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Hey guys
Looks like this mod wasn’t so easy after all…
It has taken a bit more work, but it’s worth it. I now have tremendous compression and greatly reduce mirror movement within the cell.
Recap – the issues:
The 10” mirror was slopping around in the stock configuration. The stock springs were not strong enough to support the weight of this heavy mirror, and I was losing collimation with minor movements – hence the need for stiffer springs. The stock springs were so bad that I found myself using the mirror lock screws to collimate – not ideal.
I will take pics soon to explain these details, but in the meantime here’s the list of my latest problems and solutions:
-The 3 x T-shaped collimation adjustment knobs do not fit snugly into the back of the mirror cell. The stock holes in the cell are too wide, so the knobs slop around 2mm+ in any direction.
-SOLUTION: I decided to use the existing lock screw holes and widen them to 10mm. This provides a prefect fit for the T-shaped adjustment knob.
-I also found that b/c I’m using longer springs, they were warping when compressed and not sitting straight within the cell. This made turning the knobs almost impossible.
-SOLUTION: I grabbed heaps of washers, glued them together, filed them to fit the ID of the springs, and OD of the bolt. I also added some shrink tubing to the bolt so the washers are a perfect fit (I could not find washer that matched the ID of the spring or OD of the bolts – so I had to grind them down by hand… struth!). This keeps the springs centred and makes turning the knobs much easier.
I did a test of the new configuration (by moving the scope around by hand) and the mirror shift is significantly reduce. Looks like I’m on the right track.
Any advice from you expert tinkerers out there?
P.S. my tools are limited, so please forgive my ‘backyard’ ideas and methods
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