Keiths next scope modding plans

Sounds like great stuff Keith, looks like you have it worked out.
Nothing worse then getting something and then realising its not what you expected or that something better for a little more is out there.

Heres a photoshopped image with some of the new ideas I have for positioning of the control box, anti flexure internal bracing and protective floor covering the servocat and DSC. Luckily the mirror tub of the 16" version rides higher than the other versions and there is plenty of clearance between the bottom of the tub and the baseboard.

[img=http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/3827/lightbridgebracingzl7.th.jpg] [img=http://img379.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif]

Here is the bracing on the outside which will also hide and protect the alt motor and dsc encoder with the door drawn in. I'll have the same on the other side but without a alt motor, this doored bracing can store my Night Sky Observor guide books and protect them from dew for instance. In other words the bracing on the other side can act as a storage box. Also drawn is is a Knight Rider LED bar and the PC fan controller. This seems to be the best position for it. I can run the fan wires up inside the mirror tub to come out of the mirror tub near this area with some tub surace mounted connectors. When setting up just plug the fan controler bundled cables in and away we go. The axis of rotation of this area of the mirror tub should never get very far from the fan controller and thus the cable can be short with only a small amount of slack required.

[img=http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/6428/lightbridgebracing2wb3.th.jpg] [img=http://img381.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif]

Here is a photo of a plain unmodded LB16" turned negative in photoshop to make it Knight Rider black :laugh:

[img=http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/5076/blackph2.th.jpg] [img=http://img381.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif]

Done plenty of research and I am aware of all the niggly problems with LightBridges that need to be sorted out too. ie. Need to sort out adjustable counter weights to sort out the inherent balance issues, inherent Truss movement issues and all the other little things like thumbscrews for secondary collimation and ougher primary springs etc

Between the tweaking and modding, I'll be a very busy guy but should have a pretty unique Lightbridge at the end of it:laugh:

Need to sort out adjustable counter weights to sort out the inherent balance issues, inherent Truss movement issues and all the other little things like thumbscrews for secondary collimation and tougher primary springs

My solutions for that were Bob's Knobs for secondary collimation thumbscrews and tougher spring issues.
For balance, I use a couple of strips of velcro close together at the back of the mirror tub, and 1 kg lead shot bags (I'm also a diver) also velcroed that will stick and can therefore be moved back and forth to achieve balance.
Once the Lightbridge has a heavy 2" eyepiece and a Telrad at the business end, the brake is hard pressed to deal with it.
However, back to the main show.
Firstly, although you think that the Mondeo is a saloon, it is actually a 5 door hatchback.
It also has the biggest rear space I've seen outside of a large estate car.
So,if you're thinking thatyour coupe will have similar or more space, you're probably mistaken. The Mondeo has 554 litres of space, probably doubled with the back seats down.

We are both coming from different directions. Eamonn had a Lightbridge 12" before his 16" if I remember correctly. He went from a scope that broke down into pieces easily fitted into his car without too much manhandling to a heavier scope with larger and more awquard pieces that he had to tilt this way and that, drag this way and that, to manhandle them into his car. The 16" no doubt presented him with much greater difficulty relatively speaking and he looks back at how easy he had things with the 12" Lightbridge.

Absolutely not, Keith.
When we're talking about "relative" terms, I'll define them better.
The 12" and 16" lie on either side of a line.
The 12" is just about manageable by one person...but still with difficulty.
The 16" is simply unmanageable by one person.
The 12" is still very heavy, takes up a lot of space and is certainly not easy to transport, especially after a long cold session when you're tired.
In addition, unlike the 16", if it is out of the base unit it is actually sitting on its collimation knobs, so that again necessitated transport within the base to prevent that.
The 16" can't be managed by one person without the risk of injury or damage, so the "relative" label is actually a very extreme one.

Dya hear that Paul!! LB16 is a 2 man Job. Can you be my scope (lifting) buddy :laugh:

Eamonn.....To quote one big eared actor....."Always with the negative waves, Man!" :laugh:
Or another big pointy eared 'actor'....." So certain are you. Always with you it cannot be done" :laugh:

This masoschist hears ya though mate.

Just as well I had some brainwaves and some very good news. In the new gaff 'The great Decider' has decided to convert the pretty useless permanently in shade small yard into a utility room adjoining the kitchen.

My brain went into overdrive and I came up with a spiffing plan which has been granted preliminary approval.

Make the roof of this utility room concrete and replace a window that overlooks the yard with a door. That room was going to be a spare room anyway or as it will be known hence forth as the Scope Room :laugh: . The scope set up in the middle of this roof would subtend the same angle with the pitch of the roof that blocks the southern skies. So while the yard was useless for scope purposes because there was just too little sky visible to the scope with the scope raise up out of this yard so to speak on a 1st floor flat roof. Well know the scope would see as much sky as it would have, had I had to proceed with the attic conversion rooftop observatory idea.

