Greetings All,
Looks like I'm going to be a day late to Chiefland, but if all goes well the
new binos will get first light (with a pointing system) on Tuesday.
Had a set back at the beginning of the week fighting with the upper rotating
ring assemblies. My first idea on guides for the rotating rings failed due to a
"My idea just didn't fit in the given amount of space" problem. Solved guide
problem by converting a lot of Delrin in to tiny pieces, most of which found
their way to the trash heap.
Once the rotating ring guide problem was solved, I ran into a stiction problem
in the rotating rings. The stiction problem was solved by selecting 'Really'
thin plastic laminates and just a touch of Lithium grease.
Experienced "wanna be first light" Wednesday. I say wanna be as I didn't yet
have an alt / az system. To build the Tri-Dob styled Alt/Az system, I had to
load all the optics into the OTA to find the center of gravity (as I'm not smart
enough to calculate it mathematically). Since the optics were already in, I
just left it near zenith and took a quick peek to make sure everything
collimated / focused properly, which they did :)
The last few days have been dedicated to building the Tri-Dob Alt - Az system
and drive assemblies. So far so good, today I dry fitted and manually tested
the Alt / Az system, so worse case I know it will work in manual mode for
Chiefland.
Late this evening I had a new 'first', I hobbed out two 1" OD 16 thread per
inch brass worm gears. Surprisingly, my jury rigged system worked on the first
try each time! I'm fairly stunned at how simple making worm gears is (well, I
guess these are not "true" worm gears, as I'm using machine threads....)
Anyway, pictures of all the above adventures can be seen here:
http://lerch.no-ip.com/atm/Projects/DF_Optics_16_Bino_Stuff_Low/page_01.htm
Tomorrow I have to figure out how to attach the stepper motors, figure out the
final gear ratios, finish painting, add some light shields, and I think its
ready to go :)
Take Care,
James Lerch
http://lerch.no-ip.com/atm (My telescope construction,testing, and coating site)
"Anything that can happen, will happen" -Stephen Pollock from:
"Particle Physics for Non-Physicists: A Tour of the Microcosmos"
" Press on: nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. "
Calvin Coolidge
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