RayD

Thanks Kev that's really kind and very much appreciated. I've been following yours and have to say I think you're going in the right direction with the work so far and the plans I've seen. It's looking very good indeed. If you get stuck for ideas anywhere on yours I have a ton of photos of every stage but haven't had time to update the thread in detail, so happy to pass any pictures or ideas on. You'll be so glad you did it when it's up and running. It's the best thing I've done so far in this hobby.

Thanks Kev. No need to worry there, looks like you're doing a super job and planning ahead well.

I have one and they are excellent, especially on a set-up that gets taken down regularly. Makes PA very easy and very quick.

Look forward to seeing it all up and running.

Well it's been quite some time since I updated my build thread, so apologies for that. I had some other stuff going on which meant just snippets of time available for the build, but not much time to update the thread. I have the roof on, covered and rolling with the motor now. I also have the Lesvedome driver and Velleman boards, so just need to connect this all up for it to be fully automated. However, it does run via a fob remote, so I guess that's a pretty good second best. I ended up not putting any self levelling compound on the base, and just used some shims to get it all nice and tight and upright. It's really nice and solid and no chance of anything breaking up or cracking. Filled the gap between the wood and concrete with some old loft insulation. Also the warm room is pretty much done now. I added another couple of shelves and some storage bins for all the little bits and bobs that need a home. I've also now moved fully from the mini PC on the pier to a desktop in the warm room. The mini PC is going to live permanently in Spain as I need to set up and tear down that rig each time. I've put a Startech 7 port industrial USB hub on the pier now, and control the power to that, the PC and my peripherals by an IP connected switch, and the Mount Hub Pro. Currently this is all working really well, and just needs some cable ends made off and tidying to be finished. All the outside is now clad, and just awaiting the last coat of varnish, so I'll take some pictures of that and update further on how I got there so people can perhaps get some more ideas for their own builds. I have a vibration analysis meter that I use at work which I am going to bring home so I have formal figures on isolation, but a basic test of watching a video on the screen in the obsy room whilst jumping showed no movement at all, which is a good sign.

Thanks @Starlight 1. I've been toying with the idea for a while, and I saw a post on here the other day which inspired me to get it done. It is actually really handy sitting indoors now being logged on to the obsy viewing the sky and seeing the clouds rolling over. Should have done it ages ago.

Just noticed on a longer exposure I have a little bit of glare from the dome. This probably isn't help by the 4637 solar lights currently on in the garden! However, it's an easy task to raise the camera a tad closer to the dome, so I'll do that as well.

Well I just did a quick snap and it seems fine. It's not aligned as it is just sat on the obsy roof at the moment, to be fixed in its permanent place tomorrow. Pretty happy

Thanks David. Will do, it's actually on and running now with SharpCap, so I'll get some captures and post them

Thanks Earl much appreciated.

A couple of years ago I replaced our old CCTV cameras with POE units, so had a couple of housings left over that naturally I thought "one day they'll come in handy" as blokes do. Well one of them has now come in handy as I've used it for an all sky camera with a ZWO camera I haven't been using (I will swap it for a second hand mono 120M at a later stage). This is the housing which would normally of course be up the other way. I used the existing bracket from the old camera (which got thrown out) and modelled it a bit to suit what I needed. Once I had the camera position sorted I opened out the holes a bit and sprayed the inside of the unit matt black, and using a right angled USB3 cable, run it through the bottom plate. Put it all together and it works an absolute treat. It should be water resistant, but if it leaks the water will drain out well below the camera. If I get issues with fogging I will add some heating controlled by a spare port on my Mount Hub Pro. I have another one of these which if this works after some rain etc. I'm happy to give away to whoever wants it if they pay for the postage. It's been good fun doing it and the results at the moment seem really good, and all for the cost of a USB cable.

Ok that's great. So on the front of this you will now have some sort of adaptor, which may or may not come with the camera. Can you post a link to, or picture of, which FF/FR you have, as the thread size may dictate what adaptor you need, so therefore what spacing you need to make up?

I don't know what the distance is from the fitting surface to the sensor on the Moravian, sorry. This information should be in your manual for the camera, but as Sarah noted before, you definitely need to check to see what the required distance is for your selected FF. Once you know this, see what the distance is from the mating surface of your camera to the sensor surface, deduct the lower from the higher figure, and the remainder is the size of spacer required. If the nearest available size is slightly smaller, that's good as it gives you a little space to add shims, as to get the spacing exact can take a little tweaking, so you may need some shims, such as the delrin ones sold by FLO. It's a nice camera you have, I've seen mostly very good reports.

You would need to add, so if the required spacing for the FF is 55mm, and you have Baader filters, then you would space at 55.7mm. However, the tolerances of the equipment means you wouldn't be far out at 55mm, then trial and error from there on in.

Ok thanks guys. So it seems the difference isn't that great, and is probably why it's seemingly a bit of a "hidden" menu. Does this ring true for lunar also?