any machinist in SG to do some minor machining work?

orly_andico · Post by **orly_andico** » Sun Mar 07, 2010 3:02 am

I got this wooden-legged Vixen tripod with an "Icarus" 60mm refractor for a low, low price back in Philippines (it was roughly 90 SGD for the tripod and OTA).

The problem is that the alt-az mount, though it's decent and has slo-mo for both Altitude and Azimuth, was made specifically for that misbegotten Vixen Icarus 60mm and the yoke is too narrow for my Zenithstar 70ED.

I'd like to fabricate some sort of metal "saddle" which would fit in the yoke, and have a couple 1/4" holes in it so I can mount the W-O. Is there anyone I could pay to fabricate such a saddle? it's really pretty simple work, and I could actually build such a "saddle" with some aluminum bar stock, a vise, and a lot of hammering. But it would look ugly...

Thanks...

Post by **Airconvent** » Sun Mar 07, 2010 11:12 pm

Previously I went to this machine shop to fabricate my base plate for my etx105 but I heard the company closed down for good. You may want to check the yellow pages for such workshops that do one-off projects.
I think Liu Ming or Kay Heem may be able to recommend some known ones too ?

Fuzzy · Post by **Fuzzy** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 5:04 am

What were the rates like at this shop you used to patronize?

Post by **Airconvent** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 9:24 pm

Can't recall now but not that expensive. Probably a few 10s of dollars but then again I was only make a flat plate with holes.

orly_andico · Post by **orly_andico** » Tue Mar 09, 2010 12:27 am

definitely i would be interested in such a shop..

Post by **Airconvent** » Tue Mar 09, 2010 11:40 pm

Check out this link...

http://www.singastro.org/viewtopic.php?t=7818 [smilie=cool.gif]

Post by **Airconvent** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 11:23 am

Hi Orly
Did you manage to find a shop to do the job?
if yes do share so I can put it into the FAQ section.
Thanks

orly_andico · Post by **orly_andico** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 1:12 am

Airconvent, I will call the shop tomorrow. I've been traveling the past couple weeks so no time... not sure if they can do actual machining or if they only can do cutting and drilling.