Posts Made By: Adam Albino

February 1, 2005 03:03 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

gm-8 stepper motors - a problem?

Posted By Adam Albino

I use a similar set up - a c-9.25 OTA and a Meade AR-6 Refractor - side by side - on a Celestron CI-700. Tracks perfectly with roughly 60# of weight.

February 2, 2005 09:47 PM Forum: Telescope Making

Making Finder Scope out of old 7 x 50 Binos

Posted By Adam Albino

Look at the finders Gary Russell Makes - they are bino "fronts".

February 8, 2005 02:48 PM Forum: Celestron

C-9.25

Posted By Adam Albino

Ditto what Ivan said. Holds better collimation then any other type of SCT I’ve owned. I tweak it every once in a while.

Visually there is none better for a production sct IMO. And I've owned quite a few OTA's by both Meade and Celestron’s from 4-11 inches. It's impressive on DSO's and Planets. The APO folks can say what they want, but you can't get away from the "Aperture Rules" rule. It's roughly twice as large as your Tak - what ever contrast is lost by the central obstruction will be more then made up for in image scale and brightness.

February 8, 2005 03:12 PM Forum: Celestron

Opinion on Digitec laser collimator

Posted By Adam Albino

I have the Kendrick one. Works OK. I find it's almost as easy just to do a traditional star collimation as to use the laser.

February 9, 2005 04:52 PM Forum: Refractors

Hong Kong 8.5" lens, any reviews?

Posted By Adam Albino

I believe Ken Dukat built one - see Ken's Rings in the Sponser section.

February 10, 2005 05:03 PM Forum: Celestron

Re: RFT Adapter

Posted By Adam Albino

That is the old (80's) Vixen/Celestron RF Diagonal - f/5 (although as you found out, the actual F ratio depends on 1. Scope used, and in the case of mirror focusing scopes, 2. the Eyepiece used)

The other RF Adapter mentioned was f7 I believe (higer for the c-14).

The problem with these units was the field curvature as they are simple Telecompressers - edge performance can be iffy. The Current 6.3 FR/corrector is much better for photo work.

February 15, 2005 07:38 PM Forum: Celestron

Celestron 8i

Posted By Adam Albino

Probably 'cause this is a more entry level scope as opposed to the Nexstar GPS and CGE lines. There has been some talk and lots of advertising on the new "Special addition" 8i.

February 15, 2005 09:24 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Need help finding an appropriate filter wheel!

Posted By Adam Albino

Cheap - see the SAC filter wheel. Only "manual" one I know. http://www.sac-imaging.com/main.html

For a flip mirror I'd get the Meade one.

February 28, 2005 04:20 PM Forum: Celestron

Upgrade C8 to Nexstar?

Posted By Adam Albino

A C-5 sure - but the C-8 tube is to large for the SLT mount would be my guess (weight and width). Baader, I believe make dovetail adapters for different scopes on this mount. Better off tying to find someone with the larger Nexstar i mount that may have up graded and would sell the mount - or just add DSC's to the old c-8 and make a "Push to" mount - heck I can slew faster the a GoTo, and I make less noise :-)

February 28, 2005 05:09 PM Forum: Eyepieces

need a battery

Posted By Adam Albino

Yes you can us the LR 44's. The old "Mercury" bateries are not allowed in the USA any more so the older Illum eyepieces need a "little" modification.

All you need to do is wrap the two stacked LR44's with a piece of cardboard, tape etc. - as long as the top and bottom (+/-) contacts are long enough it works.