Gina

-2°C

-0.6°C

3°C

6°C

14°C

Now have the cooling on to check for focus change with temperature. Above was 33°C.

It doesn't seem to. I arranged access to the lock screw by drilling through the camera casing. Then undid the screw and refocused. Tested adding the dome and it did shift the focus a little so I corrected for that, tightened the screw and replaced dome. This is the result. I think this may do.

I tried bifocals some years ago and couldn't get on with them. Went for single vision ones after that - distance, reading and computer. Last time I went they suggested varifocals so gave them a try - I was fed up with changing glasses all the time, not being able to find the right pair and sitting or standing on a pair and breaking them. Took a little while to get used to but a big improvement.

This is what the view looked like with the lens in focus. Or as good as I got it. There seems to be no doubt that something has changed and need fixing!

Moved box & ASC nearer to the window to get more outdoor view.

Testing again indoors (raining so setting up outdoors is out). Have camera sitting on a box on the table looking out of the window. The far hill is obscured by mist but there are nearer trees. Here are screenshots from the KStars FITS Viewer. Full FoV and the distant part only. This doesn't look good. I thought a warm camera without cooling was causing the problem but this is with cooling. Around 0 and -6C

I looked into a pellet feeder at one stage - even bought some jars of pellets for testing. Turned out to be so much more difficult and complicated than filament though that I gave up on it. The idea was for a giant printer with a fast printing rate but with standard filament available on reels containing up to 8Kg, using filament was a no brainer - pellets weren't much cheaper.

One thing that remains to be seen is whether the focus looks alright under a starry night sky. It looks a bit out when viewing trees on the far hills in spite of being very carefully set and then locked with the screw. The dome didn't seem to make much difference.

I sometimes refer to mine as "That funny green shed" or "The green shed with the strange/funny roof".

Camera in its housing, bottom plate attached with 8 screws into the camera casing and sealed with silicone sealant, then I connected the USB cables and checked that the camera still worked. Next was to insert the Peltier TEC and attach the waterblock cooler with 4 screws. This has a springy mounting system so that the pressure on the TEC was limited. I then connected the water tubes, circulating pump and radiator and after putting water in the reservoir jar, dropped the pump into it and attached the cap. Initially I ran the pump and Peltier TEC off 5v from the bench PSU to check that everything was functioning correctly before increasing the voltage to my standard 13.8v and watched the camera sensor temperature drop. Without cooling the camera was running at 32.7°C but with full cooling it went down to -3.7°C - a drop of over 36°C. This is with the ASC indoors with an ambient temperature of over 20°C. I am happy that I shall be able to cool the camera plenty well enough when the ASC is outdoors on its mast.

I too use a 178MC and very happy with it.

Chris has developed his own design of 3D printers that produce amazing results. He's also very clever with CAD.

Yes, it's called a "RecycleBot". Difficult to get good and consistent results and very expensive to run. See my comment earlier.

It's a matter of C or CS mount.

I have a feeling you may not need an adapter.

Oh sorry Dave - that post was off-topic.

In one of our WI meetings a year or two back, we had a talk by a lady from East Devon District Council on recycling so after the talk I asked if scrap 3D prints could be recycled (particularly the corn based PLA) but she said NO. There were no 3D printing thermoplastics that they could recycle so I guess I should put the PLA in the landfill waste bin but I reckon they will recycle more plastics in time. ATM they recycle PET but not PETG. I know that all these plastics can be recycled if the councils put their minds to it. It annoys me that we consumers do our best with recycling where permitted but are stymied by the councils!

Having checked that the camera was working I dribbled some hot melt glue over the connections on the PCB which should secure the wires. Following that, reassembled the camera and checked again that it worked. I should now be able to put the camera back in its housing.

I looked into a "RecycleBot" some time ago and found that the cost in power needed exceeded the cost of new filament!! Also, you can only recycle once as the filament quality is reduced. So I am left with a number of dustbin bags full of failed and experimental prints. I have improved my environmental overhead though by pretty much sticking to PLA which is plant based rather than oil based and will "return to earth".

I already cool my ASC and I did once think of trying Ha filtering. There is room for a naked filter between the lens and the camera sensor. OTOH With the 28mm lens and ASI1600MM-C camera, I get a FoV of 37.5° x 28°which would cover it. Might have a go sometime.