Martyn87

Not the postman, but @CloudMagnet kindly dropped this beast off for me today, EQ6R-Pro which makes my scope look TINY!

Well, huge thanks to @CloudMagnetas I now have a working mount that is likely to never need replacing!

The "budget" bit went out the window though! 

27 minutes ago, CedricTheBrave said:

this is slightly larger scale Radius Block 406R v7.stl

I'm out, just loaded the file up in my slicer and it won't fit on the print bed 😂 sorry! 

I see why you're wanting them in aluminium now though, they're way bigger than I was imagining. 

38 minutes ago, CedricTheBrave said:

my current design means that the tube rings are screwed to the block and the block screwed to the dovetail but i will have a rethink about mounting points to see if its viable

can print petg quite well and PLA+ as well ABS is not viable for my setup

If you think ABS would do, I can probably print them for you. I have some "white" (it's sort of semi transparent) in the printer at the moment. 

I'd designed some for my C6 recently but they were more of a pass through design:

51 minutes ago, Astronomist said:

Afraid not, its nearly 5x the price!

That's crazy! I guess it must be all the post-printing work that's required. 

15 minutes ago, Astronomist said:

I have used PCBway in china for machining before, they are very cheap compared to having it done in the UK. Xometry and JLC3DP might be worth a look as well.

best of luck!

I've had PCBs from PCBway before, they seemed good. They also do aluminium SLS printing which might be cheaper than machining. 

@CedricTheBrave do you think you need them in aluminium? I'd have thought they're not actually weight bearing as such, just filling the gap between your OTA and dovetail?

Could maybe print then in ABS or PETG, maybe nylon if your printer can handle it? 

Well unfortunately, I've just had to start the return process for the AVX, it's not working. Dec axis doesn't move at all (mechanically it's fine, electronically not so much), and the RA axis just spins and spins. I contacted Celestron on the off chance it was an easy fix, but they say that the RA issue is likely to be the encoder, so it's going back.

The search continues! 

7 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

I have just got one of the these and it's brilliant. 

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/tripods/astro-essentials-2-tripod-leg-grips.html?_gl=1*lrqb1t*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTUwMTk5MzU2LjE3MjEzMTA4Nzg.*_ga_F6VGWQ0MW9*MTcyMTMxMDg3OC4xLjAuMTcyMTMxMDg3OC4wLjAuMA..

I tried to print one of these but my printers waaaay too small, that might be the next upgrade! 

Unfortunately holding my tripod legs together might be least of my mount issues... 

18 minutes ago, LandyJon said:

 

Just had a quick look, I know it says heater control but how it'd connect I don't know.

It's a bit hidden on the website, but it is in there. A bit more here over on the "other" forum... 

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/848895-homebrew-celestron-compatible-dew-heater-control/page-7#entry13177277

The guy that's built this whole thing has mostly reverse engineered the Celestron accessories, GPS, WiFi, heater controller etc so that it send the same commands as the official accessories do. They even work correctly on the hand controller. 

Thanks @Elp. Surprisingly they're actually not that expensive, makes a change in this hobby! 

Just now, LandyJon said:

Just plug 12v in to the 1 lead, it'll run at full power but that's only an issue if you're trying to run on a battery pack, if you're on mains power it's no problem to leave it on max.

Thanks Jon. I know this will work, but I've read that it can cause issues with flexing in the corrector plate if it gets too hot? I was looking at putting together one of these: HBG3

Thanks @RT65CB-SWL! 

That wooden tripod is beautiful... I had my eye on one at the beginning of the week when the tripod I bought we'd missing on the way (thanks ParcelForce...), the StellaLyra ones on FLO are actually not too badly priced. 

Dew shields... I had looked at the AstroZap ones, as well as Astro Essentials and Lynx Astro ones, but even though it's more expensive, I'm still leaning towards the Celestron aluminium dew shield and eventually one of their corrector plate heaters. I'm not paying the obscene price for one of their controllers though, so it might depends on if I can come up with a solution for that. 

Well, it's been a hassle (and is still sort of a work in progress...) but the mount is here! 

I've seen various complaints about stiff axis on the AVX but it seems to move pretty well, I've had no issues getting it balanced, but the dovetail is a bit short so I'm trying to find a way to get some extra length at the back. The alternative is probably just to stump up the cash for the aluminium dew shield I suppose... 

On 15/07/2024 at 12:36, Martyn87 said:

An AVX Mount that was supposed to include a tripod... Tripod is currently MIA 😭

It turned up! Now just waiting on a power supply and I'll hopefully be in action by the weekend. No doubt the weather will have other plans... 

22 minutes ago, Tony Acorn said:

You can always screw that onto the top of a garden gnome in the meantime Martyn 😂

Haha, some people would say that's about all these mounts are good for to be fair, but it seems like the tripod is actually the most sought-after bit! Apparently it's lost in the system with ParcelForce somewhere. Hopefully it turns up, if not, eBay will have my back I'm sure. 

On the plus side my new (to me) camera did arrive in one peice, and is working perfectly with NINA and Sharp Cap. Canon EOS 550D (Rebel T2i) which I managed to get for £62 delivered... 

An AVX Mount that was supposed to include a tripod... Tripod is currently MIA 😭

Thanks Elp. I hadn't actually considered the rotation. I knew I would need the prism along the long edge of the sensor but hadn't thought much about how I'd achieve it considering I'm not using something like the 2600 and EFW. I guess I have plenty of spare back focus length though, so I'll come up with something. I had thought about getting the Celestron OAG instead, which is rotatable, but I didn't want something that I wouldn't be able to use if I move away from SCTs in the future. 

