Jonk

Well the clouds have finally won, so time to pack up. I couldn't resist another sweep visually though... so in goes the 36mm Hyperion. 1st to the Pleiades - yep, still there and looking good! Then to M33, something there...maybe. Double cluster quickly....one of my favourites! Clouds and murk are too much now. Not much of a first light report, but I will process the Mars captures as and when I can. All in all, I'm going to enjoy this scope!

Clouds have moved along!

She’s a keeper! First light was going well but the clouds are fighting back now. Incredible view of Mars at 280x! Waiting to try and do some imaging at the mo, never tried Mars before.

How about this? 😆

Yes I’m very happy now I’ve got home from work and have started to unpack it... here’s a sneaky peaky!

Well, a bit of good fortune and a large heavy box was delivered today! I’m now a very pleased owner of a TEC140ed!

Well, I'm imaging again tonight, nothing in the FOV yet! The chances of a stray rocket hitting the setup is very low, as the rig is on a tripod about 1.5m from the house. Although now I've done it by saying that...!

You should never daisy chain extension leads - if the main extension reel is over 12-15m long then it should have a thermal cutout. If it doesn't, you shouldn't use it. It's unlikely to be sags or spikes on the mains, as the AC-DC switched mode PSU would probably absorb these due to the capacitance in the circuit. If the PSU output is dropping, then it's probably best to replace it. Large spikes in RA or DEC on the guiding can happen for a number of reasons.

Round here and I suspect most of the populated UK, fireworks go off at least every night (and daytime) a week either side of when they’re meant to! Same over New Year too. Shame as it’s usually clear then!

It did at first, and it was a 30 minute sub! Given the conditions, and the fact I'm still learning something each time I set up, I'm not too fussed at the moment. I think fireworks should be and probably will end up being sold to displays only, not the general public. Years ago I wouldn't have said that, but the older you get, the wiser....apparently!

Just my luck, started a run on the Heart Nebula mosaic I started and and BOOM! An unwanted light source right in the FOV! If I was seriously imaging (I wouldn't with fireworks around) then I would be very annoyed, as it is I found this amusing for some reason. Any other good examples?

I'm still using Ascom 6.4 and have read about issues with 6.5 dating back to July. Is there any reason to wait or is Ascom 6.5 no issue? I don't want to ruin my working QSI driver installation as I haven't moved to Atik's Ascom version as they had big issues, I'm still on QSI's latest (7.4.1 or sometthing). If it ain't broke....

I wouldn't have thought it was a leak, more like condensation between the layers? I would bring it indoors and let it thouroughly dry out - if it's breathable material, it should be fine. The danger is you may get fungus growing inside, which may be nasty.

I wouldn’t count on a reply! Ultimate fix, wipe the computer and install fresh Windows 10 (latest), followed by latest Ascom followed by SGP, then once this works, install the drivers.

According to this setup, you would need about 20m of PLA, and the print would take <8 hours using a 0.8mm nozzle, no infill (it doesn't need it) and print speed of 45mm/s. The resolution won't be fantasitc, as it's a large nozzle. It also won't be smooth - if you want smooth, the best thing to do is print ABS, then chemical polish the surfce by placing in a sealed container with acetone vapour. The main thing to take into consideration is shrinkage as it cools. This may or may not be an issue, so you can either design it in when modelling (adding 0.2-0.3mm for example) if you know the outcome will be correct, or you can account for this in the slicing software (Cura in this case). Another point is holes - if you know where these holes need to be, draw them in and if you need to reem or drill out when printed to suit, then this will be a lot easier than drilling new holes. Drilling PLA is like any other plastic, it's very easy to get it wrong and melt rather than drill the material. The best way to achieve this part in my opinion is turn down some ABS pipe. A good machinist will have no problem with it.

Try PLA, it’ll be strong and drillable. I’ll check how much material is needed tomorrow at work, and how long the print will take as I may be able to do it for you.

You’re not the first person I’ve heard say that!

I've just seen the SGP forum post, and i think what he means was 6.5 isn't compatible with 3.0.0.xxx I would uninstall all sgp and ascom related things, and start afresh with the latest if both (unless you've already done this). If I remember correctly, installing sgp without ascom won't work, sgp moans ascom isn't installed?

No net yet, I do recall some Ascom issues mentioned on there recently. Are you up to date with Ascom?

3dhubs was the first one I used. If you send me the dimensions I've drawn the model and created the .stl file for you (attached). 120mm od x 115mm id x 135mm length.stl

If it's stuck on that splash screen, that would suggest the SGP license server isn't responding. How long have you left it before closing manually, or does it close itself?

You're not the only one...! Ok, 3.2.xxx it is then! DId you get the email with a special code regarding changing license servers? I had it on the 21st of September. Just remove everything SGP related, reboot, install latest version and have an active internet connection to activate the license.

Whilst perfectly feasible, can you find a piece of plastic pipe that is close and use that? If you know someone with a lathe, they can make it fit. I have access to an Ultimaker 3 Extended and this can produce amazing parts. I always tell people at work, if you can draw it, we can print it (within size restrictions)!

If it’s running and already registered then you may be able to update to the latest 3.1.xxx. Question is do you need to? If you mean what I think you mean then no, you can’t migrate to another computer, I doubt the licence key will work. It’s probably tied to mac address of the NIC (network adaptor) in the registered computer, so unless you change that and run the same version (effectively cloning the working pc) then you’ll probably be wasting your time. Do you need it on anything but the imaging laptop?

As I understand it, anything below 3.2 cannot be registered now, it will only work if registered prior to their licensing model changing a month or so ago. If you want to use sgp as a new instalation, 3.2 upwards is the only thing you can do. Anyone on less that 3.2 need to prevent updating if it works for them and they don’t want or need to update it. Same with windows, on a dedicated imaging computer, if it works for you, don’t update.