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Special thanks to Farah Payan at
Woodland Hills
for the generous price break on the 16" LX200ACF. |
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Special thanks to Gary Stover of
Stover Construction who donated
the expert cutting and drilling of our concrete pier and anchors for
mounting the pier plate. |
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Special thanks to Joe Golias from
AstroZap
for his donation of a brand new 16" dewshield in "Meade Blue" to exactly
match our telescope in exchange for our used gloss-white one donated by
member Lenny Marek. Joe also donated a front cover for this
dewshield. Update: Rick Burke has picked up the dew shield and cap
which was installed at our "Astronomical Doubleheader" on Saturday
7/13/2013. |
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Special thanks to Ron Keating from
DewBuster for his
discounting the purchase price of one of his fabulous dew-heater
controls and getting it to us much sooner than expected. It
arrived on Friday 7/12/2013. |
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Special thanks to Ashley Stevens from
Precise Parts
for custom making us the adapter necessary to mate the custom-made Van
Slyke focuser we had for the 14" Meade to the new 16" Meade and getting
it to us extremely quickly. |
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Special thanks to
Firestone Polymers for their
generous financial assistance as well as to several ACA members who dug
deep and contributed enough to keep our treasurer happy and supporting
the project. |
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Special thanks to Ron Kalinoski, our
Observatory Director, for designing and coordinating the entire process
and LOTS of trips to the hardware store! |
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Special thanks to all the ACA members
who contributed to this effort with well-wishes, donations and/or physical effort.
Without you, this project could never have taken place. |
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Special thanks to Lew Snodgrass for
calling media contacts and getting us a great
write-up by Beacon Journal staff writer Paula Schleis in the
newspaper dated Friday 7/12/2013. |
| Taken by Ron Kalinoski, our Observatory
Director: |
Preparing to cut 9.5" from our 25 year old
steel-reinforced concrete pier which has a cross-section dimension of 16" x 14" |
Cutting the pier - they did a magnificent job with a cut
that looked as if a laser had done it! |
Delivery of the new 16" LX200ACF telescope. In the rain, of course! |
Delivery truck trying to leave the observatory and having
some difficulty with the 53' long trailer |
Cut pier with anchor bolts with one of the three large
shipping boxes containing the new scope and forks |
Cut pier with anchor bolts and two of the three large shipping
boxes containing the new scope and forks |
First box opened! The lower fork section. This
thing is HUGE! |
Second box opened -the base drive section. This is huge,
also! |
Third box opened - the optical tube assembly. You guessed it -
HUGE! |
Leveling the pier plate on the newly cut
pier. |
Drive base mounted to the leveled pier
plate |
16" LX200ACF telescope checkout after
completed installation |
Installation crew (1)
Sadly, some of the crew members had left before this photo was taken |
Installation crew (2)
Sadly, some of the crew members had left before this photo was taken |
16" LX200ACF mounted in the ACA observatory
awaiting our new dew shield, dew heater controller & adaptor for our Van
Slyke focuser |
| Taken by
Lenny Marek: |
Inspecting & reviewing job to be completed |
Nothing as good as some humor to make the job go easier |
Ron had the drive base already mounted to the pier plate |
Holding the upper tube assembly while tightening to lower
tube assembly |
More hold while aligning the upper tube assembly to the
lower tube assembly |
Obvious joy at the job being nearly completed |
Bright outside while dark inside |
Very beefy pier plate from our original observatory from
1988 |
Look at that! It actually works! |
|
| Taken by
Dave Jessie: |
Thinking about the job at hand and what remains to be
done |
More thinking and reviewing... |
OK, a little more thinking |
Lenny lending a knowing hand |
Inspection of the cut pier and attachment of the pier
plate |
Review of installation steps to complete job |
That Lenny...always the showman! |
Connection of internal wiring harness while upper forks
are held in place |
More internal wiring connecting while forks are still
held by Gary Whiston & Lenny Marek |
Review hardware necessary to secure lower forks to drive
base |
Let's see...I think these are the correct bolts... |
Hmm. Wrong bolts |
Take 'em out and lets try this again |
Rick tells us where we went wrong |
OK, NOW we've got the correct bolts! |
Tightening the lower forks to the drive base |
Tightening the lower forks to the drive base |
Ron jumping to FTL (Faster Than Light) speed! |
One last torque on the Allen wrench to tighten the lower
forks |
Tightening down the inspection cover |
Many hands assist in the lifting of the upper forks to the lower
forks |
Inserting bolts to hold upper forks to lower forks |
Tightening bolts holding upper forks to lower forks |
Oops! Re-alignment required and bolts retightened |
Tightening the bolts holding the upper to the lower forks |
Taking a breather since the job is almost done |
Assembling the upper forks to the lower forks |
Securing the upper forks to the lower forks |
Putting anti-seize compound on bolts |
Checking the DEC (altitude) scale |
Looking at a job well done |
Completed external wiring for DEC motor & GPS communication |
The "business end" of the OTA awaiting dew
shield & starlight |
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