Mav359

Happy days. Cheers for all your efforts Grant 

Grant thats done and i have PM'd you

Cheers

if i book the main days now, can i arrange with Lucksall the rest if i want to stay the rest of the week 20th?

Grant is there anything left for a Motorhome??? i completely forgot all about it. Cant believe it

14 hours ago, Davey-T said:

Be good to see you Alan, try and get into Kingfisher somewhere.

Dave

On it

Cheers grant i'll chase up friday

sweet i'll book up friday. whats the word on booking the whole week Grant, book the SGL days on FLO or just book it all with Lucksall and let you know?

Cheers

Hey guys

Been completely off the radar this year its been crazy

are there still places for this year?

Hi guys

Yes another big thumbs up to Bernard & Modern Astronomy, recently bought a QHY5-II & a QHY Polemaster off him, i'm fortunate enough to live close to him so he's been good enough to let me pick up my items (by appointment) from him. He's always been very infomative both pre & post sales. 

Thank you Bernard

Hi Guys

Sorry but i am being extremely lazy, i tried reading through the post and went a little brain dead so i'm just gonna ask the question....

I have had my focusers for my C9.25 & Mak127 for a couple of years now based on the original SGL Yahoo group and they have worked brilliantly, took a while to get a system working, i have to plug in the USB first wait a moment for the Aurdino to boot then plug in the easy stepper board. They work great, little dated with a bigger stepper motor and the easy stepper board but all good.

The software i'm using though is the original SGL Yahoo group software which whilst it works is a ok at best, so where are you guys at on a software front and will my easy stepper board work with anything thats has been developed from here?

Great idea and a great work so far

Id be interested in hearing more feedback about the CAT6 USB extender, would potentially solve a lot of my issues. Have you tried a USB Hub with it, ease of use, link for the one you bought etc

Cheers

I used that one simply because it was the one in the documentation of the SGL focuser when i first did this for my SCT. They need a bit more room but they have a longer shaft and they deffo have more power, the torque at higher speeds moves the focuser assembly if its not secured.  Works with the easy stepper board

The other thing i like was that it number of steps in a revolution is quite high and it has very smooth motions at the right speeds. From one end of my focuser to the other on my SCT took 331350 steps :-) 

The only downside is at the moment i can't use Dave's aurdino sketch because it doesn't currently work with the Easy Driver and i don't know how to mod it. Its still ASCOM compliant on the older sketch and works with all the 3rd party software.

Mav359,

Looks good! Can you tell me what kind of stepper motor you used?

I went with this one simply because id use them before and it worked so i just went again. They also do a bracket for it which i bought to use as a template

https://www.coolcomponents.co.uk/stepper-motor-with-cable.html

Cheers Dave

Hey Dave been speed reading this since the last time i look at the post.

My focuser is completed and working using the original SGL documentation and the stand alone software and all is working fine.

I have tried uploading the sketch and it does upload and the software installs fine however its not working. I think the problem is my setup uses the Nano which connects to an easy stepper board via 3 pins and that in turn connects to a 4 wire stepper motor.

I don't know where to ammend the pins to tell the software or if its even that simple to change.

Any Ideas

Heres my focuser on the MAK

Great work by the way

Just waiting for my MOSFETs to arrive then i can build my focuser... only problem i'm having is sourcing a pulley with a 2.5mm bore.. curse you GSO focuser...

For the pulleys

Cross and Morse

http://www.cross-morse.co.uk/timing_belt.asp

They did me a Pulley with a custom bore size

This looks like a great project, I'll certainly have a go. I've never used an Arduino but I've been itching to have a go.

If you could do an idiots guide for getting an Arduino talking to Ascom it would be greatly appreciated.

Totally worth having a go, for my C9.25 the bits required to change out the focuser & the motorised focuser came to nearly £800. I put mine together for just over a £100. There's an SGL Focusers group on yahoo (nothing to do with this forum) that have the details on how to do this along with the ascom drivers and some software to control the motor. Once I'm home later I can post some links

yep Ardunio and and easy stepper driver

You've got me thinking about my 127 now, ive been sat here sketching up a few thoughts

Its by far the best DIY project ive done

Heres mine for my C9.25

I'm going to look at making a smaller more portable version for my 127 as well, something that is removable for a start.

Looking good, may have to un-ashameable rob some ideas

I like it

great idea guys thank you

I have one of these http://www.diy.com/nav/rooms/storage-shelving/boxes-baskets/plastic_boxes/Kis-Scuba-Box-106L-Black-13198584?skuId=13679290

For my 9.25. Lined it with dense 1" foam & it fits a treat! The lid is hermetically sealed also as a bonus. It also has a couple of small wheels on one end.

Like it.

Got any pic's,  i'd be interest in see what space is left for Telrad, Guider etc.

Once again massive thank you to Bernard at Modern Astronomy. He's help me out with my QHY8L which i was having an issue with, truely looks after his customers.

If you have any dealings with Modern Astronomy & Bernard you won't be disapointed. Top Man

Cheers Again Bernard

:grin: :grin: :grin:

Hi guys

Massive A+ for Bernard & Modern Astronomy, my camera had developed a substantial tilt almost exactly a year to the day i bought it from him, he could not be helpful enough and has organised a replacement for. Top top man, he truly understands customer service, very happy bunny.

Cheers Bernard

I recently bought a Hyperstar for my C9.25 but unfortunately once i attached it to the secondary mirror holder i found that the secondary mirror holder was rotating in the scope. I was advised by Celestron to have the scope returned for service to replace the gaskets that hold it in place.

Being that it is the closest Astronomy related store to both work & home i rang the widescreen centre to see if they could quote me a price to have the scope serviced,   after several failed attempts to get through i finally spoke to a member of staff who said they would contact David Hinds for a quote but gave me a rough estimate (i appreciate its an estimate) and that i would get a phone call back, i was asked to send all my correspondence between myself and celestron regarding the nature of the issue which i did. 2 days went by no email of phone call, tried phone and email and got no response. Disappointed!!! Circumstances dictated that i put my repair off a month by i again contacted the Widescreen centre last week with the same inquiry and again told id get a phone call or email and again nothing. Phoned them back had a moan and was told that "i don't work for that department"  finally spoke to someone who was able to help and phoned DH and within 10mins i got a phone call back with a quote 4 times more then an estimate. This is the kind of customer service I Dislike. I have purchased items before from the widescreen centre in the past, the delivery was quick everything was packaged well, as a retailer i have no issues but there customer service and willingness to help leaves a lot to be desired.

I used duct tape and simply taped the base to the OTA. Works a treat and didn't leave any mess when i had to move it to re-balance my scope.