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  #121  
Old 28-02-2019, 01:23 PM
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RB (Andrew)
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Might start doing solar imaging like Mark.
Kill two birds with the one stone.

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  #122  
Old 28-02-2019, 05:07 PM
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The UV lights as RB use must work as the construction industry also uses them to kill bugs in ear muff storage lockers as well.
On 24/7 days a week!
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  #123  
Old 28-02-2019, 05:32 PM
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I hear ya Darren.

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  #124  
Old 28-02-2019, 08:12 PM
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Might start doing solar imaging like Mark.
No mould
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  #125  
Old 01-03-2019, 06:04 PM
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Speaking of mold on a lens, I'm wondering how effective is exposing a refractor to indirect sunlight.

From a quick search on the web, it seems that UV-C is the most effective in eliminating mold and mold spores. Since UV-C is within 100-280nm range, hardly any UV-C will pass though a triplet's lens cell. For example, 10mm of FPL-53 allows only 4% of light with 280nm wavelength to pass though, and it seems than anything shorter than 280nm is fully absorbed by only 10mm of this type of glass. Therefore some mold growing at the back of the lens, or even in between glass elements (unless we deal with an oil-spaced lens) will probably survive such sunbath. Or is there an error in my reasoning?

Here in NQ we probably have some of the most humid conditions in Australia (with the exception of Darwin), and so far keeping about 0.5kg of desiccant in the telescope's case and recharging every 2 or so months have kept mold at bay during the wet season when the telescope is not being used. I may invest in a cabinet dehumidifier one day.
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  #126  
Old 07-03-2019, 09:53 PM
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strongmanmike (Michael)
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Picked up and put in place, the shortened and modified pier, all ready to take the AP1600GTO.

I also had some gym weight plates modified to fit the AP counterweight shaft, complete with custom brass locking mechanisms.

...getting there...

Mike
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Last edited by strongmanmike; 07-03-2019 at 10:06 PM.
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  #127  
Old 08-03-2019, 07:49 AM
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A neat way to save a couple of hundred $ with custom counterweights

The launching of newly equipped observatory must be just around the corner
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  #128  
Old 08-03-2019, 07:55 AM
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Atmos (Colin)
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It just wouldn't be a Strongman setup without weights
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  #129  
Old 08-03-2019, 09:58 AM
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But the AP weights are so shiny
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  #130  
Old 08-03-2019, 03:02 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by strongmanmike View Post
Picked up and put in place, the shortened and modified pier, all ready to take the AP1600GTO.

I also had some gym weight plates modified to fit the AP counterweight shaft, complete with custom brass locking mechanisms.

...getting there...

Mike
So the new mount goes in your obs and you keep the NJP/Starfire for the field?
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  #131  
Old 08-03-2019, 05:35 PM
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strongmanmike (Michael)
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Thanks guys yes Marc, gunna refurb the NJP mount next (re grease etc)..

In the meantime, spent today connecting, adjusting and cleaning everything ready to mount in the observatory in the next couple'a days

After 5 years the primary mirror was definitely due a clean, as was the front lens of the Wynn corrector but the secondary mirror was clean enough, so I left it

I pulled all the imaging rigs, cameras, filter wheels etc. apart and cleaned and dusted and reassembled, reset back focuses... finally found a nice somewhat stubborn dust speck on the SXV CCD chamber window that had been plaguing my images and wreaking havoc with my flats for the last couple'a years ...after some careful rubbing with a cotton bud ..it is now GONE!!!! ...how it got there and stuck so fast, I have no idea..???

Should get it all mounted and polar aligned in the next few days ...that was all pretty hard work actually...time for a

Mike
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  #132  
Old 10-03-2019, 06:26 PM
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strongmanmike (Michael)
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Taaa daaaa! captured the whole journey today, from apartment to dark sky site setup and balancing I thought long and hard about routing the cables through the mount during setup but for ease of rectification and changing cables etc I decided not to at this stage ...once it is all up and working 100% I may reconsider and redo..?

Tomorrow will be electronic commissioning/sussing out operations and testing, then hopefully polar alignment and again hopefully...FIRST LIGHT soon after that

Mike
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Last edited by strongmanmike; 10-03-2019 at 09:27 PM.
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  #133  
Old 10-03-2019, 06:39 PM
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It's awesome that everything is finally coming nicely together. I can see your mount already gathered a bit of dust from waiting...but that is irrelevant anymore - looks like the mount is a very nice match to the 12" + 4"

Good luck tomorrow Mike and we look forward to admiring the results of the first light
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  #134  
Old 10-03-2019, 10:17 PM
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strongmanmike (Michael)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Slawomir View Post
It's awesome that everything is finally coming nicely together. I can see your mount already gathered a bit of dust from waiting...but that is irrelevant anymore - looks like the mount is a very nice match to the 12" + 4"

Good luck tomorrow Mike and we look forward to admiring the results of the first light
Yeah, we have a bit of construction going on around us, apartment buildings, light rail etc...so the dust levels in the fringe CBD area are a little greater than usual ...I dusted it last thing before leaving the observatory

I think the last photo of the assembled rig shows the bulk of the mount nicely and when you see it in person it is obvious why, if it had to, it can go up to a 20" RC.

