Posts Made By: Floyd Blue

For those involved with orders and scopes, here is the latest.

Hi Floyd,

We are ok at the camping area. Met new friends that live nearly by. We went check my house and shop last Saturday and my shop has minimal damages on roof and one side wall is flipped down. The shop machines were Ok. The house has holes in the roof. We put blue tarps on to keep from getting more rain inside. We cleaned up front yard, cut down trees Next week we will go back to work more the back yard, more trees, big oak and pines trees. We can't stay overnight, still no power and water. We had leave before 7 pm, curfew law. If we stay after dark, we will be in jail. I just learned that we allowed 30 min use per day, on this library computer. Library is open Monday and Wednesday only.
After talking the State police, we might able go home by Oct. 15th., maybe before.
Will come back to the library this Wednesday after lunch.

clear skies!
Astro Sky

Hi all,
Here is a shot of my new 10" with the Zambuto at Mt Pinos last Saturday night. It was first light at a dark site, second time out but first was at a light polluted site.
My wife is in the picture and I am taking it.

The Formica can be used on a round bearing. It can be undercut or sanded thinner or heated to allow it to be wrapped around.
Once it is cut into the thin strip, it is much more flexible.
Also you could use a textured material that is used for tub enclosers. It is usually found in white and at most any home improvement store..
Another alternative is ABS textured 1/16" that is available at most plastic supply stores.

Well, today I complete the installation of the Servo-Cat Jr and Argo Navis Go-To System.
Everything came out nicely! The Podium and quick disconnect system is all working. I still have to do all the initial set up of the Argo Navis and apply all the updated software for the system, but the real works is all finsihed. 8)
What do you think of the installation?

Hi, thought I would post a picture of my completed scope with the ServoCat and Argo Navis installed.

I am wondering how many here have encountered encoder errors due to the arm type that was used to mount them. I have recently had to replace the AZ arm that came with my scope. It was a metal arm that had two angles and a hole for a screw to hold it. I think it was Astrosystems but not certain. The strain from the mounting caused errors of about .5° when slewing. I made a new one from 1/16" ABS and used the slotted mount type and now the errors are corrected.
The reason for this query is that I also received an email from someone concerning errors and I replied to him with this explanation. Anyone else see this happen?

Here is a picture my wife took Saturday. The night was not too good, but what the heck, we had fun.

I have decided to get my secondary re coated with Dielectric coatings at L&L this winter. 71 layers to produce virtually 100% reflectivity for only $55 is pretty reasonable. Richard and I talked about the controversy concerning changes in figure and he assured me that he produces 1/20 wave optics for a major company and each one is checked after coating by that company. He starts off with 1/30 wave optics to make sure that the 1/20 wave will be met and says he has no problems with the Dielectric coatings making the grade.
Another interesting detail was that the Dielectric coatings provide a better, more even, reflectance in the red and blue spectrum in the visual range. So they might even be better for Astrophotography?
It was also mentioned that cleaning is no problem with them, that you could use your t-shirt if you had too. 8O I would never do that, but it would be nice to be able to clean the secondary without it becoming scratched. My secondary had something on it when it arrived that would just not clean off the coatings with normal methods and the only thing that got it off was repetitious cleaning with pure alcohol, MEK and Acetone. Even then it did not all come off. I would really love to know what the heck it was! The fellow I bought the Starmaster from stated that it had never been cleaned and the scope was only 7 months old. So I have no idea of how it could have been so covered with this substance. It looked as if you had placed something on it and then smeared it around! :S
I did get it pretty clean in the end, but not without some sleeks and small scratches in the coating. They do not seem to effect the views, but I just don't like to see them there, so the coating will be done.
I will try to let all know how this all turns out.

Tom,
That looks very good! Nice dog too!
I looked into Frontier when I was getting my last scope. They seemed very good quality.
Did you find the 15" Split-tube to be just too awkward to transport and pick up? My friend has one and I find it to be very large around making it difficult for one person to set up, no impossible , just difficult.

Well, tonight I got to check the ServoCat out for Go-To function for the first time. A first light so to speak. I did it in the back yard and the seeing was crappy, but the Go-To worked great. I went to several stars and Messier objects and it was really cool to watch the scope quickly slew across the sky. WOW! All that work and testing is worth it. 8) Now for a good night with no clouds.
Tomorrow night it is off to my private air strip site for a night of Mars viewing on the eve of the Opposition. But we will use the 10" with the EQ Platform for the night. It is suppose to be pretty good tomorrow there, at least I hope the predictions are right.
Anyone else getting out for the opposition?