I did think of this idea, but cant do it inside the dome, even at 4.5 meter diameter, the dome is too small for both scopes. But i thought about a portable "Take away" telescope to setup up at sites, etc. But i thought "Yeah right", im not going to too many of these now, and i havent brought along a scope to one for years. But, i'll try and sell it, then if no one wants it, i can use that as the excuse to keep it (To my wife).
I had the opportunity to see one of the early instantiations of the
CDK scope at the Riverside Telescope Maker's Conference in 2007. Planewave were
set up in the booth right next to ours and I got to chat with Richard Hedrick
about their new venture. There was quite a buzz and they were pretty excited about
it so it is great to see the CDK being delivered on this side of the pond.
Thanks Gary, you would have had a busy time there, and basically you would have seen the same setup with the fork mount as mine.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexN
Theo,
Very exciting indeed! You going to mate a QHY11 to the rear end of it?
I've been eyeing the CDK since you mentioned it to me, although I'll be going for the 17" (after a year or so of saving)
Looks like a very serious bit of gear, I look forward to the first light pics as well as the pics of this behemoth sitting atop the MI750... Dude - they are a seriously seriously large mount! Did you go for the GEM or the Equatorial Fork option?
Congrats on an awesome new toy mate..
Alex.
Hi Alex,
I went for the Fork option. I really dont like the GEM's mainly for the Meridian flip, counter weights protruding out and the area it takes up.
Mate your also right that they are huge mounts. My head looks like a tennis ball against a basket ball ratio.
I hope to have it up and running in the next couple of days.
I still need to weld up the 18" wide pier, fill it with sand and weld the upper base plate before i even start on assembling the mount.
Jees, maybe 3 or 4 days before first light after thinking of what needs to be done...
The CDK-17 is a perfect in between telescope. Not too big where your buggered trying to move it, and big enough to do some serious work.
Your pick is just right, and further, i beleive they are looking at releasing a 14" version as well.
Too boot, the long awaited Reducer is being released in a couple of months. Supposed to be x0.67, making my scope a 20" f4.5, hmmmmm.
Hrmm.. If they release a 14" That would be even better for me!! It'll be going on an AP1200GTO, so the 14" would make the system "Portable" to a point...
Good news about the reducer! 20" F/4.5 would be fantastic with the wide view from a KAI11002
Cant wait to see your setup images and first light mate...
I did think of this idea, but cant do it inside the dome, even at 4.5 meter diameter, the dome is too small for both scopes. But i thought about a portable "Take away" telescope to setup up at sites, etc. But i thought "Yeah right", im not going to too many of these now, and i havent brought along a scope to one for years. But, i'll try and sell it, then if no one wants it, i can use that as the excuse to keep it (To my wife).
Theo
Nothing a shed or another dome can't fix...providing you have the room
Well, after a nice sleep i decided to strip down and remove the 14" RCX-400 from the observatory and start installing the new baby.
All i can say, that was the easy part, because the rest of the day was murder.
I called my Brother inlaw who's very good at welding and all metal work and asked him to giver me a hand with the pier and mount.
Considering he was the one that got me the pier in the first place, i thought it fitting to scab off him as much help as i could get before he gives up.
So we assembled the pier, fitted the gussets then welded them flush, drilled and tapped a 10mm steel plate to hold the head onto the pier, filled the pier with sand then welded the plate to the pier. We also added the fine adjustment stops to allow fine moving along the azimuth.
Thats my brother in law in the image, so thanks Lenny Grech, i owe you one.
Next, while i had him, i asked him to help me put the mount together. He had to say yes, and i knew that, and took advantage of it. So we started to bring in the mount bits into the dome a little at a time. My god the mount parts are heavy, and everything fitted perfectly.
Tomorrow i hope to have the telescope mounted n the next 2 days, maybe Sunday if i can get him to come down again..
Anyway here is the progress. Hopefully i have enough energy to continue tomorrow, im not so young anymore !.
Duuuuuude!! They are so much bigger in real life than they look in the photos on the Mathis Instruments website.. Holy Crap!!
Looks like its going to be a mega impressive setup to behold... it will definitely make you feel awesome to open up the dome, walk in and gaze upon that huge mount sporting a 20" CDK... Talk about dream come true!!
Guys, i kid you not when i say it took everything we had to go this far, and we honestly couldnt move after this. Im sitting now, and me back is killing me, the legs are like 2 planks of wood being so tight, and im dozing off.
Its really stuffed us up. You really arent wrong when you say its bigger in real life. Everything was so well machined, it just fitted perfectly. No play, no wiggle. I even tried to thump the the polar head, and nothing, not even a slight vibration on the forks or anywhere. Thanks to the sand, which i recommend over cement.
Just to give you a pespective, that pier is 18" in diameter. and 20" high not to mention 10mm thick.
I have to see how my back is tomorrow.
Been having a good look at the Planewave's at their site....I'm very impressed with the scopes. I hope they go onto making larger scopes. I'd love to see a 32" or 40" version of the scope. Even a 24" would be impressive. They're one nice piece of kit!!!
Well, spent a little time on it in the afternoon putting on the dove tails to the fork arms.
But i thought before i dynabolt the pier down into the concrete i'd better make sure its pointing pretty close to the south.
So i placed the azimuth adjusment in the middle to allow a +/- 4 deg either side, then rotated the pier till i estimated a good accuracy to the south and waited till dark.
With darkness on me, i jigged up my 4" f5 refractor with a 5x barlow and a 12mm cross hair and mounted it to one of the Dec arms. Setup for a drift alignment with the scope pointing at the meridian, and in about 35 minutes had a good alignment, and now the forks point dead on south. Once bolted down i can do a really fine adjustment using the adjusters on the head.
Kinda funny seeing a little 4" on the huge forks.
The scope should be on in the next day, then teething issues with the fine alignment and electronics etc.
it's with great interest that I read through this. I am wondering how you get the CDK on the fork - it looks plenty heavy. Do you invite four friends to lift it while you have to bolt it into position?
Have you decided how much time you want to spend doing visual with this rig (if any) versus doing astrophotography? If you plan to do more that 5% - 10% visual how are you configuring things to swap between visual and astrophotography set-up easily?
Lastly what cameras are you planning to image with? I'm curious as you rarely get to see someone plan and execute a $50K+ set-up!
I too am interested in camera selection... I would like to think Theo will be using a QHY camera in it That said, For simplicity in guiding such a big scope, perhaps an SBIG would be a good option??
My 2 guesses.. Keep costs low (after buying a 20" and MI-750 ) and continue to use QHY8, Upgrade to something with the KAI11002 sensor like the QHY11/STL11000M/SXVF-H35... These are my guesses because these are my plans for my CDK.. Depending on how much cash I can get together
I wouldnt get the STL11000 as its too old, slow and big/heavy. When the newer models come out from Sbig, i may have a looksee....
I am looking into the QHY-9, but i think i'll get QHY to make me one with the KAF9000 CCD, as it has the best QE of the bigger size sensors. Or just get the QHY-11 when its finally released.
But for now, im sticking to the QHY-8, and maybe i may just play with the QHY-9.
I'll grab a photo of the scope and post it soon.
Matt,
I will be doing around 70 - 30 in favour of imaging, so i ordered special machined adapters to connect my camers directly on without and focuser droop etc. Everything just bolts up and is stiff as a board. To go visual, its a matter of loosining 3 bolts and place an eyepiece adapter in. Thats it.
You have to be carefull though, as costs keep going up, like TCS control, and remember the GST. All up including GST a setup of this size is going to set you back $100K Aussie bucks now. I scraped in before the dollar plumeted so i save 30%.
Heres the 4" f5 as requested, mounted on the fork arm.
Finally mounted the 20", and what a job to mount it too.
It took 3 guys to place it on the fork arms and tighten her up.
Had a quick peek during the night at Orion, and images where absolutely magic.
Havent even done a proper alignment yet, but it looks to be pretty spot on.
Sorry about the quality of the images of the 20", as they where shot in the dark. I'll get better ones tomorrow once i mount the electronics and hand controllers etc.
Looks fantastic Theo.
I was just starting to think you lacked a little motivation in construction.
But its back on track.
I'm not green...,
I'm not green...,
I'm not green...,
Bugger it -yes I am.
You going to mate a QHY11 to the rear end of it? 
Did you go for the GEM or the Equatorial Fork option?
