Posts Made By: Floyd Blue

Well, I decided to make myself a counter weight caddy today. I was looking at one from JMI, but the diameter was 20mm and I needed 7/8" for the Meade LXD650 Weights.
So, I looked at the design and thought, well I can make something similar from materials at the metal salvage.
I bought some 3/16" x 2.5" aluminum, 3' which was more than twice what I needed, but I wanted to have extra in case I screwed up the first one. Then I bought 1 foot of 7/8 aluminum tubing for the shaft. Total cost was $5 for the aluminum.
Next at Lowes I picked up a 6.5" handle and four 1/4 x 20 counter sink screws 1/2" long and 4 bar style t-nuts.
Drilled the holes for everything and cut it to size and then proceeded to bend the two 90° bends in the frame.
It took a while to bend the aluminum, had to heat it first to soften it so it would bend.
Cleaned it up afterward and assembled the caddy.
I used two 7/8 plastic caps for the shaft as keepers. One is slipped on tightly to the end and the other is able to slip off and on easily enough. It keeps the shaft in place and doesn't add to the complexity of the design.
Simple was my plan and it turned out well, it is much easier to carry the 25 lbs+ of weight this way than to carry the weights individually.

Well, I decided to make myself a counter weight caddy today. I was looking at one from JMI, but the diameter was 20mm and I needed 7/8" for the Meade LXD650 Weights.
So, I looked at the design and thought, well I can make something similar from materials at the metal salvage.
I bought some 3/16" x 2.5" aluminum, 3' which was more than twice what I needed, but I wanted to have extra in case I screwed up the first one. Then I bought 1 foot of 7/8 aluminum tubing for the shaft. Total cost was $5 for the aluminum.
Next at Lowes I picked up a 6.5" handle and four 1/4 x 20 counter sink screws 1/2" long and 4 bar style t-nuts.
Drilled the holes for everything and cut it to size and then proceeded to bend the two 90° bends in the frame.
It took a while to bend the aluminum, had to heat it first to soften it so it would bend.
Cleaned it up afterward and assembled the caddy.
I used two 7/8 plastic caps for the shaft as keepers. One is slipped on tightly to the end and the other is able to slip off and on easily enough. It keeps the shaft in place and doesn't add to the complexity of the design.
Simple was my plan and it turned out well, it is much easier to carry the 25 lbs+ of weight this way than to carry the weights individually.

Well, I had some time on my hands, the wife went to her mother's house for the weekend. 8)

So, I decided to do some changes on my Starmaster that I had been wanting to do for a while.

The Starmasters come with Glass Board for the AZ bearing on the rocker box and I am just not a real fan of the stuff. It is noisy and a bit rough for my taste. So, I had purchased some Ebony Star a while back as well as some Sand Star, which is the blond version of the laminate.

I did some preliminary test with Teflon on the two types of laminate and decided that the Ebony Star was indeed slightly more slick. The Sand Star is not quite as bumpy and this seems to make it smoother but a little more friction. Still it is good stuff and I have used it before.

So, I took it all apart, made a new Ebony Star plate for the bottom with all the holes and stuff for the ServoCat. Then I installed it and tested the movement. I found that once again the Ebony Star was smoother and more quiet than the Glass Board. I am happy now and the stiction is less so the ServoCat will be happier too I think.

Also replaced the Teflon Pads for the ALT bearings, making them 2" x 3/4" x 1/4". Again, smoother movement for the ServoCat motors. I think the size of the pads was OK before, but not optimal.

While I was at it I gave the ZOC mirror a bath and now it is all shine! Checked the alignment of all the optical train too. Cleaned everything with the Vacuum cleaner and wiped down all the dust and grime. Getting ready for next Saturday an MT Pinos. Hope the weather is good and no curse occurs from all the work.

Here is my first image ever!
M5 taken last night with my WO 80mm APO and the Meade DSI II Color camera. Meade LXD650 mount with no autoguiding.
60 frames of 21 seconds, RGBL.
What do you think? Critics are welcome.

Second pic, not enough data I think, but I am trying.

Well, here is the last shot from that night after processing in CS2.
20sec and about 30 exposures or so stacked. Hope you approve.

Hi all,
We went to Wind Wolves Preserve, a local wild life preserve,last night and I captured M8 and M17.
Here is my M17 image. 30secs x 173 exposures, DSI II C, WO 80mm Triplet, no guiding, PS CS2 processing with FITS Liberator.
What do you think?

I got a TV .8 focal reducer with my WO 80mm scope and would like to use it. It will screw onto the DSI II C camera with the nose piece removed, but then I do not seem to get a focus and there is a orange color too. It says that there should be 56mm between the chip and the flange on the TV site. Does this mean that I should be using a spacer or something with the reducer?

I got a TV .8 focal reducer with my WO 80mm scope and would like to use it. It will screw onto the DSI II C camera with the nose piece removed, but then I do not seem to get a focus and there is a orange color too. It says that there should be 56mm between the chip and the flange on the TV site. Does this mean that I should be using a spacer or something with the reducer?

Here is another try at M5. Hope you like it.