sloz1664

I can honestly say I've never had an issue with the mosaic wizard, with either the v2.6 or v3. Have you had it working in the past? Steve

Hi Ed It must be my age. What I meant to describe was anodising and not aluminising. Being involved in Engineering for 49 years, you think I should know better. Steve

I looked at dabbling with aluminising, but since retiring as an Engineering Manager I've lost my access to a toolroom and all the goodies I could manufacture. So it would have been a wasted exercise. Still I have kept in contact with all the Engineering and Tooling firms I have dealt with over the years. Steve

Project's on it's way then.. I saw your thread on the fabulous manufacture of your Focuser, as yet to be aluminised. Now there's a project....Focuser for the DarkStar. It would look quite fetching in Cobalt blue. Steve

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

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

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

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

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

Hi Steve, I use this one:- Steve