Mognet

It's a nice easy project. There's a couple of bits where the installation instructions need a little improvement, and there might be some differences between the with and without temperature probe html versions. My projects for today, once I've got the dull work stuff out of the way, are to wipe the card for the Pi and start again from the beginning to see if minor display issues were me or not, and to design and print an indoor case I can put in the window

All the outdoor stuff and the associated solar power can wait until I have a shed to mount it on

Total spend so far is £13 for the Pi Zero WH, £27 for a 5MP fisheye lens camera, and £4 for a camera adaptor cable. Total £44, but still needs a case and its own power supply

I have mine up and running, but pointing out of the spare room winow for now. Looks like the double glazing is giving a green cast to the light domes of London and Chelmsford

And not only can I see it's a clear night, but a near neighbour has left their bright bathroom light on. Again. 🤬

I've tinkered with the settings to give a 1600x1200 display so that the image is bigger on my tablet and phone. Need to fix the sunset time

I've just ordered a Pi Zero WH and a fisheye lens so I can try this out as well. I can make up a case on the 3D printer and source a dome once I'm happy with it

There was a bit of a discussion of it on here a few months ago https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/346858-3d-printed-tracker/

I haven't heard if anyone has made their own yet, so maybe I should order up some parts and get printing during the summer lull

4 minutes ago, Paul M said:

Nice, with an added bonus: on my phone the two images are perfectly sized and placed to do that 3D thing by relaxing the eye muscles.

Ok, so given there is no viewpoint offset between the images it doesn't make a true 3D image but it stands out from the screen for me

Doesn't quite work on a laptop though, even doing the cross-eyed thing.

It's been producing good results for me. Even better now I've ditched their slicer and got the latest version of Cura which has profiles ready for it. Had to tweak the settings a little for retraction, but other than that it produces some really good quality prints. It might be a little big for some people though as the build volume is 300x300x400mm so it takes up a bit of space for everything. Fans are a bit noisy too but not a problem

2 minutes ago, haitch said:

Which model? Where did you buy it from out of interest?

I got my Ender 3 from Technology Outlet and when the extruder drive arm broke they sent me a whole new assembly without quibble.

It's a CR-10S, and that came from Technology Outlet too

I've been really happy with my Creality printer. Except for the last week where it seems to have started over extruding and clogging up the hot end badly. That I think was a symptom of the motherboard failing, which it finally did yesterday. Today I'll find out what the retailer's after sales service is like as it is still under guarantee

I have the light from a galaxy gravitationally lensed by a cluster

Watching now on iPlayer. Forgot it was Sunday

First time the telly has been on in a month, so I'm glad it's all still working

Somehow I missed this completely, and don't remember hearing about it afterwards either. Would have loved to have seen it.

I've been selective with the news this week as it's reached saturation point. Did see the Guardian piece on it. The differences are quite stunning https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/11/positively-alpine-disbelief-air-pollution-falls-lockdown-coronavirus

When I did mine I replaced the PTFE washer with I think six layers of milk carton washers. Came out as slightly thicker than the original washer once compressed but had more slip to it

North Essex Astronomical Society have a live stargazing event being streamed via Facebook. I saw a bit of the last one, and it was one of the members streaming from his own observatory with live stacking of nebula images. It's been made available on YouTube for posterity

Looks like they are also holding their monthly meeting online too

https://www.facebook.com/northessexastro

I gave mine a quick check a week ago. Good timing as this week I've been printing frames for protective visors https://3dverkstan.se/protective-visor/

I found this 3D printed astro tracker, so I might be working on that soon. It's similar to something I was thinking of creating myself

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/346858-3d-printed-tracker/

There isn't a specific board or thread, but we've been posting things as we've made them, usually in the DIY Astronomer board here https://stargazerslounge.com/forum/18-diy-astronomer/

Is there something in particular that you wanted to print? It's possible that someone may already know of a good printable for a particular project, or you could design your own thing

My thoughts are the same as JamesF. I suspect there's not enough compression in the springs to hold the nuts tight enough. Adding some washers, or printing some, will help reduce the space there.

Tightening the nuts as Chriske suggests is an option if the limit switch height is adjustable. I've not seen an Ender 3 up close, but looking at the manual online suggests it is possible to move the limit switch carriage. And there is a recommended height too, which isn't easy to read

I have a CR10S, and that only needs relevelling if I move it

4 minutes ago, Thalestris24 said:

Now then, it looks like I have to go back to the assembly/bed adjustment... My bed is wobbly - I always thought that was normal - d'uh. Having done some research, it looks like I need to adjust the rollers. I think I probably also need to do something with the springs but must get the fundamentals right first!

Louise

Roller adjustment is something that Creality seem to leave out of the instructions. I only found out about it from watching an assembly video on YouTube

I have a 5mm, which I thought was quite good. The local skies don't really allow for anything much more than lunar viewing with it, but I'll happily get a couple more to replace the Skywatcher EPs supplied with my scopes once the we start getting decently clear skies again

On 20/12/2019 at 20:56, Robert72 said:

Wasn't there a period in the 90s(?) where there was a high level of ball lightning activity in at least one mountain range in South America, that usually preceded seismic activity?

That sounds like earthquake lights, which can apparently be spherical. Wikipedia has some information on them https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake_light

The Stellarium Labs website has details on the differences between the three versions. The plus version has all known stars, and most known asteroids and comets apparently, along with telescope control

The desktop version is still being updated, and is independent of the original developers, and there is a web version now too, which both teams link to.

That does look like a support issue. Try it with supports set to everywhere first. I'm sure that's what my slicers default to and I don't see problems like this

With that piece it looks like the supports should be generated between the top and bottom horizontal parts, mostly filling the area with an easily removable section. It's normally possible to check in advance where the slicer is putting supports by switching to the layer view

I've been using the own brand PLA from https://shop.3dfilaprint.com/ Seems nice and consistant so far

I'm assuming that you are using the Creality Slicer. To change the print temperature in there on a temporary basis, select your normal print profile, and then on the menu go to Expert -> Switch to Full Settings. Answer Yes for the copy, and then find printing temperature on the left hand side. The link Gina provided said 220 to 240 for PLA+, and usually the box its supplied in will give a guide temperature too

I can see that Creality Slicer is based on Cura, or at least uses Cura Engine, but I can't currently see a way of creating a material profile for PLA+ in it instead of changing that setting every time. I assume there is a way, so I might look into it later. I'm just using a standard PLA at the moment so haven't had to tinker with the settings much

13 minutes ago, Thalestris24 said:

I'm probably overthinking things - I do that! The designer of the Lowspec spectrometer (which is one thing I want to build) used pla so it must be ok for prototyping, at least. Maybe I could also spray paint or otherwise coat the printed parts to improve durability.

Creality UK seem to be out of stock with the Ender 3 Pro at the moment though Amazon appears to have them.

Louise

If it's this spectrograph on Thingiverse, then it should be fine. The instructions say to print it with 50-80% infill, which should make it fairly tough

I bought my CR10S from Technology Outlet, and the have the Ender 3 Pro in stock at the moment