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David Hardie

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Posts posted by David Hardie

  1. 5 hours ago, Woking said:

    I've found the AZMP to be pretty spot on with just the auto 1 star calibration. Occasionally have to resynch when moving from one half the sky to the other.

    Have not mastered the balancing yet. The manual says to also check the spirit level as the mount rotates during the auto calibration. It's always off for me and I've tried an additional spirit level too. Can never get the spirit level centred for the full 360 and this probably explains the above resynch when say going from a south to north objects.

    Have you tried controlling the mount with SkySafari? I use this instead of the handset and it's been great.

    Also how are you finding the battery life? I'm not sure about mine, seems to drain quicker than the advertised 10-12hours. Think it's even draining when not used for a few weeks.

    I do have the Ioptron Wi-Fi adaptor thing and also have sky safari. Which socket does the Wi-Fi plug into please?

    David

  2. Hi all, I'm about to take outside the az pro mount. I've done all the balancing etc inside so that's ok.

    Looking at the set up video where it gets itself calibrated etc, how mich success have you had once it starts going to targets etc? It's use is for visual only.

    Cheers. David

    • Like 1
  3. 22 hours ago, Helen said:

    A well packaged box (@David Hardie has been having lots of practice 😉)  containing a hotech SCT collimator.  I finally decided to bite the bullet and get one to try to maximise the views from my C11 (I get too few clear nights to waste time collimating, and I've never really felt I've nailed it!).  I understand there's a learning curve on the hotech use, so expect some muttering...... 😉

    Thanks David 😁

    Helen

     

    Very welcome Helen!!

    • Like 1
  4. 7 minutes ago, John said:

    I've seen people actually selling empty eyepiece boxes for the premium brands such as Takahashi etc :rolleyes2:

    I have a few eyepieces that don't have the original box but they are in great condition which is all that really matters :smiley:

    Some of the Explore Scientific and Meade eyepiece boxes are huge - they do create a storage issue themselves :rolleyes2:

    That's exactly the problem I had. A whole shelf of boxes take up lots of room!!! Lol

  5. 17 minutes ago, alan potts said:

    A mate of mine that has Camtech cameras always said a box is worth 10-20 quid, well that would be on a fairly pricey item like a Canon body. Personnally I would say a tenner however if it were a TeleVue I wanted I wouldn't care if it had a box or not, all of mine do have boxes but then that just luck. Oh and many were bought new, the boxes are in big box in the barn.

    Also looking at what you have offered so far I am sure they are in top condition.

    Alan 

     

    Thanks Alan

  6. Morning all. I store my ep's in padded flight cases. Does anyone have a rough idea when selling something like a Tele Vue Ethos etc how much value may be lost by having no box? Is anyone really really bothered about no box as long as condition is good?

    Thanks. David

  7. Hi all maybe you would cast your eyes over this for me.

    I recently bought a Takahashi Epsilon from a user on here and am messing about putting spacer sets together so I can mount my ZWOasi 071 colour camera to the scope.

    The length spacer I need for starters is 38.5mm and I have here the correct length with a thread one end M54 to suit the corrector lens and a male thread the other to fit into the camera. (the camera back focus amount has been taken into account)

    Now, the bore of the spacer is about 40mm all the way through. So should this be OK? I suppose any fitting that fits into the camera will have this bore, but just asking you experienced guys your opinion.

    Its made up of  - the 21mm adaptor which came with the camera, an 8.5 Baader spacer, and a spacer which came with the Tak.

    Cheers all !!

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  8. 7 minutes ago, barkis said:

    Is it the black part you need machined down.  I could do that for you, I have a lathe at home, or you can do it yourself if you wish. 

    When you mentioned a spacer, I thought you meant a thin ring of metal requiring only a small amount of material. . Ron.

    It's the shiny aluminium part which needs some off it. It would be great to use the lathe, it's been a while since I did some turning! It's actually what I did as an apprentice many years ago!! Do you have a clock to true it up? 😄

  9. I'm after making a camera adaptor. I bought a second hand Tak Epsilon 180 off here and want to fit my camera to it. An Atik. Both the silver and black parts have the same thread which fit the camera and the scope corrector. It's about 7.5mm too long. They slide together nicely as you see. I thought if I made it just the correct length, and tested it I could maybe secure it together with grub screws or even bond it permanently.

  10. Hi all. Does anyone on here know of a little engineering shop, or have used one before, or even own a lathe!

    I just want some spacers adjusted by turning some material off etc.

    Cheers. David

  11. 20 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

    OK, this isn't a chip distance so I very much doubt that it will be all that critical. SCTs can cope with a considerable range of backfocus but are optimal at a certain distance. I'd be amazed if this were critical but I'd ask those imaging with the scope. If you don't get a reply I'd just suck it and see. I'd certainly do that in your shoes.

    Olly

    Thanks Olly much appreciated!! I think it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking it has to be within 0.001 or something!!

    I'll give it a try +- 2 mm or so!

    • Like 1
  12. 1 hour ago, ollypenrice said:

    I don't think you're talking about focal length here unless there's a typo. You're unreduced scope has an FL of 2000mm becoming 1400mm with the 0.7mm reducer. Where does this figure of 133mm come from? Without the reducer you just focus and shoot.  With the reducer you need to respect the 'chip distance' between reducer and chip. Maybe this is your 133mm? If so you'll need to add about 1mm for filter effects but with smaller chips very high precision isn't usually needed. But first let's clarify the 133mm.

    Olly

    Thanks mate yes I didn't word it very well it's the camera to Scope back focus measurements. It's supposed to be 133 mm from the scope back thread to the camera sensor. I've been able to make up adaptors like the ones shown here but just wondered how critical the size is. Maybe it's just a guide and possibly extra shims etc are needed? If so I'll try to put a Baader adjustable Vari adaptor in the chain for future adjustments?

    20190621_191639.jpg

  13. Hi folks. I'm setting up my ZWO 1600 with my Edge HD and filter wheel.

    The length required is 133mm.

    The question I have is how critical is the 133? With included spacers I can make 132 haha. Or is there a better way to go, plus or minus the figure.  Or could it be a case that once set at 133 it may need adjustment anyway?

    New to this so all advice welcome+

    Cheers. David

  14. I tried a few different cases over the last 12 months but did in the end settle on using a company called AnyFoam for the inserts. You just send measurements and it costs about 3 to 4 quid a sheet. Easy then to cut with a Stanley blade.

    Some nice plastic cases off Amazon which should be ok outside during observing.

    Still need to cut out for the 17 Ethos once it comes in from FLO. And I know there are overlaps etc - I use them on different scopes!

    The last picture still needs doing - it's my In Progress box !!

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    • Like 5
  15. Hi all. Today I received from FLO my C11 OTA and I'm keen to improve the finder mounting.

    On my 8 inch Edge HD I bought a universal Baader finder bracket but obviously the diameter of this scope is larger. I'm not keen on the Celestron holder with it's rubber O ring.

    Anyone used anything different on their scopes please? I suppose I could get one of those ADM dovetail bar kits and mount it on that?

    Cheers. David

  16. Hi all. I've heard on here there's no such thing as a daft question so go easy!!! Lol

    So if you take 2 ep's, both 10mm.

    One is 68 degree and the other 100 degree FOV.

    So looking at a Planet or Nebula for example, does the object look the same size but see more of it with the 100?

    Cheers!

     

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