Posts Made By: Floyd Blue

I own a computer company and received this notice today, watch out!
"Russian Hackers attack.
According to Hypponen, the group has hacked into Web servers of some major Internet service providers that host "huge" Web sites, such as an online auction site and banking sites, to append malicious code to their pages. This code, which security researchers are calling "Scob," connects a user's PC to Web addresses run by the hackers from which they can silently download and install a Trojan horse. The code then uses a keystroke logger to collect Web surfers' passwords, log-ins, PayPal payment data and other sensitive information, Hypponen said. The information is then sent to Web sites where the hackers can retrieve them."
Floyd

It just pulls right off. You can put any knob onthere with a 1/2" hole in it as I remember. I bought a nice 1 3/4" knob from a hardware store with a brass insert and set screw with a 3/8" hole ans just drilled it our to 1/2" and used the set screw to hold it in place. Works great. There is also a 6to1 dual speed being made by a sponsor here that is almost ready for shipment. Cost was $70 and it has two knobs, none large and one smaller, with the 6to1 reduction on the smaller knob.
Floyd

To my amazement, I was able to push 802x (62x per inch) with my 12.5" DOB tonight on the moon with a good clean image! Blow me down, that new Elliptical Flat sure made some mprovement on this scope!
Floyd

I just had a bit of correspondence with a fellow about a mirror. He posted a picture of it covered with dirt, fingerprints and possible scratches with glue on the backside. When I asked about the condition and my concern that it was scratched due to the poor condition shown on the picture, he thought I was being too critical! 8O I mean, if you don't take any care of the item and let it get covered with dirt and fingerprints, you would think that a person would wonder about the actual condition of the coatings under all that dirt.
Oh well, I guess that I can not tell some one what to do or how to represent something or even how to take care of their belongings. But it sure seems to me that anyone would ask the same type of questions that I did. I guess maybe I am a little picky about my purchases, but hey, you have to be careful right?
I mean, look at the pictures of my 2 flats I just sent off for re coating, would you want to buy them in that condition? Hehe, I doubt that you would want to or at least you would ask some questions about them. 8)
Floyd

This is a copy of a message sent to Rick about his latest article. I wanted all to share in it.
Rick,
Good article!
You bring up many good points and the comparisons are quite right.
The formula is enough to give me a headache, but that is OK.
The basic idea that a scope is a combination of its components is right on the money. Too much emphasis is placed on the primary alone I feel and to little is attributed to the other factors. For the most part, I have seen far too many people that feel "Good Enough" is fine. This is selling the scope short in my opinion. Too little effort is put into collimation and alignment of the optical train for instance. Misalingment and poor collimation degrades the image more than the quality of the mirror in some cases. The choice of components and even the elimination of scattered light with various techniques, flocking, and painting of surfaces and proper baffles or baffle like structures are overlooked. Every little improvement adds to the quality and many small improvements add up to one large improvement. The fine-tuning of a scope can be as productive as any money spent.
I would like to see an article written on this. Something that brings an understanding of how a great scope is actually made. I know that the best manufacturers are already aware of this, but I think that many ATM people are not.
Thanks again for taking the time to explain these complex issues.
Floyd

I have a friend with a new DOB. He is getting a weird aberration on the star test that we are trying to trace down.
It disappears by placing you hand over the edge of the secondary cage opening by about 1". This happens around the same area as above the focuser. At first that is what I thought it was, focuser intrusion and the brightly polished rails of the FeatherTouch focuser. But the he found that with an EP that did not place the focuser into the secondary, it was still there.
The aberration switches from about 7:30 position to about 180° of 2:30 position with a change from in focus to out focus diffraction rings.
I am running out of ideas at this time. He believes it might be pinched optics, perhaps the secondary, but I did not think this would be the result of that.
Here is a picture where I try to show what it looks like, a set of horns on the outer ring.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
I will get two diag mirrors back in a couple of weeks and we can try one of those then, but I would like to try to find the problem before then.
Floyd

You know I have been noticing lately a situation that really has me wondering. I see a lot of scopes and other equipment, most of which is top of the line stuff, for sale with a comment of "Used a few times" or " Used 2-3 time" or "Used once".
I can't help but wonder why some one would pay that much for something and only use it once or three times and then sell it for a large loss? Heck, some of them are the finest scopes made! Some are the best EPs made! What is going on here?
Floyd

I just got my new Quartz 2.6" Diag in the mail. I have already installed it and now will wait for a good night to give it a try.
The Interferogram has it at .045 P/V (1/22.22 wave) and .007 RMS ( 1/143 wave) @ .001 power! Not bad!
Surface/Wavefront is .023 P/V ( 1/43.5 wave) and .004 RMS (1/250 wave).
I feel this is about as good as it gets, unless I wanted to spend a bit more for a 1/30 wave mirror. Not sure it would be much better than this anyway.
The fringe map look perfect.
We will see if this makes any difference at the EP or not. Might be a week before the moon goes away enough to warrant taking it out, maybe I will just take it out anyway.
So, here is hoping for a miracle. Hehe.
Floyd

Well, I have not had any dealings with Mr. Burgess, but I did get a chance to do a little beta testing of his new SWA and WA EPs.
I was very pleased with the 32mm SWA for suggested price of $69! It was very close to a 35mm Panoptic in quality of view. It rivaled the 31mm Nagler ror edge to edge in my f/4.9 DOB and it had great through put and color rendition. I thought it was better than the WA EPs bu a bit and better than the 16mm too.
If his other EPs in the UWA and Maximum are as good as that 2" EP, I just might buy a set.
Floyd

Man, I have been working for quite a while to get my three laser collimator's to be exactly aligned with one another. I finally got there today after one last hour of adjustments. LaserMax, Kendrick’s and the Orion Lasermate are the three that I own.
Now you could say I am being picky about this, but it always bugged me to see that the 3 would just not quite pick the same point. It was always a tiny bit off. The problem with that is that one is right and the other is wrong and which is which?
So I have been working with them for a couple of months. I always get tired after an hour or so and I just quit and come back to it later.
I really like the Kendrick for the 45° angled face and star burst cuts that make perfect alignment easy.
I like the LaserMax for setting up optical alignment because of the laser grid that it has. This makes setting up a secondary or even a focuser easier.
The Orion Lasermate is just a lightweight 1.25" for smaller scopes, it does not affect balance as much and does not make loose focuser's shift so badly as the heavier other two lasers.
I must say that it is not an easy task to align these things. It takes time and patients to get it right. Just one turn of the wrong screw and "BAM" your out of alignment! But once they are properly aligned they do a fine job of getting that collimation right on the money.
July 4th there were so many fireworks going off that I was able to see the laser going though the air in the scope! It was pretty cool because it allowed me to see the beam in perfect alignment. It was amazing to see that tiny beam striking the exact same spot and following the same path through the air. I don't recommend it though because it made for very lousy seeing.
I have thought about writing an article and review concerning this procedure, but not sure that it would be well received. Maybe I will anyway.
For those who have not checked their Lasers for collimation, I recommend that you do so before your next outing. You might be surprised how far off it really is when you check it out.
Floyd