teoria_del_big_bang

4 minutes ago, Domain105 said:

Thanks for the info about the grease. I'll try that instead of killing it with grease as I was planning on doing 😄.  I will add some sort of flexible strip to stop water ingress over the slide bars but I have added some extra trim to neaten it and it is less exposed than before and also the felt I added has helped narrow the gap. I did want to leave some gap to allow moisture and hot air to escape but am balancing that with water ingress.

 

Always tricky as outdoors there will always be plenty of moisture in the air.
A lot may just come down to the quality of the runners and what material they are made from. Sometimes some products just rust or pit whatever you try and do but obviously any added spray or grease will help prevent this and slow it down.
Also maybe I am worried too much about any ingress of grit and dirt. In the end it is not as if you are constantly moving the lid back and forth all the time, so even a bit of muck in there may not really affect anything and protecting from corrosion is far more important. 
Yes it is great to move something with great ease and feeling it is oh so smooth, it is very satisfying, but in the end if it feels a bit notchy over the years due to a bit of dirt but still opens and closes easily then does it really matter ? --- probably not 🙂 

Steve

Looks great - I really am looking forward to the finished product.

As a retired Engineer if you do decide to grease the runners I would think the type of grease is not that important.
The runners are not under any pressure or workload so it is just a matter of protecting from the elements..

My personal thoughts are that maybe packing with grease may make things worse as if the wind then blows any grit or dirt under there then it will just allow all that dirt and grit to stay on the balls and runners and promote wear rather than prevent it. So my personal preference would be to try spraying with something that dries, maybe even a silicone spray or some sort of dry PTFE lube like THIS

When open all being well the weather will be pretty dry, so any protection is just to stop any rust or corrosion starting.
When closed, from the pictures the runners look pretty much covered up so will be quite well protected from a massive ingress of water, so again the protection is just to stop the rust  and corrosion start and on top of that just to add some lubrication so i think the dry lube may work well.
Maybe, a strip of rubber attached to the underside of the sliding lid at either side that just slightly rubs against the sides of the fixed bottom, what I would call sealing strips,  might add some extra cover for them (if that makes any sense - I know what I mean but difficult to explain).

There is also Lithium Grease which maybe a bit OTT for this application and I am not sure how dry it ends up but maybe worth a thought if the dry lube does not give enough protection.

Steve

15 hours ago, GordonD said:

This looks brilliant! Well done. 

Really interested to see how it works when finished. You might inspire me to finally get on with one myself after thinking about it for years.

Exactly the same with me 🙂 

Steve

1 hour ago, Louis D said:

I had to look up Jubilee clips.  We just call them hose clamps here in the US since no one brand dominated the market.

Apparently, the Jubilee brand name became genericized in the UK over time, sort of like Kleenex over here for facial tissue.

Ha Ha, sorry.
Yest I should be careful with Brand names in different countries, Durex in UK are condoms but in Australia you would get sticky tape 🙂 

Steve

I don't have one but I have seen quite a few threads about repairing them on SGL and other forums.
Most seem to use Jubilee clips.

You can get a spare leg from RVO but I guess that's a rather expensive fix, especially if more than one leg breaks.

eq2-aluminium-tripod-leg

Is it something that somebody can draw and get a replacement part 3D-printed, maybe bulked up a bit to improve the strength ?

Steve

I agree it looks fantastic 🙂 

Steve

Strange, I would have thought if it sees it then it would move it

When you first apply power to the camera can you hear the FW power up and move at all as mine does this I assume to some datum point.

Steve

Stunning image, I think this is such a great target.

Steve

26 minutes ago, malc-c said:

What's sad about this is that two people have parted with upwards of two grand in cash and haven't had anything back in nine months.......

I agree and I just hope their patience works out in the end.

Steve

15 minutes ago, malc-c said:

From their website 

The fact they don't take credit cards would alarm me.... Paypal would be the most protected method of payment out of the three, the others are as good as giving cash.

If you have real concerns that they have ceased trading and any attempts to cancel the order or actually have it delivered are not being responded to then you could contact your bank and request a charge back.  This is where the bank contacts the bank the payment was deposited in and requests the return of the payment.  Note the term requests.... there is no guarantee the recipients bank will refund the payment, but given the timeframe involved  you may have a good case

Is that actually possible on a Bank Transfer ?
I tried that with a payment I sent and the bank would not do anything. Thankfully the money was rejected anyway and came back.

Oh I do hope we soon see photos on this thread with the lovely new Obsy soon.

Steve

8 minutes ago, scotty38 said:

Sorry but I couldn't help getting this in my head...

She don't do major credit cards
I doubt she does receipts
It's all not quite legitimate.......

