Where to buy ebonystar laminate strips

[Jemmo]

Hey guys my dob bearings aren't the best even after cleaning the virticle movement is jerky I've read about ebonystar strips I can't seem to find where to buy some. Does anyone have links. Also do you remove the Teflon pads and put the ebonystar there instead?

[Visionoz]

How about trying to contact mental4astro (Alex) an IIS member here by PM - he's very clued up with this type of stuff

HTH
Cheers
Bill

[barx1963]

Jemmo
Ebonystar is laminate, what you would use on a kitchen benchtop for example. The "traditional" Ebony Star laminate is #4552-50 by Wilsonart which is no longer made. It came to prominence after is was recommended in Dave Kreige's book on building dobs back in the '90s.
I have purchased some from this source http://www.suntactics.com/EbonyStar/ in the US
Alex Massey has some, which I have also purchased for my 8" and it works perfectly well but you would have to check with him if it is #4552. It is possible to obtain it from kitchen and cabinet makers, as there is laminate sold as Ebony Star but it is not #4552 and you would need to order quite large sheets and cut them yourself.

What type of dob do you have by the way?

Malcolm

[Curt]

Hi Jemmo.
How much do you need. I have a 25mm x 800mm piece if you want it. You can have it for free.

[Jemmo]

Wow that would be great kurt. Not sure how much I need all I'm doing is the pads on the virticle axis right now I have 2 squares on either side. Do I just need to remove those and put the ebonystar in its places?

[barx1963]

Jemmo
When you say pads are you referring to the teflon pads? if so, you leave those as the ebony star is on the other part of the mechanism, ie. it runs along the teflon.

Malcolm

[Curt]

Are those Teflon pads you are talking about. Give them a clean first. You will be surprised how much it makes a difference.
The ebony star goes on the alt bearing.
What kind of dob do you have.

[dannat]

as you live in mt martha - a quick trip to the ATM section of the ASV [burwood]will get you what you want , are you a member?
they can help you with just about everything --they meet next in 2 sat's

[Chris85]

I'm sure any mildly textured laminate will do. I've come across it in my line if work and it's no different from similar offerings from Laminex, Formica, Polyrey etc. All cabinet makers will have a rack of offcuts that I'm sure they'd let you rummage through :-)

[ZeroID]

Yep, anything with small bumps is the answer. Seems to have that slide without sticking capability. I'm actually using a couple of lengths of carton strapping tape, the stuff they use to secure boxes before the courier picks them up. Plasticy woven surface. I just stapled it to the bearing surfaces of the 'V' the DOB bearings ride in. Bit of thin bungy shock cord over the top of the bearing to provide some added braking friction and they work a treat.

[Jemmo]

I have a 10" dob gso I've cleaned the Teflon with not much luck

[mental4astro]

Thanks for mentioning me in this thread fellows :)

The more aggressively textured the laminate the better the action is that a laminate provides when gliding over Teflon. Ebony Star is just one of many such highly textured laminates. Formica, Laminex and others make similarly highly textured laminates. However, Formica and Laminex have discontinued these from production and the stuff they made is now only available as off-cuts and old stock. Ebony Star has become the preferred material really only because of its 'stellar' name. It is highly textured as is preferred, and it is still in current production.

Jemmo, in the picture below you will see both Teflon (the white stuff) and Ebony Star laminate. The star pole ends are of no concern here, but this is the only picture I have of the above two materials.

Before you start slapping Ebony Star all over the place, Curt has asked what scope you have. This is important as it will dictate what are the better solutions for your scope. If your scope has massive, large diameter altitude bearings that have a laminate or other material other than a highly textured laminate, then Ebony Star may help. But, if your scope is a store bought dob with plastic or aluminium altitude bearings, Ebony Star will not help you.

In this case you will be best served by cleaning the Teflon pads that already are on the rocker box that push against the altitude trunnions (that is the name of the round plastic or aluminium component of the altitiude bearing assembly). There are several mechanical reasons for why Ebony Star is not a solution for your scope, one is that the bearing diameter is just too small, and another is that your scope is not balanced. Cleaning the bearings is your best solution here.

Use only metho or isopropyl alcohol to clean Teflon!!! DO NOT apply wax to these. The very thing that makes Teflon an excellent bearing material is its very self. Applying wax to these leaves them no longer acting as Teflon, but as a waxed surface.

The trunnions you should clean them well with metho or isopropyl alcohol, and then apply good quality car wax over them.

Do these two things to the altitude bearings of your scope, and the change in the quality of action of the altitude bearing of your scope will be improved a huge amount.

I recently have had several people ask me for Teflon and Ebony Star for their store-bought dobs. To each and every single one of them I have told them exactly the same thing as above. While I can supply Teflon and Ebony Star, I also am not here to swindle people and give them something that won't help their situation. If you want to make significant changes to the bearings of your scope, then I think you should look to use the best materials for the job. In this case, you will be altering the size and position of the bearings, and making a new rocker box. Then yes, Ebony Star is the way to go.

If you have any other question, I'm happy to answer them. You can also PM me.

Cheers,

Alex.

[erick]

I was pretty happy with the result on an 8" GSO dob back in 2007:

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=20612
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=34798

and with a 12" GSO Dob a year or so later:

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=50294

Some of the photos show the ebony star fitted to the trunions. The ebony star on the azimuth bearing is hidden between the ground board and upper base board. Remember to put the Ebony Star on the upper board, not the lower board.

I'm not sure if more recent commercial dobs are as amenable to such modifications.

Your advice makes sense Alex. However I had success and saw a significant improvement.

[mental4astro]

Nice work there Erik :)

Onething I never said was not to do such a mod, and you've shown that it can be done. You've mentioned all my concerns about undertaking such a mod to such a scope. The action is improved, but the balance situation is the same. There's the trade-off. The scopes' out of the factory are made to work in a certain way. You had to do significant further changes by adding a counterweight system to make the scope behave. If you hadn't, there is no way the scope would have behaved itself with the tensioning systems they come with. This is hidden trap of such a mod ;)

This is why I said it's better to do the little improvements first before looking to do major changes. These touch-ups are a whole lot easier to do, and no need for surgery! :D Then, if still not happy, out can come the hammer and saw...

I'm happy to supply these materials. Why wouldn't I? But I would be disingenuous to not offer these solutions first and save you time, money and headaches. And if I didn't, and the scope doesn't perform as you expected, it somehow becomes my fault...

[erick]

I recall requiring the magnet counterweight from the beginning on both GSO scopes. Swapping between a small 1.25" plossl and a 2" 35mm Panoptic was a strain for both!

There was only one answer in due course - buy a custom-made scope with superb movement and balance across the full range of eyepieces! SDM Telescopes :thumbsup:

And, of course, now there is this new supplier of superb scopes - Gondwana Telescopes :)