I'd looked at the 220mm which I think is the successor to the 290? Looks like a nice sensitive camera. I guess mono is the way to go here? 

The 174 looks interesting, Altairs version is actually cheaper than the 220mm. I'm guessing the higher resolution isn't really a lot of help for guiding though, but maybe it could be binned to increase sensitivity? 

5 minutes ago, adyj1 said:

Unfortunately not. They are normally 19 volt through a custom connector. 

Given this, ignore everything I said completely! Thanks @adyj1 and @Ratlet. Seems daft they're not using 12v, I guess they're just too power hungry and still doing some stepping down internally!

@Elp people have ran PCs at sub-ambient temps for years, although mostly in competitive overclocking. It's not good for them, but there are workarounds. I doubt any off the shelf PCs are coated in vasaline to stop moisture getting where it shouldn't though 😂

1 minute ago, adyj1 said:

If you want a dedicated imaging PC I don't see a problem with the N100 CPU - I have a couple of them I use with NINA at the pier and for that they are perfect. One of the big advantages with these boxes is that most take 12v DC through a standard 5.5/2.1mm (or 5.5/2.5mm) plug.

I used to use one of the ex-business tiny PCs like you linked - an HP260 with an i5-6200U CPU - and switched to the N100 so I can also use it with my travel rig on 12v. I haven't seen any performance issues at all, and still do flats/dark stacking while another imaging sequence is running with no issue (about the most work I put it through, tbh). The N100 is a league above some of the celeron-based PCs I've used in the past.

Buying from AliExpress isn't for everyone, but I got a tiny N100 PC with 16GB RAM/256GB SSD for under £100 delivered. It is currently listed at £130 with "sale due soon" - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006904616370. It has 3 x USB 3.1 ports, and came with WIndows 11 Pro, which is important for me as I use RDP for remote access. 

 

Absolutely agree, the n100 is leagues ahead of a lot of Intels previous attempts at low power CPUs, and still better than something like a Pi 5. That 4GB is memory would be awful though... 

I'd have thought most of these business mini pcs would run on 12v anyway do they not? I've used some of the HP Elitedesk G3 at work before and I know they used a standard kettle lead, but and of the ones that use DC power should be fine. Unless it's just a wattage issue? I've ran desktop pcs on 12v DC power supplies before so I know it's possible. 

That AliExpress PC sounds like a bargain. Might even have a look at those myself... 

Hi all, 

Now that I have a proper mount on the way, and a camera that I can control from NINA, I'm looking to do some proper imaging when the weather gets better. I'm looking for a camera to use for guiding. This is the setup so far: 

Celestron 6" SCT

F6.3 reducer

Celestron AVX mount

Canon 550D camera

I will hopefully have a ZWO OAG-L on the way shortly so I'm looking for an appropriate camera for this, which I think uses a 12x12mm prism? Am I right in thinking that I need to make sure the camera sensor will be filled by the image from the prism? I'm not tied to a particular brand, not needing to stick with ZWO for ASIAIR or anything like that, so I'm open to any suggestions really. 

Thanks! 

The N100 isn't a particularly good CPU, about equivalent to a "low-power" Intel i3-9100T, but might do the job for NINA. However, even Windows requires more than 4GB of RAM. You could pick up something MUCH better from eBay for that price, see below: 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115966528948?itmmeta=01J2PJ7E94NWSV07T23XVW5K4E&hash=item1b0024cdb4:g:9VIAAOSwaZllSMj5&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA4CKlF7sy20BOp4O314j1%2FzGQWZ3P%2FNvpjdf%2FMmnn6Jlc%2FLlI9aAaBIPrs7GhjJbi0kgLlJ3WjQU9NcCua7HJ%2FxkL1ltacG51tqdRad0JvTHn1sFIiBEtbCect9drbVWd%2BRVJZzurXTq3P4FBdWYnDD6opsO%2BQ18Mdy8GcpjKE8Q%2FpFZc%2B4wlIGZ75Aw%2BwVBeRc14AH7bdpBat%2BO2ifUWuhv3LgjeLq7hTxg%2B8sE93wLQsbP3IFlrE0NrJ8wbaWkptKKHYikAL%2FPAkV%2F2H2Z7qWmzlL2JkFOW0O0L3DBl8Cl8|tkp%3ABFBM1OSd0pVk

EDIT:

I just checked the website that @Shimrod linked to, and I'm absolutely horrified that they charge EXTRA to install Windows updates... No way I'd buy anything from this company to be honest. 

6 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

You have landed yourself a bargain there. Your AVX will be great paired with the 6" SCT. If imaging is the route you are taking then you will likely need a 0.63x reducer. Good luck on your journey.

Thanks bosun, I've already picked up the reducer, so once I have guiding sorted (I'm going to get the hang of using the mount first), pretty much the last step for now will be a better camera, at least something I can control through software rather than an intervalometer

3 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

I would rather have an HEM 15 as opposed to the AVX.

As would I, but they're quite a bit pricier. 

Funnily enough, I've just picked up an AVX yesterday, for the pricey sum of £475 basically brand new. Hopefully it'll arrive in the next couple of days and I can get it set up. 

This means I've spend £735 on a goto mount and 6" SCT. Leaves a bit left over for an OAG and guide camera. Not bad considering Celestron sell the same setup for £1899. 

I know it's not the best, but for what I've spent, I'm hoping I cans till get some decent images, and maybe upgrade in the future. 

Thanks Elp, we're you using it with your C6 too?