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TheCrazedLog
22-11-2007, 11:40 AM
Hey guys:

10" GSO Dob. Dob of course has two circular platforms: The one attached to the ground and the one attached to the telescope. One moves, the other doesn't :P

My grand, evil, glorious and ... mighty (needed another word) plan is to print out a strip of paper as long as the circumferance and glue it to bottom non-moving bit and have 360 degrees marked on it.

First I have to make said bit of paper. I thought.. is there a program that anyone knows that you can say "give me a piece of paper this long with increments marked at these intervals"?. I've had a very quick look, but didn't see anything.

Anyone know of this?

Thanks

Anthony
PhilW
22-11-2007, 11:52 AM
You can use setcircz.exe, it is available here:

http://www.startrak.co.uk/MakingSettingCircles.htm

I have made several scales successfully using this program, both alt & az.

Phil
peterbat
22-11-2007, 12:02 PM
I've also searched online, and the only one that I've been happy with has been the executable that can be downloaded from the StarTrak site. You do need to run it on a PC though (or a PC emulator on a Mac) ...

Peter
JethroB76
22-11-2007, 01:05 PM
There is a huge stickied thread on the reflector forum on Cloudy Nights that has much info about manual setting circles for Dobs, and includes a PDF file with a large degree wheel which you scale up and down to suit.

You'll also find info on the different methods people have come up with for getting altitude readings to go with your Az
Roger Davis
23-11-2007, 08:45 AM
Ah, just nail and glue an old tape measure around the edge and figure out how many mm is in a degree. More accurate too I guess.
Satchmo
23-11-2007, 08:54 AM
Paul Shopis is allready fitting this system to his 12" binoculars. Hes had a plan shop scale that azimuth circle and fitting a magnifier with LED so the azimuth circle can be read from standing position. He's allready purchased the 0.1 degree resolution digital inconometer. Total cost of the project I think will be about $120.

Its great to see people finding cheap and innovative ways to do these sorts of things things like scope pointing. If you have a notebook or Pocket PC running good sky chart software it makes a lot of sense. You can call up photos of the object as awell as its alt and az , which really adds to the experience.