What did the postman bring? V2

[Nakedgun]

10 hours ago, DirkSteele said:

A few posts back I showed that I had purchased volumes 2 and 3 of the The Night Sky Observers Guide. I mentioned the need to complete things left me somewhat exposed as Volume 1 appeared to be out of print. Well it did not take long to post a wanted advert in the SGL classifieds. It was answered quickly. big thanks to @Plantins.

Now I just need to pick up Volume 4.

 

~

Going to be keeping mine, sorry! 😁

 

Good luck.

 

 

 

.

[paul mc c]

Not yet but very soon 🥳🥳

[bosun21]

Postie delivered a couple of packages today. Courtesy of @Rustang, a 2" dielectric diagonal and a 3 x ES extender. From FLO a dew shield and 70cm dew strap for which I will fit the strap under the Reflectix insulation. A Baader clicklock (SCT) , a Skywatcher electric focuser along with the 4tronix wireless controller which allows  much slower speeds to be used when planetary imaging using 12v as opposed to the 9v battery. All for the 180 Maksutov.

 

[bosun21]

20 hours ago, paul mc c said:

Not yet but very soon 🥳🥳

Any clues going?

[paul mc c]

10 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

Any clues going?

Black and shiny..😁😁

[paul mc c]

Equinox 120ed..

[LukeTheNuke]

On 09/05/2024 at 13:57, paul mc c said:

Equinox 120ed..

Congrats! I don't expect to ever part with my Equinox 120. Great scope! And it's saved me a lot of money because it's already quite big and tells me that perhaps my frequent wish to get a 150 mm doesn't need to come true! The scope looks in good nick, I quite like that case too. Enjoy!

[M40]

I got one of these 😁

 

Which enabled me to do this.......

And yes that is the seestar tripod, cant wait to try it out now

 

[PatientObserver]

Today I received a new to me (lightly used) Manfrotto 058B:

[LondonNeil]

I've got hold of a little refractor upgrade over the st120.  I HOPE!   Scousespacecadet was kind enough to deliver his altair starwave 102ed down the road to my MIL in L31.  I'll not get to pick it up for a few months yet unfortunately.   Several months of wondering... its is too much for my mount? A gtiX  As far as I can determine its only ~100g heavier than the 120. It's also the f7 version so only slightly longer.  By my calculations,  just under 500g for my 2" diagonal,  just over 400g for one of my heavier eps (Hyperion) although my Morpheuses...Morpheii, are 70g or so lighter,  and 40g for a red dot.   The total package should be 5 or 5.1kg, well within the 6kg single side limit. Even with the mak127 on the other side the total should be under 9kg and well inside the 10kg limit. It should work.... it will work.   Only..I asked Harrisons for a view and they thought it was too much....so I've a few months off wondering.   

If the dew shield is anything like a chunky as on the st120 then replacing that with an astrozap like flexible shield will save 300g if the scope will still balance. Fingers crossed. 

I'm excited. Hopefully I'll be moving on thy st120 in the autumn but.... fingers crossed!

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

On 11/05/2024 at 19:56, LondonNeil said:

I've got hold of a little refractor upgrade over the st120.  I HOPE!   Scousespacecadet was kind enough to deliver his altair starwave 102ed down the road to my MIL in L31.  I'll not get to pick it up for a few months yet unfortunately.   Several months of wondering... its is too much for my mount? A gtiX  As far as I can determine its only ~100g heavier than the 120. It's also the f7 version so only slightly longer.  By my calculations,  just under 500g for my 2" diagonal,  just over 400g for one of my heavier eps (Hyperion) although my Morpheuses...Morpheii, are 70g or so lighter,  and 40g for a red dot.   The total package should be 5 or 5.1kg, well within the 6kg single side limit. Even with the mak127 on the other side the total should be under 9kg and well inside the 10kg limit. It should work.... it will work.   Only..I asked Harrisons for a view and they thought it was too much....so I've a few months off wondering.   

If the dew shield is anything like a chunky as on the st120 then replacing that with an astrozap like flexible shield will save 300g if the scope will still balance. Fingers crossed. 

I'm excited. Hopefully I'll be moving on thy st120 in the autumn but.... fingers crossed!

If the ST120 works then I imagine the ED102 should be fine. It's a great scope for the price. Blows away the ST120 on most targets and Neil your MIL looked impressed until I told her you spent three grand... 🤣

 

[LondonNeil]

Shhhhh! 😉

Thanks for delivering it.  I'm looking forward to trying it out.  I'm reasonably confident it'll work.... reasonably!

[Astro_Dad]

Not what the postman brought, but a pick up myself and a reversal of a temporary Dob swap deal with a fellow SGL member ... so yes another day another Dob 😄  but now nicely reacquainted with the 10" Celestron SS Explorer Dob and ES 24/68 eyepiece. Many thanks @paulastro. Shame about the clouds...

[Ratlet]

Looking to get practice in for soldering (for building an autofocusser and EQ platform) I've been ordering DIY kits from eBay.  I've been looking them over and Been cherry picking the ones with all the teeny surface mounted stuff attached so it's just through hole.

