Posts Made By: Floyd Blue

My two dogs love to lounge around together, when they aren't wrestling on the floor that is!

Please send all these defective EPs to me for further evaluation, immediately! 8)

I spent Saturday night on Mt. Wilson with "The Local Group", thanks to Linton for inviting me.
We had a good time with viewing being fair to good, but not exceptional.
Viewing through this 60" historical instrument was very cool. This was my first time there and it was a neat experience.
Here is a picture of the scope for your pleasure.

I got my 24mm Panoptic to day. My 9th Televue EP. It will take the place of the 25mm WO Swan that did not work out. The Swan just was not up to the grade as far as quality optics go.
It sure is small! 8O It looks like a baby in the case next to the Naglers and Radians.
Hope to get the chance to try it out this weekend. I will report telling what I think of it after the first night of use.

Hi Carl,
I am really happy to see the 28" is ready for paint. One more of those and a 16" and my scope is into production. 8)
He makes a hell of a scope! Absolutely excellent construction and execution.

Last night was a pretty good night and myself and two friends took advantage of it. We went out to a Private Wildlife Preserve near by and set up our scopes. We had a 15" f/4.2 Split-tube Discovery, a 10" f/5 Hardin and my 14.5" f/4.3 Starmaster.
I was doing a test for someone of the Antares 25mm W-70 EP and I wanted to try it in more than one scope and with more than one set of eyes.
I was also wanting to give my Starmaster a good run after making some changes to the Alt bearing Teflon surfaces and reworking the primary mirror clips. Plus I wanted to try the EQ Platform again after making a few changes on it as well.
We waited for darkness to fall and then started with Jupiter and Saturn. Jupiter was a bit low and want to clear so I waited until later for it to rise. Saturn was looking good.
After it was fully dark I began looking at Galaxy Alley near M-86 in Coma Berenices and there were so many Galaxies present that I lost count! I had 9 in the FOV of the 20mm Nagler at one time. 8O
I tested the 25mm W-70 in this region and found it to be fine for an inexpensive EP. It did not compare to the 24mm Panoptic, but the inner 60% or so of the FOV was quite good. It did loose its edge though, especially in the f/4.2 and f/4.3. But overall I would give it a thumbs up in throughput and contrast, with a good rating overall in FOV compared to the WO Swan or the GSO Superview.
I also worked for a while getting my friends 10" Hardin collimated precisely, so that we could do so testing of the optics. After a good collimation and a couple of hours cool down, we tried many EPs and object to evaluate it. Pleasantly surprised, he found that the views in the scope were actually quite good. We have worked on the movements in the Dob for a while and also on stiffening the rocker box. It seems we have made some real improvements.
The viewing got very good around 11pm and I spent quite a while comparing the view between the Discovery and the Starmaster on many galaxies, globulars, nebula and the comet. The Discovery did quite well, but no doubt about the Zambuto mirror outperforming the Discovery in contrast and overall quality of image. But, the Discovery was very good really.
I am becoming a big fan of the EQ Platform. It performs quite well and tracks very accurately over its 1 hour and 15 minute cycle. I am very happy I made the jump and bought it. I would recommend this as an alternative to the expensive Go-To systems for those who can not afford to spend the extra cash. It is a great substitute when combined with DSC.

This is a friends Hardin 10" scope that he recently purchased.
Here is a collage of pictures showing the modifications I have made to improve the handling and feel of the scope. Mostly we improved the stiffness of the structure to stop the vibrations while viewing and moving the scope. You can just see the new Teflon bearings for the Azmuith to replace the roller bearing assembly above the new foot. The movement is very good now and vibrations are dampened almost immediately.
Feel free to use any of the idea I had in doing this project. If anyone needs help or explanations concerning these mods, feel free to contact me.

This is the big brother of my ZZ-10 scope that is coming this summer! Same color scheme and even the podium for the DSC.

Here is our area in the spring!

Here is our area in the spring!