I finally finished my Frankenstein project. I married a NexStar brain to Konus eye. Actually I'm being way too melodramatic. What I did was take a Konus Motormax 130, that's a 5" Maksutov to those out there that don't know them, and mate it to a Nexstar Goto mount/tripod. I added a three position rotary filter holder to it and stuffed it with a polarizer and an N.D. filter. That configuration is for our local clubs monthly outreach to the public that we call "Bark at the Moon". Now all that is left for me to do on this scope is order some Baader Solar film and make up a white light filter for "Solar Saturdays", another of our outreach programs.
In the meantime I still have a 5" F9.3 Achro to get reoriented in a more vertical position. I have already named this one my "Lazarous" project. I'm converting a surveyors tripod for the base and I am resurrecting a CG-5 mount that was severely frozen up from corrosion. But then again the mount has two drive motors with it and most of the control wiring and parts. Thrown into this is the pillar extension that I'm fabricating out of a piece of 3 1/2" aluminum pipe with 1/2" wall. Yep, that should be sturdy enough. I'm hoping that this all ends up as a motorized 5" Achro on an equitorial mount.
In the meantime I still have a 5" F9.3 Achro to get reoriented in a more vertical position. I have already named this one my "Lazarous" project. I'm converting a surveyors tripod for the base and I am resurrecting a CG-5 mount that was severely frozen up from corrosion. But then again the mount has two drive motors with it and most of the control wiring and parts. Thrown into this is the pillar extension that I'm fabricating out of a piece of 3 1/2" aluminum pipe with 1/2" wall. Yep, that should be sturdy enough. I'm hoping that this all ends up as a motorized 5" Achro on an equitorial mount.
