Posts Made By: Rod Nabholz

As you can see, pretty simple - a couple of binder clips, two 3" number 10 stove bolts some matching nuts and lock washers and a small block of metal known as a "machine key" - all available at a decently stocked hardware store.

To put the mount together, you first start by drilling 2 holes in both binder clips along the top side - evenly spaced, down the center line, just large enough for the bolt to slip through.

Now take your stove bolts and a nut for each, thread the nut all the way to the head and then squeeze open the binder clip and insert the bolt through the hole.

Now take a lock washer and another nut and run those down the bolt and tighten firmly against the binder clip.

With another nut for each bolt, thread it down just far enough to allow the end of the bold to pass through the other binder clip and have enough bolt exposed to start another nut. Add that nut and tighten them tightly against both sides of the binder clip.

Now we take the Daisy sight and remove the two screws that attach the dovetail clamp to the unit and remove them- we will not be using them.

Now you can attach Daisy sight by squeezing the binder clip and sliding the bottom portion of the sight into the clamp.

Sorry, lots of words - it should now look something like this:

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and experiences.

I think that I am going to try the Orion Electronic Focusing Unit and see how I like it. I do like the hands off aspect, the relatively low price, and not having to change out my focuser.

If it proves not to be the answer, I can always recoup a good deal of the cost thanks to our Host Site, and pull the trigger on one of the premium units.

Thanks again everyone.

For very little money and effort you could build something like the mount below for it.

It can work surprisingly well.

More pictures here:

http://www.homebuiltastronomy.com/kidpeek/index.htm

Good Luck,

Terry Ostahowski recently stepped out on his own to offer premium mirrors. As you may know, he was the optician at Discovery and during his time Discovery earned a reputation for consistently high quality mirrors.

In his new business, he provides laser interferograms with every mirror - if you want to be sure of quality, that is one way to insure that you get what you pay for.

I recently acquired a special 13.1" f4.5 mirror that Terry figured specifically for a repeat customer while at Discovery, he even signed this one. Interferogram testing showed it was figured to .97 Strehl, RMS .027, and PtoV of 0.16. It is a really super mirror and is providing outstanding views.

As others have said - hard to go wrong with any of the names offered in these responses.

Bill,

You need a "tee nut". It is a threaded insert that would install through the platform on the bottom side and allow you you to run a threaded rod through it. Add a foot for the end of the rod, and a knob at the other end and you are all set.

You would want to get a pretty good sized one to handle the weight.

Go to www.mcmaster.com and search for "tee nut" and you can get a look at one.

A well stocked hardware store should have them.

Good Luck with the project

Hello Joplin,

Please don't let me stop you from putting together your thoughts and sharing them with everyone. The more information available for prospective buyers the better as far as I am concerned.

Regarding the field stop - I was initially excited when I read WO's number - that meant it would show a larger apparent field than the Nag 31mm. I have since read elsewhere as well that the published number is wrong.

But it is a great performing eyepiece, and I enjoy it more everytime I go out.

Clear Skies

Rod

Super shot of a very striking species! The pose is really nice, especially because it highlights the red and yellow wing and tail "dips".

There is a bit more to be seen here though. In my experience with all of the Canon cameras I have owned, the shots right out of the camera nearly always benefit from the judicious use of some unsharp masking. I hope you don't mind that I grabbed it and tweaked it a bit, and am attaching it below.

It is a very well executed, sharp shot, you did very well!

Thanks to the kind assistance of Michael Dziak at Astro Trim, the templates have been cleaned up, and are now available in BMP, JPEG, and TIFF Formats.

Thanks Michael!