Keiths next scope modding plans

Donald Sutherland as the hippy soldier in "Kelly's Heroes"!!!!!!

EPK wrote:

Donald Sutherland as the hippy soldier in "Kelly's Heroes"!!!!!!

:laugh:

Hey, that was my shortest post in the whole 5 pages of this thread!:laugh:

Eamonns comment about "Grander and grander plans" was tongue in cheek. My response last night lying in bed was to see what was the most ludicrous mod I could think of for a laugh. Well I thought of a few things alright except I am not laughing. Eh, I actually think they are doable and pretty unique, cool and functional :blush: :laugh:

Dave talked about how a laptop out in the field is at serious risk from the elements. Its another bulky item to carry.

How about this. Like I said there is plenty of room between the bottom of the OTA and the baseboard (certainly on the latest LB16's, Seen pics) I already talked about a false floor that protects the servocat controller, motor and Argo encoders in the base from the elements. How about a Mac Mini mounted here too. Moist air?? Seal the false floor with an intake and out-take fan to ventilate this false floor area. In front of the air intake, fit a fine finned grill. Vapour condenses out of the air as its pulled through by the fan onto the metal fins of the intake grill. Will work out drainage.

So now you have reasonable dry air being fed into the mac mini protected from the elements within the scope base under the false floor. Protected from knocks and scrapes too.

10-15in touch screen display mounted on the side of the base. Well if I find out that the touchscreen interface does not work with Starry Night Pro and one can't pan the views with a finger like an I-touch well then scratch that and I can go with a cheaper ultrathin LCD screen.

When not in use there will be 4 flaps that fold over the screen and protect it from damage (Short of knocking the whole scope base over) When in use these 4 flaps hinge out and form a dew/light shield. What about a keyboard? The bottom flap will be padded with a dark foam mouse mat. This will be a nice protective cushion when folded over the screen. When all flaps hinged out to form the dew/light shield the bottom flap with the mouse mat is the keyboard. WTF???? Why I'll have an I-Tech Virtual keyboard! Imagine, a red light keyboard visible at night that comes from an object the size of a credit card.

In effect a powerful fully functional PC with all peripherals built into the scope base. This has basically all been done by the in-car PC guys. 12v-19v conversion etc. Just need the new mac mini to come out so Pc World start flogging the current gen for silly money like €250 like they did before.

Oi, Stop the laughing down the back!!! Mark my words Gentlemen. Its going to happen and I am going to be famous......FAMOUS, I tells ye!! :laugh:





Now how much is a 130ah deep cycle marine battery again? :laugh:

ya know something Keith, I was thinking something similar for my own laptop, but have come up with a different way of doing it.
I'm planning on making a second stalk with a tilted top that has a built in heater for the laptop, this stalk can also double up as a holder for an atlas, the first stalk is for the argo and servo controllers.
It'll basically bake the laptop or atlas keeping it warm and hopefully dew free.
It might also have a transparent plastic lid for those prolonged times when not been used and a dimable red light. I'm off to B&Q and maplin tomorrow to source parts, its something I've been thinking about now for a while.
just to provoke another idea with you : cheer:

Phew!

I thought you were going to start making fun of my latest hair-brained plan :laugh:

While none of my madcap plans are strictly necessary I can't help but think of the phrase...

Necessity is the mother of Invention

Ok I'll admit it. I want all the dodas and flashing lights on my scope so I'll attract
the longest lines at Outreach events. :laugh: