New Open Frame Refractor

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Martin_S
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New Open Frame Refractor

Post by Martin_S »

We've had over a week of shocking weather here in Brisbane, so I spent a few days in the shed working on my latest project, an open frame refactor.
The 120mm refractor has been a good performer with my Combo Quark, but I discovered a few shortcomings.

It's big and bulky, it really moves about in the wind, I live on the coast so the wind gets up around mid morning and buffets the optical tube.

I have an internal ERF and have noticed the optical tube gets quite warm after a couple of hours, I think that internal air convection inside the tube
may be downgrading its performance.

I think an open frame refractor might cure all of the above .

I had some 12mm thick Aluminum plate in the shed so I spun up 3 flanges and spaced them out with some 30 x15 x2mm Aluminium box section rails.

As the frame has only 3 rails at 120 degrees apart the structure is very rigid, but light. the complete setup withTZ4 , Quark and camera weighs 6.4 kg.

My little lathe was at its capacity turning the flanges, I just had to take my time.

The frame was extended 150mm from the original tube to compensate for the TZ4 , I have 2 ERF's a 2" 7nm ha filter with a slight tilt and a Player One ERF mounted on the front of the TZ4.

My Camera is cooled with a magnetic cell phone cooler , that is vibration free.

I haven't had a chance to test this new setup yet due to the weather, meanwhile here are a few pictures.
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H alpha : ,Skywatcher 120mm F8 open frame refractor, a tilted 2" 7nm H-alpha filter as a sub energy rejection filter, Baader TZ4 telecentric focal extender, Player One energy rejection filter, Combo Quark Chromosphere, Naked PST etalon for double stacking, ASI74mm camera
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Re: New Open Frame Refractor

Post by marktownley »

That looks awesome!


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http://brierleyhillsolar.blogspot.co.uk/
Solar images, a collection of all the most up to date live solar data on the web, imaging & processing tutorials - please take a look!
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Re: New Open Frame Refractor

Post by Martin_S »

Thanks Mark.


H alpha : ,Skywatcher 120mm F8 open frame refractor, a tilted 2" 7nm H-alpha filter as a sub energy rejection filter, Baader TZ4 telecentric focal extender, Player One energy rejection filter, Combo Quark Chromosphere, Naked PST etalon for double stacking, ASI74mm camera
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Re: New Open Frame Refractor

Post by rsfoto »

Hi Martin,

Looks great. First time I hear about " Magnetic Phone cooler "

I do not think that vibrations should have a big influence in Solar imaging as turbulence of the atmosphere is much bigger and the imaging time is too short. Just a well educated guess from my side.

What camera model from ZWO is that ? Thanks


regards Rainer

Observatorio Real de 14
San Luis Potosi Mexico

North 22° West 101°
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Re: New Open Frame Refractor

Post by christian viladrich »

Marvellous !!

The idea of a cell phone magnetic cooler is great !


Christian Viladrich
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http://www.astronomiesolaire.com/
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Martin_S
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Re: New Open Frame Refractor

Post by Martin_S »

Thank you Rainer and Christian. The camera is a ZWO ASI174 , the cooler is an original Black Shark Magnetic Cooler.


H alpha : ,Skywatcher 120mm F8 open frame refractor, a tilted 2" 7nm H-alpha filter as a sub energy rejection filter, Baader TZ4 telecentric focal extender, Player One energy rejection filter, Combo Quark Chromosphere, Naked PST etalon for double stacking, ASI74mm camera
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Re: New Open Frame Refractor

Post by MapleRidge »

Very nice setup with the new open tube setup Martin :bow

It will be good to see how the system works for you!

Brian


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Re: New Open Frame Refractor

Post by DeepSolar64 »

Martin,
I hope it performs as good as it looks!

James


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Re: New Open Frame Refractor

Post by Rusted »

Congratulations on your neat design and workmanship. :bow
I like the way you have provided a rear support.
A vital component in any extended H-alpha OTA.

I look forward to confirmation of improved seeing with an open tube.
Not an easy task given the usual variability.
It would probably have to show consistent improvement averaged over time.

3rd attempt to post on the forum. The connection keeps being dropped.


http://fullerscopes.blogspot.dk/

H-alpha: Baader 160mm D-ERF, iStar 150/10 H-alpha objective, 2" Baader 35nm H-a, 2" Beloptik KG3,
Lunt 60MT etalon, Lunt B1200S2 BF, Assorted T-S GPCs or 2x "Shorty" Barlow, ZWO ASI174.
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Re: New Open Frame Refractor

Post by Martin_S »

Thanks for all your comments. I forgot to mention that everything is now remotely controlled . I have 2 cables from my study to the telescope , a power cable and an active USB 3.0 cable. I made my own motorised focusers which are controlled by a cheap remote unit from Ebay.
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H alpha : ,Skywatcher 120mm F8 open frame refractor, a tilted 2" 7nm H-alpha filter as a sub energy rejection filter, Baader TZ4 telecentric focal extender, Player One energy rejection filter, Combo Quark Chromosphere, Naked PST etalon for double stacking, ASI74mm camera
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Re: New Open Frame Refractor

Post by Alun_H »

Fantastic project,thank you for sharing. You have inspired me to convert my old Bresser 152.

Alun


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Re: New Open Frame Refractor

Post by rsfoto »

Martin_S wrote: Sun Dec 04, 2022 7:08 pm Thanks for all your comments. I forgot to mention that everything is now remotely controlled . I have 2 cables from my study to the telescope , a power cable and an active USB 3.0 cable. I made my own motorised focusers which are controlled by a cheap remote unit from Ebay.s-l1600.jpg
Hi MArtin,

Interesting remote control. How many functions can you control and how ?

Please paste the link so we can take a look at it.

Thanks


regards Rainer

Observatorio Real de 14
San Luis Potosi Mexico

North 22° West 101°
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Re: New Open Frame Refractor

Post by Martin_S »

rsfoto wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2023 12:05 am
Martin_S wrote: Sun Dec 04, 2022 7:08 pm Thanks for all your comments. I forgot to mention that everything is now remotely controlled . I have 2 cables from my study to the telescope , a power cable and an active USB 3.0 cable. I made my own motorised focusers which are controlled by a cheap remote unit from Ebay.s-l1600.jpg
Hi MArtin,

Interesting remote control. How many functions can you control and how ?

Please paste the link so we can take a look at it.

Thanks

Hi Rainer, sorry for the late reply, I did not see your post. I have stopped using this remote as it was unreliable . I have since gone back to using a long cable for focusing.

The available options were momentary forward & reverse or latched forward and reverse.

There are plenty of these on ebay as they are just a generic remote control.

Martin


H alpha : ,Skywatcher 120mm F8 open frame refractor, a tilted 2" 7nm H-alpha filter as a sub energy rejection filter, Baader TZ4 telecentric focal extender, Player One energy rejection filter, Combo Quark Chromosphere, Naked PST etalon for double stacking, ASI74mm camera
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