'Clocking' Adapter for SM60

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pmlogg
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'Clocking' Adapter for SM60

Post by pmlogg »

I noted with interest the discussion of 'clocking' adapters for use when double-stacking.

This is an impression of what I thought might work as a clocking adapter for two SM60 II's.

The front etalon of the pair would screw into the one end of the adapter, internally threaded for 82x1.0mm.

The adapter would have an external 82x1.0mm thread at the other end to attach to the Richfield tuner of the rear etalon. As the maximum amount of rotation required would less than 360 degrees and the thread pitch is 1.0mm I presume that the adapter plus front etalon would need to be loosened from the Richfield tuner by something less than 1mm. A lock ring at that end would then fix the setting.

Material to produce the adapter could be 3.5" O.D. 1/4" wall thickness aluminium tubing which seems readily available.

Does that seem a workable solution? Or would something else be better and/or cheaper? (I note the suggestion previously made of using plumber's tape as the most economic alternative)
SM60ClockingAdapterandLockRing.jpg
SM60ClockingAdapterandLockRing.jpg (16.49 KiB) Viewed 3831 times


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Re: 'Clocking' Adapter for SM60

Post by marktownley »

Yes, it would work


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Re: 'Clocking' Adapter for SM60

Post by pmlogg »

Mark

Thanks for that. I've identified a couple of local contacts to see what it would cost to get it made. I'm concentrating now though on trying to sort out why the views through my SM60 IIs are poorer than through the SM40s. So far no joy with that.


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Bob Yoesle
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Re: 'Clocking' Adapter for SM60

Post by Bob Yoesle »

You might be interested in this thread: http://www.cloudynights.com/topic/34656 ... try4447423
I'm concentrating now though on trying to sort out why the views through my SM60 IIs are poorer than through the SM40s. So far no joy with that.
You should first identify which etalon should be the primary (closest to the objective) etalon. Test each as a single stack, and the one that requires the least tilt to be on-band is the primary. The etalon requiring more tilt to be on-band is the DS etalon, and has "pre-tilt" built in to reduce retro-reflections between the etalons (e.g. "ghosts"). It will hopefully only require minimal additional tilting - once clocking has minimized the additional tilt required to remove ghosts and go the least off-band.

The unfortunate fact may also be that the more expensive original Tucson Coronado etalons may be of a higher overall quality than subsequent less expensive MEADE Coronado filters...


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Re: 'Clocking' Adapter for SM60

Post by pmlogg »

Bob

Thanks for that - I'm more than a bit sad that the SM60 IIs may themselves be the weak link. I'm about to post images on my other thread on the subject. I had read and followed your advice on testing the tilt on the etalons, combined with advice on adjusting the pin position of the RichView tuners but the results were still disappoining. The link very interesting for a number of reasons, including using TS to make the clocking adapter.


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