#21  
Old 30-09-2015, 05:28 PM
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codemonkey (Lee)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Ward View Post
Unfortunately I'll be away with the courier delivers the ...wait for it....129kg crate tomorrow.
So you'll be mounting it on a HEQ5 I take it?
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  #22  
Old 30-09-2015, 07:07 PM
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Peter uses an EQ3

The 129kg is made up of 29kg of scope and 100kg of illegally imported Jaegermeister.
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  #23  
Old 30-09-2015, 08:08 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LewisM View Post
Peter uses an EQ3

The 129kg is made up of 29kg of scope and 100kg of illegally imported Jaegermeister.
Very cute

...but I have to say I haven't quite worked out how I'm going to get 49kg of telescope on the non-EQ3.
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  #24  
Old 01-10-2015, 09:17 PM
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Hi Peter,
have a look at this youtube skip to 3:00, I have a table lift as well and use it the same way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge1zG8-Y1kA
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  #25  
Old 01-10-2015, 09:31 PM
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looking forward to seeing the pics Peter
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  #26  
Old 02-10-2015, 07:15 AM
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Sounds like the same as the CDK17. Its not only the weight its the fact its so large and round and not that easy to get a full grab on.

Definitely a 2 man job and not worth risking losing control trying by yourself.

49kg in a straight lift is possible but not with the awkard, large round shape.

I would not attempt it by yourself. The lift table is way too low. On top of a PME is around shoulder height for a person, perhaps a bit higher.

Greg.

Last edited by gregbradley; 02-10-2015 at 10:03 AM.
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  #27  
Old 02-10-2015, 09:35 AM
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If any astro-minded mates were helping me lift it, I'd first be checking they don't have any large padded containers in their car
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  #28  
Old 04-10-2015, 09:10 PM
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Successful Alluna Landing!

It has finally arrived

I have to hand it to the Germans, even the shipping crate was impressive, a precision fit with Torx head stainless fasteners for good measure.

Also a nod of appreciation to the boys at Cope Sensitive Freight, who know how to handle large and expensive instrumentation ( eg Medical X-Ray machines) with care.

A nice touch was the instrument case for the corrector, reducer, instrument ring set etc.

What an impressive piece of kit. The move from my garage into the Obs being the next step..... some more happy snaps for now.
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Last edited by Peter Ward; 04-10-2015 at 10:04 PM.
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  #29  
Old 04-10-2015, 09:15 PM
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Gawd, you need an A380 to transport it...hang on, you got that covered

Seriously beautiful. Actually not as massive as I expected it to be.
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  #30  
Old 04-10-2015, 10:13 PM
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great stuff Peter, it looks fantastic. it will look like on the new MEII !
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  #31  
Old 06-10-2015, 10:33 PM
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Jayssussswepped....this thing is heavy.

Thankfully Alluna designed the entire back plate and primary to be removed without and dangling wires or sensors.

The Carbon truss (sans mirror) was an easy lift onto the PMEII. The back-plate and mirror assembly were then installed in-situ. (Number 1 Son's help was greatly appreciated ).

A small collimation tweak and balancing were required. I had Alluna custom machine some threads so I could side-mount various 'scopes using a pair of Losmandy's new universal 19" plates. The fit-out went without a snag.

First light was with a TeleVue Panoptic, a warm human eye and Achernar.

Sublime.

Intra and extra-focal images were effectively identical. The optics are essentially perfect.

And of course the obligatory happy-snap of the beast, now on the mount attached.

Now the wait for the correctly spaced camera adapters to arrive from Precise parts....


P.S. The "guidescope" in the background is a 5" Starfire.
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  #32  
Old 06-10-2015, 10:37 PM
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it looks like an absolutely beautiful piece of equipment. i cant wait to see the images it produces
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  #33  
Old 06-10-2015, 11:41 PM
jase (Jason)
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That's a real humdinger scope Peter. Beautiful indeed. 406mm aperture instrument fitting through a 600mm dome aperture...no problem with tight dome geometry settings. Not sure how you would go with the dome using the side scopes however. I did enjoy the guidescope reference. Will be look'n out for first light.
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  #34  
Old 07-10-2015, 07:59 AM
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Fabulous!

Are those counterweights at the end of the scope to balance the AP?

Greg.
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  #35  
Old 07-10-2015, 08:53 AM
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Had the pleasure of seeing this scope in person in its crate. Beautiful engineering! And that was just the crate.!! Sure, the scope doesn't have any red highlights but it is most definitely a thing of beauty... and big! Looking forward to first light Peter!
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  #36  
Old 07-10-2015, 09:44 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gregbradley View Post
Fabulous!

Are those counterweights at the end of the scope to balance the AP?

Greg.
I had Alluna custom machine some bolt holes on the side of the scope so
I could mount a pair of Losmandy universal plates...hence the AP slung on the west side which counterbalanced on the east.

The north south balance was for two reasons....firstly to get the OTA lower
down to better fit in the dome, and second to allow for different camera weights. This simply a standard d-plate extending from the PME saddle
with a sliding counterweight...hence no load is being applied to the carbon truss.
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  #37  
Old 07-10-2015, 11:47 AM
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Octane (Humayun)
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That is a thing of immense beauty. Wow!

Looking forward to first light. What do you have in mind?

H
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  #38  
Old 07-10-2015, 12:57 PM
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That is a thing of immense beauty. Wow!

Looking forward to first light. What do you have in mind?

H
Ta H..... First "camera" light was rather boring..an unguided 10 second exposure of Fomalhaut...as a test for any stray reflections etc.

The attached image (un-cropped 16803 field) shows it is all well behaved. We had a "southerly buster" blow through Sydney last night...i.e major fuzz-ball seeing.

Hence I wasn't too fussed about the stellar footprints, but, the lack of tell-tale bloat on dim stars or spikes around Fomalhaut itself speaks volumes on the correction and smoothness of the optics.
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  #39  
Old 07-10-2015, 01:22 PM
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Fomalhaut is looking Super Crisp i'm also super jealous a wonderfull scope.
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  #40  
Old 07-10-2015, 04:16 PM
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Peter, what are those doughnuts around Fomalhaut? There's three overlaid on top of each other, each getting bigger?

H
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