Ive run out of ideas!!!

[Darkplague]

I would like to cover the holes in the black plastic where the spider vanes bolt through, but cant think of a neat way to do this. Can anybody give me some inspiration as to how to go about this? The daylight shining through the spider vane ends can be easily seen in the 2nd photo.


I have thought about gluing some black foam around the holes, but I doubt I could get it to look very good. Anyone have any suggestions???
Any comments/criticism is welcome !! :D

[Astroman]

I probably would have laminated another piece of plywood over the top of the exiting one with on the 4 secondary spaceer pole screws showing. Stained the same as the existing one so it doesnt look different. The plywood ony need be abot 6mm thick. Using the 4 pole screws to hold it together so if you need to seperate it, it will come off via those screws.

[GrahamL]

That looks pretty tidy as it is ?

Is that a sparrowhawk you have there ?.. I've been thinking of grabbing one sometime soon.. lots o birds nest near home and i wouldn't mind haveing a portable scope I can take out and use my eyepieces with in the daylight...Are you happy with It?

[Darkplague]

Sorry Astroman, but I want to cover the gaps where the spider vanes meet
the black plastic, any stray light easily gets through here as I had to cut them a fair bit oversize.

I am also after some ideas/photos of how to attach a stalk for my Argo Navis computer to have it at waist height on a stalk.

BTW did you send that envelope yet?

[Darkplague]

Yes it is a sparrowhawk. It is easily the best finder I have used hands down. You can even use most Ep's in it and use it as a scope on its own. The helical focuser is lovely to use also. The optics are very sharp!!

Here is some extensive reports about the sparrowhawk:

http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=telescopes&Number=809262&Forum=,,f32,,&Words=f50&Searchpage=1&Limit=25&Main=784705&Search=true&where=bodysub&Name=&daterange=0&newerval=&newertype=&olderval=&oldertype=&bodyprev=#Post809262

[Starkler]

Perhaps some thin black foam sheet on the outside between the plastic and the aluminium poles that the spider mounts to ?

P.S. The scope is looking very schmick ;)

[acropolite]

The holes look like they're round, how about rubber grommets?? :shrug:

[Darkplague]

Thankyou!! That is a great idea. If I can get the right size then it will look very professional. Which store would likely have the biggest range of grommets now?? Bunnings, Clark rubber ???

[Astroman]

Sorry Mark, didnt realise you wanted all the screws covered. In all reality its just a cosmetic thing, and the scope looks a million bucks already.

I will be sending the envelope tomorrow, havent had time till tonight to get it.

[Darkplague]

Its not really a cosmetic thing because the stray light is causing some flaring in my EP's. Im trying to cover the gaps in the kydex plastic, not cover the srewheads.

[AstroJunk]

That scope looks great - you deserve to be very proud of yourself. Well done!

If the holes are troubling you, why don't you just swap out the kydex with a new piece with the holes drilled tighter using the old one as a template?

[AstroJunk]

Surely ingress of light from those tiny holes at those angles couldn't get anywhere near the eyepiece in sufficient quantity to flare?!?

I assume you are using a shroud to shield the primary and an UTA front baffle if you have a big light problem...

[Orion]

What about taking the spider and focuser out and flocking the inside of the mirror cage but cutting the holes for the spider veins smaller so they just fit through with a tight fit.
I used velvet on the inside of my cage and made a small slit for the bolts to go through. It worked perfectly.

[Darkplague]

Havnt got a shroud or UTA baffle as of yet........so probably justs compounds my problem with flaring.

[Darkplague]

Another good idea.................I may go with this one.

Could you possibly post a closeup photo of how your dsc stalk is mounted on the rocker box??? Making my Argo Navis stalk is next on my TO-DO list.

[Astroman]

Sorry Mark, I went back and reread your post, I first had read it as the top of the secondary, not sure where that came from. Now that I reread it, I would go with Ed's idea of flocking and smaller holes too.

[Orion]

No problem.
These are a couple I took about year ago...if they don't show you what you want I'll take some more.

[AstroJunk]

And here's mine with internal cabling.

(PS, make a shroud;) )

[Starkler]

I have seen this style of dsc stalk mount in a lot of photos. What really scares me is the thought of somebody running into the dsc pole in the dark and snapping off those mount blocks. The lever moment must be huge with those blocks so closely spaced.

[Orion]

The wooden blocks that I use are for the laptop stand but the dsc stalk is on a steel bracket. If someone bumps into the laptop stand the telescope moves or shakes but the blocks stay firmly attached to the rocker box.
Its pretty hard to pull the blocks of when they are screwed and glued with Araldite.

[Satchmo]

How about using some of the Moonlite captive blocks further down this page?

http://www.focuser.com/cgi-bin/dman.cgi?page=category&plugin=dstore.cgi&category=4


Mark

[Orion]

Nice looking connectors. are the prices in AU dollars?

[AstroJunk]

The stalk would give first (at least on mine!) Also there is a great big hole drilled in the stalk near the blocks to allow the four cables + connectors to pass through. That's the weakest point. The blocks themselves are very solid.

Anyway, if someone was stuffing around near my scope sufficient to break anything, I'd break them first :D

[Orion]

:lol:

[Darkplague]

Thanks for the photos Orion and Astrojunk, much appreciated!!:thumbsup:

You guys have so much cabling down there!! Is most of that for the Servocat?
Anyway by looking at your photos, I should be able to machine up something similar. Bought an offcut of black nylon in rectangle form today, which would work ok for the clamps I guess.

Was just out looking at the moon tonight, and it looks awseome through a 7.5mm Tak LE.

The rest of the sky seemed washed out tonight with really thin clouds, so I packed it up for the night. So far the scope moves far beyond my expectations.

With my Tak 7.5mm EP, I could tour around the moon and stars with pretty much zero vibrations. The scope just doesnt vibrate after a movement at all. Even with a high mag piece it barely takes half a second to settle down to a perfect still state. This is a stark contrast to the 12" GSO I used to own which used to take a few seonds to calm down.

Can't wait to get her out to a dark site now!!!

[AstroJunk]

Yup, ServoCAT adds a whole heap of complexity!

[Harb]

How about some rubber valve stem seals you can get easy down at repco etc.....you can even get the little mushroom shaped ones that would seal this up nicely.....

[Darkplague]

This is a good option also, I will go to Repco and check them out.
Thanks