PeterW

Do you have any details of that binocular?? Nice “analog” tripod! Peter

Most polymers have much larger thermal expansion than metals. Not special the 3D printing. I made a sun finder in black PLA (just printed in the material I had to hand)... it bubbled away nicely...! Peter

OK, name the materials that can withstand >100C. Nylon and PETG are little better than PLA. I’ve been using PVDF, but that’s for very special applications. if you’re not printing PLA I hope you are very careful to fit extracts to avoid breathing my the fumes. Peter

Properly done injection molding can achieve micron level accuracy, just ask Lego. Of course not everyone is as experienced and there are a range of common defects. That said FDM has similar common issues with print lines, overhangs and the elephants foot, ringing marks, anisotropic properties. From testing length accuracy of FDM multi axial bars is typically 0.1mm. I was using PLA so warping wasn’t an issue. For snug fits I leave a 0.6mm ish gap and add bits of duct tape to tune the snugness. I also regularly test print small pieces of parts to tune critical dimensions for the specifics of my printer and settings etc. Peter

Makes a change from my BeardHead.... see avatar picture. Peter

.... wall/floor/ceiling thickness matters more than infill. I use 1.6-2mm (especially if I need to tap holes) and then 40% infill or so (unless I really need it to be fully dense). Peter

Would love to have one, but I think the maps are from the NASA Apollo LAC charts. I recently inspired someone to stretch and stitch the whole load to produce a large binoculars hole disk map that is easier to use than lots of little segments: https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/711469-whole-moon-lac-chart/ there is also a new edition of the Virtual Moon Atlas which has a lot of chart options. Peter

Going to take a while to “I watch” the NASA one... the ESA one was much more cultured.... Even got Brian in! Peter

The black diamond mitts I got recently finally mean I don’t have to worry about cold hands again, if I am walking about then I have to keep taking them off and on or my hands get very hot. For observing time i use a thin glove liner and have added some conductive thread to a few of its finger tips to enable me to use touch screen astro apps. They keep the immediate cold off until I can get the mitt back on again. Peter

I fitted mine in with double sided tape and I use the winged eyecups from the designer, work nicely, can use them hands-free if you lie on the ground. Peter

I’d still avoid fine threads in polymer, some SLA resins are pretty hard and stiff. They can be higher res than FDM and lack the visible layers and reduced anisotropy. ender 5 is one a colleague has. Personally i use OpenSCAD and often mod files from thingiverse. I mostly work with PLA, prints well and is nice and stuff. Plenty of options depending on the properties you are looking for.. stiffness, temperature, environmental performance. Welcome to the community! Peter

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Maybe knock together some right angled binoculars from the insides of them... more comfortable to use. If you only want one eye at a time then you have a “spare” in case the first experiment doesn’t go to plan.... so tell us how you get on. Peter

They look really good! Peter

You might want to put a shield on the top so it won’t dazzle you, but will still give a pool of light for you to navigate/avoid. Peter

Challenge, possibly, maybe just the path less trodden. Whatever floats your boat. If everything was all or nothing then we might as well give up as there’s usually always be someone better out there. Maybe dive in and become an expert at one thing or a Jack of all trades..... Peter PS looks like we’ve got all philosophic....

I am very happy to discuss and very keen for people to go try stuff out, don’t just do what others have before, that’s how we discover new and better ways of doing things... watec to short exposure ccd and NV... a “smartphone” type approach may well be round the corner, bringing down the cost and complexity of EEVA, but it’s got to deliver the goods. Seems that EEVA and NV observers don’t often look at the same objects, NV preferring wider field objects. PEter

Thanks for having a go, it’s a big, thin old ring, one wee slip and it could end up ugly. If you avoid nearby streetlights the off axis light shouldn’t be noticeable. Peter

.....if you are looking to go wildlife spotting then thermal is a much better bet, monochrome visible light kit (intensifier/digital etc) doesn’t make alive (warm) things so immediately visible. the sionyx or a secondhand Gen 3 would be a good complement for going walkies at night without bumping into things or advertising your presence with a glowing red “eye”. For EEVA you want a tracking mount and a low cost astro ccd/cmos camera or a fast scope and a Gen3 intensifier. Peter

Intensifiers have noticably lower quantum efficiency and no ability to add clever electronics.... so should be worse. Long exposures statistically average the random photon arrivals and show the fainter detail. 200ms exposure will give 5Hz refresh, which from my thermal experiences is poor unles you have a stable(possibly tracking) mount. >30Hz is much preferred for moving scenes. Peter

No. The ONLY digital NV device that gets within a mile of Gen3 intensifiers is the Sionyx (with its special black coating and HUGE pixels). Even it has trouble when things get dark... like when you want to look at nebulae. I am sure it mig he be possible to do better.... the phone machine learning approaches can do wonders with pictures in conditions no sane photographer would normally expect anything..... if there is a market and money to do the development. But no few hundred )£/€/$/¥ digital device will disappoint. Peter

Aperture gives you image scale on fuzzies and deeper magnitude for point source stars. As Stu points out it depends on your skies, if you can get to dark ones then a big exit pupil will give you more..... there are number of posts about binocular observers picking up all sorts of stuff that you’d assume were in big dob territory. peter

For experience (though in old fashioned green) you could do worse that listening to JDB... I agree, it’s the experience we’re after, some people get blown away by seeing Saturn’s rings or the odd moon crater to two, some seek more.... let’s hope for some clear skies we can actually use in ‘21.... Peter

.... the resolution means stars aren’t probably quite as tiny pointy as with glass... though binocular glass views give better stars as your brain can average... and binocular NV views enable even fainter nebulosity to be seen. So many ways to enjoy the sky and see stuff, so many things to look at.... Where I (sometimes) differ from @GavStar is that I have usually done NV handheld, giving me freedom to scan and view where I want... less “artificial” than pushing buttons and letting Goto take you to specific locations. I’d quite like to see what the Sony A7 with a wide fast lens could offer and I wouldn’t mind looking through a sionyx digital system, though even it lacks the sensitivity for nebulae. Peter

Distinctive... good job though! Peter

What @GavStar means is that that it behaves like a normal eyepiece and with modern systems the view is pretty much as “natural” as you could get, meaning a high resolution grey monochrome with minimal sparkle/scintillation… only the bright stars are not coloured and the apparent field of view is a bit narrow compared to modern tastes. Cost…. Depends on US politicians, one senator in the past blocked a loosening of ITAR. The US have much lower costs for second hand and new systems, secondhand systems are available outside the US with costs around half of the new. In the past few years a non-US source of suitable systems has come online, but the costs are rather high. Avoid everything but the “Gen3” level stuff as the cheap Gen1 stuff you’ll come across won’t work any better than a bag of carrots! If people could view the sky with NV they might be more proactive in wanting to fight light pollution. It’s not for everyone, just as huge dobsonians, monster binoculars, 6”Apos and some mounted imaging rigs aren’t, but amateurs are happy to share the views. I am never sure why one has to defend NV when it so obviously delivers such a huge visual benefit. Peter