Today was a pretty mellow day.  I was finally able to make it to the hardware store to pick-up the tools I needed for this evenings creative project.

By the looks from the pictures above it may not appear like I did very much but in reality it was actually quite a struggle.  Removing the body of the telescope from the brackets that connect it to the housing was the hardest part.

There were two phillips head screws holding it onto the brackets and you couldn’t get to the screws with a normal screwdriver.  I would have needed a 90 degree phillips head but I didn’t have one.  I improvised by using a phillips head connector for use with a multi-head screwdriver and combined that with a pair of needle-nose pliers.  With this method, I was just barely able to get in there to unscrew it.

The goal of taking apart this telescope is to convert it into a pan and tilt controller for my camera.  The telescope motors can move at such slow and constant speeds that it makes for a handy setup for either time-lapse or slit-scan.  The slit-scan is something I’m very interested in testing.

Unfortunately, I ended this creative thing with more questions than I went into it with.  People have done this kind of conversion before but I have not seen it done with my particular telescope.  At the moment I’m not too sure how I’m going to proceed.  The cost of my telescope is the main issue.  I could probably sell it on ebay and purchase a cheaper one better designed for this conversion.   Or if only I could have the best of both worlds and design a mount that works with my camera but is also removable in case I want to use my telescope as just that, a telescope.

Hmmmm, have to think.