Imagine my surprise when I found these in the component tester kit that arrived today:

I think I might struggle.  Wonder if I can claim my money back since the pictures clearly showed this stuff on the board.

Edited May 13 by Ratlet

[saac]

7 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

Looking to get practice in for soldering (for building an autofocusser and EQ platform) I've been ordering DIY kits from eBay.  I've been looking them over and Been cherry picking the ones with all the teeny surface mounted stuff attached so it's just through hole.

Imagine my surprise when I found these in the component tester kit that arrived today:

 

I think I might struggle.  Wonder if I can claim my money back since the pictures clearly showed this stuff on the board.

Take a run up at it and you'll be alright!  Good luck - can we see before and after ?

JIm 

[Vroobel]

10 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

Looking to get practice in for soldering (for building an autofocusser and EQ platform) I've been ordering DIY kits from eBay.  I've been looking them over and Been cherry picking the ones with all the teeny surface mounted stuff attached so it's just through hole.

Imagine my surprise when I found these in the component tester kit that arrived today:

I think I might struggle.  Wonder if I can claim my money back since the pictures clearly showed this stuff on the board.

You have to buy a precise soldering iron and a dedicated microscope. 😏

[Ratlet]

3 minutes ago, Vroobel said:

You have to buy a precise soldering iron and a dedicated microscope. 😏

Already got a replacement soldering iron.  Ordered a T12 from AliExpress.  Cheap, good for a hobbyist and the electronics are reasonably well understood.  Total package was £35.  The tip is grounded but the chassis isn't so that'll be modded.

My old solder iron was a cheap eBay one that was more for inserting threaded inserts in 3D prints.  I've got kids though and solder in the house and this one comes with an auto off and the holder is very stable so ticked the safety box (as well as the new toy box).

What I am finding is a project begets more projects.  I need a fume extractor, but I can build one of them, I'm building the test kit (and trying to diagnose the problems, oscilloscope works but is reading the wrong voltage).

 

[Vroobel]

Thanks for the info, I will look at the soldering iron too. 👍

I also work on my project, hopefully finished now. I got 2GT pulley and timing belt to drive a focusing ring of my Sigma 40mm F/1.4 Art lens. 

 

[bosun21]

Looking at the above post by @Vroobel it reminded me that I received the parts that I need to attach the SW electric focuser motor and 4tronix controller to my 180 Maksutov. 

 

[Ratlet]

10 hours ago, Vroobel said:

Thanks for the info, I will look at the soldering iron too. 👍

I also work on my project, hopefully finished now. I got 2GT pulley and timing belt to drive a focusing ring of my Sigma 40mm F/1.4 Art lens. 

 

Have you made a post in the DIY section?  I love stuff like this.  Always really insightful.

[Vroobel]

3 hours ago, Ratlet said:

Have you made a post in the DIY section?  I love stuff like this.  Always really insightful.

Did I? I don't remember... 🤔🙂 Thanks. I changed idea and swapped the EAF with the guider, so I'm waiting for another 2GT belt now. 😁

Edited May 14 by Vroobel

[josefk]

16 hours ago, Ratlet said:

Looking to get practice in for soldering (for building an autofocusser and EQ platform) I've been ordering DIY kits from eBay.  I've been looking them over and Been cherry picking the ones with all the teeny surface mounted stuff attached so it's just through hole.

Imagine my surprise when I found these in the component tester kit that arrived today:

I think I might struggle.  Wonder if I can claim my money back since the pictures clearly showed this stuff on the board.

easy peasey 🙂 - i'm not an electronics engineer but i work in that environment (sort of) and going back a few years I used to spend some of my time hand making early prototype bits and bobs. My job has moved on and anyway we no longer prototype in house but it was one of my favourite pastimes within the job because its incredibly relaxing populating a PCBA. Not so relaxing when it won't fire up at the end...

[josefk]

It pains me to break this lovely pairing up (Tak clamp directly bolted to the mount) but needs must as i want the flexibility to mix and match new dual mounted combo's on the AZ100.

Before (nice and neat, elegant even and totally secure):

After - HD Losmandy for Tak clamps:

I guess the product manager at ADM follows the "value based pricing" school of thought rather than "cost plus". ahem. 😞 

Splitting the Tak clamp off the mount above (as much as it pains me to do so) allows me to use a second saddle there to mount different scopes on the left and therefore indirectly now enables this new set-up on the right hand side of the mount so i can use my FSQ as a super finder for my ACF if i ever get outside with that scope...

 

[Mr_Cat]

I was too excited when it arrived to do an unboxing photo..
Oclan Electronic Collimation tool - nice and easy to use but real easy to get stuck in a rabbit hole seeking perfection as you can just zoom in and end up trying to adjust it by a pixel width..

Edited May 14 by Mr_Cat
spleling

[Alan White]

Postie Pete has just visited with a little purchase from @FLO.

Having had days of sun and solar observing, I burnt my head or boiled under my night monks hood.

So another one but white this time.

R-Sky are now made in USA and not Russia, I am sure because of certain 'Special Operations'.

I will report back in due course, 

parcel arrived with the promised clouds.

Edited May 14 by Alan White