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  #81  
Old 15-12-2019, 02:55 PM
Imme (Jon)
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Great work..really coming together now!

I’ve enjoyed watching this thread.

You won’t know yourself once the obs is up and running.......makes imaging so simple
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  #82  
Old 16-12-2019, 07:28 AM
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multiweb (Marc)
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Nice mount! How do you clean your primary? Remove it and wash it with distilled water?
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  #83  
Old 16-12-2019, 11:51 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Imme View Post
Great work..really coming together now!

I’ve enjoyed watching this thread.

You won’t know yourself once the obs is up and running.......makes imaging so simple
Glad you've enjoyed it Jon, thanks! Yes, observatories for deep space astrophotography are a must IMO. It's been over 2 years since I disassembled it from its last location and I'm looking forward to getting into it again.

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Originally Posted by multiweb View Post
Nice mount! How do you clean your primary? Remove it and wash it with distilled water?
You can't beat a Paramount (although certain people recently acquiring AP mounts might disagree! )

See the picture below. Alas, these earlier model OS scopes don't have a way of removing the mirror from the rear. Consequently, I'll be cleaning the mirror in-situ. Unfortunately, that means removing the front truss assembly completely via the red truss clamps so I can reach in. Not looking forward to that! I'll be taking plenty of precautions to make sure I put it back in exactly the same position so, hopefully, the resultant upset to collimation isn't too great!

BTW, the blue rope (on both sides) is to facilitate easy lifting.

PS: Planning to wash with cotton balls, distilled water and a little detergent
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Last edited by marc4darkskies; 17-12-2019 at 07:47 AM.
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  #84  
Old 22-12-2019, 09:03 AM
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marc4darkskies (Marcus)
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I've hit the pause button on any obs work due to the heat (41C yesterday) and the smoke from the horrendous fires affecting NSW. Hoping for some rain relief in the near future!

The picture below was yesterday!
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  #85  
Old 22-12-2019, 09:31 AM
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Foxinsox (Graeme Fox)
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Distressing Conditions In Australia

That is a very haunting photograph.
How are you dealing with the extreme temperature cycles on your equipment ?
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  #86  
Old 22-12-2019, 09:53 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Foxinsox View Post
That is a very haunting photograph.
How are you dealing with the extreme temperature cycles on your equipment ?
It's not operational yet but when I was in Grose Vale severe temp cycles had zero effect. Having said that, I would never actually operate the telescope and electronics at anywhere near those temps.
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  #87  
Old 24-12-2019, 10:52 PM
sharpiel
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That is quite a picture.
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  #88  
Old 31-12-2019, 10:45 PM
sharpiel
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Everything ok out there I hope...
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  #89  
Old 01-01-2020, 08:51 AM
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Everything ok out there I hope...
Thanks for asking Les! Yes, all is well here (touch wood), just very smokey & dry.
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  #90  
Old 01-01-2020, 07:53 PM
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alan meehan (Alan)
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that's good to hear Marcus stay safe not much observing for anyone at the moment
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  #91  
Old 02-01-2020, 02:20 AM
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Thanks for asking Les! Yes, all is well here (touch wood), just very smokey & dry.
Good to hear mate. Stay safe.
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  #92  
Old 03-01-2020, 02:31 PM
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The smoke was much less this morning so I dug (by hand) the trench for the Ethernet cable. The ground was very hard because of the drought, but with my wife's help we managed to get it done before it got too hot. Hopefully we'll thread the cable through conduit tomorrow morning or Sunday.

I was originally planning to use a wireless connection but it was far too slow and flaky.

I'll still need to clean the telescope primary (which means some disassembly) but once that's done and the mount gears are regreased I should be close to re-collimation and first light.
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  #93  
Old 03-01-2020, 03:05 PM
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First light, that's always an exciting moment
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  #94  
Old 05-01-2020, 03:05 PM
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Ethernet connected ... and working (I've never made up my own cable)!

Weather was, mercifully, much cooler today but the smoke from the fires is being blown in by south-easterly winds and is very bad . Definitely needed a mask on.

Next stop - cleaning the telescope mirror!

All progress pics HERE
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  #95  
Old 14-01-2020, 02:27 PM
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Ready to clean the mirror

... some disassembly required!!! Alas, these older OS scopes have no way to remove the rear cell / primary for cleaning. Consequently, cleaning in-situ after removing the front truss is the only safe way to go to avoid a lot of work and major collimation issues.

Quite a stressful thing to do in any case!! First I made sure the laser dot was on the secondary spot. Then I taped across the 4 truss blocks to make sure the front truss goes back on in exactly the same position. Then I took my time ..... and said a few hail Marys!

I unbolted and took the front truss off - very slowly and carefully. I was afraid the truss would collapse when I removed it but thankfully the four truss pairs were quite stiff. Then I unscrewed the primary baffle and pulled out the primary shroud.

Sounds easy doesn't it? And it is if you've done it before - which I haven't!!

Now ready to clean the mirror (in-situ)!
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Last edited by marc4darkskies; 14-01-2020 at 02:53 PM.
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  #96  
Old 15-01-2020, 01:14 AM
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always enjoy seeing the insides of these scopes
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  #97  
Old 15-01-2020, 02:49 PM
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Cleaning (in-situ) is done. There are still some smudges and streaks (seen under bright light) but they're impossible to remove without creating new blemishes! They shouldn't cause any issues though, right?
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  #98  
Old 15-01-2020, 03:08 PM
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h0ughy (David)
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I will say this from the cover of a rock, have you tried a microfiber cloth, I found when cleaning my Scopes it always comes up nicely. I also use bintels snake oil cleaner as well. But I'm not doing this and it's not mine, so just use steel wool. ..
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  #99  
Old 16-01-2020, 11:38 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by h0ughy View Post
I will say this from the cover of a rock, have you tried a microfiber cloth, I found when cleaning my Scopes it always comes up nicely. I also use bintels snake oil cleaner as well. But I'm not doing this and it's not mine, so just use steel wool. ..
Thanks for the steel wool tip!! I now have a beautiful, thick, frosted, yellow glass paperweight. Always wanted one!

Like everyone says, NEVER look at your mirror with a bright light - you'll always be disappointed. I'm fine with how it is now. I used to clean my refractor glass with diluted (distilled water) isopropyl alcohol and white kleenex - always worked a treat. Moreover, the google consensus seems to be not to use alcohol (or even acetone) on mirrors.
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  #100  
Old 16-01-2020, 11:44 AM
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Back together now. The back-plane to secondary optical axis is unchanged (phew!).

Next steps will be to re-grease the mount gears and then mate the scope with the mount.
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