Except there is even more room on this proposed utility room roof and the scope could be further back and subtend even less of an angle with the pitch of the nearby apex roof. So I would actually see more sky than the attic conversion idea.

I have even pitched the idea of a roof garden to make this plan amenable to the great decider. grass Turf is a great insulator, great for the environment blah blah Will look lovely, somewhere private to lounge in the sun. (Sunlight would reach this first floor area where it doesn't reach the current yard floor)

Little does she know that even this idea has a selfish motive. A scope on concrete is a nono in terms of heatwaves and seeing effects. Wheres the best place to set up a scope.......On grass!!....grass on a roof garden :laugh:

The one problem with this plan is obviously the neighbours will have a veto I presume should they object to the idea of being over looked. Know these people for years though, so am hopeful of getting the OK from them.

I've even thought about some light shielding/wind breaker ideas already. Black awning type material on roller blind type apparatus that mounts vertically to 2 adjoining walls that would be unrolled and stretched across and secured to a flagpole type thing in the opposite corner. (Know a guy who knows a guy in the Bar smokers awning business) In affect, a low wall around the roof garden that magically becomes a 6ft wall around the scope that rolls up in the day time and does not block any light from the neighbours yard. I set them up at night when I observe when I don't think they will be too worried about their sunlight being blocked. :laugh:

In terms of LB16 weight and transport issues, this new rooftop observatory idea means I would be less reliant on Observing trips in the car for my observing fix. So whereas as Eamonn says, lugging the LB16 could get very 'boring' very quickly if I was going to every session within a 50 mile radius of Bray to get the Observing fix that I couldn't get at home. With easy observing available at home I could then be happy with the handful of SDAS sessions a year which shouldn't be too much of a chore. Worth the hassles to meet up with the guys at a dark site every once and a while.

Even better, the scope would be about 2 or 3 yards from a lovely Observatory 'Warm Room'. I could happily sit inside lovely and warm with the laptop while the servocat and argo automated the scope
while imaging...or in the future Mallincam while I soak in the views on a plasma screen inside:laugh:

his'll be like winning the lottery if I pull this off.:laugh:

Eamonn mutters to himself...."Jaysus, there's no talkin to this guy..."

:blush: :laugh: Yep, I'm stone mad :laugh:

Eamonn.....To quote one big eared actor....."Always with the negative waves, Man!"
Or another big pointy eared 'actor'....." So certain are you. Always with you it cannot be done"

This masoschist hears ya though mate.

Heh heh heh....
Talk to me when you've been lifting the buggers about for a couple of years, with scrapes on the car and on the scopes, your poor knuckles skinned and the wife shouting about the paint being knocked off the doorframes on yer trips in and out!
Naw, I hope you get something sorted, I'm just giving you the benefit of my experiences with them.
If you've always a willing helper, you can save your back too! But one other important thing I forgot to mention is that the top section really cannot be put onto the trusses by one person alone, it's just too heavy to hold with one hand whilst screwing the bolt on with the other.
Mind you, you're certainly not stuck for ideas, Keith, and they're getting grander.
I'm just waiting for the next one where the Wicklow mountains are levelled to provide a better horizon! :laugh:

LMAO!!:laugh: re Wicklow mountains. No I'll just bunch them all up over to the northern horizon to block the Dublin lights!!

Yeah, I guess a dark sky observing session by default means there would be helpers available. Its whether they would be 'willing' helpers is the question :laugh: Paul can you spare 20 seconds of your time mate? :laugh:

Don't get me wrong, I am not that mental to be formulating grand plans and changing house renovation plans just to suit a bloody scope. Its just circumstances keep changing to my advantage lately. In this case it was the great decider who changed the plans for the pretty useless yard into a utility room and then I was just quickly able to see how I could take advantage of this for the scope. Basically change a window to a door, put some railings around the roof and maybe lay some grass sod on top and bobs your uncle I have taken advantage of it for my scope at minimal extra cost. (Predicated on neighbours veto of course)

I think I was quick on the draw with the roofgarden idea because I have been so focussed on scopes lately and have been in a scope frame of mind that atm I am seeing lots of things in terms of scopes. Now I know that is a little mad.:laugh: For instance with the clearing out of the attic in the current house...what was all a load of random crap fit for the bin I am now seeing in scope terms. ie. "Oh, not throwing that random object out, I could use that as a... for the scope, Ah deffo not throwing that little thing out, that would make a great ... for the scope..." :laugh: :blush:

BTW, 10 bonus points for the first film quote. No points for the second, that one was easy:laugh: