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Old 09-07-2009, 11:57 AM
p3nn (James)
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Alt/Azimuth + setting circles

Hi Guys

I'm looking at making myself a set of setting circles for my mount and am trying to work out how to attach them without interfering with the scopes movement. Any ideas?

James
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Old 09-07-2009, 12:11 PM
p3nn (James)
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Guess should also mention it's a tripod if that makes a difference
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Old 09-07-2009, 07:22 PM
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Blue Skies (Jacquie)
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The tripod is irrelevant. They need to know if it a equatorial mount or is it an SCT on a fork mount, or even just a simple alt-az job. More info, please!
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Old 10-07-2009, 12:16 AM
p3nn (James)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Blue Skies View Post
The tripod is irrelevant. They need to know if it a equatorial mount or is it an SCT on a fork mount, or even just a simple alt-az job. More info, please!
I'm guessing by fork mount you mean the mount comes up either side of the scope and is attached by 2 screws? If so that what my mount is. If it's of help the following link is to my model of scope and you should be able to see the details there

http://www.oo.com.au/Tasco_Luminova_...or__P17395.cfm
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Old 10-07-2009, 10:41 AM
Rod
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Hi James,

My first scope was a little like that one. It was a 3 inch F9. It had a similar mount which I found vibrated terribly and was ungainly to use. A friend kindly built me a much more stable mount and then I had a lot of fun with it.

My advice would be to build a simple dobsonian mount for your scope. If you wish to add setting circles it will then be a lot easier. Setting circles need to be reasonably large to be accurate and on your current mount I think that would be difficult.

A 76mm reflector is quite small and you will always be fairly limited with what you see with it so I would not spend too much time modifying a scope this size. Around 150 to 200mm aperture is where the sky starts to really open up (for me at least).

Regards,

Rod.
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Old 10-07-2009, 01:00 PM
Barrykgerdes
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Quote:
Originally Posted by p3nn View Post
I'm guessing by fork mount you mean the mount comes up either side of the scope and is attached by 2 screws? If so that what my mount is. If it's of help the following link is to my model of scope and you should be able to see the details there

http://www.oo.com.au/Tasco_Luminova_...or__P17395.cfm
Hi James

I don't want to disappoint you too much but fitting scales to that particular mount will not be easy and probably not very effective. The scope was not designed for astronomical work with that type of mount.

Just use the telescope as it is to look at easy objects to find like the Moon, Jupiter and Saturn which will give reasonable views at a magnification around 60 ( the maximum those scopes can effectively use).

When you get the bug that we all caught once after we saw our first views of Saturn, join an astronomical club, save your pennies and buy something like an 8" scope in a dob mount. New as low as $500 and often second hand less than $400. This will give real views of the sky and much easier fitting of setting circles that will eventually create an even worse disease called aperture fever.

Barry

PS Aperture fever often creates a source of cheap 6" 7" and 8" dobsonian telescopes in you local astronomy club.
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  #7  
Old 12-07-2009, 01:13 PM
p3nn (James)
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Hi Guys,

I do plan on getting at least an 8" later as I already have the bug after only a few weeks with this as a new hobby. Over the last few days I came to the conclusion that for the current scope it'd be simpler to construct a dobsonian style mount as per Rod's suggestion for it and incorporate the setting circles onto that. Thx for the advice guys. I'll be stepping out in a bit to start making the new mount

James
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