My attempt at a DIY Equatorial mount.
- Gazbo
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My attempt at a DIY Equatorial mount.
Meade ETX80 (original) various accessories to suit. Some home-made.
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Re: My attempt at a DIY Equatorial mount.
But I am very interested to see you DIY kit. :-)
- Gazbo
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Re: My attempt at a DIY Equatorial mount.
They are all now shrunk to 600 x 400 ish - so hopefully they won't look like postal stamps !
AHA ! looks to have worked. (They have uploaded in reverse order though ! never mind. had enough now ! haha.)
I honestly didn't think there would be much interest - but here goes.......
Made from 1" sched 10 stainless pipe, with nylon machined bushings both ends, for the axle shafts. and 2mm / 3 mm plates, folded and welded to suit, to mount the worm drives etc.
Worm and crown gears are nylon items, rescued from scrap 6" valve - automated heads.
worms are mounted in bearings, in DIY carriers, from 1" box section.
Swivel lock fittings are actual 25mm dairy pipe flanges, with Gylon Gaskets providing some friction when loosened for adjusting etc.
Az mount is via same flanges / clamps. other half of which is welded to pintle top, which is a 4" heavy wall pipe, capped off at top, with 3 off, 1/4 plate fabricated outrigger legs, which have screw adjustable feet on the ends for levelling. (It's a 2 man lift to move it ! and it is carbon steel. the original white paint needs refreshing, as it sits rusting at the bottom of the garden, so no pics are included of that part yet.
the scope mounts to the fork section, as per the original Tasco tripod fork-mount, but it is then strapped down to the rear steady with either a velcro strap,(Which has recently disappeared somewhere) or a zip tie, simply to stop the tube from tilting forward / changing altitude by itself !
I had intended originally to make some kind of removable universal dovetail mount, with a 10mm round bar attached underneath, to slide back in and lock up,as per the existing mount, but alas, redundancy has temporarily stopped play !
Gazbo....
Meade ETX80 (original) various accessories to suit. Some home-made.
- Bigzmey Online
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Re: My attempt at a DIY Equatorial mount.
Mounts: SW: SkyTee2, AzGTi; iOptron: AZMP; ES: Twilight I; Bresser: EXOS2; UA: MicroStar.
Binos: APM: 100-90 APO; Canon: IS 15x50; Orion: Binoviewer, LG II 15x70, WV 10x50, Nikon: AE 16x50, 10x50, 8x40.
EPs: Pentax: XWs & XFs; TeleVue: Delites, Delos, Panoptic & Plossls; ES: 68, 62; Vixen: SLVs; Baader: BCOs, Aspherics, Mark IV.
Diagonals: Baader: BBHS mirror, Zeiss Spec T2 prism, Clicklock dielectric; TeleVue: Evebrite dielectric; AltairAstro: 2" prism.
Filters: Lumicon: DeepSky, UHC, OIII, H-beta; Baader: Moon & SkyGlow, Contrast Booster, UHC-S, 6-color set; Astronomik: UHC.
Solar: HA: Lunt 50mm single stack, W/L: Meade Herschel wedge.
Observing: DSOs: 3122 (Completed: Messier, Herschel 1, 2, 3. In progress: H2,500: 2196, S110: 77). Doubles: 2461, Comets: 34, Asteroids: 261
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Re: My attempt at a DIY Equatorial mount.
It looks great.
I am looking forward to your first light.
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Re: My attempt at a DIY Equatorial mount.
Mounts: CGEM, CG-4, EQ2, Alt Az, SLT
Cameras: ZWO ASI533MC Pro, ZWO ASI120MM, Canon 1100D
- Gazbo
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Re: My attempt at a DIY Equatorial mount.
This is a resurrected project, mainly as I have come across some decent 1" Kellner eyepieces, which fit the Tasco admirably, and are far superior than the plastic eyepieces supplied !
Hence - interest revived....
Then a light bulb suddenly flickered on! You know that moment when you slap your forehead ?
ONLY IF INTERESTED - READ ON.....
I realised (only this week) ,that I needed to again design on the laptop and to resize some "setting circles" to fit the required disc sizes of the mount, but minus about a quarter inch in diameter, then print them off.
Cut these out carefully (I printed 6 per sheet - just in case) with an Olfa circle cutter, Then to laminate these discs.
Cutting these laminations out, whilst leaving about an eighth inch lip of lamination around the outside of the paper,and about the same for the central hole, keeps the paper disc sandwiched and sealed in nicely.
Glue this lamination then, to a corresponding, fairly thin alloy disc (I cut these from an old Alu - clock dial ) for rigidity (Using aerosol clear acryllic laquer as a glue) then once dried and stuck fast - to apply a heavier clear coat of same overall to seal all the edges in. Once dried, it makes for a fairly respectable and rigid scaled circle. well - it seems to have worked anyway.
The
so is simply trapped under a central 1/8" section 'O'- ring, slid down the tube, and trapped under the scope mount unit. I greased the surfaces slightly so as to let the head revolve, but the circle to remain stationary against the gear.So the 'o'- ring provides a slight friction braking to keep the disc steady during winding, but yet it remains movable by hand for easy calibration. Hopefully I might not be winding aimlessly around all over the sky now that I have decent setting circles aboard to work with ! At least - more accurate than pure guesswork I hope ! Hope this info is useful to someone. (My lathe doesn't have any scale dials either.....Mmmmm.....I wonder.....)
Meade ETX80 (original) various accessories to suit. Some home-made.
- bladekeeper
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Re: My attempt at a DIY Equatorial mount.
Hopefully it works as nicely as it looks!
Scopes: Apertura AD12 f/5; Celestron C6-R f/8; ES AR127 f/6.4; Stellarvue SV102T f/7; iOptron MC90 f/13.3; Orion ST80A f/5; ES ED80 f/6; Celestron Premium 80 f/11.4; Celestron C80 f/11.4; Unitron Model 142 f/16; Meade NG60 f/10
Mounts: Celestron AVX; Bresser EXOS-2; ES Twilight I; ES Twilight II; iOptron Cube-G; AZ3/wood tripod; Vixen Polaris
Binoculars: Pentax PCF WP II 10×50, Bresser Corvette 10×50, Bresser Hunter 16×50 and 8×40, Garrett Gemini 12×60 LW, Gordon 10×50, Apogee 20×100
- Gazbo
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Re: My attempt at a DIY Equatorial mount.
Meade ETX80 (original) various accessories to suit. Some home-made.
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