1.25″ Ruby Turret

Description

The long awaited 1.25″ turret is now here! Set up your whole equipment stack and then spin the turret to quickly switch between them.

• 6 x 1.25″ eyepiece sockets
• Parfocal locks
• Dual position locks with removable thumbscrews for outreach
• 1.25″ filters fit the threaded nose
• 1/4 wave mirror
• 5 axis cnc machined from 6083 aluminium
• Weight: 911g / 2lbs
• Foam box or hard Cerberus case option
• Recommended load capacity 2kgs / 4.4lbs
• Backfocus 97mm / 3.8 inches
• Free worldwide shipping
  

Manufacturer’s Review

The main feature of the nPAE Ruby Turret is that it effortlessly holds six 1.25” accessories. Shown here with a selection of #televue #skywatcher and #meade eyepieces you can rotate the turret in either direction to access the desired eyepiece. You can finally make use of all your eyepieces together! During those moments of good quality seeing you can swap for high magnification. Now you can switch between wide field and narrow field for nebulas and planets without having to change focus.

The second key feature of the Ruby Turret are the parfocal locks. This is the feature that keeps all the eyepieces in the same focal plane. Each lock has parfocal ring that can be adjusted to add between 0 to 6mm of additional backfocus, or the parfocal ring can detached to remove 5mm in one step. The back focus of the Ruby Turret is 96mm, so the parfocal ring can adjust that figure to between 102mm and 91mm.

The clamping mechanism of the Ruby Turret locks are via a brass compression ring which is closed with a thumbscrew AND an M4 flat point screw. They are 120° apart with the flat point screw towards the rear. This enables the outreach feature. Often, during high person usage, thumbscrews will come loose and even be fiddled with by curious fingers! With the Ruby Turret you can engage the flat point screws and remove the thumbscrews entirely so your eyepieces will remain secure throughout the event.

The centrepiece of all diagonals is of course the mirror. And the heart of the Ruby Turret is no less special than the rest. The key issues with an aluminised glass mirror is there is a dependency on coatings and the fragility of the glass. The Ruby Turret eliminates both these problems in one hit. Borrowing from the world of laser interferometry the Ruby Turret has a ¼ wave solid molybdenum mirror. Not only is the mirror incredibly flat, but any debate around what is the best coating is now mute as there is no need for coating with molybdenum being non-reactive with oxygen below 300 Celsius. Molybdenum is also super tough, drop the Ruby Turret and the last thing you’ll break is the mirror!

The nose filter thread is the feature that allows a filter to be attached to the Ruby Turret which will cover all the eyepieces. The thread will take most 1.25” filters, shown here with a green filter, looking out through the nose. Now you can add whatever your favourite filter is for the viewing session.

Like all nPAE products the Ruby Turret incorporates aircraft design engineering with 5 axis CNC machining. Made from 6083 aluminium which offers high tensile strength, high durability, anti-corrosion, dimensional accuracy and fine surface finish the Ruby Turret is elegant and sophisticated.

The final product is reached through a series of incremental steps beginning with software conceptual design, 3D plastic printing for prototyping before metal prototyping and finally a production prototype. Each stage saw ever tighter refinement until the faceted version you see today came into being.

The interlocking bezel halves allow fully integrated locks and the ability to open up the Ruby Turret to facilitate easy cleaning of the mirror. It’s a true stroke of design genius.

Watch the Refreshing View Youtube channel review here: