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dyfiastro

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Everything posted by dyfiastro

  1. Hi everyone just thought I would share an experience over the last week that may help others. I stripped the 130PDS last year to do a few modifications. whilst doing so I had to re-collimate the focuser. Now everything was put back together and measurements all got taken using a set of digital calipers. All this winter I have been in a constant battle trying to get rid of coma, I thought it could have been an issue with the camera when turning it full spectrum but nothing seemed to solve it. Last week after taking it off the mount for the summer season I decided to give it a good clean and move the primary up slightly (instead of chopping the focuser tube). Whilst checking everything I re-checked the collimation of the focuser, this time with an older well made set of calipers I was given earlier this year. The collimation was off by a few mm in both directions. I went and got the digital calipers out and everything measured correctly. After checking both sets of calipers against a steel rule it turns out that the digital calipers are indeed out of wack. I have since re-collimated the focuser using the manual calipers, thrown the digital calipers in the bin and moved the primary up by a few mm. I will not be putting the scope back on the mount for a few weeks yet but I think I may have found my issue. I guess the moto of the story and what I am trying to get across is check your calipers.
  2. Thanks for the reply. Yes this is what I have been finding as well and indeed the issue I have been having. I traditionally always use a Bahtinov mask but was trying to get the autofocus setup for a complete remote operation. I am at this stage not sure if the culprit is APT or the focuser. When ever I attempt to use autofocus the focus always ends up being slightly off. The only other option at present is to use the assisted focusing section and do it by manually. I would like it setup so that it can just refocus on the fly without any interaction.
  3. Hi I have been using this focuser setup with fantastic results for sometime now. One small thing I have never seemed to be able to get working however is for this to play nice with APT's autofocus Has anyone used this setup with APT and managed to get the autofocus part working? Any help or information would be great.
  4. Evening everyone I managed to grab what could have been my best run of the year last night. After a minor equipment issue (the arduino board running my focuser died) I managed to get a good few hours of imaging done. M33 - 12x300s @ ISO800 Iris Nebula - 15x300s @ ISO800 Elephants Trunk Nebula - 25x30s @ ISO800 These are far from perfect and I will be reprocessing these once I finally save enough for PI, I also intend to add more data to these as well
  5. Yes thanks very much. Full designations are as follows
  6. two from a few nights ago. I really must invest in PI 10x300s@ISO800 600D, Stacked with DSS and processed in PS. Single 300s@ISO800
  7. Just finished putting together my first Dob. A slightly tweaked 200P that will serve as a mobile scope in dob form and can easily be converted for use on the EQ Mount in the observatory. The mount has been entirely made from left over off-cuts, the mount in total cost about £9 to build and uses a 12" LP for the Az bearing. Scope and focuser have been flocked, secondary adjustment bolts upgraded, secondary mirror blackened, Standard focuser tube adaptor replaced with a TS low profile M54 to 2" adaptor and an electronic focuser installed. Hoping to sort out an Az setting circle and inclinometer over the coming days. The scope has been collimated and I have just finished putting together a full aperture solar filter for it. Looking forward to getting this out and testing now.
  8. Well done. Out of interest how are you dealing with the fuji RAF files in DSS? Are you converting them to DNG's first or are you converting them to TIFF files before hand? IridientXTransformer may be worth looking at if converting before hand as the DNG files that it produces seem to play a lot nicer than the standard adobe ones when importing to DSS.
  9. Managed to grab a quick session this evening after work. I could have done with letting the scope cool down a little more but due to how low it is, there was a chance of it going below the walls of the observatory. Saturn - Stacked using 80% of 1000 Frames ASI120MC-S, Revelation 3x Barlow
  10. Quick shot with the new DIY Solar filter. The film used was seymour solar film donated by a mate and fellow sgl user. This was the first time I have attempted solar imaging so still a long way to go. Shot using ASI120MCS-S
  11. Hi everyone. First time out last night and got everything running in the new obsy, took a little longer due to software issues so lost a little time. Its been weeks since I have been able to do anything due to bad weather and its the first time I have actually attempted to image comets with the scope. Comet C/2015 V2 (Johnson) - 7x180s, ISO1600, Canon 600D Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak - 4x180s, ISO1600, Canon 600D Now the obsy is build I am hoping to be able to get out a lot more now and have more imaging time rather than spending time setting up etc... Thanks in advance
  12. The one night in weeks that its clear and I cannot get it out due to the wood that is in the way ready to build the observatory

