Joshua made a beautiful handle for my Takahashi TOA130. Makes it quite a bit easier to carry, manoeuvre and mount the 18kg’s! Great display of craftsmanship, thanks Joshua!
Thanks to Josh for making up a great M92/M92 spacer for FSQ106ED OSC rig at f/5. Was very easy to describe what was required and great matt finish inside, nice smooth finish on the outside. Great work and customer service
My thoughts as well. There is definitely a local demand.
You'll have to ask for exact specs in a precise predefined format so there is no room for interpretation after acceptance. If the part differs from specs, agreed, then you should provide a new one at your own cost but if it is within specs then that's the buyer's choice. Free part, return, garantee is a can of worms. There might not be much money in custom parts only so it might be worth your while thinking of producing a limited stock of generic spacers, M42/48, TAK threads, etc... The usual stuff that everybody's always after. That could be your cashflow.
Old thread I know.
In relation to the custom manufacture of adapters I have a friend who owns his own engineering business locally and I often get him to machine varying bits and pieces I design. Most of my stuff is more camera adapter related but whenever he asks me for tolerances I always say "exactly as marked, the item needs to be exactly that size". He also rarely charges me for the jobs but I always insist in the least I pay for materials if it's a quick job or labour if it's not quick
Now this does get a little confusing and very soon I'll have a decent lathe and milling machine set up to play myself (I purchased them for my son).
As it is I'm waiting for my engineer friend to drill and tap the mount holes on the new compound table (cross slide) I purchased to mount the mill on. It came as a package where the milling machine is to be mounted to the lathe but I decided a separate table makes it so much more usable. I don't expect fast, if he can slot it in when he has the time I'm fine with that.
My problem is with my stubborn "no tolerance, exactly as drawn" is I've noticed my large, heavy aluminium camera adapter (to 2") which takes an eyepiece causes me grief when I pair it with other manufactured adapters. Playing last week I slipped some other spacer I purchased into the end to allow clearance for the eyepiece (from camera mirror-full frame Nikon DSLR), it slipped in so easy but I could NOT remove it again after everything spent considerable time out in the cold. I ended up filing and sanding the purchased unit down after I managed to remove it with force the next day (great force and heat to the other adapter).
When I get everything set up I'll make a new unit and it will be much lighter and there will be a slight tolerance so other bits and pieces slip in and back out again with ease.
There is a question here for those in the know; How much clearance without getting slop that causes misalignment (or worse, a potential drop scenario)?
I have several engineering books here from my studies over the years and my machining text book,maybe they address the issue, I just can't remember.
There is a question here for those in the know; How much clearance without getting slop that causes misalignment (or worse, a potential drop scenario)?
I have several engineering books here from my studies over the years and my machining text book,maybe they address the issue, I just can't remember.
In all honesty, Leo, In this game, to get consistent and the best results we can, no clearance is the answer. This almost always means a bolt, thread or secure dovetail interface. A nose piece fit usually has 0.1mm of clearance, then the thumbscrews don't hold it tight enough or push it off axis and cause tilt. In theory, 0.01mm would be enough to let a nose piece slide in, but I still wouldn't rely on it for consistent results.
In all honesty, Leo, In this game, to get consistent and the best results we can, no clearance is the answer. This almost always means a bolt, thread or secure dovetail interface. A nose piece fit usually has 0.1mm of clearance, then the thumbscrews don't hold it tight enough or push it off axis and cause tilt. In theory, 0.01mm would be enough to let a nose piece slide in, but I still wouldn't rely on it for consistent results.
Thanks Joshua, that's why I usually tell my friend there is no tolerance. I did however have a hell of a job getting the Vixen adapter out of my big lumpy thing I've decided to redesign and make significantly lighter along with the ability to thread filters in at the front. That's after the mill and lather are both properly set up and I get money for more tooling, starting with a good vice, clamp set and parallel bars (yeah, I'm going to become a gymnast at 63, LOL).
I notice all of your stuff has a very professional finish, do you anodise them yourself?
That's something I've yet to play with, I'm sure I have black food colouring here somewhere and most of the chemicals needed (or was it just vinegar? I forget).
I've so far chosen the lazier route of self adhesive black felt in everything.
I used to run zinc and anodising baths at an electroplaters back in the day when cyanide was a major ingredient in the tank. You don't skip the two or three water rinses between the sulphuric tank and the tank with cyanide.
I used to leave work with some bad headaches back in those days (early 80s) but considering I've had chronic migraines on a near daily basis for over 50 years it may not have been the job. I never pushed a broom without hosing the dust down first though.
How is the RC project coming along?
I did a 2 year fitting and machining course at a TAFE over 20 years ago one or two nights per week along with a few days per week doing fabrication engineering and another night doing hydraulics and pneumatics. I had a lathe till 15 odd years ago but moved and had no space to keep it (an old Myford M7 from memory). But, in saying that I don't consider myself having a high level of skills, I forgot too much.
I am however going to look into a CNC conversion for the milling machine when I have enough money to buy the bits and pieces and figure it all out.
I notice all of your stuff has a very professional finish, do you anodise them yourself?
Thanks Leo, Yes, I do all the anodising on the things I sell, I have gone through a lot of trial and error, and have a setup now this is working well and producing results that I'm very happy with.
Great thanks for Joshua's work. He recently made me a pier adaptor so I could use the CEM 70 on my old PMX pier. It is beautiful. Very high quality.
Grazza
So if you're after any custom project or solution that requires many of the same parts to me made, I can do this.
Below are some photos of:
- 5 adapters for Colin Robson for his Rh200 astrograph
- A QHY OAG extension to get the OAG camera beyond the tilt adapter.
- A light weighted tilt adapter made, and
- A telescope project I am working on for a customer in NZ.
Thanks for checking it out
Josh
I'm a newbie so just adding a quick post so I can go back to this when I need some adapters, handles, etc. in the future
