What did the postman bring?

[Stardaze]

18 minutes ago, Dantooine said:

I thought it was balanced on an ash tray. 🤣

May as well have been for the use it serves 😂

[johninderby]

Explore Scientific / Bresser Losmandy bar for the Bresser 127L frac. Feels more secure than the vixen type the scope comes with. 🙂

[Crackabarrel]

EQDIR USB Cable, goodbye handset, hello EQMOD.

[IB20]

Wanted some 15x70s for a while and £89 seemed a mad price! Hopefully get a chance to use tonight.

[DaveL59]

On 05/10/2020 at 10:26, DaveL59 said:

 

hmmm test fitting this OVL VPL filter and it doesn't meet the thread in the TAL diagonal, just slides in past them 😞 Fits the eyepieces just fine both TAL and Vixen ones and also the Celestron erecting diagonal on the LT70 I just received. Was hoping to fit one on the diagonal and the other on the eyepiece to make it simple to adjust the darkness by only needing to turn the eyepiece. On the Celestron diagonal tho you get an odd half dark half light view, probably down to the prism arrangement so not really useful on that one.

Might have to see if I can get a different nosepiece for the TAL diagonal at some stage. Of course taking a couple bits apart it seems to be threaded externally cut into the end of the tube than the eyepieces which are threaded internally. Might not be so easy to sort then. I've an Svbony star diagonal en route so once that arrives I'll see if that fits ok and if it performs or the nosepiece can be transferred. 

Luckily I have a larger filter box to store this in, albeit split so they fit side by side 🙂 

[johninderby]

19 minutes ago, DaveL59 said:

 

Might have to see if I can get a different nosepiece for the TAL diagonal at some stage. Of course taking a couple bits apart it seems to be threaded externally cut into the end of the tube than the eyepieces which are threaded internally. Might not be so easy to sort then. I've an Svbony star diagonal en route so once that arrives I'll see if that fits ok and if it performs or the nosepiece can be transferred. 

You mean a nosepiece like this? Have this spare one with about an M31 thread on it. Yours for the price of the postage if it’s any good to you..

[DaveL59]

14 minutes ago, johninderby said:

You mean a nosepiece like this? Have this spare one with about an M31 thread on it. Yours for the price of the postage if it’s any good to you..

 

 

kind of you John. Just measure the one on the TAL finder and its a smidge under 30mm thread diameter:

Doesn't look to have much of a thread internally either so perhaps was never made to carry filters or its just an odd size. If yours matches up then yes please 🙂 

[johninderby]

Just measured and it’s 29.95 just under the thread. 🤔

 

Edited October 6, 2020 by johninderby

[DaveL59]

19 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Just measured and it’s 29.95 just under the thread. 🤔

 

sounds like it'd fit then 🙂 Will PM you about postage etc

[gilesco]

48 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Just measured and it’s 29.95 just under the thread. 🤔

 

I'm more interested in the calipers, where can I buy some good ones like this?

[johninderby]

31 minutes ago, gilesco said:

I'm more interested in the calipers, where can I buy some good ones like this?

These are the ones I use. Mitutoyo are expensive but you can’t get better.

https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/calipers/2455676/

Shop around and you should find a better price. Don’t buy on eBay though as most on there are cheap fake copies. Stick to a proper dealer. 

Edited October 6, 2020 by johninderby

[gilesco]

3 minutes ago, johninderby said:

These are the ones I use. Mitutoyo are expensive but you can’t get better.

https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/calipers/2455676/

Shop around and you should find a better price. Don’t buy on eBay though as most on there are cheap fake copies. Stick to a proper dealer. 

Yes, I don't touch ebay even with a bargepole.

[DaveL59]

3 minutes ago, johninderby said:

These are the ones I use. Mitutoyo are expensive but you can’t get better.

https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/calipers/2455676/

Shop around and you should find a better price. Don’t buy on eBay though as most on there are cheap fake copies. Stick to a proper dealer. 

mine actually were off the bay, seem to work fine but do seem to drain the battery quite fast if not careful. I tend to tighten the lock screw then power off else a slight bump and it turns back on and before you know it, no power. When it arrived that was exactly what I think had happened as the battery was all but dead but at least there was a spare in the pack 🙂

[david_taurus83]

Surely not???

