Posts Made By: Kevin Beebe

March 5, 2004 07:28 AM Forum: Telescope Making

Lee's Yawn

Posted By Kevin Beebe

Here's a photo of my 16" telescope in progress. I've had the upper cage built for a while. Just getting the altitude bearing attached to the mirror box. I put the pieces for the rocker in place to give you an idea of the concept.
The shop is a mess, of course.

March 15, 2004 06:11 AM Forum: Eyepieces

What is This?

Posted By Kevin Beebe

Does anyone know what type of eyepiece this is? It looks to be a fairly long focal length and a wider FOV than a plossl. There are no marking on it anywhere.

Thanks for any help you can give.

Kevin

April 8, 2004 05:10 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Johnsonian Type IV Equatorial Platform

Posted By Kevin Beebe

Does anyone have one of these? Or have you used one?

I'm looking at buying a platform for a 22" telescope, but there seems to be no reviews or customer comments on how they perform. I would like a platform that is free from vibration mainly, accuracy would be nice, too.

I appreciate any info I can get.

Thanks,
Kevin

September 26, 2005 06:25 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Focusers and Filter Slides

Posted By Kevin Beebe

I have been using a dual speed Moonlite focuser and filter slide for the last couple years. While it is a very good focuser and a huge improvement over my previous focusers, there are a couple things I don't like about it. The main thing is the lack of flexibility. The Feathertouch can be mounted in any orientation, and the fine focus knob is right next to the coarse focus knob. (very nice) grin On the Moonlite, the fine and coarse focus knobs are on opposite sides, and there seems to be only one "correct way" to mount the focuser with the filter slide to the optical tube. This "correct way" is the worst possible way for me. sad

One of the main reasons I chose the Moonlite over the Feathertouch was the ablilty to use a filter slide. I love having the ablilty to plug in a filter or switch filters with a simple push or pull of the slide. And the Moonlite slide works great.

So, recently I bought a Feathertouch (FT), with a plan to use it in conjunction with the Moonlite (ML) filter slide. But when I went to install it this weekend, I discovered that the focuser tube on the FT is much thicker-walled than the ML. The FT tube won't fit into the hole of the part that holds the slide. shocked

Anyone out there have a similar problem? With a remedy? I would really like to use the FT, but don't want to give up the filter slide.

I have the same setup on a 22" dob and a 16" dob, with a Tom O. platform.
I appreciate the help. Thanks,
Kevin

November 1, 2005 07:34 AM Forum: Landscape Photography

Late Rainbow

Posted By Kevin Beebe

Here is a picture taken last spring in the late afternoon.

October 17, 2007 05:22 PM Forum: Pictures of Me and My Telescope and........

New Webster C28

Posted By Kevin Beebe

Here's a picture of my new Webster 28" f/3.6 scope. The skies have been remarkably clear since I got it a week and a half ago.

April 22, 2008 07:48 PM Forum: Telescope Making

More Cooling Fans

Posted By Kevin Beebe

I'm a little late, but I was catching up on my reading. The discussion on cooling fans was really interesting, especially since I need to make some changes to my setup. Has anyone tried using a computer slot fan to scrub the front surface of their mirror? It wouldn't work for a closed tube, but I was thinking it would work well for a truss tube scope. Here's an example of what I'm talking about.

http://www.outletpc.com/c1618.html

It has ball bearings instead of sleeve bearings and moves over 31 CFM of air. It might be a little noisy, though. I was thinking of putting these in 2 corners and aiming across the mirror, or maybe I could put one in all 4 corners and set them so they would "swirl"

Any ideas? Thanks,
Kevin






April 24, 2008 08:31 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

New Prices on Coronado Scopes

Posted By Kevin Beebe

Wow! Have you seen the latest prices on Coronado Solar Telescope? 8O The price for a telescope is lower than the cost of the filter alone! :S

August 19, 2009 08:22 PM Forum: Telescope Making

Added Wheelbarrow Handles to Scope

Posted By Kevin Beebe

I recently added wheelbarrow handles and a ground board to my scope. The scope is light enough that I figured I didn't need wheels, but this weekend I'm headed to Stars Over Yellowstone. The observing field is about 100 yards from the parking lot, and I didn't want to carry the scope that far. Worse yet, is the trip back up to the parking lot in the morning. :S

My son wanted to try "driving", too. He was able to do it without much trouble. I also added pins to hold the scope in the rocker box. shocked

June 13, 2011 10:07 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Binocular Case Recommendations Needed

Posted By Kevin Beebe

I have a pair of Canon 15x50 binoculars. The case that came with the binoculars works fine, but I have made a set of solar filters (from the Baader solar film) and a pair of O3 filters for wide field deep sky viewing. Now I would like a case big enough to hold the binocs and a couple of pouches to hold the filters. Not a very big deal, but I haven't been able to find anything locally and most of online ads are not very descriptive and difficult to see just what you get.

Thanks-