Mick J

You are good with a saw, would look nice in a frame ..................😉 may have trouble with the glazing..........

Good work Shivam, thanks.

Looking really nice, 'Way OTT buying that many but ya never know when they might come in handy on something else ' been there often and will visit again I expect🤩.

Thanks @Hildo, followed your instructions, only I used the UK site www.philips.co.uk/c-p/SPC900NC_00/webcam-with-pixel-plus/support and Win7 UK driver SPC900NC_00_dw7_eng.exe In Device Manager the camera driver installed under 'Sound, video and game controllers' and is reported to be working properly. I ran Sharpcap and of course it finds the camera and saves video as you would expect. Some other applications see the camera and save video & audio as would expect. Windows10 camera app is unable to see it and Skype can only see the microphone. I am thinking that's because the driver is seen as a game peripheral, not listed in device manager under 'Imaging devices'. Anyone know if this is correct or can be adjusted ? Supernice to have this old camera working again, many thanks.

Also have an eye on Stephen Tonkin's page from 1997, uses 6mm metric rod and may save me some head scratching. Would like to see a spreadsheet that generates dimensions, change drive speed/thread size etc, any one seen/have one?

Just slowly reading my way through a type 4 construction documented on the Pentax forums from 2015, good descriptions and pictures/drawings. UNC 1/4 20 threaded rod used, I would like to adjust for M6 1mm pitch, that will be 25.4 threads/inch instead of 20.

Looking forward to seeing this project progress, key things seem to be the thread size/pitch/rpm and the distance hinge/pivot to drive point. What I am not sure of is camera position, near the hinge, middle of the moving surface or is it just a matter of placing the camera to keep some sort of balance (lens position considered) - keep weight above mount. I can see the camera moves a greater distance away from the hinge, but takes the same time to do so, I have seen designs for all positions, any advantage/observations. Edit: was wondering why some of the url's not working, then looked at the dates of original posts - seven years ago, 2015.

Is this one of the scopes that need the main mirror moving 'up the tube' to assist camera focus ?

May have to be bigger than x2 Chris if you are mounting that Hubble on it.......

Very nice web site Gordan, lots of information and pictures nicely presented.

Yes all the apps are at discount see, these are cross platform, Mac, Windows and ipad. Discount ends June 20th so plenty of time to play with trail then decide.

If we get Nik Szymanek on drums Steve on keyboards, heading in the right direction ?

Enjoyed following this Malc, Archie an Mr Geek, it ain't over until the circuit board sings, looking forward to that. Outstanding work all.

Sorry @Legion Of Andromeda URL's not working for me, not that I can help - flashing a sketch on an Arduino is fairly easy, nice if you don't have to write it yourself.

Well done all, zoom takes a bit of getting used to, thanks again.

A cheap playaround may be a webcam, you may find info on modifying webcams to fit in the eyepiece on the scope, (remove case, break lens off, mokeup new case, use instead of eyepiece) connect to your ipad with some sort of usb cable - works on a windows tablet. You may be able to take snaps of the planets/sun with filter/moon. Most pictures seen on SGL of these subjects are the result of video frames stacked to enhance detail, is this sort of software available for the ipad, I wouldn't be surprised. A webcam will of course produce video and can be good quality. A lot of us started with a dslr (canon) taking long exposure pictures of stars/deep space, these are again stacked to produce better detail, different software is used on windows, ipad ? I hope this is helpful, @JamesF may have some ideas, and you may glean something from the StarGaZine with Steve Richards tonight or repeat.

Some dslr's or Sony mirrorless perhaps. My A6000 connects to my android pad & windows 10 desktop via Imaging Edge remote (over wifi with some playing around and some catchya's). I don't know anything about ipads, it may be worth a look.

ooooooooooh !! that's nice, very nice.

Great work all and an interesting read, well over my head but outstanding. Good luck with it.

Just been notified that this offer has been extended until June 20th That's 50% off =£23.99 mac or win or ipad at £9.99. 90day free trial still running as well.

Yes, seems to have to many toys ! some of his earlier posts had good finds for dob making.

We mounted a 11" very much like your first sketch, used something like pipe ends screwed to the box running on teflon blocks (ebay). Truss looks more fun. Perhaps pinch some ideas from @Dave_D seems to find interesting solutions :

Quick look at the ProDigital Astronomy Tools page has this note halfway down the page, The actions in Astronomy Tools work on RGB images in both 8 and 16 bit-per-color mode in Adobe Photoshop® CS to CS6 or CC; and in 8 bit mode only in Adobe Photoshop® versions 6 and 7. Don't know if that's helpful, we had to contact Noel (via the support page) a few years ago and the reply was quick and helpful. Seems to have a spring discount running, nice.

Not sure if would like to live next door to you or not Chris !!! Great work on the tubes, impressed.

Same mount connected to the same power supply as always, why should it choose this moment to blow ? Glitch on the switch ? freshly charged power pack overvolting ? condensation ? I wish I understood, post some pictures of the motherboard when you get it out, may help others. I have seen 'blown motherboard' posted on here before, may be worth a search.