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Gina

Beyond the Event Horizon
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Blog Entries posted by Gina

  1. Gina

    All Sky Camera Mark 7

    By Gina,

    This is my latest generation of all sky cameras and based on the ASI178MM followed by ASI185MC CMOS astro camera and a Fujinon fish-eye lens of 1.4mm focal length.  Although rated at f1.8, this lens lets a lot more light through than this would imply.  Image capture is provided by a Raspberry Pi 3 in conjunction with INDI software.  This is used with KStars/Ekos client software running on a Linux Mint desktop indoors.  Communication is via Wi-Fi.  The Mark 6 ASC has proved inadequate after being in use for some time. 
    This blog will describe the problems of the Mark 6 and report my progress in developing this new version.
  2. Gina
    Following on from my abandoned original Giant printer project, this uses the same size printing platform of 400mm square but a much smaller frame.  The build height will be around 500mm.  It will use the Core-XY drive principle for the X and Y axes and the print bed will be raised and lowered to provide the Z axis.
  3. Gina
    This is a 3D printer with a 200mm square print bed and probably around 250mm build height depending on how things work out.  It will use many of the parts from my "GinaRep Pilot" printer which has now served its purpose and needs upgrading/rebuilding.  The Pilot printer had a moving print bed for the Y axis whereas the Mini will use Core-XY and the print bed will move up/down to provide the Z axis.  This arrangements minimises the mass of moving parts in the XY plane where motion is fastest.
  4. Gina

    Longcase Pendulum Clock

    By Gina,

    Traditional longcase (grandfather) clock but using 3D printed gears etc.  Also transparent acrylic clockface and mechanism front and back plates to show all the works.  The case is made of wood and pretty much traditional shape.  In addition to the usual hour and minute hands and dial this clock will have a moon globe above the main clock face similar to my moon dial clock.  I may add a small seconds dial if this proves viable.  There will also be an auto-winding mechanism driven from a stepper motor.   I'm hoping to add a striking mechanism once I have the main clock working.
  5. Gina
    This 3D printer makes a bit of a departure from my others in that it is designed to give the best accuracy I can achieve rather than concentrating on speed or size, though I did want to print at least as big as my Titan printer (290mm x 290mm x 250mm).  Like Titan it uses a box as the main frame but unlike Titan and my other printers does NOT use "pink string and ceiling wax".  It uses tried and tested 3D printer designs rather than my usual "way out" ideas.  I took advice from a friend who has spent a lot of time on developing high accuracy 3D printers.
  6. Gina
    I'm hoping this is my final and hence "Ultimate" generation of all sky cameras.  Based on the ASI185MC CMOS astro camera and Fujinon fish-eye lens of 1.4mm focal length and f1.8.  Image capture is provided by a Raspberry Pi 3 in conjunction with INDI drivers.  This is used with KStars/Ekos client software running on a Linux Mint desktop indoors.  Communication is via Wi-Fi.  The astro camera is an uncooled version but I have added a Peltier TEC cooler.  This cools the camera down to something like -15°C for night sky imaging with longer exposures of around a minute.  Daytime imaging is also covered using the camera's minimum exposure and gain.  The colour camera differentiates between dark clouds and blue sky and also shows the colours of stars at night.
    This Blog will describe the construction of the hardware and the special driver coding used to control dew heater, camera cooling and focussing.
     
  7. Gina
    I'm starting with an empty area about 10 x 4 metres between sun lounge and observatory in front of living room window and facing roughly south.  I have killed off most of the weeds and grass by covering with an old tarpaulin for a year or so.  This has also stopped the ground from drying out and making it easier to dig.   In addition to providing a path to the observatory, this will provide flowers and shrubs to see from the living room window.  Plus a small pond and fountain.  The latter is something I have been working on in 3D printing and plan to have something unique.  Apart from the pond there will be planting areas and slabs and ornamental stepping stones.
    I have removed most of the tarpaulin and started digging a hole for the pond.  The latter is a pre-formed pond I bought from Amazon :-
    Bermuda Sand Pre Formed Pond 128 x 84 cm.
    Here are some photos of pond hole digging and the general area.

  8. Gina
    I'm coming back to this project after a rather long break so decided to start a new Blog as this is a new start.  The design spec is rather different.  No moon dial and no perpetual calendar as that proved too cluttered.  I hope to have a striking mechanism.  Also, I'm hoping to arrange something to make the clock keep good time.  As before I shall have automatic winding but automatic precise time-keeping would be nice.  I don't think that's cheating as this is already quite far away from a standard longcase clock.
  9. Gina
    I have just acquired an Ha Solar telescope consisting of an Antares 127mm 1200mm FL telescope with Coronado PST.  I plan to set this up for both observing and imaging.  I have yet to decide on the final mounting for this but will start with a Skywatcher Pillar Mount with an NEQ6 SynScan Pro mount for testing as I want to reserve my EQ8 and main observatory for DSO imaging.
  10. Gina
    I've offered to give a talk with pictures to our local social group and thought a Blog on here would be a good place to prepare and assemble it.  Also, I would welcome any comments and suggestions.  I have a few ideas and will see how it progresses.  I will probably take me several days to get my initial ideas sorted out.
  11. Gina
    Gigaclear have provided optical fibre cable to our village of Upottery in East Devon with full Fibre To The Property at 1Gb/s both download and upload.  We are the first village west of Bristol to be provided with this ultra-fast fibre broadband. 
    They provided connection to a pot (like a water D head) just outside my premises and I am arranging the fiber optical cable connection from there right into my house and to the router they have supplied.  This blog describes the process of digging a trench and laying the cable then running it into the house.
  12. Gina

