My newest general observing Telescope.
This is my latest scope. It's an 80mm, short focal length, refractor.
It was purchased early in 2005 in a well known camera shop sale, I got a bargain with this scope as they were discontinuing this particular model.
This scope has been used, unmodified, for almost a year but feel that some of the plastic parts need to be upgraded to those made from a more robust material.
I have recently modified this scope to how it looks today by replacing some of these parts.
The old plastic focuser was replaced to one made from Aluminium alloy, this was obtained from Telescope Services in Germany.
It will accept 2" eyepieces and has an adaptor to use my standard 1.25" eyepieces, this is also threaded to accept a standard camera 'T' thread.
I have recently purchased a 2" 26mm eyepiece and a 2" 90° mirror diagonal.
When I first used these I could not focus as there was not enough back focus available.
This was solved by cutting 50mm off the scopes tube length.
The scope was attached to the mount with a standard camera screw mounting and was not very stable.
Two tube rings now fasten the scope to the mount making it very sturdy.
The tube rings have a standard camera screw fitting on the top so I could attach one of my webcams piggy-back style.
The finder has been upgraded to an Orion 6x30 with a 90° eyepiece and correct-image view, this is easily attached to the focusers built-in dovetail mount plate.
This makes the scope comfortable to use and very easy to align.
A quick respray of the tube with a Black glitter effect paint finished the job.
The telescope I used to do most of my lunaphotography and general observing with.
I have made a couple of modifications to this scope to make it easier to use. The first change made was to the mount. The altazimuth mount supplied with the scope is ok but the centre of gravity is all wrong and it is very front heavy. This makes it very dificult to track anything across the sky. To keep the scope pointing in the direction I want, I have to tighten up the side clamps. This makes nudging the scope to follow an object impossible and very frustrating.
This mount remains perfectly balanced at all times as I can alter the centre of gravity by moving the tube back and forth in it's cradle. This is very handy when I decide to add my motorised focusser, webcam and a 3x Barlow lens, I just undo the staps and slide it back and tighten the straps again. This is a simple solution and cost very little money to construct. The telescope tube now sits in a cradle which is made from two plastic gutter hooks and is held in place by two nylon straps and Velcro. I have placed some neoprene rubber strips inside the gutter hooks as a cushion and to act as friction against the straps when they are tightened up. I can point the scope straight up on this mount and it won't move. It's now only a gently nudge that is required to track an object.
It sounds a bit mad having a motorised focusser on a scope this small, but hey, it works. I can now spend more time observing the moon than moving backwards and forwards between my computer monitor and scope trying to get the image in focus. It's a very simple device. I have a control box with two push buttons, forwards and backwards. There is a very simple circuit inside this box and two battery packs. The idea there being one pack for forward and one pack for reverse, the batteries should last twice as long this way. The motor is a 3 volt geared motor with a ratio of 100:1. The motor is mounted onto the scopes tube via an aluminium hoop tightened shut with bolts and wing nuts. There is a strip of neoprene rubber on the inside of this hoop so that it does not scratch the scopes tube. A worm gear on the motor drives a large plastic cog fastened to the focuser. A cut down 35mm film canister was glued onto the cog and provides a perfect push fit onto the focusing knob with just enough friction to turn the focus knob without slipping.
Not strictly a telescope but it works like one.
This is another modification I've made to a second Quickcam VC. It allows me to use conventional 35mm SLR lenses with this webcam. This is the version I use to observe the moon. It is a Paragon 500mm Telephoto lens attached to my tripod using an aluminium shelf bracket and two drainpipe clips and neoprene strips to cushion the lens. The webcam is screwed onto the back of the lens with a couple of extension tubes between them so that I'm able to focus to infinity.
As you can see from this picture,
it works very well at imaging the moon, hence me naming it 'Lunacam'.
There are more details about this cam on the Webcams page.
A Website designed and created by DAWORLDOFDOJ