1CM69

18 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Looks very nice. I've been an SX user for well over 20 years. What does "Blue Edition" signify?

Just something different than black 🙂

16 minutes ago, PaulB said:

"Blue Edition" signify

More clouds probably Jeremy.

I used to be a SX owner myself I had an MX5 for while back in the mid 90s.

Thunderstorms coming apparently 😉

19 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Looks very nice. I've been an SX user for well over 20 years. What does "Blue Edition" signify?

14 minutes ago, andrew s said:

A change in colour to meet customer request for anything but black apparently! 

Regards Andrew 

Probably but same camera & a discounted price from the regular black, speak to FLO

11 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

What will they think of next?

I was wondering if blue meant "sad" or perhaps "saucy" 

🙂

 

Ha!

9 minutes ago, Nigella Bryant said:

I'd prefer red, lol.

There’s always one 😂

Starlight Xpress Trius Pro-825 Blue Edition, thanks FLO & SXCCD

4 minutes ago, upahill said:

Wondered that too - but it looks like a diorama to me, or an odd photo effect.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=abandoned+observatory

maybe

1 hour ago, tomato said:

Perhaps Mr Musk will have the dubious honour of having a specific rejection filter algorithm named after him in future versions of PI and APP?

MuskMask

11 hours ago, vlaiv said:

If we start discussing what US administration is allowing itself to do, that will lead us into politics and I reckon it is a no - no on this forum, so best steer clear away from such discussion.

However, legal things should not be out of bounds and we should be consulting various space treaties to asses what is legal and what not. Maybe petition to a proper address if we find a violation of a certain treaty would help? I won't hold my breath however ...

I think there is a possible violation of the Outer Space Treaty: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Space_Treaty

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Responsibility for activities in space

Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty deals with international responsibility, stating that "the activities of non-governmental entities in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, shall require authorization and continuing supervision by the appropriate State Party to the Treaty" and that States Parties shall bear international responsibility for national space activities whether carried out by governmental or non-governmental entities.

As a result of discussions arising from Project West Ford in 1963, a consultation clause was included in Article IX of the Outer Space Treaty: "A State Party to the Treaty which has reason to believe that an activity or experiment planned by another State Party in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, would cause potentially harmful interference with activities in the peaceful exploration and use of outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, may request consultation concerning the activity or experiment."

#####

Before I found Vital Parts here in the UK, I purchased caps from the US via Agena Astro:

https://agenaastro.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=1.25” cap

I’d try them if you’re in the US.

I now see that FLO sell caps here in the UK so I’ll be buying from them in the future. 

This lens: http://s.aliexpress.com/J3IzQZZZ cheap but solidly built lump of metal, just got it to try some widefield with my 224MC. 

51 minutes ago, basskep said:

Hi 1CM69,

I have the same Moonlite crayford in my setup with a SC8 XLT and 6.3 FR inside the moonlite. Did you add an OAG finally to your setup ?

I'm trying to figure out how i can add an OAG in front of the Moonlite and respect the 105mm back focus from the 6.3 FR...

My memory is pretty bad these days & I cannot remember if I did get it all fitted. 

Move now got rid of the MoonLite & Celestron OAG and use SX OAG & SX Filter Wheel with a powered MicroFocuser. 

Sorry Ely I can’t help you out. 

Regards..,

Couple of things the postie just dropped off:

ZWO ADC Bubble & TST2ROT Camera rotator. 

42 minutes ago, Helen said:

Looking forward to a report on these - I really struggle to nail the collimation on my C11!

Helen

Hi Helen,

I’m definitely looking forward to giving it a go. Seemingly it’s the same principle used in GoldFocus system. 

I’d also like to use it with a focus aid like the built in Bahtinov aid in SharpCap but it’ll have to be by eye for the time being. 

I’ll post any results I get. 

Kirk

Just arrived from the laser cutter, a new tool (gadget) to try out Tri-Bahtinov mask.

found out about these from this thread on CN: https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/536410-a-tri-bahtinov-mask-for-sct-collimation-and-focusing/ & thought it was worth a try.

Arrived today, thanks Jon (parallaxerr)

48 minutes ago, Grant said:

Excellent write-up Kirk - very useful information

Thanks Grant

6 minutes ago, JohnSadlerAstro said:

It's good you got the issue sorted out in the end--FLO are where it's at with customer service!

John

It was definitely a Phew moment & yes @FLO are great when it comes to CS

Very simple task of putting the tripod back together with all shims in situ.

Last job was tightening the leg clamp bolts when I had made sure they were all in the correct place.

Graphite powder, well that's another story, bleeding stuff gets everywhere & wouldn't stay where I wanted it. Yeah, very good lube but too messy.

In the end I lubed all the moving joints with dry PTFE spray & will keep this up as regular maintenance.

Here's a short video showing just how easily the tripod now operates.

Thanks for reading..,

Kirk

I spent a lot of time with a feeler gauge checking & triple checking the slop in every moving joint, marking each part to match it's counterpart so I knew exactly how each part went back together.

I found that each of the leg to tripod top joint slop varied; 0.8mm, 0.9mm & 1.0mm but the spreader arms all were pretty much identical at 2.0mm.

Next was to find a simple but robust way to fix this slop.

First I thought about using PTFE/Teflon washers being as they are self lubricating but these turned out to be very hard to get in the correct sizes & were stupid money.

Eventually I went for Stainless Steel Shim Washers from ACCU & I ordered some M10 for the leg top joints & M8 for the spreader arm joints both in 0.1mm & 0.2mm

I found that Stainless Steel does not cause a galvanic reaction with the die cast aluminium of the tripod, so ideal.

