Posts Made By: Gerry Hamilton

Does anybody have one?

I've been looking around for a couple of weeks, including all the usual suspects: Orion, Meade, Celestron, Hoya, VernonScope and others. I cannot find one.

According to a chart on Page 83 of the August issue of Astronomy, this filter has a 17 percent transmission and works well in large telescopes.

Gerry
State College, Pa.

Part of an article on Page 107 of the August issue of Sky & Telescope talks about trimming a gelatin filter (Violet or Deep Blue) to aid in viewing the moons of Mars. Basically, this means cutting the filter in half. When using the filter position Mars in the filtered half of the field, and look for the moons in the unfiltered half.

I am not exactly sure what a gelatin filter is. I think all of my color filters are glass.

Has anybody tried this?

Gerry
State College, Pa.

I ordered mine on Sept. 30, 2002. The MaxScope 60 and accessories arrived 1-27-03, the 25mm Cemax arrived Feb. 17. If you have been invoiced and the maximum time is approaching, try sending an inquiry to Coronado.

The MaxScope is great. Some documentation would have been a nice touch. I have not had a chance to try the Cemax yet ... maybe this weekend.

Gerry
State College, Pa.

I've been wondering the same thing for a MaxScope. Is there any coating on the very front surface of the filter?

I have a glass white-light filter and the coating is on the inside only and the inside is rarely exposed to anything.

Gerry
State College, Pa.

I use an Orion Short Tube 90 on a 24-inch Starmaster. I made a mount using wood and two scope rings.

The mount attaches to the rocker box in two places (top of the box and bottom of the box) and those are the only two places the mount touches the box. I used a bracket at the top and a small Quick Grip clamp at the bottom. I did not need to modify the rocker box. The portion of the mount with the ST90 cantilevers from the rocker box. By happy accident, the contraption is self balanced.

The wood is a piece of 3/4-inch plywood 33 inches long and 2-1/2 inches wide. That rests on two small blocks of wood (attached to the plywood), which are what actually touches the rocker box.

I am about to make Version 2 using higher-quality piece of 2x2 hardwood (to reduce the give) that is a little longer (so the eyepiece can be a little higher). I will also use cradle rings so I can easily remove the ST90 for other uses. I may also use a little felt where the mount touches the rocker box.

Actually, I'm going to try mounting the cradle rings on a rail on the 2x2 so I can change the position of the ST90 depending on whether the main scope is pointed straight up.

Also I plan to improve the way the mount attaches to the rocker box so that I have a failsafe attachment for the bottom of the rocker box. Another goal is to keep the thing self balanced.

Gerry
State College, Pa.

I think the typical approach is have the steel angle welded to a steel plate with mounting holes in the plate. Then the steel plate is attached to the top plate with screws. That is what I am planning (I will be using 1/4-inch steel). You also need to allow for a roofstop at each end.

Gerry
State College, PA
(Hoping to get construction started in August.)

In answer to part of your question, a Sonotube(R) is used as a form for concrete. Sonotubes are made from fibers that are spirally wound and laminated with a special adhesive. For more info, check http://www.concreteacc.com/sonotube.asp.

My first real telescope was an 8-inch Orion Deep Space Explorer purchased in 1997. The tube is a Sonotube, and I still have it. I have drilled into it to add accessories. I have two counterweight kits on it, which I mounted with wood screws.

Later I added the Orion Sky Wizard 3 Electronic Finder & Sky Catalog and an Orion kit for adding encoders to the telescope base.

I would imagine the Sky Wizard is the forerunner of the current XT "intelligence." I didn't use the Sky Wizard much at the time, and I thought the documentation was awful. The new hand controller looks a lot classier.

If I had known the sky better in those days, I might have gotten more use out of the Sky Wizard. It really helps if you know about the top dozen brightest stars you can see from your location. We still take this dob out for public sky watches and when we travel. Also it has made a great white light solar scope (you need a filter) for looking at sunspots.

If I had to replace it today, I would consider the Orion XT10 (metal tube) as well as the Sonotube brands. I would feel less comfortable drilling the thin metal, but the things I added, such as handles and a nav knob, are now part of the XT telescope and the tension adjustment may have eliminated the need for counterweights.

Today I would definitely go for a 2-inch focuser.

Gerry
State College, Pa.

Don, thanks for the alert. I didn't see your note until late afternoon, but I had enough time to set up my MaxScope 60 for a good look. I'm guessing there is a fair chance the view tomorrow might be worth a look, too.

Gerry
State College, Pa.

A welding shop might be able to handle that. I've had parts made for my observatory, parts made for a lawn tractor and a part straightened for a snow blade mount. The shop works in small jobs like these between the big jobs.

Gerry
State College, Pa.