    Perpetual Calendar

    By Gina,

    This is basically a mechanical perpetual calendar with 3D printed plastic parts but whether I drive it from a clock with hands etc. or simply from a stepper motor remains to be decided.  The display consists of drums with numbers and letters stuck on.  Each drum is driven from specialised gears and levers.  The mechanism is designed to be visible and show the workings.
  13. Gina
    This blog describes Installing 3rd Party Drivers into a Raspberry Pi having installed Ubuntu MATE and followed the instructions to run the AstroPi3 script to install INDI and other astro related software. 
    SSH has been enabled so that now the RPi can be accessed remotely from Terminal.  eg. ssh gina@rpi where gina is my user name and rpi is the computer name as set up during the Ubuntu MATE installation.
    This set up process is detailed in my blog :- Setting up a Raspberry Pi for Astro Imaging and Control - Updated Feb 2020 for RPi 3B & RPi 3B+
  16. Gina
    Based on some of my other clocks this will be a wall clock for my living room to go above the fireplace.  It will have a dial of around 3ft diameter with a sweep seconds hand as well as the usual minute and hour hands.  It will be driven by a stepper motor controlled by an Arduino Nano with Real Time Clock module to ensure excellent time keeping.  Unlike other clocks it will not have any extras such as moon dial or striking, nor a pendulum.  This will be of the simplest design using an epicyclic gearing principle with minimal number of parts.
  18. Gina

    Widefield Single Imaging Rig

    By Gina,

    This is based on the ZWO ASI1600MM-Cool CMOS astro camera and vintage film SLR camera lenses.  In particular the Asahi Pentax Takumar, Super Takumar and Super Multi-Coated Takumar lenses.  I plan to use this rig for LRGB and where I have only one lens of a particular focal length for NB imaging.  Between these is the ZWO EFWmini filter wheel.
  20. Gina
    A new improved version of my "GinaRep Mini" 3D Printer.  The first version used cord for the drives whereas this one will use the standard timing belt for X and Y and trapezoidal screw drive for Z.  I also expect to use a stout wooden case of 18mm plywood like my Concorde printer, for maximum rigidity.  This is to be a specially accurate 3D printer with option of nozzles as small as 0.2mm.  Print bed will be 200mm x 200mm with around 200mm printing height.  Essentially this is to be a reduced size, higher resolution, version of my Concorde printer.
  21. Gina
    This is a dual imaging rig using two ZWO ASI1600MM-Cool CMOS cameras and matching vintage SLR film camera lenses.  There will be no filter wheel and there will be one fixed filter per camera.  These will be Astrodon 3nm Ha and OIII.  A common 3D printed dew shield will be used.  This rig will be fully remotely operated with remote focussing and mount control using INDI/KStars/Ekos software and a Raspberry Pi to operate the rig.
  22. Gina
    Having played with water cooling for astro cameras and seen this applied to 3D printers instead of fan and fins for cooling hotends but at high cost, I though I would like to try myself.  I have reasonable DIY skills   Some filament types benefit from a heated chamber and warm air is not so good for cooling.  This is one example where water cooling is particularly beneficial.  Another benefit should be reduced weight for the X carriage permitting faster acceleration and deceleration for fast printing.
  24. Gina

    Moon Dial Clock

    By Gina,

    This clock runs off a stepper motor controlled by Arduino and Real time Clock module.  It is about 300mm square with analogue display of hours and minutes with a sweep seconds hand.  Atop the main clock face is a globe displaying the phase of the moon.  The clock face is of clear acrylic to show all the gears etc.  This clock is finished and has been running for several months.
  25. Gina
    I'm starting this Blog as I have decided to resurrect my Giant 3D Printer project sometime in the relatively near future.  From building other printers I have gained extra knowledge and may have a plan.  This will be based on both the Mk.2 and Mk.3 Giant printer designs plus my Concorde 3D Printer for the Z drive system.  The main casing has yet to be decided.  The print bed will be moving to provide the Z axis, having thought long and hard about a moving XY frame as in the Mk.2 and rejected it.  The Z drive will move the print bed as in Concorde printer with trapezoidal form threaded rods and C-Beam Linear Rail – Cut To Size with C-Beam Double Gantry Plates.
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