finderscope woes...
After alot of research on the web i ordered the antares 50mm right angle correct image (RACI) finder. This finder has a removable eyepiece and i'm hoping to use it as a sort of guide scope together with my neximage webcam. I also ordered a bracket for SCT telescopes but i failed to mention the size of my scope, thinking that it would be a "one size fits all" solution.The Antares finderscope looks like this:
At first i could not get the crosshair eyepiece to focus at all. I then got some help from the nice people on the cloudy nights forums who told me to unfasten a tiny allen screw at the bottom of the finderscope so that the diagonal could be pulled out further. After i did this i did not have any problems getting proper focus.
once that problem was fixed, onto the next hurdle....
I then tried to attach the finder to my telescope. So i took the red dot finder off and tried to screw on the base. First surprise - the original screws were way too short. They did not even go all the way through the base. And the curvature of the base did not fit the curvature of the scope - it seemed to be just slightly larger. (it's actually a 8" curvature and should have been 7"). So down into the basement i went rummaging through my big box of nuts and bolts until i found two screws that were long enough.
In went the first screw, but the second one did not fit ! That's when i realized that the finderscope base did not lign up with the holes on the 6SE. Bummer. Only using ane screw
did not only look bad but was quite unstable as well. So off i went to get some more advice from the cloudy nights forums...
After alot of great tips i decided to drill a hole into the middle of the base. I then attached some dark sticky tape to both sides so that i would get a nice and flush fit. Here's a picture of the base with the new hole:
With the added sticky tape left and right from the center hole the base now sits nicely balanced and is rock steady. On the picture it looks like there's alot of empty space between the base and the scope - but actually it's only a milimeter or so.
here's another view:
So here's how the whole setup now looks like:
I've not had the chance yet to align it properly with the scope and i've also not yet figured out how to attach the remaining red dot finder back to the telescope. I did get some magnetic tape but it was not strong enough to hold the plastic red dot finder. Since i want to be able to put the scope back in the original box for transportation, i don't want to use sticky tape to permanently "glue" it to the scope.
I guess i'll have to visit the cloudy nights forums again to get some help with that one....
Red dot finder placement
As it turns out, it took me about an hour to realize that the red dot finder has a detachable base as well ! (slaps himself on the forehead - SMACK) I somehow thought that it was all one piece. So i now attached the base using extra strong sticky tape and am quite happy with it. I'll add a picture of the final setup soon.
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Wow. Thanks for this forum and the specific advice re the finder scope. I had planned to buy that exact one but now am thinking of not getting it. By aligning my red dot finder to a tiny point on a distant mountain with the dot as faint as it will go, I got it to line up as well as the auto align. BTW I have the Sky Prodigy with the built in camera called "StarSense" which I have had mixed results with. I got the Prodigy for the same price as a standard 6SE, otherwise I would not have paid the extra for it.
ReplyDeleteI am a little scared about drilling a hole and I guess it has to be tapped for screw threads as well. We'll see.
Would it not be easier for the guiding camera set-up to just flip x and y's in the control sofware, thus avoiding prism and other annoyances?
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