adyj1

@powerlordThanks for the info 👍 

7 minutes ago, Alan White said:

Hmmm, not sure to comment or not on April 1st!

Oh, I think this guy is serious... 😁 

@powerlord can you provide a few brief details about the hardware you used for the sound? 

2 hours ago, Mark2022 said:

 

 

£16? More like £60! https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2047675.m570.l1313&_nkw=PAGID+LD10381+P&_sacat=0

 

Keep shopping, there are likely different discs that fit - I bought this a month ago for an eq6:

(it was free postage, despite what it says) 

1 hour ago, Dr_Ju_ju said:

Hmm my bad    grovelling....

 

 

I won't lie - the first time I read it I thought "oo, maybe its a cool Iron Man mask..." 😁

35 minutes ago, Skyline said:

Non Commercial and have reported one of the sellers.

I hope that works.

What license did you specify when uploading to Thingiverse? If you said 'non-commercial' then you can pass this information on to the Auction site and they should hopefully take action.

Brilliant job, well done.

It's a shame about the roof automation, but it looks very easy to move and it looks like the magnets keep it firmly in place when it is closed. 

Mine looks like a shack and yours looks like a telescope hotel... 😁 

going back a few posts, I have to say when I skimmed through and saw this picture;

 ... I thought you'd been flooded 😮

but the smooth, level (dry) floor is another nice touch 😉

Ady

Another great solution. I do admire the simplicity and effectiveness of your solutions. You are handy with the magnets, too 😁 

On 15/02/2023 at 14:34, powerlord said:

I removed the doors and replaced the rubbish plastic slider wheels (not bearings, just a plastic wheel stuck in a plastic hub) that the door hangs from with real bearings and wheels

I don't suppose you could go into this in a bit more detail please? My doors are driving me mad but I don't want to 'improve' them and end up making them worse (it's my special superpower 😂) 

Thanks 

Ady

9 hours ago, Moonlit Knight said:

It's a symptom of a culture that wants evening now, instant gratification at the experience of experience and rote learning. The different between Stargazing and Astronomy...

13 hours ago, Moonlit Knight said:

Interesting, more people use goto that bother to learn the night sky.

I got the impression you viewed the outcome of this poll as confirmation of your opinion about the use of goto. I guess I assumed you were extrapolating the number of people who 'bother to learn the night sky' from the poll. 

Anyway, I use goto exclusively now but when I was a novice I learned the night sky and can star-hop proficiently. 

35 minutes ago, Moonlit Knight said:

Interesting, more people use goto that bother to learn the night sky.

Be wary of confirmation bias... 

5 hours ago, powerlord said:

Believe me the low door height of the shed is far more dangerous.. I've already bashed my head on it 3 times

I've had to split a foam insulating pipe to attach to the edges of beam that my roof runs along, before I do myself a serious head injury. 

The only advantage to having the roof roll forwards over the door (a necessity of space) is that at least I'm already stooping by the time I get to the door 😂 

1 hour ago, jeferson said:

I recently set up this Onstep system, however, it does not communicate via USB cable. Only via Bluetooth. Do you know what it could be?

 

I'm afraid I didn't follow through with onstep in the end. 

Perhaps the onstep forum would be able to help. 

Ady

The skies cleared here for a bit and in the nautical twilight it was exceptional. Nice capture. 

9 hours ago, powerlord said:

It's roughly working now, but I'm beginning to realise I'm gaining very little from the complexity..

That's a shame, as it does work. I'm impressed with how light you've kept it.  

Reliability is the key, though... 

4 hours ago, powerlord said:

And yes,  @adyj1 that includes audio amp and speaker so esp32 can play star trek open door sound effect when doors open

Make it so, Mr Powerlord 😁  🖖

I am using esps for the roof automation (with a gate opening motor) and integrate it with Nina through the MQTT plugin rather than ASCOM. Not necessarily my final design but does mean roof operations are not solely dependent on the imaging pc... 

On 29/01/2023 at 15:48, SuburbanMak said:

After checking that everything appeared to be working (ie before invalidating the guarantee…) I set about it with a screwdriver intending to uprate the main clamp with an ADM version - however, as far as I can see this can’t be fitted.  

Just as an aside, I bought my AZ-GTi and ADM upgrade clamp from @FLO, and I was very pleased to be informed that fitting the ADM clamp didn't invalidate the mount warranty with them 🙂 👍

Love the image, looks like a sunrise on the gallops... 

2 hours ago, peonic said:

where we even have pedestrian crossings with special buttons mounted high for jockeys to push

I expected that to say 'mounted low for jockeys to push'... 😂 

1 hour ago, Andy56 said:

I can plate solve images in the Imaging screen but the image is not good as its only one sub usually.

For taking more frames of the same target, as long as the platesolver can resolve it a single exposure has all the information you need (location, rotation) - and is much more accurate than you doing it by hand in Stellarium.

If you want to start in Stellarium so that you can pick your framing, there's a button in the Framing tab of Nina that will import the telescope co-ordinates from your planitarium software (make sure you've got Nina set up to talk to Stellarium) 

Great to hear that you've had a successful dry run. Making good progress 👍 

Nice work.

If you mange to "swish" your doors Star Trek-style, I will turn a very special shade of envious green. 😁 

(My weak effort is the button that operates my roof motor being marked F.A.B. 😂) 

I had a quick look at it last night - used SkySafari on my phone to locate the comet and see the closest star, used Cartes du Ciel on the imaging PC to find the same star, and then used the CdC ASCOM telescope integration to tell EQMOD where to point. Then dropped into NINA to fine-tune the framing and take a few exposures.

I really must get the Orbital plugin sorted...  

@jpwilliams.com Excellent write-up JP. 

(can you edit the link in the original post?) 

On 20/01/2023 at 07:58, powerlord said:

they will be bolted onto the base with threaded rods, sunk through the concrete into the soil.

And then also the base bonded to the concrete.

[...] 

Sounds like a plan 👍 

Good luck with the concreting - it's certainly not going to be a traditional 'duvet day' 😁