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  #301  
Old 08-01-2024, 01:49 PM
Stefan Buda
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A very rainy day in Melbourne is a good time for an update on the CDK250.

The design and the manufacturing processes of the OTA have now fully matured. If you look at the advertisement column on IIS you will see a paid ad that takes you to my website. Not sure how long I will keep running the ad because the cost will have to reflect in the price of the OTA and I'm trying to keep that as low as possible.

The main development is the fact that I can now anneal the glass blanks "in house". There was a bit of a learning curve involved but I'm quite happy with the results. So serial number 004, recently finished, uses annealed Borofloat 33 glass for the mirrors.

Another development is that two different users have now validated the design for full frame sensor use. Something that I could not do because I only have APS-C sensor cameras.

There was also a cosmetic improvement with the logo. Before I used a 3D printed stencil for applying the logo to the carbon tube, before the final polyurethane coat, and that was very limiting regarding the choice of fonts.

The spider vanes are now made from 4 layers of unidirectional carbon fiber and no 3D printed component used, like in the case of the prototype, as seen in this thread.

The spider hub now contains only a small PCB with connectors that join the ribbon cable with the secondary heater and the secondary thermal sensor.

The firmware for the thermal controller has been fine tuned and improved. The older firmware did not capture all the, occasional, bad readings caused by fan generated electrical noise, when reading the 3 thermal sensors.
Although the thermal controller works in stand alone mode, there is another thermal sensor associated with the EAF that can be accessed remotely for those that want to keep a record of the thermal conditions throughout the night, or day.

Thanks for looking.
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  #302  
Old 09-01-2024, 12:05 PM
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marc4darkskies (Marcus)
Billions and Billions ...

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So impressed with this Stefan!! And of course it's wonderful to see Aussie made equipment at a such good price point! Your test images look great too.
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  #303  
Old 09-01-2024, 02:58 PM
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AstroViking (Steve)
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That scope is a work of art.
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  #304  
Old 09-01-2024, 03:43 PM
Dave882 (David)
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That’s just stunning. I’m so impressed.
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  #305  
Old 09-01-2024, 08:33 PM
Stefan Buda
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Thanks, guys, for the nice words, I apreciate it.

Marcus, the price on the website is quite old and unfortunately will have to be adjusted upwards in the near future to take into account CPI reality.
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  #306  
Old 10-01-2024, 10:37 AM
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Atmos (Colin)
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I've been using SN002 for a while and really enjoying imaging with it. My only complaint would be that it's not larger as a 12" would fit really nicely on my mount

This is a full frame native resolution with 5 hours of Ha taken during a full moon from my Bortle 7 backyard. One random sample frame had a FWHM of 1.5" but the imaging run varied between 1.2-2.2" for the night.
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  #307  
Old 10-01-2024, 12:43 PM
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strongmanmike (Michael)
Highest Observatory in Oz

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Gee, beautiful looking bit of kit! Who wouldn't want one?!


Quote:
Originally Posted by marc4darkskies View Post
So impressed with this Stefan!! And of course it's wonderful to see Aussie made equipment at a such good price point! Your test images look great too.
Bah, you just like the Italian colour scheme, huh Marcus?

Mike
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  #308  
Old 10-01-2024, 07:47 PM
Stefan Buda
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Atmos View Post
I've been using SN002 for a while and really enjoying imaging with it. My only complaint would be that it's not larger as a 12" would fit really nicely on my mount

This is a full frame native resolution with 5 hours of Ha taken during a full moon from my Bortle 7 backyard. One random sample frame had a FWHM of 1.5" but the imaging run varied between 1.2-2.2" for the night.
Nice to see the design expectations realized.
Unfortunately my equipment limits me to a 10" aperture. I make optics up to 16" diameter but the mechanical parts are the problem. Also my vacuum chamber is limited to 10" diameter max.

Quote:
Originally Posted by strongmanmike View Post
Gee, beautiful looking bit of kit! Who wouldn't want one?!

Mike
The problem seems to be that after the Covid years people are spending their expendable money on travel rather than astro gear so I don't have high expectations regarding sales.
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