Skipper Billy

Nae botha - but I cant see what advantage the thing you are looking for offers over what you already have ??

From memory they are M8 bolts - we have various lengths in 316 stainless with allen key (hex) heads so you can nip them up tight.

Let me know what length you want and I will pop them in the post to you.

On 27/05/2018 at 10:37, John said:

What would possess anyone with a modicum of good taste to put red rings on a beautiful, elegant, white, blue and silver Tak tube assembly? It would be like putting Micra wheels on a Porche.

Ah well - whilst I am removing the Micra wheels from my Porsche I had better remove the tow bar off my Bentley !!  😉

Ba nuts and bolts are still widely used in the model aircraft world.

https://www.gwr-fasteners.co.uk/ba-screws-nuts--washers-1-c.asp

To be honest for what they cost I would bin it. If you are not 100% sure what you are doing (I don't think you are or you wouldn't be posting the question 😉 ) then mains power should be treated with great respect. 

2 hours ago, Starwiz said:

The logical way I can think of is to make CdC point to Polaris, then point the scope at Polaris.  Then slew to another object and adjust scope as necessary for a sort of 1 star alignment.

You can do that - when you have the scope pointing at what it thinks it is looking at then right click on the object in Cdc and tell it it is correct (cant remember the exact phrase to click on).

As bottletopburly says - platesolving is much more accurate.

10 minutes ago, Ignoro said:

The focuser is not very good, you can focus with it on small mag, but on bigger mag I find it very difficult... I've added some grease so it's better, but still...

I agree with all you say - cracking scope for the money and probably my most used scope.

BUT !!

I would carefully get rid of all the grease you have added - if it gets onto your eyepieces it will be a proper issue.

Remove it and put a few turns of PTFE plumbers tape around the threads - it will take up the slack and provide a nice positive but smooth result and without any fear of damaging anything.

Enjoy it !!!

@Tom OD  Can I delete the Drop Box folder now ?  Its just that my Drop Box is almost full and I am expecting an incoming set of photos of my grand-kids from far away!

Glad you got it fixed !

More seriously - Stellarium works really well on an iPhone.

All mobile phones have a brilliant device for use when committing astronomy - its usually marked with this symbol....... ?

@Tom OD  The config files for CdC, SGP and Sitech/Mesu are here - https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qrt987hb52bpeyk/AAAyNqZOHAqzs8_ImVDi4K5Fa?dl=0

Good luck !

David

@Tom OD I am using a very similar setup to you - Mesu 200 - SGP and CdC.

If it helps I can email you the backup/config files from my setup for each of the three above - there are two separate backup files for the Sitech/Mesu so four files in total.

Its a known working configuration.

Then providing it works it eliminates any hardware issues and you can alter the settings to suit your needs.

Just PM me your email address if you want the files.

Looks like I got the last of the 'old' model !  Maybe I should have asked Lucas to sign it!

Pioneers move on but the 'old' model will take some beating - switch on - slew - guide to <0.5 every time...........

34 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

I have to say that even if I had to do the Polytrol every year, I think I'd prefer it as it's quicker and less arduous than the waxing, even with the electrical polisher.

I dont blame you - in 'the trade' Polytrol is know as 'For Sale' juice !  ?

This is the time of year when we restore our yachts to their former glory - so we are well used to getting fibreglass back to A1.

The coloured fibreglass is a pain  - green as above - blue is even worse and red is the worst of the lot.

The problem is oxidization.

Products like Owatrol Polytrol give an easy and almost instant result and should last about a season.

For a longer lasting solution and really the only solution for white fibreglass is to remove the oxidization.

We use various cutting compounds used wet with an electric rotating sponge head but for small areas like and obsy you can do it by hand with a wet sponge.

The best product is this stuff - https://www.3m.co.uk/3M/en_GB/company-uk/3m-products/~/3M-Perfect-It-Fast-Cut-Plus-Compound/?N=5002385+8709313+8709338+8710722+8711017+8711413+8724076+8743656+3293211323&rt=rud

The order of events is wash (with strong detergent)- cut ( 3M Fast Cut) - polish (Good quality car polish) - wax (anything with Carnuba wax in it).

The International range of products is also very good and available is smaller bottles.

Wash

Cut

Polish

Wax

Its not as laborious as it sounds and even immersed in salt water and battered by the weather the above should give about 3 seasons before needing doing again.

Happy to help anyone who needs help with GRP.

42 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

Skipper Billy started it with his submarines!

It was a big help having a pal that works at Faslane nuclear submarine base!!! 

He is a submarine tubing welder and the standard of welding has to be seen to be believed !! It is beautiful!!!

I declined the offer of the x-ray certificate ?

I used a piece of high pressure thick walled steam pipe off a decommissioned submarine - simple flange welded onto each end.

Cost was zero.

£20  bung to the welder.

Fastened down to the concrete block with M14 studs epoxied into holes drilled in the concrete.

Top end M14 bolts welded to the steel plate that pass through the top flange giving some adjustment.

If we move house it can be removed and the studs cut flush with the concrete.

Photos here - https://sites.google.com/view/astro-imaging/micro-observatory

Fantastic - you should be very proud of your son and he should be very proud of his image.

Please tell him I think he has done really, really well.

I also used SuperLube - for my HEQ5 and EQ6 - worked perfectly - I also use it for rebuilding windlass gearboxes on boats - they do a similar job - slow moving parts under high load in extreme conditions.

I am not advertising but we sell it in our Chandlery if you want a tube - £12.50 posted.

3 minutes ago, rhw1967 said:

Check these guys out:-

https://www.altairastro.com/Padded-Bags-Telescope-Mount/

I have one of those - very good value for money and about the same price as generic big padded bags on auction sites etc

I am just across the way from Skye !

Good quality grease - I used 'Superlube' and it worked brilliantly even at very low temperatures.

1 minute ago, Stub Mandrel said:

I will 3D print a 1mm thick spacer for between the flattener and the T-mount adaptor and try again. Let's hope it doesn't take too many tries.

Hi Neil,

What ID are the spacers you need - I have loads of Delrin spacers from 0.5mm, 0.75mm and 1mm - PM me your address if you would like them. (FOC).

Is this any help ?

On 14/02/2018 at 09:05, DirkSteele said:

@FLO, any thoughts how one might either mount this on a small dovetail for use on a small telescope mount or directly on to a photo-tripod thread?

There is enough meat on the mini dovetail to drill and tap for a 1/4 - 20 UNC thread to mount it directly onto a camera tripod. If you dont have the facility to do that but would like it doing just PM me for my address and I will happily do it for you - no charge !