DaveL59

Shipping costs may not have helped much at present given a shortage of containers and a big hike by some carriers as a result. Someone has to bear these costs and given the small margin on the tin the manufacturer & importer can't absorb much so that'll also get passed on to the end customers.

While I generally agree re the comments on using M42 lenses on a Nikon, on some lenses I expect this can be overcome without needing an adaptor with a lens. This would however require some surgery on the lens and that would depend on how determined you are and also how willing to dismantle and alter the internals. The older Zeiss 135mm zebra and also a Schacht em-Travenar 135mm for example, both of which I've just serviced, I can see 2 possible options: Reset the main helocoid one thread over such that the lens retracts a little further Shave a small amount off the hard stop at the infinity end allowing the lens to be drawn in further before hitting the stop. Of the above, option 2 is likely better since the lens could then still be used on other camera makes, retaining the close focus but would focus beyond infinity before hitting the hard stop. Option 1 would lose the closest focus range but also reach beyond infinity when used on another camera make and may gain more than the required in-travel depending on the helicoid fitted. We're talking approx 2mm more in-travel of the lens groups to achieve infinity on a Nikon body. Doing this would be trial and error so will need a lot of patience. You'd also need to ensure that the rear protrusion doesn't reach far enough back to hit the mirror. On both of the above lenses the rear element/baffle remain internal to the M42 mount but some may not. edit - I should add here too that doing this may render the lens unsellable or at least lose on the price later on.

unfortunately those tripod end caps are easily lost it seems tho I tend to take the one off my Minolta bins and leave it indoors to reduce the risk. You could perhaps try Pentax directly and see if they can assist. If not and you just want to cover the end then you may be able to adapt something like one of these SMALLRIG Camera/Tripod/Bracket Screw Quick Release: Amazon.co.uk: Camera & Photo Tho the 1/4 screw end may be a bit too long for the purpose, I don't have any like that to try. You could perhaps fit a small plastic cap onto the screw thread to cover the edge of the brass hinge screw or 3d print one to suit.

Thought I'd report in on the dew heating solution esp now we are into proper cold snowy days. No misting up internally and mostly the domes have stayed clear unless its a very misty night where the bigger dome with USB camera may start to get some forming around the lower edges. So after 2 days of freezing powdery snow you can see it is starting to build up on the domes Above the USB unit with the resistor heater that is running 24hrs given the low temps. Build up especially on the windward side of the dome. The older CCTV module one is doing slightly better but this runs quite warm and is a much smaller dome and the module/lens are close to the top of the crown which probably helps. Not planning to mod the heater strip however as I'd expect making too much heat will be detrimental to the acrylic over time. Not doing too badly I think, all things considered 🙂

Is there a special trick to collimating the laser to the polar scope Olly?

es unfortunately it can and does happen, in the past for cctv bits I have managed to have them delivered from EU warehouse and avoid charges that way. Sadly not an option these days. I tend to order smaller/lower value blocks now to keep things below threshold as much as poss 😉

ack, well it is a bit better but still get frame glitches every now and again even at 15fps at 720 or 1080. At night I run 5fps so never a problem but daytime needs a faster rate to get the cloud texture else you just see flat while even on a dull day like we currently have. I guess it isn't helped by having 3 network switches to pass through on the way back to my desktop over trunked vLANs so is competing with the CCTV traffic from 10 other cameras too. Still the upside is the manager can run as a service and auto-connect the USB device and another PC can access the other port in parallel which was a limitation of the Maplin/EliteSilicon one. Interesting... switching the colour space in Sharpcap to YUY2 makes the image a lot more stable tho a very white sky results as you can't set the FPS for the capture The CCTV camera shows the real view Still, I guess this will do and will see how it does at night, assuming we get a clearer one where there's some sparkly dots visible 🙂 update - been playing with the QoS settings on the Digi and now have it running at MJPEG/30fps with no glitches, result! 😄

Thought I'd give a higher spec version a go Digi AnywhereUSB/2 plus to hang the USB skycam from and just maybe get a more stable fast frame rate (as in >10fps) than the low-cost Maplin 4-port USB1/2 hub that is doing that job at the moment. These are usually pricey but managed to pick one up for a good price, had to buy a 5v 4A psu for it but they aren't expensive and both arrived in sync. Usefully I can load both the Digi drivers and still use the Maplin Elite Silicon one on the same PC so will be easy to flip-flop between them.

good you have it working, I'd not try a firmware upgrade on it tho unless there is a compelling reason to do it, seems a path to having problems from the past posts on the subject... happy to be corrected on this, just going on what I've read here. I've never updated my EQ5 goto as not felt the need and the cost of potential failure during update is a bit steep to take the risk IMHO 🙂

agreed on the EQ5, mine rides on that very mount and has SynScan goto fitted also, tho I've not tried to computer control it. Worth having the long dovetail bar too, rather than the standard short one that comes as standard so you can better balance the scope as in dweller25's pic above. I have another manual Eq5 so switch between depending on the mood and expected length of session, I'll likely add an RA or dual-motor kit to that at some stage. Congrats on picking up a fine scope by the way 🙂

I used this stuff or one like it to sort the slop in the focuser of the LT70AZ GTIWUNG 2PCS High Temp Tape, PTFE Tape/Teflon Tape, High Temperature Adhesive Tape, Vacuum Machine Sealer Tape for Vacuum Hand Impulse Sealers, Heat Resistant Up to 300℃ (10m / 39.37inch): Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools Details here:

What didn't spring to mind earlier but might be worth a shot - try posting in the wanted section for an original 1.25-inch focuser. You never know someone may have one to offer. An outside chance but maybe worth a go. That way there's no mods needed to the tube but perhaps longer screws to install the focuser as I found when I got hold of one.

