First light with home made 80mm refractor.

[mrsnipey]

Hi there,
Had my first night with my 80mm refractor I built using a lens from the surplusshed, some pvc and my xmas presents from the missus (a 1.25" diagonal and a 6" focuser).

I installed the focuser onto the end of the pvc tube on xmas night and was surprised at how easy it was to install. But I wasn't sure if I had the alignment right, until tonight.
Looking at a street light down the road just doesn't cut it.:)
Anyway, I looked outside tonight at 11:30pm and HOLY COW BATMAN! The sky is clear!!!

There was a mad rush to get my telescopes outside before the clouds arrived. I set my 12" dob up and my refractor on an eq mount.

I got a laser collimator for xmas as well and boy, I am cr@p at collimation using a cheshire. No problems any more though. Nice sharp stars.

I looked through the refractor, turned the focuser knob, and wow! Perfect! I love my refractor. Had my GSO 20mm 1.25" eyepiece in. Nothing special, but boy was the view nice.

Are all refractors this nice?

The focuser is just a cheapie from Andrews but it's so nice to use. Better than my crayford on my dob (I don't have the 10:1).

Needless to say I didn't use my dob for the rest of the night.

It's now raining but I'm happy I FINALLY got to look at some stars.
I could see more with my dob but the refractor is so much easier to setup that I think the dob's going to be collecting a bit more dust for the next couple of months. :D

[erick]

How about some pics and a description of parts and what you did, mr s?? maybe I could build a refractor? :shrug:

[snowyskiesau]

I second that - photos and plans please.

[Did you win the stepper motors?]

[mrsnipey]

Hi again,

First of all, Geoff, how on earth did you see that I was bidding on some stepper motors? :) (and no, I didn't win. Next time maybe.)

My refractor was based on Omaroo's article here:
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=24721&highlight=80mm

I bought my 80mm lens from Surplusshed (the focal length is 900mm):
http://www.surplusshed.com/pages/item/l3002.html

Hopefully the pictures have attached (having issues with my router rebooting all the time)

I don't have any plans as such but if you've got some specific questions, fire away.

Denis.

[jjjnettie]

Wow, congratulations and well done.

[Omaroo]

Hey there Denis - great stuff!! Looks like it turned out really well. My article was, in turn, based on Bill's (Glenhuon).

I'd love to run a comparison between the 400 and 900mm f/length variants of the 80mm objective, and then go the 102mm when they make it available again.

Glad to see that another one of us has gone to the trouble of assembling their own scope. There's a certain pride that one gets by doing it. :thumbsup: Congratulations!

[ving]

sweet looking job you have done there :)_

[Glenhuon]

Looks great Mrsnipey. I've got the 400 FL one from SurplusShed, gives you a great sense of satisfaction to look through something you have built yourself.
Mine has the Andrews focuser too, and it works really well.
Like Chris I'm waiting for the 102's to become available again. Got the focusser and rings for it ( Kindly donated by JohnG, thanks John, yer bloods worth Bottlin' :) )
BTW if you want a dew shield on the scope, get a 100mm "Pad repair fitting", the smaller diameter fits perfectly over the end of the objective mount and a 100mm push on cap fits over the other end as a dust shield.

Clear Skies
Bill

[mrsnipey]

Thanks everyone.

It was a lot easier than I thought making the telescope.
The focuser made it a breeze because of it's 6" range of focus.

They make a 102mm???
Um, when is my birthday? (Nov :()

So far I've only been able to look a stars for 10 minutes or so at a time. It will be interesting to see what the moon looks like through it.

My lens is f11.25 from my calculations.
Does a longer focal length increase/decrease viewing performance or make no difference at all?