Turning trash into Astronomical Treasure! What's your story?
Over the years I've seen my share of beautiful, well machined and refined (and often damned expensive), custom and home made astronomy kit. And there's nothing wrong with that. But I find myself intrigued by the other end of the spectrum - the rough and ready, the ugly but functional, the cheap and nasty or even not so nasty. It'd be great to hear and see your stories of how you turned trash into astronomical treasure!
I'll kick things off with a project from a fair few years ago now - the image below shows only what now remains of my once proud home-built observatory built to house a home-made F7 12.5in newtonian. At the time let's say I was a little "cash strapped". The most eccentric bit was the dome as I had to scavenge most of the bits - the dome frame I made from ex-irrigation pipe with worn out rotary-hoe blades welded to reinforce joins/corners, then chicken wire stretched over this skeleton in preparation for fibre-glassing. Only problem was I couldn't afford the fibre-glass. Povity being the mother of invention I decided to try an alternative... paper mache! Several "Sunday Mail" papers, a bucket or two of flour, water and antifungal additive, and three coats of white enamel later, I had a shiny water-proof dome that looked and worked just like fibre-glass (for just a few bucks!). It lasted around five years with periodic maintenance (silicone sealent if a crack opened up), but quickly deteriorated when I dropped into a family-induced astronomy hiatus.
If anyone is ever crazy enough to repeat this - here's a tip, don't use self-raising flour and use LOTS of anti-fungal stuff in the glue!
That's a DARN good idea Robert!! (your dome) This subject is one of my favorites! (CHEAP astro-gadgets!) How about a RA motor drive for a 12.5" newt/EQ for under 50 bucks or making a 6V battery by cutting a 12V in half with me trusty hack-saw?...Or perhaps a manual fine focuser.
I've thought of the observatory made outa paper mache many many times, lol.
Do old 'electric blanket' dew heaters qualify. Use them in my E/Pc box & on the 8 x50 finderscope. Zero cost.
'Electronic' focuser, "for a few dollars more". L.
Ah! the Ol' lectric blanky dew heater! That's gonna be my next project...& the price is RIGHT!!
Actually Robert, that RA drive is even better now...I added a few 'mod-cons' to it such as a toy truck tyre & some special radiator hose-clamps.....& not to forget the Ol' gaffer tape!! LOL! & my 6V battery runs it no probs.
I personally HAVE to do things on the cheap at the moment. (small finite budget) But that's not the only reason...I love to muck about with things/make things/alter things etc etc. (& stuff things up if I can't put it back together)
Gaff tape is good, but I found a roll of plumbers thread tape to be valuable as well. You can tie things to your scope, make your ep sit more snuggly, and when you remove them, no sticky residue.
Being a 'spark' since '61, I couldn't really believe that Asi, actually cut a battery in 1/2 at all. I was dumbfounded when he posted the pics. Did you 'do it dry' or did it still contain the electrolyte Asibat?
Jeanette, why is it nec. to use 'plumber's tape' on your E/Pcs? Are they not 'snuggly' enough? Also, imho, I would not put too much weight on the tape. Not designed for it. L.
ps. Sorry, I didn't mean to 'do it' for/to, anyone.
I converted an almost useless cheapy eq mount to a very servicable alt-az mount for my ed80. Made a nice azimuth bearing for it from plastic discs kindly provided by westsky. Sturdy wooden tripod legs from wood that I already had.
Hi Laurie. Yes mate, I followed strict safety precautions. Did it dry/Wore gloves/safety glasses etc etc. It's still running my newts 6V RA drive quite nicely.
Rajah,
I use the tape on my 6.5mm ep because the first couple of mm of the internal thread is dodgy. While my colour filters screw in fine, the UHC doesn't have enough thread depth to get past the crook bit.
Attended an astronomical auction a few years ago, prices were rediculous!!! couldn't affort anything!!
At the very end, when people were starting to leave, a box was held up and "rattled" ... any offers for this box of Junk.... $5 I replied.... SOLD.
When I examined the contents I found a Ziess 6mm monocentric among all the prisms and junk. What a buy!! Have parted with many eyepieces since then but NEVER the Ziess!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ta, Jeanette. Knew there had to be a good reason. L.
ps. A thought...... have you tried taking the chrome barrel/skirt/tube off & reversing it? Might be better thread.
Sorry for going OT.
and use LOTS of anti-fungal stuff in the glue!
L.
