The dob driver has landed

[davidpretorius]

Thanks to Mr G Geal,

my dob driver has arrived. Ok where is that hammer and nails, I am off to play bob the builder.

I will take photos as i go and get a good feel whether it is possible to produce one locally that will be cheap and easy to install on a standard dob.

Will keep you updated!

[iceman]

Look forward to seeing it!

I bet you can't wait to get tracking!

[davidpretorius]

yeh right, tracking is overrated!!!

i don't even need a telescope.................


who am i kidding???

tracking is great
tracking is great
tracking is great
tracking is great

(this could all end in tears if this does not work!!)

[asimov]

It will work you silly young bugger!!!!

[davidpretorius]

who me????

where have you heard such language from?????

which forum member has been calling you an old bugger????

if he is from tassie and spams alot then i know who he is and he is in big trouble!!!

don't lend you 5mm vixen to him!!!

[ving]

great davo! :thumbsup:

cant wait to hear how it goes :)

[ballaratdragons]

I can't hear any hammering or drilling Davo!

Come on, get a move on!!!! Pics, Pics Pics!

[davidpretorius]

update#1 "No tools required except for a chair!"
___________________________________ _____

well the new lounge suite arrived today, part of the toing and froing of being married to an astronomy nut. So sitting on my part of the "bargaining chip for the dob driver" suite, i started reading the instructions for installing.

I must say, i think i can handle this. Cut a few slots in the dob base, a few holes for the roller bearings. Screw my 560mm x 1mm aluminium sheet to the top of the bottom ground board and so on.

It has two quick release attachments for disengaging the drive for manual use - very neat!!!

Software side of things - looks like goto is there etc and an ability to talk to a guide scope, but i will worry about that later.

Chatting with Gary B, and i have told him i want to retro fit it to the GS dob base. If it can be improved upon, i will chat with the brilliant M Pinner and work out an aussie version that can be used to fit to bintel or andrews or saxon etc

More updates to come...... now where are those drill bits?????

[chunkylad]

Hey Dave,

I don't think you're the only one who can't wait to see how this turnes out.

Now how many IISers are dob owners ?????????????????.................. ........

Good luck and have fun with the assembly

Dave

[Robert_T]

now Dave, you go fitting motors to that thing and will you still be able to call yourself a dyed-in-the-wool dobber? :wink2:

[davidpretorius]

with the quick release attachments there to convert back at the flick of a switch..... of course.!!!!!

don't worry, i will still be trying to justify i am one of the masses when i have put the 16" truss tube on a paramount!!!!

[davidpretorius]

My lovely daugter Jessica and i have done step 1.

The Az drive is installed. next step roller bearings and then onto the Alt motor

I have also included some pics of fan and a little knob i have also installed to keep my hands away from the inside of the tube to move it around

[matt]

Good stuff Dave

We'll have to refer to you as the "Mod King" of the Apple Isle:lol:

Between the temp mods and experiments and your new project, that's quite a nice little homebaked outfit taking shape.

I'm certain my fave pic is the one where you can clearly see you're wearing socks with your sandles.

A very nice touch :nerd:

[davidpretorius]

i was wondering if anyone was going to pick that up.

as i keep saying, pen protector, sandals with socks pulled up and wearing the red torch around your head whilst making love to the wife.

this is one macho hobby!!!

a tough man's game!

[Stu]

That is sooo funny...pmsl...now where's my pen protector...

[davidpretorius]

Success,

az axis of motion is green. a quick 360 degree round trip and it worked. Except for one spot where the aluminium has a low point and the wheel does not grab, but a sledgey will fix that!!!

now for the alt motion

i am very happy, because i can now at least get some more planets at their transit point if needs be even waiting to finish the alt axis.

nice hand controller and am now about to link to the laptop to set up configurations etc

[gbeal]

Man you are on a mission.
I made a mistake of putting the battery (a motorbike battery in a box) on the opposite side to the az drive. If anything it needs all and any weight on the SAME side, to give it more grip. Not that I am teaching you how to suck eggs of course DP.
Keep at it, all IIS is watching.
You really wear a red torch while in the sack?? Now that is more weird than the pink dress from the "What colour will I paint the mount" posting.

[EddieT]

Wow, there's a blast for me. I had a Dob Driver II on my 14" Dob about 9 years ago? It was great! I loved the way it trained itself as you made manual corrections. it was really liberating after a year of pushing the thing around. You're going to love it!

[davidpretorius]

Got the alt axis off and running.

Guess who has tracking???????????

I have been tracking mars at 600x (5mm vixen with a 2.4x barlow in a 1250mm scope) and it stays in middle of the eyepiece for 15 - 20 secs. More than enough to adjust with the hand controller.

not sure of seeing, don't care, i am going to image mars.

more photos later, i am going to play.


thanks Gary B (go New Zealand!!!), you are a legend and so is my wife for letting me buy it!!!!

[asimov]

You ****** beauty! Go get 'em!!

[asimov]

Mate, I'm really excited for you! Glad you finally have tracking! Watch out mars/venus/saturn/m42/globs/DSOs/etc etc!!!! bring on the toUcam images!! :)

[davidpretorius]

thanks mate!!

it is great to share something new with good friends!!

right,

mars at 1/100 20% gain; 1/500 @ 50% gain and 1/50 at 0% gain, the trap at 480x and 208x, rigel double and a bit of a long exposure play with orion at 5 sec and 10 secs.

will process tomorrow

[asimov]

Damn spoil sport! process em' now ya mug!:mad2: ....just joking.:P Looking forward to them..:)

[iceman]

Excellent work Dave, can't wait to see the results and the writeups of your project.

[davidpretorius]

thanks mike,

had a great play last night, but lots to tidy up. I must say i am impressed with how quickly i was able to overcome the bain of dob imaging. Hand guiding with the controller of the planets was great. I simply told Qfocus to take 120 seconds @ 5fps. At 480x, it was easy to keep the image in the screen.

This is all without the computer interface and goto operational yet.

I know i have bought 2nd hand for $600, but it is the wisest investment i have made after the actual scope itself.

[ving]

brilliant davo!!!! :D

[Thiink]

Dave you lucky bugger, it looks like a great system. Im more impressed by how quickly you got it up and working. Looking forward to the images you can produce.

With so many dobbers jumping ship Ive started a tracking fund. Hopefully by the middle of next year I can have tracking too (either for the Newt or for widefield). I just have to decide which way to go.

Congrats on the purchase!