The plan was to use two shims together each side of the leg top joint bolt, forming a basic shim bearing and to lubricate it with graphite powder.

The spreader arm joints would just need a single washer each side of threader spacer as they were purely there to take up the extra slop.

Shims duly arrived. 

After replacing the leg clamps and seen as I had removed each leg from the tripod top in order to more easily do the job, I thought it would be wise to upgrade the joint system where the top of each leg attaches to the tripod top.

Before I even started removing each leg prior to replacing the leg clamps I did notice that these top joints were a little stiff & pulling the legs apart caused a lateral twisting movement on the leg clamps exactly where they had cracked, so it was a fatigue issue due to poor quality design/manufacture.

Also, there was excessive play in the spreader to leg clamp joints & the spreader to centre boss joints.

The original shims from the top of each leg were plastic, all differing thicknesses and pretty mangled

there were no shims at either end of the spreader bars.

No I set about replacing the broken clamps.

Initially I removed the 4 grub screws from each leg base hoping that they would just slide off and then similarly I could just slide off each of the broken clamps & slide the new ones on.

This didn't work, it would seem like the leg bases are secured in place by other means too, glue or press fitting etc..

Eventually I found a way to do the job.

• remove the leg extender clamp lever by loosening it

• remove the leg clamp securing bolt, washer & nut

• carefully spread the leg clamp open & ease it down over the leg base to remove it

refitting is a reversal of the above procedure but remember to leave the leg clamp bolt loose until located in the correct position with the leg spreader.

I would suggest warming the new clamps a little i.e. with a hairdryer as they are quite stiff & you do not want to risk breaking them while prising open.

When I got home I did a bit of research and found various threads on CN about leg clamps cracking.

Also what I found out was that these clamps were actually plastic, all this time I assumed they were cast aluminium.

Anyway, as the scope/tripod was less than 2 years old, (Celestron's warranty length), I sent Celestron Tech an email.

They eventually got back to me saying that I would need to contact my dealer initially or failing that, the UK distributor David Hinds.

Straight away I shot off two emails, one to my dealer @FLO & also to David Hinds stating what has happened etc & also asking what to do as the sheer weight of the tripod made it uneconomic to keep shipping around after all the clamps are available to purchase for £14 each.

D Hinds responded saying that they no longer deal with retail unless the item was initially purchased from them & told me to contact my dealer.

@FLO  responded also and were absolutely brilliant, they asked me to take pictures of the tripod showing it's overall condition & send these to them including the pics of the cracked leg clamps. They would then forward these pics to D Hinds who would then make a decision as to whether this issue would be covered by the warranty.

Within a day @FLO replied and said Celestron (D Hinds) had agreed to cover the clamps under warranty & are sending them to me FOC.

A few days later the replacement clamps arrived.

Hi all,

bit of a long post coming up in stages but I thought I'd share this as it may help out others.

A few weeks ago while I was packing away my kit I noticed that the leg clamps on my Celestron CPC tripod had cracks in them right where they join the spreader.

Two had cracks right the way through & one was halfway through. I hadn't noticed this before but have no idea how long they had been like this.

Very thankful that I spotted it before they completely gave way & my tripod collapsed with my scope etc still mounted.

DHL & Postie just been. 

from @FLO

ZWO ASI120MM-S

ZWO EFW MINI

ZWO LRGB 1.25”

SGL Travel Mug

from Sky’s The Limit via eBay

W47 Filter 1.25”

All filters mounted in EFW, hence missing from box in image. 

Now installing software etc.... to try out camera & wheel. ?

UPDATE:- I took a risk with the W47 filter because the EFW specifies max of 3mm thread & max height of filter 7mm.

I couldn't find this info anywhere, not even for ZWO's own filters but the W47 was worth a shot.

As it turned out the filter was ever so slightly too high, (carousel would not advance under power), not by much though because the FW cover screwed back on without an issue.

So I decided to take the bull by the horns & *ADJUST* the W47 filter ?

Carefully mounting it it a spare nose-piece extension and masking up I took upon filing it down.

I then cut some slots in the top as through filing the serrated edge had gone & the last thing I wanted was to have it jammed it the carousel.

Then a quick spray coating of black smoothrite to finish off.

Now back in the FW & works a dream.

A job not for the faint hearted.

Some pics:

Cheers..,

My friendly neighbourhood postie just dropped this off

£25 posted BNIB eBay seller, might help a bit to see where my scope is pointing 

I know the last post on this thread was 2 years ago but I just had to thank the OP.

I installed AT well over a year ago when I got BYEOS & the few times that I tried to use it, it just kept on failing to solve. As the weather has been pretty rubbish lately I never really got more time to try AT out until last night. 

I got a new OAG that for the life of me I could not get to focus so I thought I'd have another bash with AT in BYEOS, again, fail so I left it. It was fairly late by then & clouds were rolling in.

Today being wet I thought it's a good time to sort AT out once and for all. Over and over I blindly stumbled through with fail after fail until that is I found this thread.

I finally got my first solve but it took 50mins, ouch!

Following all the steps in the tutorial & tweaking settings here and there I finally got the solving down to 25secs, very, very happy.

A massive thank you to Gib007

Now to use it in anger 

A nice 2nd hand Sigma 10-20mm EX DC HSM from Camera Jungle, described as excellent but I cannot find anything wrong with it. Spotless optics & still with the plastic film covering badge on the side.

Can't wait to get some nice wide Milky Way shots.

Can't wait to try it out

Just got this to take my 2" screw in filters while using my OAG.

It's a lovely snug bayonet fit to my DSLR as well.