sloz1664

Nice set-up Alex. You will love the easy access and simplicity in setting up your scope when you have completed your project. 

I wish you all the best and a speedy completion to your 50/50 roll off.

Steve

7 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

http://www.scientificmirrors.co.uk/Aluminising.html

 

That's good to know Niel. As and when I need to re-coat the ol'Tal. BTW great purchase on the DarkStar Dob. I'm sure you will fettle it back to it's best... and beyond. Lots of photos on your progress.

Steve

Fabulous build Fozzie. What is the chain for? Is it to secure the tripod to a secure robust post in the garage to stop anyone stealing it, because it is a beauty

Steve

Nice upgrade on a VERY NICE scope.

Steve

Fabulous review Richard. Makes me want a large refractor some day.

Steve

You need the CH340G nano. It is explained in Rob Brown's MyFocuer Manual.

Steve

Purchased all my Nema steppers from OMC. Great company to deal with.

Steve

Here are the three Robert Brown Focusers I have built. Each having their own Ascom driver. FocuserAscom1, FocuserAscom2 & FocuserAscomPro.

Steve

You could also try Robert Brown's DIY focus controllers:-

https://sourceforge.net/projects/arduinoascomfocuserpro2diy/

Steve

1 hour ago, tomato said:

New Pulsar domes are pricey in my view for what they are, so that’s why I went the 2nd hand route, only to discover that the older versions are not compatible with Pulsar’s drive kits. Mind you at £2.5k for the dome and shutter kits, they aren’t exactly cheap either. 

So will be going the DIY route for this, thanks to the many useful posts on this subject by the SGL community.?

I agree they are pricey, particularly the add-on kits. I purchased my Dome 2nd hand and added my own drive system & control it with LevesDome software.

Steve

I agree with both Jeremy & Dave. My Pulsar 2.1 M Dome has totally transformed my love of AstroPhotograhy. Even more now it's motorised.

Steve

54 minutes ago, AndyH said:

What a wonderful thread this is !

 I still think the P-2Z EQ is one of the most beautiful mounts ever! Most folk I've mentioned this to, think it's 'messy'.... fools.

Totally agree Andy. It's an "Engineer's Mount"

Steve

Hi Lorenzo and a very warm welcome to the Lounge

Steve

It seems the capacitors on both the EQ5 & 6 boards fail on quite a regular basis, reading reports over the last few years. I often thought of buying a spare board for my Avalon, which incidentally has the same board as the EQ6. But at £100 for a board which costs a few pounds to make grieves me. I'll purchase a few capacitors - Just in case...

Great to see you got it fixed Malcolm.

Steve

I feel your pain, but before we go of on the imaging aspects of this RC scope let's get back to basics. What is the scope like visually? Are you getting the correct concentric circles in and out of focus, if so, we have a good collimated scope. If not, there are some very good RC collimation videos on youtube. Now if we have a good collimated scope let's have a look at imaging...

Although you haven't included any additional equipment; mount, guiding equipment, camera etc. These can have a bearing on the quality of your images. Any additional information will aid and help to point you in the right direction.

Steve 

13 minutes ago, tony210 said:

Hi Steve - yes saw your mod - very nice - I had already opted for a mounted motor mounted on the dome roof so just changed that but I like your wooden supports for your belt. Happy to have got mine automated at last and can sit inside and just watch the subs coming in on my computer and not keep going out to shift the dome!- Tony

Totally agree with that Tony. In fact my dome is automatically inching it's way round now whilst I'm obtaining some nice subs of the Soul Nebula

Steve

Hi Tony,

I did something similar with my Pulsar 2.1M dome. I also used a windscreen wiper motor to drive the dome, via the Velleman project and  didn't want to use batteries. I built an extended support onto the dome to mount the drive belt so I could use a mains 12v dc 10 amp power supply.

Dome Rotation.mp4

Steve

The prices are increasing on any Tal product as they are now getting thin on the ground. It all depends on the condition and what you get with the scope, mount, drive motors etc.

Steve

Going great Malcolm. The addition will stop you from getting a bad back.

You will certainly enjoy having an observatory. Best piece of astro equipment I have invested in by a country mile.

Steve

Firstly, congratulations on obtaining your first CCD. Secondly, thank you for your in-depth findings of your QHY8L. Regarding gain & offset, I would set your gain to around 8 - 10 and your offset seems ok. Have a look at the attached gain & offset proceedure:-

gain and offset.pdf

Steve

2 hours ago, kirkster501 said:

Guys, what ascom driver do you use for your lodestar x2 and which guider do you select from th3 drop down in PHD2 please?

Hi Steve,

I use this one:-

Steve

17 hours ago, tekkydave said:

I'm not sure if this is relavant to your dodgy nanos but I read the following in the official D-Bot build guide:

"If  you  cannot  connect  or  if  you  receive  a  timeout  error,  you  may  need  to  download  and install  the  CH341SER  driver.  Some  Chinese  knockoff  Arduino  boards  use  a  serial  chip which  is  not the  same  as  normal  Arduino  boards"

 

Oh.. I've had everything happen to my "chinese cloned. "smoked and died" I panicked into thinking I'd messed up my circuits  Not worked at all and a couple that have died after a few days. Luckily they are cheap and I now have a stock of spares

Steve

18 hours ago, Gina said:

Redesigned the bottom plate as it was a bit small plus I shall have it the other way up with "legs" to space it in the outer casing.

Hi Gina,

Just a subtle point. Whenever you design any components that protrude like the four tags on your model, add fillet radii at the base of the tags to give them strength. Otherwise you will find they will "break off" quite easily. You should always consider this on all your designs. If you have the room to add a strengthening radius  - add one. The bigger, the better.

Steve

Hi Alan,

I suggest you download PHD2. Open it up and read the impatient Instructions found in the Help Tab. This will forward you to other topics. You can also find lots of tutorials on Youtube.

Steve

Hi Alan,

Yes you don't need the Nightwatch Studio to guide. It was Brightstar's imaging software. You will need the Ascom driver to interface with PHD2. BTW what imaging software are you g+oing to use t+o capture your images.

Steve