r3i

I've got the replacement skywatcher part now so back on the original kit.

James

Whilst it's disappointing that the component broke in the first place, it's good to hear that your supplier (FLO) put things right promptly - it's only when things go wrong that you find out how good a supplier really is.

Wow, great view out to the South - quite a difference from your previous location.

Looking good Tony - I do like the look of that cladding.

Belting Online are supplying a kit for the EQ6: http://www.beltingonline.com/heq6-belt-mod-drive-kit-12220?zenid=mjbk8po2bfqdn46ug9efb4uvo4

Splendid job on the roof Tony - very nicely done.

not a happy chap today, my waterproof tarpaulin isnt waterproof, a leak at the scope end and i have a soaking wet floor, and to make things worse its dripped right down the pipe for the usb and powercable so will be needing to pull some pieces of old towel or something through there at some point. approx 7.5 square metres of floorspace and it finds a 38mm spot to drip.

Sorry to hear about the water getting in, I thought it was only me who had bad luck like that.

I suppose the worry is that the plywood will delaminate? My observatory floor got regular soakings during my build but as it was made from decking timbers it wasn't an issue. If using plywood flooring I guess one option would have been to fit the flooring after the structure was made weatherproof but this perhaps may be more hassle than it's worth?

I covered my conduit outlets with small plastics bags secured with elastic bands during the time that my build wasn't weatherproof.

The internal partition will certainly have added to the rigidity of the structure and once you get all the walls cladded you should get a further increase in rigidity.

when I try to start EQascom the control panel keeps flashing up and disappearing.

The flashing I think is because it's hunting for the correct COM port - cross check the COM port that is set in the EQASCOM Toolbox, with the one reported in Device Manager that is assigned to the Prolific USB-Serial driver. By the way have you installed this driver? You didn't list it in your last post - you wouldn't be the first person to forget to install it, I know this to be true because I also forgot it midst the excitement of setting up my NEQ6 for the first time .

Wow - the rolling roof rails makes the structure look enormous. Making good and fast progress.

Nicely summarised DaddyStu

Looking great Tony. Is that the sea in the distance on some of the shots?

Great progress Tony - the silver pier looks like some kind of rocket that you're about to launch.

If you could get some bends to replace the sharp elbows in your pipe uod'd find it much easier to pull cables through. USB cables are the worst for catching up.

With my build I made the underfloor cable run as short as possible by bringing up the pipe just inside the warm room, with bends at the horizontal to vertical (no other bends).

120 degree bends are less prone to causing snagging, and go for 1 1/2" pipe... I made the mistake of using 1" waste and it caused me no end of headaches

Concur with the concern about the number of 90 degree bends in the pipework. I also used 40mm waste pipe and kept the run length as short as possible, i.e. from just inside the warm room partition to the edge of the pier, roughly 1.2m. I keep a length of braided nylon cord within the pipe in case I ever need to pull through any new cables.

Thanks, thats alot of bearings :-D is it the 4 ones named 608-2RS that is for the worms?

Yes the 608 ones are the worm bearings.

I don't think the mark 3 is adjustable, sure I saw that somewhere... Its a factory return for adjustment

I'd agree with this, I have one and there's no end user way of adjusting them. Or at least no obvious way

The roof could be turned around, but with such a short width the extra height makes quite bit of difference to the views.

I had planned on guttering it eventually, as you say this would solve any issues. Guess I should bump it up the list of prioritys.

I'm not massively happy with the roof tbh. It was from the original metal shed and its a bit on the small side, I'd like to have a bit more of an overhang. What are peoples thoughts on corrugated bitumen sheet regarding condensation etc. I probably wouldn't replace this until I move (which I've found out since starting will be in three months!!)

If you're going to be upping sticks in 3 months I would go with what you have now and just keep an eye out for any water coming in. It hopefully might be a non-issue within that time frame.

The shed looks good but when it is cold or damp will condensation not come down the roof into the observatory with the way the roof is sloped? If the roof was reversed by 180 degrees it would run down onto the outside.

That is a good point, as there is the opportunity for water to run into the observatory as the roof is being opened.

Ryan - is it too late to turn the roof around 180deg? Or could you perhaps to fit a bit of guttering to take any water away to one side of the observatory?

The written/typed word can so easily be misconstrued without the body language to add to it.

That is so true - sometimes I just can't get the words together to say what I mean.

Keep up the good work Tony, take your time and enjoy the bulding process as much as the end result.

Hi all !

I recently purchased a Lacerta OAG at Teleskop Austria. Since I'm a new client, I went around and watched the mount accessories they had.

And hey, what did I find ?

http://www.teleskop-...d= 17&om=Mounts

I wrote them an email to find out if this mod did change the way the Synscan HC was acting.

And apparently not. With this kit you can keep on using the HC just like before, without having to go through the EQmod routine...

That's an interesting find - it's just the price tag of €129 made me shudder slightly

I think just the regular presence and the positive attitude of FLO on this forum alone gives the customer a significant level of confidence in the competance of the supplier.

That is stunning John. Many congrats. I aspire to being able to do these sorts of shots on my RC8 when i get a CCD one day. I bow to your expert eye Olly but what distorted stars? Very interested in the eye of an expert....

John, what mount you using and what guiding setup have you got. I got eggy stars as wellon my one and thus far only outing with my RC8 so far. Appreciate you two experts views on my efforts?

Steve

Quite agree, it's a magnificent image - fantastic colours.

Steve - eggy stars? Welcome to my world. I'm also currenty in possession of the blighters but I have quite a few things to work through with my setup in the new observatory. I still have to make some final adjustments to the collimation of the RC but I am also wondering about flexure - which focuser do you have on yours? I've just got the stock one.

It was difficult to appreciate the slope from your previous photos but it's very clear on these latest ones.

It's probably good that you can't do anything else for a week as it will give you plenty of thinking time to mull over your options.

Back breaking work I'm sure but hopefully worth it in the end.

Will you be running a power cable to the observatory underground?

Solid work there - it's amazing how much resistance a root structure presents.

Just out of interest what direction does the garden face?

Hi Tony,

Good to see you're getting started and I'm looking forward to seeing how the build progresses. What size & design are you going for?

Although I'm sure you're keen to get it finished I'd wouldn't get concerned if it takes a long time - I thoroughly enjoyed my build and in some respects it's a shame that it's finished.

Very best of luck with the build and please keep us updated with your progress.

So, lets assume I'm from the camp that wants the collimation 'nailed' and not reasonable

Hi Sara,

Perhaps I need to clarify my statement about the Cheshire giving me a reasonable collimation.

I've stated that the Cheshire gives me 'reasonable' collimation because I haven't had the time to properly assess if the collimation is spot on or not, though it does looks OK - Up till now I've had to set up and tear down on each session and with the UK weather the way it is, sessions are few and far between., so I haven't spent ages agonising whether I've squeezed the last drop of collimation out of the scope.

Things are about to change as I'm nearing completion of my observatory so once everything is permanently set up, I will want to start 'nailing' things like collimation, balance, polar alignment etc. etc.. The Cheshire alone may yet prove to be sufficient once I've spent the time and effort on properly checking my collimation. I'm not planning on investing in the Howie Glatter 'stuff' but I'm still interested in knowing how effective a tool it may be.