon one made for it....

(balance has worked out well, even with the little Swarovski Zoom eyepiece)

[GrahamL]

great job Matt

[Atmos (Colin)]

Where is that “Like” button haha

[LewisM]

I wondered where my gym leggins had gone! That's just my left leg...

Your temporary is most people's permanent. Your strive for perfection is so admirable Matt.

[vlazg (George)]

Awesome...... looks like a black Dalek

[Kunama]

Thanks Graham, Colin, Lewis and George

I ordered the excellent Nexus DSC yesterday. To keep things simple I am going with the same US Digital S6 10K tic encoders that I used before. The Nexus will also have WiFi built in and the setup will have the latest connectors...

Shortly after ordering it, I received an email and phone call from Serge (@AstroDevices) to discuss the mounting options, tangent arm, what mounting hardware I needed and how I wanted to wire it up.....
That man is just so professional in the way he deals with customers

Also managed a trip to Nowra to collect some telescopic aluminium ramps to move the beast about

Looks like I am going to Geelong this weekend to pick up another little toy... Scope Transport available Canberra to Melbourne or the other way around for $50.-

[LewisM]

Originally Posted by Kunama

Scope Transport available Canberra to Melbourne or the other way around for $50.-

Gee, that's a LOT cheaper than the scope transport I had Canberra to Sydney return...

[issdaol (Phil)]

Originally Posted by LewisM

Gee, that's a LOT cheaper than the scope transport I had Canberra to Sydney return...

Sometimes the cost of transport has to take into account additional Mass, additional Cubic Meters of Volume and associated Wear and Tear and Insurance risks........which might all have applied for your shipment

[Kunama]

What great service from Serge at AstroDevices , Nexus DSC was ordered on Wednesday and arrived with custom cables etc Friday morning......

Looks like I have some work to do on Sunday.... need to make some tangent arms from stainless steel strip, though could be tempted to use aluminium for ease of construction...

[Kunama]

Made some tangent arms for the encoders today.....

60mm x 3mm aluminium 1@ 1000mm
Etch Primer
Meteor Grey metallic enamel
and lots of
'Elbow Grease'
a few hours later:

[multiweb (Marc)]

Originally Posted by Kunama

Made a temporary "Shroud of Excalibur" yesterday, should do until I get a Ripstop nylon one made for it....

(balance has worked out well, even with the little Swarovski Zoom eyepiece)

Too nice to take out in the cold and dew mate! Keep it in the living room as a show piece. You'll need a few towels around it to stop the drool from visitors staining the carpet.

[Kunama]

Thanks Marc, I needed the shroud to disguise it so I can sneak it into the SDM star party at Allan's ..... Shhhhh....

[Kunama]

Excalibur is finally complete

The Astro Devices Nexus DSC is installed and the cables have been routed inside the carbon stalk and, with thanks to Serge, it now has a custom 3d printed quick connect socket on the bottom of the stalk....

Seated viewing even at zenith.....

[FlashDrive (Poppy)]

Very Nice Matt ...ready for work

[Kunama]

Thanks Col,

After several hours over the past few weeks using Excalibur, I don't think I will ever need to make another scope...

It has shown breathtaking views of the Veil, Grus Quartet, many other galaxies and globulars....

I spent a few hours on lunar views last night using some Nagler/Delos eyepieces...... even at low powers like 233x the detail was the best I have seen in decades of looking at the Moon.

10 minutes to set up and collimate, faster to acclimate than Guinevere by a good margin, sitting at all positions including zenith.....



Next Project: To build a Equatorial Platform for Excalibur, I'm thinking wireless remote control with separate motor for declination adjustments....