sloz1664

Hi John, and a very warm welcome to the Lounge

Steve

Hi, and a very warm welcome back to the Lounge

Steve

Hi James,

Great to see you are on the final throes of finishing your project. Have you been able to use your obsy to observe / image during the recent clear skies?

Steve

Fabulous project and well done completing what you had designed to do. I am part way through fully automating my Pulsar Dome, The last hurdle is to automate the opening & closing of the shutter. 

Steve

Tremendous amount of detail there Steve. We've had a great run of clear skies recently and you have certainly used this time to gather the data. The processing is, as always, top drawer.

Steve

Hi Glob, and a very warm welcome to the Lounge

Steve

It's good to know someone is taking notice of LP. Bring in a light pollution tax and you would see darker skies 😜

Steve

Hi, and a very warm welcome to the Lounge

Hi, and a very warm welcome to the Lounge

Really great to see you jumping into astrophotography from the start, no mean feat, as it's as complicated as taking photographs can get. Regarding field flatteners, these are usually dedicated to telescopes and if you plump for the Evostar 72ED then a field flattener would be a consideration. One piece of advice I give to any budding astrophotographer is to purchase the book "Making Every photon Count." It is written by a member of SGL  "Steppenwolf" and is considered "the bible" for budding AP enthusiasts. You can purchase it here from FLO

Steve

Hi Mark, and a warm welcome to the Lounge. You live in a beautiful part of Northern Island, a real treasure.

Steve

Thanks Hugh I'll start on this as soon as I can and complete it on my return.

Steve

Hi Dan, and a very warm welcome to the Lounge

Steve

Very impressive images David. I can see you are going to love that new Atik

Steve

That's brilliant Hugh, I've not ventured any further from my side I'm afraid. I've been suffering with a chest infection, but on the mend now. I'm away for a few weeks and will start to build on my return, which shouldn't take too long. Just one note, I wouldn't mind seeing a stripboard layout for the relay board.

Steve

Hi Kevin, and a very warm welcome to the Lounge

Steve

1 hour ago, upahill said:

Brilliant, im currently in search of a decent pulley (is it a pulley or a sprocket?) - the one I have found has a flange on both sides which would limit me to having a 25mm thick wooden ring. If only I had a lathe...... Then again it might still work depending on the thickness of the belt.

Which software/project are you using with the arduino - I went down the levesdome/velleman route as it seemed the most documented. I will probably search for a motor with encoders and im hoping this can be incorporated into the system.

 

Hasn't quite arrived, just the listing photos - should be here today though. I had quite a bit of luck with those tiles as I havent seen any for months at the carboot, whenever I dont need something every second stall has them, as soon as a project requires they are like gold dust. Had a similar problem with the M12 nuts for the pier (then last week found a box of 90 )

I will trim back 10mm of the tiles once they are all in. There is a light dusting of spray adhesive under them to hold them flat but fully expecting that to be temporary. Need to find a new penknife as I was limited to holding spare blades by hand 😵

They can be cut with a pair of scissors

Nice to see you have received your Velleman board & drive belt. The tiles are a great buy, they are exactly the same as I have in my Obsy and are brilliant, easy to clean & no dangers if you drop anything. One thing you must do with the tiles is to leave a 10 - 15mm gap around the outer edge, they expand in the heat and if there is no gap, they lift qute alarmingly.

Steve

Hi Martin, and a warm welcome to the Lounge

Unfortunately, due to commitments, I was unable to observe anything last night 

Steve 

1 minute ago, upahill said:

Hmmm some more reading - never even considered wireless. But it has prompted me to think whatever solution used for the shutter its going to require power, and therefore either a battery in the dome section or a cable which would obstruct full rotation. Im guessing if you are going for wireless control your mechanics will be battery powered?

Yes, the Shutter movement will be battery powered. I have a couple of 12v 12ah batteries to use.

Steve

1 minute ago, upahill said:

Thanks, I did get the dehumidifier that the previous owner had, the hydrostat looks like a good idea, and simple to use. What do you set yours to?

I have been thinking about the sticky shutter issue - I cant really figure out how to motorise that yet, but I could ease the operation by bolting some skate bearings to the inner aperture where the shutter presses against - the outer edge of the bearing a few mm proud of where it rubs. Should only cost a couple of quid and make the opening and closing significantly smoother.

Current list of jobs to do:

+ all the usual stuff actually related to the telescope, I havent tried the new china mini guidescope yet, the EQ6 needs a bit of a clean/service and I need to source better/shorter cables for everything to improve cable management.

Sooooo excited to actually use it. The further I get with it the happier I am about delaying the ASI1600 to fund this. Even with a DSLR for a while longer my nights should be a lot easier and more frequent.

I set my Hyrostat to cut in at 60%.

Regarding the shutter I am currently building the electronics to automate the shutter via Levesdome. This is to be wirelessly controlled. Once this is working I will get my head around the physical movement of the shutter.

Steve 

2 hours ago, JamesF said:

Interesting read.  Once I have finished building Robert's dew controllers I shall be looking at making some of these.

I like the idea of having a box with a clear lid so the display is protected from the damp but still visible.  I was going to 3d print my boxes, but perhaps I need to rethink, or make a lid that I can fit a clear window into.

James

You won't look back James. They are really great focusers. I have been running mine for over 3 years.

Steve

3 minutes ago, upahill said:

The only idiot lights here are family ones, which I can usually control. Ocassionally the farmer likes do drive around with his 80,000,000 candle power torch but if he does that the subs are gonners anyway. I couldnt think of a practical reason - more an aesthetics thing really. A blue/grey would be nice and hide a multitude of sins.

Haven't really checked for any dew/humidity issues yet. The previous owner had a dehumidifier in the dome.

Going to write up a list of jobs I want done by winter to make it useable, then prioritise them and see which 10% i can actually get done

 

You will need a dehumidifier, I suggest you also get a Hydrostat to ensure it keeps the humidity to an acceptable level.

Steve

Hi, and a very warm welcome back to the Lounge

Steve

Hi, and a very warm welcome to the Lounge

Steve

I wouldn't advise using two motors as one would be fighting against the other which may cause issues. I would have one motor, which would be sprung loaded against the belt and two fixed idler pulleys set at 120 degrees to stop the dome from flexing.

Steve