Here's the first pic, more in a few days when i've done the writeup
First impressions, it's GREAT! Used it for a quick peek at Saturn last night (around 10:45pm) and it was great using the fine-focus to get the sharpness had been lacking with the old focuser.. it was really easy just to go a bit each way until it was spot on.. with the old focuser I was always going too far one way or the other and the scope was shaking about while I was focusing.
On an unrelated note though, I think I need to flock and/or paint flat black on parts of the inside of my tube.. I noticed quite a glare glowing from around Saturn last night, was really lacking in contrast. It didn't help that the 75% full moon was nearby, but I really think flocking will help, especially now I have 4 shiny metal screws sticking inside the tube
I'll start a new thread about flocking on another day and Geoff + others can help me with that
Anyway here's the pic. I'm really happy with it, installation was quite straightforward and there were no dramas
Oh and I used the 1.25" adapter from my old GSO focuser, rather than the one that came with the moonlite, simply because it's better. The moonlite has just 1 rough screw, no compression rings.. the GSO adapter has a nice easy to move screw with compression rings inside to protect the eyepieces and hold them in place better.
Originally posted by iceman I noticed quite a glare glowing from around Saturn last night, was really lacking in contrast. It didn't help that the 75% full moon was nearby, but I really think flocking will help, especially now I have 4 shiny metal screws sticking inside the tube
I'll start a new thread about flocking on another day and Geoff + others can help me with that
The focuser looks very pretty Mike
Things you can do to reduce the glare include flocking and also fitting a focuser baffle and/or a tube extension.
They will help to reduce unwanted off-axis light arriving at the focal plane.
For flocking material have a look in Bunnings in the wallpaper section. I used adhesive black velvet and I think it cost $10 a metre when I got it.
That looks great Ice , i know when i replaced my focuser with a better cryford type life was a lot easier . Is that a angle gauge resting on the back , looks interesting.
Is that a angle gauge resting on the back , looks interesting
Sure is, I bought it last weekend when I did my bunch of other mods (finder, handles, knobs). It's called an "angle finder" or something, bought it for $10 from Mitre 10, and it simply magnets onto the OTA.
The magnet in the bottom is quite strong, snaps onto the OTA and stays on even when past vertical. It tells me the altitude i'm tilted at, which will be handy for the MSC's when I get around to doing the azimuth ones.
Friday night I'm out there playing with the moon and Saturn and having a wonderful time when one of the focuser knobs comes off in my hand!! ... Not happy. Had to pack up and sneek into bed.
Now my scope's second hand and the previous owner had fitted one of the cheap electric motor focuser kits. It was great to sit at the laptop screen and focus, but it wasn't truely central and so the torque wasn't consistent.
So I'm lying in bed thinking how can I improve this thing... and my mind turns to stepper motors..
Then on Sat I read this thread for the first time. Now I've got to agree that a nice new crayford focuser would be lovely (I spent some time wishing at the DBA and JMI websites) , but if you cannot afford it (particular motor drive) then ... I'm with Ving. I'm also lucky in that my R&P focuser tube is quite sturdy and could be worth saving.
I built a "barn door" about two years back and I drove it with a stepper motor ratted out of an old 5.25" floppy drive. I build the circuit to crystal drive the stepper and it would be easy enough to do something similiar with a focuser project. I've got another of those floppy drives and so I'm thinking along the lines of three switches : up, down push switchs and a fast-slow toggle. The gearing is such that a direct drive would give me a 1 inch per rev on the stepper. The stepper is 100 steps per rev so not withstanding the slop of the R&P I'd have accuracy down to 1/100th of an inch. Should be good enough don't you think? Two speeds: say 4 steps per second and 16 times that at 64 steps a second. Now it wouldn't be too much trouble to add a counter display to add and subtract these steps and that gives a digital readout of the focuser position - that would be nice!
My electronics isn't wonderful, but I should be able to come up with a circuit to do this. Off the top of my head it looks like 6 ICs(time base, divider, invertor, gates, flip-flips, darlington drivers) for the Stepper driver, plus a bunch for the counter and 7-segment display. How's your electronics Ving could you come up with a more optimal way of doing this?
Another project to add to the list for me. I don't usually get around to these very quickly - (especially not now with the wife in a "we've got to redecorate mood") - but I do want the scope back in action...