 

[gilesco]

1 minute ago, david_taurus83 said:

Surely not???

 

impossible!! Do you have a secret postcode or something?

[Dantooine]

Well, I’ve done what I wasn’t going to do. I spent quite a while looking into getting a powermate or an Antares barlow in order to avoid the inevitable. Oh well, the inevitable was delivered today. Mars really needs to show its face now. This time I think I’m done ✅ 

Edited October 6, 2020 by Dantooine

[Stardaze]

58 minutes ago, Dantooine said:

Well, I’ve done what I wasn’t going to do. I spent quite a while looking into getting a powermate or an Antares barlow in order to avoid the inevitable. Oh well, the inevitable was delivered today. Mars really needs to show its face now. This time I think I’m done ✅ 

Jeez, you have gone mad. Enjoy 😁 You’ve the ultimate set now.

[Dantooine]

5 minutes ago, Stardaze said:

Jeez, you have gone mad. Enjoy 😁 You’ve the ultimate set now.

I can promise you one thing, the APM 20 is a keeper. It was So comfortable and I don’t analyse right to the extreme edge. Liked to have seen through the 13.
 

There is a 7mm coming out in December. If you like the 13mm the 7mm may well be worth a look as it sits nicely between the 6 & 8E so maybe you wouldn’t need the both.  It could be a bargain fix for your set and save you a packet. I was going to get the APM   3.5 but it was not available for a few weeks so I had to make do with the 3.7 😉 

[Stardaze]

18 minutes ago, Dantooine said:

I can promise you one thing, the APM 20 is a keeper. It was So comfortable and I don’t analyse right to the extreme edge. Liked to have seen through the 13.
 

There is a 7mm coming out in December. If you like the 13mm the 7mm may well be worth a look as it sits nicely between the 6 & 8E so maybe you wouldn’t need the both.  It could be a bargain fix for your set and save you a packet. I was going to get the APM   3.5 but it was not available for a few weeks so I had to make do with the 3.7 😉 

I'm going to add a 6E  at some point next year. Not in a desperate rush and might swap the APM 13 for the 13E first, just because.. We'll see. Apart from a DGM NPB filter, I'm not going to spend much this year now. 

[Paul M]

HDMI dummy dongle, to fool my Ubuntu mini PC that a monitor is connected to allow it to run headless.

 

[gilesco]

1 minute ago, Paul M said:

HDMI dummy dongle, to fool my Ubuntu mini PC that a monitor is connected to allow it to run headless.

 

That was quick 😀

[Barry-W-Fenner]

On 05/10/2020 at 20:13, Stardaze said:

Just a couple of filters for me..Hoping the forecast for Sun morning stays as it is to give Mars a good go. The polariser is let down by an absolutely awful box that fell apart in my hands once opened. I’ll find something for it I’m sure, hope the glass is good.

That claim shell case for the VP filter is one of the most overly fussy cases I have seen! Mine was almost always popping apart when opened. It was a bonus to get the filter out with the case remaining in one piece 🙂

I have just acquired the Baader CBF also. it has been a nice filter to use on the few occasions I have had the opportunity.

 

Baz

[Dark Vader]

Not technically brought by the postman...however, I'd just finished pushing a trolley around the local Tesco and on the way out saw a shop called The Works. Remembering a post I saw on here a few weeks ago about this, I went in for a look and snapped up one of these.

[DaveL59]

A Dericam 1080 webcam from the long river place warehouse section.

I've just opened it up and replaced the lens with a wider/faster one and blanked the LED's a little. Hopefully will point it at the sky sat on a tripod tonight and see how it fairs. Sharpcap shows slow shutter at 1/2s which is a stop better than the CCTV modules I'm currently using. The Logi C270 can run to 1s it seems but doesn't have an M12 lens mount. If this works reasonably well I may have a look at swapping it into one of the skycam's and run it via a network-USB hub inthe shed. If not then I'll just whack a nosepiece on it and use it in the scope 🙂 

[AndyThilo]

A lovely looking WO GT81 in Space Grey with matching space grey Flat6Aiii 😊. Lucked out getting one from FLO 👌