  13. Glad you got there in the end. You are using pretty much the same setup as I am in regards to the skywatcher focuser. I found the same thing when I changed my motor but also came across a small issue when using APT. For some reason I could not go past 10,000 steps in APT which using the standard code was not enough to be able to rack the focuser all the way in or out. I ended up changing the ascom focuser steps section in the code to 19 instead of 8, this brought it down to just below 10,000 and solved the problem. If you are only going to use the bundled software then it will not be an issue but if you end up with problem then this may be the solution and is still fine enough for critical focusing.
  14. Hi everyone. Managed to get out for a brief period the other night. Grabbed a quick 4 panel lunar mosaic and my first attempt of the year at Jupiter. Conditions and seeing took a nose dive after the mosaic but pretty happy with the result 4 Panel Mosaic - ASI120MC-S (No Barlow) Jupiter - ASI120MC-S (2x + 3x Barlow Stacked)
  15. The bracket I used was a standard "L" Bracket. I enlarged one of the holes and ground down on side to fit under the ring a little easier. My Nano I got from amazon for £4.50
  16. yes I made a bracket that is thin enough on onside to slip between the tube and the rings but secure enough not to move once the rings are bolted down.
  17. Thought I would post a photo of the finished project. I have tried this twice now and works great. The main unit and electrics are housed in a small project box near the guide scope on a dovetail bar and attached with Velcro. I did have one small issue when trying to use the new version 64bit of fire capture however is this something that can easily be fixed by your or would it mean major re-write? If it comes to it I will downgrade to the 32bit version if needed Thanks again
  18. Thanks everyone. The 12v motor is on order along with a few connectors etc... to build the final version. I did in fact decide to power the nano from the usb and will be having a 12v connection going directly to the motor controller. My nano is already soldered and at least for now I will build on a small breadboard, this will also give me an easier option to add the temperature sensor or bluetooth at a later time if required. I went ahead and changed to default value down to 4 and will wait and see how that does it with the new motor, if it looks like its need more then I can always reduce it further again. Thanks again
  19. Thanks this is something I was not sure about. The motor is labels the same as the one in the link and as per the parts list but I have a feeling there is a variation here somewhere. I went ahead and changed the ascom motor steps from 8 down to 4 and I can confirm that it now take just over 3000 to reach full throw. I intend getting the 12v version of this motor as the 5v does not seem to have enough torque and struggles, I will see how it compares once it comes.
  20. I hope you dont mind me asking. I am using the 5v 28YBJ-48 Stepper Motor but to directly drive a crayford on a 130PDS. Having done the first test today I noted that it took 1500 unit steps to cover the full throw of the focuser. Is this enough or would I need to increase the number of steps? What should I be aiming for? I noticed that in the code you use 8 steps for every ascom unit, as I am using a direct connection to the focuser would I be better to reduce the number of steps per unit to allow for finer control?
  21. Having just got an arduino kit in the attempt to make something like this along few a few other bits, I was over the moon when I found this. I was even more so when I found 90% of the bits required are included in the getting started kit I purchased. I have this afternoon built the initial prototype and everything seems to be working. I need to build a nice tidy final version and then see about trying to connect the motor to focuser of a 130PDS. Thankyou very much indeed for all the hard work and taking the time to share this.
  22. Fantastic thread and thanks for sharing. I am hoping to start work on something along these lines of the next month so thanks for taking the time to document everything.
  23. The Cone Nebula from last night 12 x 600s Lights @ISO800 , 40 x Bias, 15 x Flats but no darks. Used Dithering for the first time and found I was getting more noise and strange banding when using dark frames (something I have not come across before now)
  24. Hi everyone. Thought I would post a quick update to say that I think I am finally getting somewhere. Now at this point I am not 100% sure where thing have gone wrong but once I have everything completely sorted I should have a better idea. I got a laser collimator for Christmas and within 5 minutes I have got better results than what I have been getting for the last few weeks using the Cheshire. Last night was the first chance in a few weeks to get out with the scope and the first time since trying sort the issues out. My issue with my spider vanes look to be fixed and this was also the first time I had shot using 600s subs (in less than ideal conditions). I would have have liked to get more data but did not have the time however I am pretty happy with the result as first test. Will be returning to this target for more data and may even attempt even longer subs to get some of the fainter bits. trying to figure out the white balance is something I am still having issues with but being colour blind makes it little bit tougher as well. 8x600s @ ISO800
  25. Thanks everyone for the help and replies. I have battled with this for another few days and even rechecked the focuser etc... I am either missing something obvious or something is not right still. Going to have to leave as it for now but really not happy in doing so. Thanks again everyone
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