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Build your own SKYnyx !!!

beamish

By beamish
in DIY Astronomer

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beamish

beamish

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Posted

Okay perhaps that's a tad of an overstatement but nevertheless it's not far away.

I had the chance of buying a Lumenera Lu070 which is the board-level version of the Lu075 ( the same as the SKYnyx 2-0 but with a slightly different case/driver but the guts are the same !)

Not having 600.00 odd quid to buy the latter I decided to take a punt and chance the possibility of finding a case or at worst I'd have to make one :D

I scoured the tinternet for days looking at as many different cases/boxes as there are smarties in a tube ! All to no avail- I really wanted to avoid using a plastic box because I wanted the passive cooling of a metal, preferably ally case.

Worst case scenario came to pass- so , how was I going to make a case (sounds easy doesn't it?) ? The thing to bare in mind is that I have NO milling, lathe or specialist tools to use ,just my old jewllery/silversmithing stuff and some power tools and TBF a lot of enthusiasm ! :)

Scratching of my head a plenty I went to bed and awoke with a plan - aluminium angle !! EH !! The box had to be easy to build and as simple re cuts and fitting of edges as possible.

I downloaded the Lu070 data sheet and expanded the plans to individual images, copied them off and converted all the measurements into mm ( God I hate Imperial !) The result was a requirement for 3"x3" x1/8" angle.

Eventually got the order from Forward Metals ( No Min order and XLNT nxt day service )

The 1st pic shows the basic pieces, 2nd shows them cut & shaped and the last two show the almost finished case.

I still have the USB/power/LED holes to cut out and to finish the surfaces before anodising the pieces and assembly, pics to follow !

As for the cam- well what can one say but WOW!!

Simple to get going, went to the Lumenera W/Site and downloaded the "Industrial (USB & Ethernet)" driver v5.0.3.

Loaded that up, ran the s/ware then when all done stuck the cam on. Easy 2x step Wizard and Robert's your mum's brother !!

I have tried using K3Tools, Open Video Capture and the Lucam Recorder ( Casual Use) and all three worked really well and the test results really justified the relative expense and chance I took, the sensitivity of the chip is outstanding. Can I also say that I was pleasantly surprised at the ease of controlling the cam via K3Tools-has a very good control panel !!

I have since joined the Lucam Recorder Yahoo group in anticipation of possibly purchasing a Pro license, we'll see how I get on.

I took a test sequence at a variety of resolutions and happily recorded 1800 frames at full @60fps with a couple of dropped frames and even 115fps using binning ;)

Anyway that's enough for now- oh as for colour choice ummm

HA decided to go for Deep Purple :):), we'll see !!

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beamish

beamish

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Okay the latest progress report includes removal of the IR filter, bit scary cos I had to take off the top of the cam & I really would have preferred not to interfere with the gubbings- but it was easy enough :)

Access holes for the USB/power/led have been cut and the surfaces have been finished off as best as I can, a few marks from the extruding process still remain :D, hopefully these might disappear/be hidden by the surface treatment from the caustic soda prior to anodising on saturday.

Excuse the rubber bands, they are merely to hold the case in place until final assembly- but you get the picture ;)

Nose-piece kindly supplied at double quick speed from Aunty FLO. I also found this at Edmunds, XLNT, only 12.57mm !!!

Compact C-to-T Adapter - Edmund Optics

here are the stats

L x W x H

70mm x 56mm x 60mm

or in old money

2.75" x 2.20" x 2.36"

and weighs in at 320g, not bad! :) the SKYnyx is 300g and a bit bigger, but the finish, well I can't match that ;)

Next time we see it it'll be Purple !! I Hope :D

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beamish

beamish

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Well I've finally finished it :)

Sorry Rob it's not Deep Purple as I had hoped- more King Crimson !

Home anodising !! Appears straight fwd but beware, some real pitfalls !! It took me a fair few goes before I realised where I was going wrong, hence the change of colour :headbang:

Nevertheless, it's all together. The internal 12mm x 12mm IR cut filter was removed and replaced from above with a multi-coated clear 27mm filter (to keep the bunnies at bay).

Internally, thermal tape was used to help conduct the heat away to the case.

All I need now is the familiar clear night to First Light it !!

Q: Would I attempt anything like this again?

A: Yes -but it would need to be something pretty special to tempt me, so not in the foreseeable future :mad:

Anyways hope you like.

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beamish

beamish

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Well the cheapest I could find the SKYnyx/ Lu075 was $995 ( not incl shipping ) and whilst Edmunds (UK) had it reduced, was 618.00 GBP (not incl shipping), whilst the total cost of this was approx' 230.00GBP !!:)

15.00 for the ally ( enough for 2x in case of C**K ups) & 4.00 for the dye and 4.00 for the battery acid

BIG THANKS to Inapottingshed !!!!

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Psychobilly

Psychobilly

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Well the cheapest I could find the SKYnyx/ Lu075 was $995 ( not incl shipping ) and whilst Edmunds (UK) had it reduced, was 618.00 GBP (not incl shipping), whilst the total cost of this was approx' 230.00GBP !!:mad:

15.00 for the ally ( enough for 2x in case of C**K ups) & 4.00 for the dye and 4.00 for the battery acid

BIG THANKS to Inapottingshed !!!!

If you think the astro cams are expensive check out the "microscopy" ones based on the same board.... :)

£1696.70 + vat for the "Infinity 2-1C"

Peter...

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