DaveS

Thanks for the warning John. This is rather concerning, given the cost and advertised robustness of 365 covers. TBH I've only had condensation under the two I have, remedied by an electric pet bed and a light dusting of silicone water repellent. Do you have a link for the taped breathable membrane cover?

Things are underway (Well, sort of) I have an electrician and roofer booked in for this coming Thursday (21st) to attend to the garage roof, and put in safe electrical power to the garage, with feeds out to the small platform, which is also on the way (May take 4-5 weeks lead time), and obsy The big platform and obsy will have to wait until I've sold my bungalow (Just had a sale fall through. Blummin' chains), so the electrician will just cap off the end of the cable and coil it up. Oh, and I'm glad I got the roof done before Storm Eric came along. The Obsy isn't quite as urgent as it was, since I'm getting an ODK12 instead of a GSO RC12, which can be carried by the DDM60 until I can budget for a DDM85. The ODK12 can sit under a big Telegizmos cover, designed for 12-14" SCTs

I'm going on Saturday so will have a look.

And with a ZWO, or Atik camera on the end.

Only if "L" is for Leica. I think it will have to be going some to beat my 180 mm f/3.4 Leitz Apo-Telyt-R. Having said which, if I didn't already have that lens it would be on my hit-list.

The Anycubic printer is a bit cheaper, with better delivery options as far as I can see. How much it costs to run depends on how much, or how big you want to print. For my needs both are quite small.

As a (Retired) chemist with a background in photochemical organic synthesis, these UV SLA printers have a certain attraction. Yes, the resin monomer is a bit expensive and requires careful handling, but I'm OK with that.

Really looking forward to seeing your images Gina. It's been a while.

I'm not spending any money just yet, and I still think I'll get the resin printer to start with, but I haven't ruled out a conventional printer later.

Well, several reasons 1) I'm notoriously cack-handed and likely to make a complete bodge-up. 2) I don't, as yet, have a workshop where I can build stuff. 1+2 also means I probably need to print the parts I need, rather than make them. 3) Being a contrary cuss, the idea of going "the other way" with printing holds a certain attractiveness. 4) I'm seeing plenty of comments regarding bed temperature, hot-ends and the risk of fire from thermal runaway. I don't want to go there. Maybe when I've got the garage properly insulated and condensation free I'll put in a work bench and power tools and be able to have a go at building a 3D printer, but not yet.

Sorry, tried to link from my 'phone didn't work. On the main computer now, so maybe I can do it. I was browsing this thread, and the couple of posts about resin printers sent me off up that long river, where I found this: Anycubic 3D Printer Can't justify it yet, got too many serious expenses, and even some more "urgent" frivolities, but any thoughts? Edit: I'm not looking to print massive stuff, but small precise parts. I've an Amici prism that I'd like to build into a spectroscope, and this looks like it could be precise enough for printing components.

Changed my mind.

Not quite that bad, I hope, though I'm in some dread as to what else is lying in wait for me. Oh yes, I had to get plumbers in quickly a while back, as the booster pump for the two showers refused to shut down when the water was turned off.

Yeah, the engineer thinks it might have been a poor DIY (BIY (Bodge-it-yourself)) job. As an example, the pressure tank was installed upside down, and had no vent pipe from the pressure relief valve to the outside, so if it *had* blown, I'd have had a flood. The electrics were / are in just as parlous a state, the 45A cable to the garage comes off a bit of 2.5mm square twin-and-earth, and goes direct to a couple of sockets and a light switch, and is running loose along the ground. A new distribution board is in order. *sigh* more money....

Thanks for the reminder, yes mellons need netting support, cucumbers might wel be an idea. Possibly the greenhouse is a bit small to take a vine. Funds have taken a beating lately, as I've just had a new boiler and oil tank installed, you can just see the tank in the second photo. I hoped we could have "accidentally" killed off the palm, but I may need to take an axe to it. I'm a bit frightened about the size of the final invoice, as the engineer had to put right a complete bodgit-and-scarper job on the old boiler installation, and the roof over the boiler house and shower room was just as bad. I had the roofers in to make good where the old flue was taken out, but hey've had to replace some dodgy polythene sheeting under the tiles with the correct breathable membrane, scaffolding comes in tomorrow, then the roofers come on Tue to put back the tiles the ols roof had maybe 2 nails holding the entire roof .

Hope so. It's quite a good greenhouse, I'm looking forward to putting it to productive use. Toms, and possibly mellons.

Another quick update. I've had a landscape gardener in to quote for major garden work, he also does hard landscaping / building, so he's also going to quote for two platforms, the big one to go in later, but a small one to go here The big Bay tree next to it Will be getting a short back and sides. This platform will just have a pier and the small rig under a Telegizmos cover. Local computers and ethernet connections are already planned.

Actually, according to the map, down the road a bit (Not saying how far or what direction) the West Bexington beach car park hits 21.72, or Bortle 3 with a deep sea-horizon

Map says 21.66 and Bortle 4 where I am now. Will have to buy a SQM to check, but it does get quite usably dark, unlike Ruislip. The nearest artificial lights (Not windows) are on a farm building about 1/4 mile away, but they're only visible from my bedroom, not glaring, and not on all the time. I think the nearest streetlights are in Bridport, about 4 miles away. Unfortunately there are a lot of them!

No comparison. SQI 21.66 vs 18.6-ish in Ruislip. On Tue 31st it was clear, the Milky Way was visible as soon as I went out on the patio. Some LP visible from Bridport to the west, but not too horrendous. Main downside is the sky is not as open as I have in Ruislip. Trading quantity for quality. One reason to lose the tree.

A couple of photos of the offending tree. And closer

Quick addition. No TPO, but as it's a conservation area, I'll still need planning permission. Email I got back suggested a tree surgeon should be able to handle the paperwork.

Something to remember is the cost of filters. 1.25" aren't too bad, (Though 3nm Astrodons are ruinous in any size) but when you get to the 2" or bigger that you need for APS-H or larger the costs become crazy. Regarding resolution, the measure you need is "/px, not number of pixels, that just gives you the FoV. As an (Extreme) example the camera on the Liverpool telescope (2m f/10) has 4096x4096 15micron pixels. Even binned 2x2 it's still working at 0.30"/px. Now planning the network in my new house. Will include at least 2 external cat6 links. My next camera is likely to be one of the 16200 variants. Debating between Atik, Moravian, and SX in order of cost.

Following this with some interest as I'm planning on remote control for my (As yet in planning) obsy. I'm expecting the computers at either end to be Win7 Pro. I'm also planning to control my small rig from the conservatory as well. Hmm...two computers with two screens each in there, with remote computers at each telescope. I may be using a 55" Panasonic OLED TV for the final colour grading of my images, due to its very good gamut (They're used in pro grading suites), rather than just resolution.

To resurect this thread with some hard facts. Here is a photo of the likely area And this is looking down on it from one of my terraces. The bricks outline a 2.5m square, 2m in from the boundary, for planning reasons. Will have to enquire Re: TPO on the big tree in the west. There are planning clinics in Bridport and Dorchester, but I won't be able to make an appointment until I finally move. A 2.5 x 2.5 x 0.5 m concrete base will be shielded by the obsy from direct heat.