Thank goodness that is over - now Peter can get to work on mine
I read with great interest Rod, since I will see some of these features on mine. The heated filter slide is going to be great!
Congratulations on the rebirth!
Thanks erick. I am sure your SDM is not far away. I would be interested to see how you find the filter slide once you have had the chance to use it a bit.
Marke - yes I got the 2" end piece etc, thanks for the explanation which reassures me that I do not need to unscrew anything. I will let you know how I get on.
Mike - cheers mate, we must get together to observe in January.
Gary - I saw an exhibition about the Mary Rose at the Maritime Museum in Sydney about 13 years ago, and it had a huge impact on me. Yes, I am sure Peter Read could even restore the original Mary Rose!
Geoff - I very much encourage you to get the delrin blocks at some stage. They are very very nice. I am sure Peter would do a good price for you (as he did for me).
John - I can't wait until Coona in March! I know you are getting the 80mm SV finder fitted. What else is Peter doing for Edwin?
Satchmo - I haven't a clue, but I will ask Peter and report back what he says.
hOughy - beware of Borg references....my wife refers to my family of origin as "The Borg" and their "collective consciousness". Rather chilling really.
Thanks Scott....when are you going to visit Down Under to observe with us again???!!!
Norm - you will want to do more than change to plywood when you see the Mary Rose!
Wow, she sure is a beauty!! The SDM scopes are definately in a class of their own.
Ive been thinking about a Dob, but I'm just not ever going to be in that league!
Awesome bit of kit!
John - I can't wait until Coona in March! I know you are getting the 80mm SV finder fitted. What else is Peter doing for Edwin?
Stellarvue F80M finder
R80S rings riser and shoe
Truss mounting quick release system
mounted on truss tubes
Black fitted Shroud
Black plywood UTA baffle
Convert Secondary Holder to 3 screw system
Adjust drive cable slack
Fine tune tracking and backlash as required
Rod,
I installed a Moonlite Filter Slide on my 12" Lightbridge.
I also made up a heater for the slide.
This a great addition, you'll wonder how you ever did without it.
Stellarvue F80M finder
R80S rings riser and shoe
Truss mounting quick release system
mounted on truss tubes
Black fitted Shroud
Black plywood UTA baffle
Convert Secondary Holder to 3 screw system
Adjust drive cable slack
Fine tune tracking and backlash as required
I look forward to seeing how the finder will work on the truss tubes....especially around the shroud. Will the shroud have a velcro slit in it???
Well done, Rod. A beaut set of mods. The plywood to replace the Kydex is a great idea. Here is my attempt 18 months ago (image below).
Stephen, cheers mate. So did you end up finishing the scope? I see in your footer that you have an SDM in the pipeline....when are you expecting her arrival??
Rod,
I installed a Moonlite Filter Slide on my 12" Lightbridge.
I also made up a heater for the slide.
This a great addition, you'll wonder how you ever did without it.
Cheers astronut. It will be good to wave good-bye to the dew!
Looks very nice mate , has given me something to ponder on .It would be great to have another side by side shoot out, i really don't mind coming second.
Merry xmas to you & your family see you in the new year.
Looks very nice mate , has given me something to ponder on .It would be great to have another side by side shoot out, i really don't mind coming second.
Merry xmas to you & your family see you in the new year.
P.S. slide is progressing well.
Phil
Cheers, Phil. I will give you a call about the slide....kids are ready, willing and able.
satchmo - I understand you have now spoken with Peter Read about the folded mirror issue, so I will not confuse things by adding to what you have discussed.
I note the weather continues to be crap.....sorry everyone.....it is all my fault....!!!! Hopefully we will all get some clear skies next year.....looks like the rest of December is to be clouded over at least in my neck of the woods.
Well I finally had a window of about 90 minutes last night where it was not raining, and there were patches of clear sky! It takes me back to the days when I first took delivery of the Mary Rose....then I had to wait about two weeks as well for a clear night.
Anyway, notwithstanding a rising fullish moon and lights from neighbours on all three sides, I was able to do some simple observing to get a feel for the modifications. Here are some preliminary thoughts:
1. The new primary fan is so whisper quiet, I could hardly detect it...a couple of times I checked to see that it was actually on - it was.
2. The Feathertouch focuser is simply wonderful to use, buttery smooth with objects snapping into focus. All of my eyepieces came to focus without having to use an extender (with the Moonlite focuser I always had to use an extender). The only "issue" is that the focuser drawtube actually hits the filter slide when fully in (a position not relevant when observing, but one needs to be careful when packing up for the night not to tune the focuser too far into the closed position).
3. The 80mm Stellarvue finder is an absolute ripper. I started off with the 23mm SV supplied EP, which gives a nice 4 degree FOV, but then decided for some fun to put in my 9mm Nagler for comparison. Wow! I could see the four stars in the trap, and a nice green glow for the mass of nebulosity of M42. 47 Tuc was a lovely large cotton ball of stars. I could make out M77 (just). I had originally thought that I might get a 13T6 for the finder, but I am now contemplating perhaps getting an 11T6 instead for the slightly higher resolution of galaxies, so it can help with the star/galaxy hopping use I have in mind. I can always pop in the 13E for a slightly wider FOV as the Ethos has a dual 1.25/2 inch barrel.
The finder is not perfect in all respects. On Sirius there was a thin white line of light running across the FOV from left to right. There is also false colour on the brighter stars, with a blue/violet smear of light about them. I suspect a lot of this is caused by the SV diagonal which does not look to be the best. In reality, of course, my purpose with the finder is to star/galaxy hop in fainter fields, and there is no obvious false colour in such fields. As the problem may well be caused by the SV diagonal, in the long term I might consider getting a better diagonal to attach through the 2 inch rear end of the finder if I can get that arrangement to work / come to focus.
When changing eyepieces I noticed that there is a lot of lubricant on the inside off the helical focuser, but fortunately this is well below the point that either the 23mm supplied EP or the 9T6 reach to within the barrel, so it appears to be a non issue.
4. The motions of the scope are as smooth as I can ever remember. Peter has thoroughly redone all of the movements, and it is obvious from the moment I started moving the scope around.
5. I have realised there is one problem with Peter's system of colour coding the various power cords running from the dew heater.....in red light it is very difficult to distinguish the colours. I am going to redo something which John Bambury kindly did for me a few months ago, by making up some printed labels for each line.
6. The collimation knobs were beautifully smooth to operate - very happy!
All in all, the first night out was as good as I could have hoped. I can't wait to set sail with the Mary Rose under some darker skies!
That was all great reading Rod.
You would have to be all smiles after the upgrades.
Great pics as well ,its allways good to see an upgrade in motion as it gives everyone more ideas to think about.
Your clear skies hopefully will return to normal.
Cheers Kev.