Top marks to those that get the reference 🙂

I would say there is a Sheffield connection there 🙂 

I got this starter set when I got my first scope.

baader-hyperion-starter-set-4-eyepieces-with-hard-case

Now I am no expert as only a casual observer as I got into imaging fairly early on but these did me well and a art from the Baader zoom I got later on never bought any other EP's.
Like I say just what I got and not an expert in this do take my advice with caution (or a warning maybe more like it 🙂 )

Steve 

Welcome to SGL John,

If you have been looking in you will now that we are a friendly bunch, maybe you can tell us a bit about yourself and your astro interests 🙂 

Steve

11 minutes ago, Danield06 said:

If anyone is still in need of help let me know. Ekos AF works great. I use a ZWO EAF and once dialed in, it will work wonderfully. I haven't had an issue in months. just FYI that you need to be close to focus for the routine to work. Thats how it is with most AF programs.

To be honest mine has worded fairly well last few sessions, although the UK weather has meant not too many of these sessions 🙂 

But if you don't mind sharing your settings and parameters on here that owuld be a great help 🙂 

Steve

Keep it simple and it wont go wrong 🙂 

Brilliant 

Steve

Hmm, very odd, and even more so that the very thing that is missing is the thing you were looking for 🙂 

Steve

I checked with the current on line manual

sesto-senso-2-user-manual

Steve

I actually got THESE 90 degree adapters for my focusser so I could use a standard 2.1 mm cable that came with the PPBADV and I found the angled connector kept the cable run a lot neater and out of the way of other things.

Steve

21 hours ago, Dinglem said:

Hi @Padraic M I have them both and I ordered some of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005KCGM96/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1   as from memory the sesto is a 5.5 to 2.5 and the PPPAV is 5.5 to 2.1.

But to be on the safe side I also ordered some of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004HTFCYY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1   

I would check for you but I've had to store all my stuff away for the time being.

Hi I also have the PPBADV and the Sesto Senso (but V1) and confirm what @Dinglem says.

The PPBADV is 5.5 / 2.2 mm, I have checked and looked din the manual:

And the Focuser is 5.5 / 2.5 mm
Again I have checked and looked in the manual

The fact that 5.5 / 2.1 and 5.5 / 2.1 are so similar really bugs me and I wish all Astro suppliers had just chosen to use 5.5 / 2.5 mm as you can fit a 2.5 core cable on a 2.1 connector as the smaller pin fits inside the bigger socket but you then have a very poor connection.

Although you now do not need the adapters as suggested I do recommend getting some in case this happens again they at least get you going but really you need two types, a 2.5 male to 2.1 female and a 2.1 male to 2.5 female.

I also put a label on all my cables like this to state which one it is a 2.1 or 2.5 mm because otherwise you just end up trying them and seeing they fit.

There is a sort of colour code on the very ends of the plugs and some are black, some yellow, white, blue etc but not all manufacturers follow the same colour code so that is useless.

Steve

That is one awesome image and thanks for the link to that tutorial 🙂 

Steve

Well done and well deserved winners 🙂 

Steve

On 26/04/2021 at 20:08, Neo_uk said:

Yep you sure can get something to calibrate your monitor ..

You hang it on the screen and run the software it has a sensor that reads the values been shown on the monitor and corrects them .

The one have is a older one now days but it's called a spider 3 pro.

As for the hubble pallet Peter jenkins has a YouTube video on how to make a action for photoshop for that ...produces really nice results too.

Chris.

Got a Spyder 3 Elite for £29 off Ebay - many thanks for the suggestion

30 minutes ago, AlexK said:

C'mon folks! A stepper's "back flush" current is rather miniscule and will be grounded by the driving MOSFET anyway (the controller is separated from "gentle CPU circuits" by the high power driver).

I have my printer for 7 years and moving X/Y 250mm wide back an forth all the time. No issues. Never heard about anything drastic like that  either. Urban legends. Disconnecting your motors you are just reducing connector's lifespan and possibly eventually crack the PCB from mechanical stress too.

I would tend to agree.

I also move mine fairly regularly by hand but I do do it slowly as that is what is recommended in the Prusa manual but also never had an issue in over 6 years.

I just wondered if the cheaper boards may be more prone to damage if molved quickly.

Steve

7 hours ago, neil phillips said:

wanted first got the second. You ?

First, which was good because I was a big Todd Rundgren fan as well and his band Utopia were on. 

1 minute ago, MartinB said:

Damn, I assumed it was on Sunday!

I too forgot until it was half way through, but saw the 2nd half.
I certainly recommend watching the recording when it is released.

Steve