SteveBz

Can I ask, Rick, did you get them both working well? Do you have any results from them that you can post here, or have posted here? Kind regards Steve.

Hi Jim and others, Thanks for this feedback. I'll come back to it in the future. I have 2 printers the Ender 3, which is really not doing anything now and I don't know why, and an iMakr Startt, which does work, but not well. The Ender 3 actually belongs to a friend so I can't really do too much damage to it. At some stage, I think I'll probably just replace it with a new one that I can pull apart and mess with. In the meantime, I'm messing with the iMakr, because I can learn how to do 3D printing. I think that's the main thing. I'm currently upgrading the iMakr to a heated bed and that's quite fun because I have to upgrade the firmware too. This project is running a bit slowly also because I have twins at university and so I can't quite throw money at it in the way I might have . I'll try again when my finances are looking a little better. Kind regards, Steve.

Hi Olly, I'm sort of up for a version of this. A simpler version might be to mount the pully on the main Losmandy plate. Dangle a vertical cable straight down parallel to the pier and with a weight suspended from it then attache the othe end of the cable to the focuser by a spare screw or something. The only issue is that there might be some torque on the focuser making optical train less than square-on to the scope. Not sure how to make this work. Kind regards Steve.

Thanks for that. It looks very nice, if a little expensive. As I'm quite overdarwn at the moment, I think it'll have to wait Thanks Steve

Hi Vlaiv, Nice to hear from you. Which one did you use and how much did it cost? And maybe a link if you have one. Have a nice weekend. Kind regards, Steve.

Hi People, I've just acquired a used RC8 and the focuser is a bit slippy. Originally, it was all over the place, but I took it apart and tightened the screws and now all the tilt/slop is gone, however, the focuser movement has directional difficulties. The load is relatively high with an SX camera, filterwheel and AO unit. If I'm pointing overhead (maximum load), focusing manually and I support the load lightly with one hand the inward travel and outward travel work fine. If I'm focusing remotely with a motor and belt, the same is not true. Outward travel is fine, but inward travel just slips. There seem to be two screws to portentially tighten or loosen. What's the correct process to get inward and outward focus working smoothly? Kind regards, Steve.

Hi Wim, Thanks for this. So I think I found the problem. I had defined the filters in KStars clockwise instead of anticlockwise (or the other way round). I have photometric filters because I got a deal on the filter wheel, and they were already in it. But I do have a clear filter, and maybe I should use that as the Lum filter instead. I'll try next clear night. Kind regards, Steve.

Hi People, I've just refreshed my setup from a Newtonian C8-N to an RC8 with SX mono with AstroDon photometric filters. The whole process is new to me, so I'm guessing when I suggest that the filter question is even the right question. Last night produced about 2 hours of images which I have processed here using Siril: The question really, is that although I quite like the richness of the field, the colours are unconventional to say the least and It's not clear to me why. If it's just the effect of a new filter system and photometric filters always look like this, then I'm fine with that. If there is another issue, then I should probably address it. This is about 2 hours worth of data from last night in LRGB. Here's my equipment breakdown: RC8, SXVF-H16 SX filter wheel AstroDon Colorimetric filters (Rc, V, Bc & Exo-planet). The Exo-planet filter is yellow and I'm using it to approximate to Lum. The Bc Filter images are much darker than the other colours and this is why I wonder if the characteristic blue ring on M57 is missing. Any comments welcome. Kind regards Steve.

Hi Ken, I've been scrolling through the forum looking for examples. I'm really struggling with the printing on an Ender 3 and I wonder if I should upgrade the printer? The 2 main problems I gave are firstly it often doesn't finish printing and secondly the pieces don't seem to fit together. Especially the threaded pieces. When I started in astronomy on an eq1, then an eq3, then an eq5 then an eq6, all with a Newtonian, it wasn't until the eq5, that I got a decent repeatable experience and the eq6 was just the icing on the cake. Is the same true of 3d printing? You just can't do it on a cheap printer? Kind regards, Steve

Back home now 🙂 Paul says PLA is transparent at IR wavelegths that's why he prefers it. My printer is refusing to do anything at the moment, I need my friend to come over and beat it into submission.

Hi Graham, I've eventually decided to go the LowSpec 3.0 route, which is a bit of a nightmare because of learning 3D printing etc. However, lots of friends are rallying around. However I also have a LodeStar x2 and a 178mm (QHY rather than ZWO, but same sensor). I note that the pixels are very different sizes. The X2 is about 8.x um, whereas the 178 is 2.4 um - a factor of 3 different. I'm using the 178 as my spectrum camera and a ZWO asi290 mm (2.9 um) for the guide camera. Then I'm doing imaging with another large format camera (SX H16) and guiding that with the X2. Everyone says that guiding is less sensitive to sampling than image quality, so you might improve the resolution of your spectra if you switched round X2 for guiding and 178 for spectra. But I'm not even off the ramps yet!!! What does @robin_astro think? Steve.

Hi Louise, @Paul Gerlach does come from time to time and so he'll probably see this eventually. He's also following this thread, so if he scrolls back three he'll see my question. The reason is that he recommended that brand of ABS, so I presume he can tell me what parameters to use. Kind regards Steve.

Hi Paul, I bought this, but I'm having serious problems with printing it. Can I ask you for some tips please? I have an Ender-3 printer. Specifically, I'd like to know: - What temperature do you use on the extruder nozzle? I'm using 260 C - What temperature do you use on the bed? I'm using 80C. - What nozzle do you use? Mine is stainless steel and 0.4 mm. - How do you assure adhesion to the bed? I'm using hairspray. - What settings should I use in Cura? Eg Support, skirt, raft etc etc etc. This project isn't for the faint hearted! 3D printing on its own is a new skill! Thanks Steve,

Hi Folks, it seems to me that is only element 8 that is affected by the f-number of the scope. Can you tell me how to adjust it for a Meade etx90 (f/13.8)? Tx.

OK, so the same chip. Is that Toucam?

That IS PLA, I haven't started the ABS yet 😅

Hi People, (My Ender 3 nozzle is blocked - delay while I unblock) I've been thinking about the camera connection. I've got a QHY5iii178mm mini with a c-mount connection. Should I put a helical focuser in there, or should I cut a smaller hole, or should I just use a c-mount to T2 thread reducer? What do you think? Kind regards Steve.

Greast ps!!

It's just that the threads are very tight. The female fittings I can just use a Barlow with a T-Thread to clean up the printing. If I insert and turn with WD40, gradually it cleans up the thread if I repeat for half an hour, but the male fitting doesn't work as well. Steve.

Hi Guys, I can easily buy threading tools for the small threads, eg M3-M6, but the T2 threads are a bit harder. How do you get the T2 threads to work (M42x0.75)? Kind regards, Steve.

Excellent. Thanks. I'll email them. Kind regards Steve.

It strikes me that some of my fellow astronomers might have outgrown their LowSpecs. If someone would like to sell me one or just its components, or a half built one, please do send me a PM. I will receive your message with open arms. Steve.

Brexit. 🥴 You now have to get a quote, you can't just buy it with a credit card. After the quote it all fall into an abyss from which there appears to be no return

Hi Louise, Thanks for that. Do I get the one with the holder, or just the raw disk? Kind regards Steve.

Jeulin is proving a bit of a challenge. I raised a request for a quotation last week (for the slit). They sent me the request, but I don't know how to pay it. If I go into it on the site, it says locked for edit by another user with no indication of how to progress the quotation. If I go into the 'Contact us' screen, it demands a phone number, but won't accept an English phone number. OMG