Thalestris24

Oh I have already. I just have to be in the mood to fiddle about with it! Louise

Good news! Gives me hope for mine though I still haven't got around to looking at it! Hope yours continues to work Louise

Oh, don't take too much notice of me - I've no experience of modding dslrs! It just seems to me to be fraught with risk since there's so much to go wrong! Louise

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Yeah, monofying is high risk!

I know what you mean but I didn't mod the 550d myself - I paid someone to do it for me! I don't have the time, patience or eyesight to attempt it myself.

Hi I wish I could tell you what was causing the failure on mine. I did start replacing boards but got distracted and busy with other things. It's been sitting on my table in bits for months... I have a suspicion the problem is with the sensor but can't be sure. As you know, it's a pain to take a board out and replace it. I might get round to having another go one of these days but I acquired an Atik 383l+ mono back in September so the 550d is a bit redundant now. Still, it would be nice to get it going again. Maybe I'll have quick look tomorrow Louise

Lightwave 0.8x reducer just arrived! Great service from RVO - only ordered it yesterday! Anyway, it's destined for my f6 apo - hope it will improve my eaa efforts Louise

Even distilled water rapidly picks up ions and will eventually conduct... Maybe try drying for longer with the back off? It's possible that it failed for reasons not to do with any condensation. My 550d mono failed after a longish imaging session and I've not been able to resurrect it. As it stands, it's an ex-cooled mono 550d... It powers up but operating the shutter results in it hanging with the red activity/busy led staying on. That indicates a problem acquiring data. Do you get an error number in the viewfinder? Is the camera tethered to a PC? Hope you can sort it, especially after all your efforts! Louise

The Proposition 65 cancer and reproductive health warning seems a bit ott…. Louise

I think it's microlens diffraction - a known problem with the 1600 https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/556795-reflection-around-big-stars/ Louise

Ok - thanks. Sounds challenging! I thought I was probably hoping for too much from plastic... Cheers Louise

Quick question for you 3D printer gurus... Would a printer such as the Ender 3 let me make (amongst many other things) custom telescope fittings with, say, 1.25" barrel and either c-mount, T2 or M48 threads? Cheers Louise

Being a compulsive tinkerer, there are (many) times when I could really use one... Maybe in the New Year Louise

Hi Adam and thanks I think there are two versions of objective glass? Presumably the newer one that TS stocks currently is better than the older FK61 one? In any case, I've abandoned the idea for now, though I might still get an asi178mc and use it with an existing scope Louise

Probably won't work for me, then. My 6 1/2 year old v2.6.4 Android phone hardly works with anything now - nothing new, anyway... Louise

Looks fun! Am tempted to get a VR headset - not sure how they work exactly or what their system requirements are?? If I got one I'd want it to be something portable that doesn't require an expensive smartphone... There was a drama on C4 earlier in the year ('Kiss Me First' - anyone see it?) which put me off a bit! Ha ha. Louise

In that case FLO should update their page! If focal length is not @Snooze's issue then it must be something else. I've no personal experience with the mini but I had terrible problems with my SA and had to dis-assemble it and adjust the motor and worm gears and it still doesn't give as good tracking and images as some peoples' seem to do. Louise

I believe the max recommended focal length is 100mm (according to FLO: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-star-adventurer/skywatcher-star-adventurer-mini-sam-wifi.html ) Louise

Yeah, that's big and heavy.... There are people (so I've heard...) who've done some short exposure AP with big Dobs. If you keep exposures short enough then you can escape the rotation. Have a look here Louise

Hi I doubt if anyone here has tried what you describe although it depends what you mean by 'largish'? If it's quite big and heavy but you happened to want to image with it then you probably wouldn't put it on a purely alt-az mount in the first place (though some people will try anything...). It is possible to make use of a wedge. Meade fork-mounted (sct) scopes can do that, I believe. Louise

I've never done it myself but you can just bend some aluminium bar e.g.

Hi Vlaiv I wasn't suggesting you buy one, lol! I was just showing you how mine is put together - it's quite simple, and as I said, probably not difficult to duplicate. It's just a geared stepper motor, L- bracket and controller. If I'd had the ability to do the mechanics I might have tried to make one myself at the time. For one thing, they charge 100 Euros just for the L-bracket on its own which is nothing to make, if you can do such things. Louise

FWIW my usb focus motor has gears and a direct coupling to the focus shaft: As you can see, the motor is held in place with a simple L-bracket. It would be easy to duplicate the hardware but some effort to write an ascom interface, I think. I imagine it has a simple usb-serial interface with some sort of microcontroller and stepper motor driver in the little control box. There is an external temperature probe which plugs into the box (with the blue manual control buttons). It does 8000 steps/turn and is powered from an 8v dc mains adapter. My version handles ~1.5kg load - there's also a ~4.5kg version, I think Here is motor from other side (you can see the end of the geared shaft that goes to coupling): Hope that's useful Louise

I have a retail usb-focus kit from ts https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p6773_USB-Focus-v3-Set--controller--temperature-sensor--strong-motor--for---1-5-kg-payload.html It was the only one I could find with a bracket that fits my ts 115mm frac but it works well with APT's ascom focus control. It has a manual controller too. Also very high resolution in terms of distance/step. Louise