Shelster1973

For my mount i use one of these connected into my USB hub and it works great. I did have one small issue at first as I had the USB dongle for my wireless mouse plugged into the hub next to this and it did not like it as could not acquire satellites. I probably should have thought of that before I plugged it all up that way, being a comms engineer and all. Diagnosed my stupidity quite quickly, so not all bad.

With the great help of Martin @FLO I have now sorted mine out. To use the ED80 flattener you have to use the m52>m48 adapter instead of the fitting that comes as standard on the ed72 With this in place you can get enough onwards travel to achieve focus have only tried on a far away terrestrial object, but can see that the focus point has now moved beyond this so looks good for when I actually get some clear sky and can use it outside many many thanks to Martin for helping out

Have tried just now on a visible moon and no joy, cannot get draw tube retracted enough to achieve focus. Is nearly there, but not quite. Have emailed FLO with update, so now onwards to find a solution...

Think I may have found what the first parts I will be using my new 3D printer for...can anyone say M48 spacers?

I had similar in my last house. Could get very far objects to start with, but as they continued with the development that view went away. Have just had the following in from the great gods that are FLO Hi Paul Focus has nothing to do the reducer and its back focus requirement. The back focus of 55mm is to get the images free of distortion, it doesn't effect focus in any way and you should try on the night sky rather that on a terrestrial target. If you have the M48 ring fitted to the camera you will be at the correct distance as the rings are designed to give you the correct 55mm when connect to the reducer. Will wait for a clear night (Ihopefully there will be one along soon) and see what I can achieve. Fingers crossed all is good

Cant you do this during the day on a far away object (not small...but far away...). This is what I am doing at the moment as am lucky to be able to see houses on the far horizon

Am not sure if there is. Have emailed FLO to see if they have any solution. Will do some major Googleing to see if i can find a thinner one

Can someone please sanity check the following. FLO website shows the ED80 flattener (which works on the ED72) as 55mm. Flange focal distance for my D7100 F-mount is 46.5mm, 48mm>Nikon adapter is 10mm which means I have 56.5mm which is beyond the focal point? This is sort of bourne out in real world as with it fitted i can focus on cars approx 50m away, yet cannot get focus on far objects / infinity as the draw tube does not retract far enough. This leads on to the question of how on gods earth do i overcome this and get a useable setup?

Jumping over to this thread.... Just reporting that have now managed to get software up and running, capturing fine and also carrying out image conversion and movie creation. I did have an issue where i was getting an error about image exposure failing, but realised this was down to me having flashed a different firmware onto my 120MC so that i could use it with the Raspberry Pi set-up. Flashed back and all is good. Next steps are to change lat and long, tinker with a few more settings around capture start and stop times and exposure length and then also some up with a place where I can mount the camera and get some outside image captures. Many thanks for developing this...muchos internet cookies for you on the way

Scope has arrived.....along with predicted rain too. Flattener and adapter turn up tomorrow and will then only be waiting for the M48 adapter so I can attach my Nikon. May have a try with my CCD and see what I can achieve with that

Well I have now gone and joined the 3D printing world. I did contemplate getting a resin printer as do like the look of the prints that come from them, but weighing it up in my head the one I was after cost twice as mush as the one I stumped for and that was before I factored in getting the IPA and UV curing station too. Have plumped for a CTC 2018 FDM dual extruder Bizer printer from eBay. Is due to be delivered tomorrow. Description states that it comes with a spool of filament (either ABS or PLA) and have also ordered a 1KG spool of PETG+ from Amazon which should be here today too. As this is my 1st 3D printer is all new to me an d was wondering what software people recommend for creating the models in? Also, how difficult is it to actually create these models? Am not sure what I will be creating with it yet, but am sure there will be a million and one things that I can imagineer up for Astro use.

Have been humming and having over getting one of these, but seeing that image has swayed me and have just hit the button and bought one from FLO plus a flattener. Went for the ED80 flattener with the adaptor as the dedicated ED72 one was showing a lead time of 7 million days. Hopefully should all be here this week some time...along with 8 months of clouds

Will give them a shout after Christmas and see what they have in that works. Mine advantage of living where I do is in am only 40 mins away from FLO so can get this sorted nice and easy. Also need to get a new piece for my filter wheel so can kill 3 birds with one stone

Ok thanks for the info. can see on FLO site that the ED72 flattener has quite a long lead time, yet says that it iOS essentially the ED80 with an adaptor and that far lattener shows as being readily available, so may go for that one.

Am contemplating getting one of these. Would be used on my EQ6R-Pro and also wanting to try it on my Star Adventurer as plan on taking it to Cyprus in June next year. Is the flattener essential for imaging? Images on this will be with my D7100 which has a sensor size of 6000 x 4000 pixels (3.92 um size) when in standard mode or 4494 x 3000 if using the 1.3 crop mode.

This is exactly what I do and have never had a time when the power pack turns off.

I have just watched this and he is getting some great results. even spookier is he is using the Esprit 100ED, which I currently have sitting in my shopping basket ready to push the button on. He did an unboxing video on this scope too. What did raise a question is that the one he received had a field flattener in it. Am 99% sure that we need to get this extra to then scope. All I can think is that it was part of the kit that SW sent to him as an ‘all up’version.

Serge Welcome to the forums and do not worry about the language. Your command of English is probably better than mine and the amount of French I can speak is much less than you can speak english. Can just about get by ordering a few beers and food. Getting your polar alignment down is the big one for getting longer exposures. As you have said you are using what I have put into PHD2, then you must be guiding. Would recommend getting your PA as close as with the polar scope and then use the Polar Alignment routine in PHD2 to get it as close as. With this carried out and accompanied by guiding there should be no reason why you can't get 5-10 min subs that are useable. As with all thing in astro, it is a learnign game from day one and everyday is a school day, as we say. Do not be worried about asking questions, even if you think they are stupid. As I have said in many situations, the only stupid question is the one that is not asked.

and after 1 hour of guiding.... ?

Finally... Making he most of this great weather tat is hitting the UK and have managed to get a PA done with my Polemaster and am grabbing some data, just for the heck of it (bad evil moon) Have put up my PHD graph below, so that people can see how things are. The trace is only for 6 mins of guiding. Target is Salt and Pepper Cluster To say I am happy with this mount would be an understatement. Plus, I love the noises it makes when guiding...very funky

Quick question to those hwo have this for guiding.....is this a worthwhile upgrade over the 'standard' finder that comes fitted with scopes? Am contemplating taking the plunge and getting one to replace my Orion 9x50 finder scope.

This is the reason I went for it. Can run the heater and my Star Adventurer off the same battery bank and it last plenty long enough for my imaging needs. Given the price of battery banks, can even go for two in my case. This is the one I bought

I ordered that exact on back a few months ago. Works great for me when I have it set up on my widefield setup. I run mine from a USB power bank. Does not get really hot, just warm enough.

From what I remember (which may not be accurate as have slept and drank Apple juice between....) the etchings have gone and all you need to do is royayw it so that 0 is at the top. Then you use an app or similar to show where Polaris should sit on the circle. This is the way I align on my star adventurer. Have not used the polarscope on the eq6-r as have the qhy polemaster for setting up on mine

All packed away with nothing done. Couds rolled in wile I was waiting. This hobby os so frustrating