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Posts Made By: Joplin Motisher-Chittenden

January 1, 2007 10:39 PM Forum: Astro Binoculars

New Fork Mount from Lumicon/ Parks

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden
I noticed that Parks is making a new alt/ az mount for 6 & 8" newtonians that is also available from Lumicon with a craddle for binoculars. It's not exactly low priced but it's less than I would expect.

Here's the link:

http://www.lumicon.com/item_details.php?iid=LM2000&cid=0&hn=n

Joplin


January 27, 2007 05:52 PM Forum: Pictures of Me and My Telescope and........

Vixen FL80S and one cold observer

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden
Here I am using my Vixen FL80S on a Porta mount and Samson tripod. I was doing a quick lunar observing session from my front yard.

March 10, 2007 09:38 PM Forum: Mounts

Pentax Equatorial Mount

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden
I thought I would post some pictures of a Pentax MS-3n equatorial mount that I recently aquired. This mount is sold in Japan with the Pentax 75mm SDHF refractor. Stated accuracy is +/- 10" and carrying capacity is listed as 6 kilos (13.2lb). The weight is about 25lb including counterweight and clamshell ring. This is definitely the most well built small equatorial mount I've encountered.

Joplin

March 17, 2007 05:39 PM Forum: Pictures of Me and My Telescope and........

Vixen 103ED on Pentax MS-3n

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden
Here's a mount scope combo you don't see everyday. This is my Vixen 103 apo refractor mounted on my Pentax MS-3n equatorial mount. I took an afternoon in the shop to make a saddle plate adapter for the pentax mount so I could use Vixen stlye dovtetails.

February 21, 2008 08:58 PM Forum: Digital SLR AstroPhotography

Eclipse from SC

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden
I got lucky and the clouds stayed away for the duration of the lunar eclipse last night. I used a Vixen ED103S and Canon 20D and a timer remote control to take images every 5 minutes.

Joplin

April 4, 2008 01:59 PM Forum: Eyepieces

Vintage Goto Kogaku eyepieces

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden
I recently came across a couple .965" eyepieces that I'm curious about. One is marked GOTO KOGAKU H 12.5-25mm and has a removeable barlow lens, I'm guessing it's a Huygenian design. The other is simply marked B 6mm and it looks similar in style/ construction so I'd guess it is a Goto japan eyepiece as well. Does anyone know what design the B 6mm eyepiece would be ?

Thanks,
Joplin

April 8, 2008 03:45 AM Forum: Pictures of Me and My Telescope and........

Ready for a night of observing with my 8"

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden
Here's a picture of me with my 8" F6.2 newtonian setup in the yard ready for some observing. One can hardly tell from my expression but I'm pretty excited about getting the scope out after a rainy new moon weekend smile

May 22, 2008 11:47 PM Forum: Telescope Making

Surplus lenses from Semiconductor industry

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden
I've noticed a couple lenses lately on the big evil auction site that are surplus from the semiconductor industry. These are usually very fast but I was thinking that one might make an ok richfield telescope. The problem is that these were used for ultraviolet lithography so I assume they would be corrected for that wavelenth. Has anyone tried using one of these lenses ?

Joplin

June 2, 2008 06:17 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

16" Lightbridge Truss Clamp Mod

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden
One thing that I've always had trouble with on my 16" Meade Lightbrige is the truss poles slipping slightly on the lower tube assembly. The clamps on the lower tube assembly are poorly designed and allow about 3/16" of slipage if the knob loosens slightly or if a heavy accessory is attached like a Binoviewer. Yesterday I took off the top rim of the lower tube assembly (which anchors the lower clamps). I carefully drilled and tapped it for larger 3/8 X 16 hardware. I replaced the stock knobs with much stronger adjustable locking levers. I had to file out the holes on the clamps just a bit so the larger bolt could pass through. The result is that even with the clamps partially engaged there is less than 1/16" of play, once they are locked down there is zero play. Also the levers can easily be operated with gloves and are much easier to tighten. If anyone is interested I can post some pictures of the mod.

Joplin

June 21, 2008 11:03 PM Forum: Insects - Flowers and Other Small Stuff - Photos

Damselflies

Posted By Joplin Motisher-Chittenden
Went out to a local nature park this morning looking Dragonflies and Damselflies. I found a few cooperative ones that let me get pretty close. Canon 20D @ ISO 800, 70-200mm F4L.

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