Skipper Billy

Thanks Chris I will print the sheet out and see what its pulling. I am not too worried about the indoor PC as its now only connected with Remote Desktop so the obsy PC should keep going then when the power comes back on I should be able to relink it. Its unusual for the power to be off for more than 15 mins. Thanks again.

Thanks guys - very helpful as always.

Anyone know about UPS ?? We get a lot of power cuts here - had one tonight for 10 - 15 mins. Luckily it hasn't happened whilst I have been imaging but thinking ahead it struck me that a UPS could save a session but I know nothing about them. Any tech gurus point me in the right direction ?? I run a PC, mount, 2 cameras, dew bands, electronic focuser, etc - about 10 amps max.

Plus it makes it SO much quieter!! If you bite the bullet drop me a PM and I will send you the pinion extractor - it make the job easier and removes the possibility of bending the shafts.

I emailed ES in Germany and they confirmed that the spacing distance should be measured from face A as shown in the top photo - just posting in case anyone comes across this thread looking for the answer to this question.

I am setting up an Explore Scientific HR Coma Corrector and the manual states 55mm back focus but doesn't say where from ! Would you say its from face A in the first photo or face B in the second photo ?? There is a 3mm difference when the adapter is screwed on. Thanks in advance.

Roger that!

There is a document on this page of my website that you might find useful - 'Setting up Guiding in EQASCOM' Towards the bottom of the page https://sites.google.com/view/astro-imaging/how-to Explains pulse guiding and ST4 guiding etc very nicely

Could be worse - 10 - 4 !!!!!!

It's either 'Over' or it's 'Out' - it can never be both !!! Its something that really irritates me in war films, submarine movies etc etc ;-)

Skywatcher appear to have started using some sort of very hard and very brittle threadlock compound. The good news is that it is softened by heat. Maybe that's what's giving you trouble.

Heat the area (hairdryer not blowtorch!) for a good few mins - one screw at a time - the aluminium threads will expand more than the steel bolt. The correct size screwdriver is essential - from memory it is ph2. Then as suggested above try tightening a fraction then undo. Drilling out should be an absolute last resort and takes real skill and practise to avoid going down the side of the bolt into the alloy and potentially destroying a very nice scope - if you have to go down that route please PM me and i will give you some pointers on how to do it.

Get your own website - its free from Google ! This took a couple of hours to throw together https://sites.google.com/view/astro-imaging/home Click on the button at the bottom of the web page if you want a free site.

Personally - I think PI is a bargain for what you get. It's probably worth the price tag just for Batch Processing and DBE on their own! It's not far short of witch-craft!

I have a sign over my obsy door 'FIFI - the demented Bull Mastiff with ADHD and PMT lives here.'

When I come to stack images from before and after a Meridian flip there is always a band as shown in the above image from Martin H. I use Astrotortilla for initial alignment and again for realignment after the flip and PHD2 just sorts itself out and the target is bang on the middle of the frame but I cannot explain the sloping band. Someone smarter than me (not difficult!) must know the answer!!

It is a built in module in APT (Astrophotography Tool) - its free ! http://www.ideiki.com/astro/Download.aspx

Have you tried your meter on your car battery to check it is properly calibrated?

Here you go - images attached - hope that helps - if you need more photos or info just shout. The heads of the levelling bolts are just welded to the bottom of the top disc - using the flange as a template to get them in the right place - then tack welded. The silver disc is a proprietary item from Altair Astro - http://www.altairastro.com/pier-adapter-skywatcher-celestron-ioptron-multi-mount.html You can see from the photos that its bolted through the top plate. I designed the pier to be a comfortable working height then designed the shed around it - just big enough to be able to close the roof when the scope is in a custom park position. Its purely a remotely controlled imaging rig - I don't do visual (actually not true - I have a 300mm dob but its dragged out each time to a concrete pad) if I was using this for visual I would have made the shed a little bigger and cast the concrete in two separate parts to give isolation between the pier and the area that is walked on. Having said that I do walk on the concrete pad when drift aligning and just for a lark I jumped up and down whilst guiding and nothing showed up on the PHD graph - but it is 2 tonnes of concrete !!! Hope this helps - I am sure it isn't the perfect solution but it works very well for me.

Thank You !!! The pier is made from a length of thick walled high pressure steam pipe off a submarine - the pipe and the 2 flanges were scrap and cost nothing. (they came complete with the x-ray and certificate to prove the weld was good and that there were no inclusions - no wonder subs cost so much to build and maintain!!!) The top plate is a piece of 8mm steel - cost zero but the plasma cutting (to get a disc out a square off-cut) was £8 The bolts that make up the rat box are 8 x M14 x 100mm - the studs at the bottom are 8 x M14 x 500mm set into chemical anchor (epoxy) in holes drilled into the concrete slab - all galvanised inc the nuts and washers - about £30 for the lot. Happy to take better photos - closeups etc if you need any more info. I see you are in Essex - there must be loads of marine salvage places where you can get steam pipe and flanges - probably for free and its good recycling !!!

It can be done ...... https://www.flickr.com/photos/113316085@N05/albums/72157663274320360

This is a brillliant idea - I would gladly pay the extra. Might be a nice touch if he signed each 'scope or issues a wee certificate ?? I can foresee a raft of scopes being advertised for sale as 'Es Reid' checked when they have been no such thing. (Thats the cynic in me !!)

Why ceramic bearings ?? I use them in the miniature gas turbine engines in my model aircraft because they will stand temperatures of circa 1000º C and are happy with the 180000 rpm - two conditions that shouldn't exist in a telescope mount!! I swapped the bearings in my HEQ5 for SKF/FAG standard steel bearings and the improvement over the original bearings was like night and day - so much smoother, quieter and accurate but I really cant see the benefit of ceramics - a possible downside is they have more free play in them than standard steel bearings at room temperature - something we really dont want in a telescope mount. Also if you get the adjustments too tight they will break - ceramic bearings are very fragile.

You can always scale it up - mine is 1400 x 1400 and just houses my Heq5 and ED80. Each half of the roof weighs 11kg and because of the way the hinge straps work its easily manageable on my own. I used OSB for the roof covered in EPDM to keep the weight down - if you upscaled it you could use polycarbonate sheet which would be very light. Apart from a third coat of paint its finished now and I will post some more photos soon as several people have asked how I have got the roof to seal in the middle. I have zero ventilation in it but I have a dessicant dehumidifier and at the end of a session when the roof is closed I turn the power on and the dehumidifier and battery chargers run at full power for 8 hours - the dehumidifier blows warm air around the obsy and even after seriously heavy dew it is bone dry by morning. The dehumidifier pumps the water out of the obsy so its not recycling it! To answer your question from the other thread - I am lucky to live in an area where crime is almost unheard of - so I am not worried about it being nicked - from mid April until end of August it doesnt get dark enough to image and the scope, cameras etc will all come indoors for annual maintenance but through the autumn, winter and early spring it will live in the obsy. Time will tell ! Good luck !

OK - it seems to work better if I let it 'auto select' a star. It seems the stars I was choosing were too bright even though it said low SNR - maybe it meant SNR too high !! Either way its behaving itself again now !! Thanks for the suggestions.