david_taurus83

I suspect those reflections are to do with the coma corrector. Which one is it? The Baader one is known for this, or an earlier version or something. That's an easy check though, remove it and try with no corrector. If the reflections go away then your expensive filters are OK. 

Regarding the PI. I use a Stellarmate for my mini portable setup. It has its quirks but it runs off a powerbank and if you know your way around Ekos then it's not hard to get going. Would I use it for my permanent pier setup? Not a chance. I bought a cheap mini PC off Amazon a few years ago with Win 10 Pro and it hasn't let me down once. Never crashed, switched off, failed to connect a device. Just works and its left on 24/7 in the shed and I control everything over VNC.

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/384486-pier-time-today/?do=findComment&comment=4246975

What good timing! Literally just done it. I done all the thrust bearings and worm bearings. Those needle rollers in the casting, I didn't do those as they are not easily removed. I considered it but with the cost of a blind bearing puller which I don't have, and around £25 for each one (NK40/20TN SKF) I didn't think it was a cost effective upgrade as they won't offer any performance increase. You would need to destroy the bearing as well to remove it. Both axis turn on the thrust bearings so they are the ones to improve.

I use NINA now with my CCD but APT is better for DSLR's and beginners. I still can't fathom NINAs advanced sequencer.

I found Sheds Sheds Sheds lol

http://www.shedshedsheds.co.uk/products/garden-buildings/garden-observatory/

Anyone used these?

I've seen something recently on one of the Facebook astro buy and selling pages where someone built a ROR and there was a price to it.

As above, HOUK has been under a bit of pressure and there was a thread about it. Be worth searching for it..

I've just done my AZEQ6. Grabbed a tube of the stuff we put in the diggers at work. Lithium EP2. So far, better than the original. 

All put back together. Just waiting for a couple of upgraded belts and we're away. Those of you that have an AZEQ6 will know how stiff they are out of the box. When I first put my Redcat on there the Dec axis wouldn't even move with the clutch undone. Balancing should be much more intuitive now. That said, I haven't actually plugged it in yet to see if its still working and I haven't broke it lol

You need to use darks with the 1600 regardless as dithering won't remove the amp glow. Have you tried to calibrate a light frame with a master dark to see if it removes the hot pixel/pixels?

Sometimes if it plays up you could try the ImageSolver script first and then run PCC. If that doesn't work just use the normal CC as they both align the channels pretty closely.

These came Friday but only had a spare hour or 2 this evening. Managed to get the RA put back together. I put less grease (purple lithium stuff) on the bearings and it certainly feels a bit looser when I spin the RA axis. Will see how it is loaded up. 

For forum search purposes:

AZEQ6 bearing kit:

Upper RA and Dec needle roller thrust bearings: AXK6590 SKF Needle Roller And Cage Thrust Assembly Bearing 65x90x3mm (2 no.)

Upper RA and Dec needle roller thrust washers/raceway : AS6590 SKF Needle Thrust Washer 65x90x1mm (4 no.)

Lower RA and Dec needle roller thrust bearings : AXK4060 SKF Needle Roller And Cage Thrust Assembly Bearing 40x60x3mm (2 no.)

Lower RA and Dec needle roller thrust washers/raceway : AS4060 SKF Needle Thrust Washer 40x60x1mm (4 no.)

RA and Dec worm bearings : 608-2RSH SKF Sealed Deep Groove Ball Bearing 8x22x7mm (4 no.)

12 hours ago, Sp@ce_d said:

That’s a bit of a worry.. almost signalling the headroom Chinese brands have to go without competition 

You could buy both the QHY colour and mono versions for £50 more!

On 03/04/2022 at 14:59, david_taurus83 said:

Atik are releasing their APX26 soon but expect it to be closer to an eye watering £3000 than its Chinese equivalents. 

Ouch. I wasn't even close.

5 hours ago, alienf0rm said:

Do you power the USB hub from the Pegasus or the distribution block?

The Startech USB to ethernet extender needs 5v so I use the adjustable output from the PPB.

