Skipper Billy

Happy to take one for the team !!!  Prior to last night the last clear night was 24th August!!!!

My roof design is loosely based on the attached photos.

LOL - I am strictly a salt water chap but the Dawncrafts reputation is legendary - for all the wrong reasons !!!

Ah - I see what you mean.

My roof will be hinged in such a way that the two halves drop down the respective sides and the inside of the roof stays next to the side of the shed - hopefully it will be OK.

I can see now that with the inside of the roof exposed it would attract dew.

Thanks for the heads up though.

Thanks Derek

Thanks for the heads up Stub Mandrel - the met office is promising double figures by Thursday (Concrete pouring day) and for a good few days thereafter.

Lets hope they are right for once.

Thanks for the help and encouragement - and the heads up about the waterproofing additive - I didn't know such a thing existed - concrete is a black art for me !!

The main source of encouragement was last night - got set up - temp according to the focus system was minus 7.2 - 4 x 300 sec subs into a run of 70 thick freezing fog appeared and covered everything in a thick haw frost. Made packing up a bit of an ordeal !!

@Wuthton - why did having a roll off roof rather than a hinged roof make a difference with condensation ???

Not as cold as it looks - about -4 this morning.  This is the guide to Scottish weather........

The Official Scottish Temperature Conversion Chart

10° C · The English shiver uncontrollably. · Scots plant gardens.

1.6° C · The English fit winter tyres· Scots still drive with the windows down

0° C · English water freezes · Scottish water gets a wee bit thicker.

-17.9° C · English landlords finally turn on the heat. · Scots have the last BBQ of the year.

-51° C · Santa Claus abandons the North Pole. · Scottish Girl Guides sell cookies door-to-door.

-78.5° C · Carbon dioxide freezes & makes dry ice. · Scots pull down their earflaps & zip up their parkas.

-114° C · Ethyl alcohol freezes. · Scots get frustrated when they can't thaw water to put in their dram

-273.15° C · Absolute zero; all atomic motion stops. · Scots start saying ‘Aye – it’s chilly oot today’

-500° F (-295° C) · Hell freezes over. · Scotland wins the 6 Nations Rugby !!!!

I have taken the plunge and started work on my remote mini obsy.

I know its a weird time of year - the middle of the imaging season and only 7 hours of daylight and frozen ground but due to the seasonal nature of my business its the only time of year I can do it !!

It will be a micro obsy - 1.5 metres wide and deep and 1.7 metres tall (just big enough to accommodate a pier, HEQ5 mount and an ED80) - it will be remotely controlled from a warm room (aka lounge) 17 metres away.

The hole is dug and a pal and I will be pouring the concrete on Thursday.

It will have a two piece hinge apart roof, rain sensors, 2 x 150 ah leisure batts (one for dirty supply and one clean for the camera), built in battery charging and thermostatically controlled frost protection.

Does this help AllanJ ??

Hitecastro_EQMOD_Win8.pdf

I am running W10 and wasn't aware that a MS W10 update in its infinite wisdom will replace the Prolific driver v10518 (which does work with W10) with something it thinks is better - except that it doesnt work !

Find your prolific driver in Device manager and protect it from auto updates.

Marvellous - thanks very much !!!

Anyone know what the focal length is of a SW 9x50 finderscope ???

I am using it with a QHY5Lii as a guide scope but need to know the focal length to input into PHD2 - cant find the focal length info anywhere !!!!

Thanks in advance.

I have had problems with 'stiction' on my HEQ5 over the winter and now that we don't have any real darkness for a few months I have used Astro Babys excellent guide to strip the mount completely and replace the bearings.

In case anyone else is wanting to do the same the bearings you will need are

6 x 55x30x13

Budget option - http://simplybearings.co.uk/shop/p170133/6006ZZ+Budget+Metal+Shielded+Deep+Groove+Ball+Bearing+30x55x13mm/product_info.html    £3.03 each plus VAT

Quality option - http://simplybearings.co.uk/shop/p6858/SKF+60062Z+Metal+Shielded+Deep+Groove+Ball+Bearing+30x55x13mm/product_info.html     £5.52 each plus VAT

4 x 17x9x5

Budget option - http://simplybearings.co.uk/shop/p170667/689ZZ+Budget+Metal+Shielded+Deep+Groove+Ball+bearing+9x17x5mm/product_info.html     £2.20 each plus VAT

Quality option - http://simplybearings.co.uk/shop/p6754/SKF+628/92Z+Metal+Shielded+Deep+Groove+Ball+Bearing+9x17x5mm/product_info.html     £15.38 each plus VAT

2 x 52x25x16.25

Budget option - http://simplybearings.co.uk/shop/p503111/30205+Premier+Budget+Metric+Single+Row+Taper+Roller+Bearing+25x52x16.25mm/product_info.html    £4.58 each plus VAT

Quality option - http://simplybearings.co.uk/shop/p14781/SKF+30205J2Q+Metric+Single+Row+Taper+Roller+Bearing+25x52x16.25mm/product_info.html     £10.99 each plus VAT

So the budget option is £43.00 inc VAT and the quality option is £139.94 inc VAT - carriage is free within the UK.

I have no connection whatsoever to Simply Bearings except that I use them for bearings for work occasionally and the goods are always in stock and the prices are very fair.

Hopefully the above will save a someone a lot of internet trawling!!

The bearings I removed were terrible - they felt OK until some load was applied and then turned and the notchiness was alarming !!!!

The new bearings have transformed the way the mount feels when moved around either axis.