You can do this and it works fine so long as there's nothing to retain water that may cause other effects, as mentioned above. Do consider however that the cell is likely alloy of some sort and the bolts and springs steel. Moisture in the mating surfaces can lead to corrosion issues down the road but hopefully if you've rinsed with distilled water and let thoroughly dry you won't get too many issues.

while searching for a focuser I did consider perhaps something like this SV181 Reflector Type 1.25"Focuser Rack Pinion TO Astronomy Telescope Eyepieces | eBay Never did the math to see if it'd fit and you'd need to open up the hole for the barrel and drill/tap 4 holes to secure it. Takes it away from being all TAL but might do the job. There's a few different ones so there's bound to be on that'd suit.

Ah these scopes have been out of production a good while now and the factory is back to doing military works I think, so parts will largely be on the used market. Well worth setting up a search on ebay, things do turn up from time to time. A seller in the UK was recently selling parts from a TAL-2, not sure if he still had any listings as I've not looked in a while. The bay was where I obtained the focuser and it wasn't too pricey. With luck one will turn up within the EU as from the UK you'd have the complications of whatever vagaries now apply to shipping from a "third country" in terms of paperwork, VAT, duties etc. When I picked up this TAL-1 it was specifically for the 25mm old-type eyepiece for the TAL-M I also have, wasn't really planning on keeping it but having tested it out I found it was very good, perhaps better than the Skywatcher 130 that I already had, certainly more stable. Hence I did the mirror mod and the focuser as worthwhile improvements to what is a very solid scope and it should last a lifetime or two.

wow that's a nice looking one you got there Marcel, mine didn't have the wood case which is a pity. Worth keeping an eye out for the later 1.25-inch focuser as that does make it easier in use but the original 32mm works fine with care.

Loaded the PowerChute software and hooked up to USB to see what's what Gradually picking up charge so I'd say this one's sorted, at least for now 🙂 Only tested with the drill battery charger hooked up to it and it does continue with the mains disconnected which kinda proves the invertor side is working so the MOSFET replacement is good. Don't really have any handy higher power stuff to connect to it as everything here is pretty much wired into bigger SmartUPS units. Did notice that the PS software crashed with a stack/heap error on the second disconnect, not ideal as that's the latest issue. Seems it interferes with the network-USB control software too but that's fine as it'll be uninstalled once I finish testing. I use the network version for the SmartUPS since they have manglement cards in them for monitoring.

so today the MOSFET arrived, the caps a couple days earlier out with the board, clean up the mess with some isopropyl and cotton buds Looks like the SMD components are all intact, hopefully none have failed and triggered the death of that MOSFET. I cut the exploded MOSFET away and then removed the electrolytics. Didn't bother ESR testing to see which if any had failed as I figured may as well replace the lot while I have the board apart. So new 105c caps as per list in previous post and MOSFET duly installed: now for the acid test - will it power up correctly? So install an old Yuasa 7AH battery I had spare and... let there be light 😄 So on power up it does its self-test and then settles just fine. Unplug the mains supply and it carries on as it should do. Not yet tested it with a load but can't see why it won't carry on working correctly. Happy with that result I think, this one can go into service in the shed once there's a dry day, should be just fine to hold the remove cctv DVR and cameras up for a wee while during power trips.

Nice neat job 🙂 I think given the optics that would be balancing on this I'd have used some glass/carbon fibre to reinforce the joins, by filling the voids in the moulding rather than rely on the thin edge holding up under load. Then again I guess it is mostly under compression load for the leg joint and once the tripod is set in place the prongs on the feet should reduce the tension loading on the spreader arms some. Hope it works well tho and looks like reinforcing can always be tried in repair-II if that's ever needed.

you can probably get some little silicon caps of the type used to cover the end of bolts tho heatshrink will do the job just fine too.

I recently bought an old wood tripod with the boss/collar that would've been for a vintage 60mm tube. Being that was far too small for the vintage scope I hoped to use it for, I removed the legs and fitted them in place of the metal ones on the cheapie Celestron LT70AZ starsense scope. Transformed the stability and while the Celestron yoke mount isn't great just the legs makes the whole assembly far less wobbly and also settles much faster too. The legs will need some minor restoration doing but it was a lucky find on the bay and I figure well worth it 🙂 I had been considering surveyor tripods, but they tend to be £50-60 and up here plus shipping and would need some thought on adaptation unless the legs can be directly swapped over.

nice job Mark, and a good end result which makes it all seem worthwhile 🙂

that was one of the things I liked about my old Minolta 9000, there was a wee lever that open/closed an internal blind on the eyepiece. For my A77ii I don't need such a device, being it's a SLT model so EVF rather than optical 🙂

Having said I've used and been happy with Ali so far, I've been trying to get replacement zoom grips for a lens and this far I've had 2 suppliers indicate goods shipped and a week later order cancelled, latest one just now in fact. Not sure if this is because there's a shipping issue in the current global crisis, tho I have received other goods from China. The upside is that on initiating a cancellation as requested by the seller, Ali are very quick to resolve it and refund your payment so I've no hesitation in continuing to buy from them.

The Sony A77ii I recently bought came with one Sony and 2 noname batteries. On receipt I found one of these had charge but would not recharge on the Sony single battery charger but the other and the Sony one did. I bought a Patona dual battery charger and now they all charge and run just fine on that. Seems the earlier Sony charger would work with most but the later ones are more picky, could that be the issue with the Canon ones too?