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Lagoon and Triffid Celestron C6 Hyperstar4

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Posts Made By: Kreig McBride

May 22, 2007 07:16 PM Forum: Telescope Making

refractor tubing, sizes, tube currents, etc.

Posted By Kreig McBride
Have finally decided to use aluminum tubing for the 10" doublet. Have several choices, 10" or 12" diameter tubing.

10" tubing, cheaper, lighter, and will fit an existing equatorial mounting. 10" tubing comes very close to the edge of the light path near the doublet.

12" tubing, more expensive, heavier, stronger, needing a new mount, new worries about tube currents.

Tube wall thickness available: .064" and .094"

My biggest concern here is air currents in the 10" tubing and wall thickness.

Thoughts and recommendations please?

June 10, 2007 04:27 AM Forum: Telescope Making

wood tubes - observations and questions

Posted By Kreig McBride
Experimenting with wooden tubes, 16 sided and have both observation and questions.

I used the birds mouth router bits to make up the slates, 16 in all. There was great difficulty in making assembly, not a simple chore. Unlike regular slats cut at the correct angle, and rolled into position, the birds mouth sloted slats need to be put together individually one at a time. Looking at the joints I dont see if there is much difference in strength between regular joined slats and the birdmouthed slats. Of course we are talking about a glue joint here.

The tube I made up is 12" OD and 5 feet long. This was a test for a 12" tube 12 feet long. So right now I am thinking to use the standard angled flat face joints for the big tube.

Any thoughts, answers or comments??

Thanks, kreig




July 5, 2007 12:29 AM Forum: Solar System Observing

locating "planet" Pluto

Posted By Kreig McBride


Where can I find a locator map for pluto? There used to be one printed yearly in Sky&Telescope but did not see one this year.

Thanks for you reply.


July 5, 2007 03:28 AM Forum: Maksutovs

market value for a C5 camera?

Posted By Kreig McBride
What is market value for a Celestron 5" Schmidt Camera with film holder? Or is there a market at all?


July 9, 2007 05:02 PM Forum: After Dark

observing lists

Posted By Kreig McBride
Looking for some interesting observing lists I could print off the internet. My intent is to hand out a paper coies to a few of my non-observing friends for their viewing pleasure.

#1 For a new user to find and observe a variety of sky objects.

#2 For me to explore some new and interesting lists. 8" scope.

I would prefer these list would cover objects NOW viewable in the night sky, (July)

your recommendations please.

July 10, 2007 01:37 PM Forum: Star Parties

TMSP this week!!

Posted By Kreig McBride
Looking forward to another great week at Table Mountain Star Party in Washington State and hope to see many of you there. I will arrive Wednesday, stop by the green and yellow scope for a visit.

Kreig


September 1, 2007 03:20 PM Forum: Telescope Making

3" shaft bearings, your thoughts please!!

Posted By Kreig McBride
Needing to mount a 3" dia shaft in a horizontal position with some space limitations. Pillow blocks are way too large for this design. I did find some hanger bearings at over $350 each!! Pillow block bearings are not exactly cheap. I could probably use sleeve bearings but this requires a lot of machine work and was looking for something that I could bolt in. Any suggestions or ideas?

September 2, 2007 02:25 AM Forum: Telescope Making

Where to buy 3"ID teflon pipe?

Posted By Kreig McBride
Looking for a resource to purchase 3"ID Teflon pipe with 1/4" wall. Any surplus locations or good deals anywhere?


October 12, 2007 04:39 PM Forum: AstroMart FAQ

classifieds - is there a wanted section?

Posted By Kreig McBride
In reference to the classifieds:

Where to post for wanted items?
Why not have a section for optics?

May 28, 2008 10:53 PM Forum: Eyepieces

need help with calculations

Posted By Kreig McBride
In my efforts to determine tube length and location of focuser for the new telscope, I set up temporary "bench" to measure eyepiece locations at infinity. Estimated focal length = 133 inches. I could see an image in a 55 plossle, a 41 panoptic and a 32 Erfle. Shorter focal lengths were impossible to see outdoors. So how do I determine where shorter fl eyepieces will land? How does a barlow affect eyepiece position?
Measurements to end of barrel; 56 plossel, 135 3/8", 41 Panoptic, 134 3/8 , 32 panoptic 134 3/4. Of course these measurements are reference only. I have several more eyepices, 20 Nagler down to 4.8. Thanks for any help.

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