FYI I got my camera back without any customs drama attached. If you do need to send it back to Atik for any reason the wait may just be a bit longer as they will ship stuff out to Portugal in one go and probably vice versa.

1 hour ago, scotty38 said:

I notice you don't have a USB cable in to the mount was that "just because" when the picture was taken or for other reasons? Just curious.....

I already had a Lynx EQmod cable so never bothered trying a normal USB. I even managed to update the mounts firmware through the EQMod cable.

Everything is connected to the PPB on the scope and then to a Startech USB to Ethernet box with RJ45 to the mini PC in the shed. The mini PC is connected to the house router via a Link powerline adapter. No issues with WiFi etc

Tip of the hat there to Zoltan.

Still, shameful behaviour from the seller. Not cheap, even second hand.  

15 hours ago, alienf0rm said:

Did you prepare your own cable?  How did you terminate the end at the mount? I am trying to avoid soldering if I can.

OK so I run the power cable from shed to mount and fed into a banana plug type distributor. I then run a smaller cable from the banana plug box to the pegasus power box. Yes, I did solder the second cable to the plug that goes into the PPB but you could also just buy a crimping tool and some crimps. I avoided soldering for years and crimped everything but I've lately decided to tackle it again!

Has a patent suddenly expired or something?!

My head is spinning!

Interested as will be doing the same in the future. I would bin 2x2 though.

59 minutes ago, tomato said:

Agreed, it does look like light leak to me, but I’m surprised there is no amp glow showing on a 300 sec ASI1600 dark.

It's probably there but if it's a light leak it's probably been stretched to a median value. Darks are usually stretched hard to give a visual appearance. 

@rohanpai did you take the darks with the camera on the scope?

Nothing wrong with 12v cable to the rig as long as you use good quality cable. I run a 2.5mm² 2 core cable from my shed to the mount over 10m. You just need to output more than 12v from the PSU. I use a Nevada linear supply and its set to output 13.8v. With everything running, mount, camera, focuser, dew straps it only drops down to 13.1 volts. I've seen more issues with people running out 240v and using inadequate 12v power bricks as they never put out more than 12v and under load they actually can drop causing issues.

The AZEQ6 hasnt been performing as good as it should be lately and with astro darkness at an end I thought it give it a good service now. Its been on the pier since October anyway. First thing I noticed was the rough finish of the belt gears and bits of rubber crumb off the belts in the teeth. Anybody know what belt size these are and if can get a better make?

Lots of excess grease as expected!

Only had time to strip the Dec head this evening. Will be replacing the worm bearings and all needle roller thrust bearings and the washers for SKF. It bugs me that the pressed needle rollers in the shafts can't be removed easily. The cage is plastic and had a lot of lateral play though I don't think these affect performance much. There's also a few rough edges and specs of swarf left over in the castings so these will be sanded and cleaned out before reassembly. 

Top tip for getting that pesky lower RA locking nut loosened. Reinsert the Dec shaft and put 2 M5 bolts into the holes of the locking nut. Use a pry bar between the bolts (or a metal file in my case) and use the counterweight shafts to lever it off.

I would imagine that RCs flatten the field natively, similar to how a flattener works for a refractor, up to a certain point. Once your sensor reaches a certain size that flattening effect may not be enough so you need to look at more expensive purchases. For a refractor you would look to a full frame flattener and with the RC you would look at an optional extra flattener.

2 hours ago, wimvb said:

Nice image. Have you tried some of the hdr processes available in PI? HRDMT, LHE, MMT. These can be used to adjust local contrast and still reveal some ifn.

Thanks. Will have to have a look at some of Adam Block's videos. I tried to cheat and combine 3 different stretched images using HDR composition but it didn't work as they are non linear. Combined 3 different stretches in Pixelmath and there is more detail in the core but looked too artificial. Will have a play around with it. I think the IFN is just too faint to break through my LP so may keep background neutral and focus on the galaxies themselves. Overall I'm pleased with the scope 🙂