18" Telekit - Page 3

barx1963 (Malcolm) · #41 07-06-2013, 10:46 PM

Looking good Marke!
I installed an Astrosystems centre pivot kit on the 20" largely to improve the encoder attachments. Very nice piece of kit!!

Cheers. And well done on your progress.

Malcolm

Marke (Mark) · #42 10-06-2013, 06:45 PM

Didnt get quite as far as I had hoped over the weekend did a lot of resanding and finishing till I was happy ... really over applying poly .
Just need to paint the inside of mirror box black , mirror cell out side done and the black will go on now also .
Mirror supports painted and will go in with all the other bits later and I will update with photos for that.
Alt bearings almost finished as well now . All coming together quickly with the upper cage to be done when I get the parts I am still waiting on.

Marke (Mark) · #43 12-06-2013, 07:30 PM

Put the mirror cell together tonight , its actually quite simple in design .
Just need to install the batteries which go on each side near the support posts . Sling eye bolts need painting but that about it , now doing the inside of the mirror box .
Truss poles need to have the upper cage clamps fitted and I am still waiting on the light shroud for the cage which should be posted this week along with secondary ... its dragging on a bit I will chase Randy up again to make sure .

Kunama · #44 12-06-2013, 07:42 PM

Going ahead in fine style Mark.

Marke (Mark) · #45 13-06-2013, 08:23 AM

Thanks Matt I am starting to see a little light at the end of the tunnel rather than a big pile of bits.

multiweb (Marc) · #46 13-06-2013, 10:57 AM

Looking good. Getting there. Wrong color still...

Marke (Mark) · #47 13-06-2013, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by multiweb

Looking good. Getting there. Wrong color still...

go away there is nothing wrong with the colour

barx1963 (Malcolm) · #48 13-06-2013, 02:51 PM

Hey Mark!

Looking very nice, the finish on the parts seems excellent.

Malcolm

Marke (Mark) · #49 15-06-2013, 05:57 PM

Got a lot done today , mainly bolting and screwing all the finished parts together .
The truss fasteners are now bolts with large wingnuts much better than the earlier design that used split wooden blocks.
The upper cage clamps fitted to the truss poles with nice quick release clamps .
Altitude bearings screwed on , there is a small plastic washer between the bearing and box so they dont stick together over time .
Then dropped it into the rocker box . THe teflon pads act as the bearing surface and are off set inward to keep the mirror box moving straight.
This is where I have a problem at the moment I think the rocker box may be slightly skewed .
It goes thru half the motion ok till the mirror box moved past the first bearing pad then it sort of twists a little to one side

Managed to fix it for now by putting a felt pad on the inside of the rocker
box to stop the shifting and it seems to work .
Bolted the mirror cell on to the hinges and it swings up with a perfect fit luckly . I put the 2 holding bolts in for now , still waiting on the batteries
to go in and eventually the mirror

Pretty good day all up .

barx1963 (Malcolm) · #50 16-06-2013, 09:17 PM

Hey Marke.
Looking like it is gettimg close! How do the poles attach to the mirror box? Are they flattened ends and just bolt to the inside of the box?

Malcolm

Marke (Mark) · #51 16-06-2013, 09:28 PM

Getting close alright , just waiting on the missing bits and the secondary.
The poles attach with very strong machined AL brackets that screw into the end of the poles .

barx1963 (Malcolm) · #52 16-06-2013, 09:46 PM

Ah ha!
That make sense!

Malcolm

Marke (Mark) · #53 18-06-2013, 08:57 AM

At last secondary is on its way along with the other bits I was waiting for I can then finish off the upper cage. Put an order in for Argo Navis so thats the next thing to go on

Marke (Mark) · #54 22-06-2013, 06:57 PM

While waiting for the last parts and the Argo Navis to arrive I started thinking about adding power to the upper cage .
Depending on balance I would like to mount the Argo on the upper cage and at the same time use aux power for the secondary heater .
I put an RCA plug near the truss mount to take power from the main batteries . I will run some wires up a truss pole , I could put them inside I guess just a lot more fiddling but can always do it later .
Off to Jaycar to get some bits to make up a little junction box for the UC
that can power the Argo and dew heater or any thing else I need up there .

Test fitted the main mirror today and all good except the sling is a little long and leaves a lot of excess adjustment bolt and not much room for
further tightening . It should be ok and I will need to cut off some excess leftover length from the bolts or maybe replace them with shorter ones
will see what Astrosystems says.

Marke (Mark) · #55 29-06-2013, 09:33 AM

Well now have pretty much all the parts including the secondary which came yesterday. Argo will come later this week and I am just waiting on a replacement sling for the primary , the eye bolts where too long . Did a fair bit of the electrics too while waiting for the last week . Will post up the pics and go thru everything over the weekend including making up a stalk for the DSC , there is quite a bit to post but all good so far

Marke (Mark) · #56 29-06-2013, 06:36 PM

Here is how the upper cage now looks minus the accessory board which still has the urethane drying . Light shroud was fiddly but all went in ok and I sprayed the inside of it flat black before fitting it.
I put the spider in and ran the wires got the heater along the top edge haven't put them thru to the other side yet as I am trying out a few options for a small power box .
This little switch box gets its power from the mirror box via a power cable that I painfully ran up the inside of a truss tube .
I ditched the 2x 6v 3Ah batteries that came with it and put in 2x 6v 7.2Ah they are same width just a bit taller and a fraction longer.

Marke (Mark) · #57 29-06-2013, 06:39 PM

Started getting the Antares secondary ready but putting on the heater , I will put it all in tomorrow after I install the finder board .
I checked focuser alignment with a laser collimator and to the best I can measure it is dead on straight so that was one less thing to play around with.

Marke (Mark) · #58 29-06-2013, 06:44 PM

I whipped up a stalk for the Argo thats due next week , I didnt want it to look too dodgy so spent a little more than some might . I have a black machined clamp coming from Moonlight to attach it to the side of the rocker box.
I may take a pic of it set up tomorrow minus the optics to show the size but
not long to go now , another week or so I think

Marke (Mark) · #59 30-06-2013, 01:48 PM

Just a quick shot of it put together minus optics , AN , finderscope and a few other touches I want to add but you get the idea.

multiweb (Marc) · #60 30-06-2013, 05:15 PM

Wow. This thing is huge.

Well done.

Hint: I like the jumper and socks. That's color coordination.