Hi all,
Pretty exciting for me, getting a larger imaging scope. 8)
My VC200L arrived yesterday and I unpacked it to inspect everything. Another good deal found on Astromart of course!
A few spots on the mirror, but not a lot so I will probably leave it for now and
clean it later. The rest of it was great.
So, I modified the 24" Losmandy Dovetail Plate so that I could put the Parallax
rings on it with the scope centered on the 24" plate. Now the dovetail can slide
further forward to bring the center of gravity forward. The other owner had used
the long dovetail with the scope mounted to the rear and a 6 lb or so counter
weight was mounted on the nose of the plate to bring the balance forward. I
decided to try to use the scope's own weight as well as the guide scope's weight
to achieve the balance and then add weight if needed. This way I will have as
little load on the mount as possible.
I also got the GSO 10-1 reduction drive adapted to the focuser and then adapted
the Starizona MicroTouch Autofocuser drive motor to the reduction drive, so now
it is ready to go.
Then I made a nice 30" x 16" x 13" case for the scope using a Footlocker and
custom cut 3" foam cradles and padding. Came out rather nice and it will protect
the scope.
I bought the Footlocker at K-Mart. It was $39.95 plus tax, so $43. The 3" and 2"
foam I bought from an Upholstery supply, where you go to buy fabric and foam to
do car seats or chairs. The foam cost me $12. Then I bought two larger folding
locker handles, one for each end of the footlocker as it only had a suitcase
type handle and I wanted to have two big heavy handles to carry it. These cost
me $14 with fender washers and 1/4" screws and nuts. SO total cost was $69 for
every thing. It is really nice and I will post pictures I promise. Much better than the $350 they want for cases. :^)
Now I am working on the focal reducer. I got the adapter that will let me mount
it to the camera. However, when the scope arrived, the reducer was missing the
M60 adapter that is now included with all reducers from Vixen for the VC200L.
But it seems that they used to sell it separately. So I am having Woodland Hills
Telescope see if they can get me one of these without having to buy a reducer to
get it. I will also call Vixen Monday and ask for their help if Woodland Hills
does not have any luck.
Next I will make an upper plate for the Parallax rings, lighter in weight than
the Losmandy that was used and longer too. This will give me the ability to move
the guide scope forward to the front of the plate and that will again place
weight forward. After this is finished I can mount everything on the G-11 and
see how the balance works out. If needed I will then place a counter weight on
the nose of the Dovetail Plate.
Today, I learned how to Collimate this beast! Man, it was not as easy as a Newt
and the instructions were not that great, though they did eventually show me
what was happening. But I started from scratch and removed the secondary and
aligned the focuser so that it was perpendicular to the secondary mount. I used
a LaserMax laser to shoot the hole where the screws that holds the secondary in
place and then used the holographic projection to be sure it was perfectly
centered on the secondary ring and hole.
Then I had to adjust the Primary and Secondary mirror, first one and then the
other, until I got them aligned again. Then I used a tiny hole in my garage door
that I made to be a artificial star to check the collimation and it looked very
good! I do have to say that it was a bit of a chore to do this the first time.
Next time will not be so bad and most likely it will just need a tweak now to
get it back.
So, I have accomplished a great deal this weekend I feel. Hope to get the rest
of it all together this coming week and be ready for New Moon!
Lots of work but all went pretty smooth. I will post pictures later to show
what I have done, but for now I am just going to sit down and relax for a while.
Hopefully the next new Moon I will get a chance to try it out and get an
image of something!
8) 8)
Pretty exciting for me, getting a larger imaging scope. 8)
My VC200L arrived yesterday and I unpacked it to inspect everything. Another good deal found on Astromart of course!
A few spots on the mirror, but not a lot so I will probably leave it for now and
clean it later. The rest of it was great.
So, I modified the 24" Losmandy Dovetail Plate so that I could put the Parallax
rings on it with the scope centered on the 24" plate. Now the dovetail can slide
further forward to bring the center of gravity forward. The other owner had used
the long dovetail with the scope mounted to the rear and a 6 lb or so counter
weight was mounted on the nose of the plate to bring the balance forward. I
decided to try to use the scope's own weight as well as the guide scope's weight
to achieve the balance and then add weight if needed. This way I will have as
little load on the mount as possible.
I also got the GSO 10-1 reduction drive adapted to the focuser and then adapted
the Starizona MicroTouch Autofocuser drive motor to the reduction drive, so now
it is ready to go.
Then I made a nice 30" x 16" x 13" case for the scope using a Footlocker and
custom cut 3" foam cradles and padding. Came out rather nice and it will protect
the scope.
I bought the Footlocker at K-Mart. It was $39.95 plus tax, so $43. The 3" and 2"
foam I bought from an Upholstery supply, where you go to buy fabric and foam to
do car seats or chairs. The foam cost me $12. Then I bought two larger folding
locker handles, one for each end of the footlocker as it only had a suitcase
type handle and I wanted to have two big heavy handles to carry it. These cost
me $14 with fender washers and 1/4" screws and nuts. SO total cost was $69 for
every thing. It is really nice and I will post pictures I promise. Much better than the $350 they want for cases. :^)
Now I am working on the focal reducer. I got the adapter that will let me mount
it to the camera. However, when the scope arrived, the reducer was missing the
M60 adapter that is now included with all reducers from Vixen for the VC200L.
But it seems that they used to sell it separately. So I am having Woodland Hills
Telescope see if they can get me one of these without having to buy a reducer to
get it. I will also call Vixen Monday and ask for their help if Woodland Hills
does not have any luck.
Next I will make an upper plate for the Parallax rings, lighter in weight than
the Losmandy that was used and longer too. This will give me the ability to move
the guide scope forward to the front of the plate and that will again place
weight forward. After this is finished I can mount everything on the G-11 and
see how the balance works out. If needed I will then place a counter weight on
the nose of the Dovetail Plate.
Today, I learned how to Collimate this beast! Man, it was not as easy as a Newt
and the instructions were not that great, though they did eventually show me
what was happening. But I started from scratch and removed the secondary and
aligned the focuser so that it was perpendicular to the secondary mount. I used
a LaserMax laser to shoot the hole where the screws that holds the secondary in
place and then used the holographic projection to be sure it was perfectly
centered on the secondary ring and hole.
Then I had to adjust the Primary and Secondary mirror, first one and then the
other, until I got them aligned again. Then I used a tiny hole in my garage door
that I made to be a artificial star to check the collimation and it looked very
good! I do have to say that it was a bit of a chore to do this the first time.
Next time will not be so bad and most likely it will just need a tweak now to
get it back.
So, I have accomplished a great deal this weekend I feel. Hope to get the rest
of it all together this coming week and be ready for New Moon!
Lots of work but all went pretty smooth. I will post pictures later to show
what I have done, but for now I am just going to sit down and relax for a while.
Hopefully the next new Moon I will get a chance to try it out and get an
image of something!
8) 8)
[SIZE="Large"][/SIZE][COLOR="Blue"][/COLOR] Floyd Blue
Amateur Imager