Collimation of the Newt and cable routing tomorrow

Mike
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  #135  
Old 11-03-2019, 05:49 PM
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Originally Posted by strongmanmike View Post
Yeah, we have a bit of construction going on around us, apartment buildings, light rail etc...so the dust levels in the fringe CBD area are a little greater than usual ...I dusted it last thing before leaving the observatory

I think the last photo of the assembled rig shows the bulk of the mount nicely and when you see it in person it is obvious why, if it had to, it can go up to a 20" RC.

Collimation of the Newt and cable routing tomorrow

Mike
Yes I think it could handle a 20 inch RC. It throws my CDK17 around like its an FSQ.

Greg.
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  #136  
Old 11-03-2019, 06:12 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by strongmanmike View Post
I think the last photo of the assembled rig shows the bulk of the mount nicely and when you see it in person it is obvious why, if it had to, it can go up to a 20" RC.
I can clearly see that the idea of upgrading 12" Newtonian to a 20" RC has already firmly established itself in the subconscious part of the psyche
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  #137  
Old 11-03-2019, 07:09 PM
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strongmanmike (Michael)
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I can clearly see that the idea of upgrading 12" Newtonian to a 20" RC has already firmly established itself in the subconscious part of the psyche
Ha ha ha They're on to me

Mind you, I don't think the 2.3m Sirius dome would go anywhere near fitting a 20" in it, today I realised there are a couple of spots around the dome that the FLI filter wheel cables, right up on top of the scope, juuust scrape the dome perimeter ...who would'a thought.....plus, at times, it is clear that I will have to duck under the counterweight shaft, and/or scope, in the dark now, rather than shuffled around it..(or lose lots of weight )

Mike
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  #138  
Old 27-03-2019, 10:04 AM
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strongmanmike (Michael)
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Fiiiinally got out last night to test the new rig properly

After an hours delay because nothing would turn on and eventually discovering that my extension cord had failed (I mean what are the chances??) and after scampering back and forth in the dark through my hosts garage 120m away and an aborted replacement turned out to be a 15amp cord .... I finally found a crappy looking daisy chained cable in their garage that would reach from my shed to the observatory......and plugged all the routed cables in..here we go..

After polar aligning using the neat new AP right angle polar scope (while comfortably seated! yaay!) and simply using my knowledge of the location of the SCP... I got both camera systems up and running and apart from verifying all my cabling was correct and both cameras and guiders were back online, I was fiiiinally able to test the tracking and guiding quality and dithering and general mount responsiveness.

Coming from the amazing NJP I wasn't expecting any ground breaking improvements. I am happy to say though that while the the basic sidereal tracking quality was similar, the responsiveness of the big AP1600 is markedly better, dither moves of 3 pixels between subs took generally around 10sec or so to recentre and start, previously the NJP would take up to 30 or 40sec or sometime more to get back on target

I centered a focus star near the zenith just east of the meridian, through the AG12, on a retical and watched, it took about 10min to move off the crosshairs, so the PA scope and my knowledge of the SCP location, works pretty well Any periodic error was not decernable above last nights seeing (which was not very good)

The collimation of the AG12 (using CATSEYE tools) was good and after its trip back to FLI for a clean room service, the big 16803 chip was now clean and free of the previous, small amount but annoying icing in one corner.

Unfortunately I am having issues with getting gotos to work properly...clearly I have not setup some parameters properly but it was approaching 2am so I decided to pack up and work this out another night...

All in all happy that the main use of this system ie imaging, will be of high quality

Mike

Last edited by strongmanmike; 27-03-2019 at 10:38 AM.
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  #139  
Old 27-03-2019, 11:31 AM
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Marke (Mark)
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Mike regarding goto if initializing with hand controller plugged in check your time setting in both controller and pc are the same.
Other tip is send it to home 4 position and use a spirit lvl to check both axis are spot on level as well. After that I do a goto then plate sovle and Recal/Sync
and good to go.

Last edited by Marke; 27-03-2019 at 11:44 AM.
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  #140  
Old 27-03-2019, 01:11 PM
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strongmanmike (Michael)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Marke View Post
Mike regarding goto if initializing with hand controller plugged in check your time setting in both controller and pc are the same.
Other tip is send it to home 4 position and use a spirit lvl to check both axis are spot on level as well. After that I do a goto then plate sovle and Recal/Sync
and good to go.
Actually I am only using the handbox at the moment , I think I will need to start an initialisation from scratch I tried adjusting the time from 12hr clock to 24hr time and I have the time zone offset at 10hrs and daylight savings..? after that I couldn't even move the mount..?

Mike
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