Author Archives: james

Very little helps

Posted on September 4, 2018 by james

Recently we have received a number of 10p/litre off fuel discount vouchers with our Tesco shopping delivery. My wife attempted to use one when she was in Taunton today, only to be told that the petrol stations at Tesco in … Continue reading →

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Seven years of solar PV

Posted on September 3, 2018 by james

Seven years ago I blogged about us having a 3.64kW solar PV system installed on our roof. I thought it was about time I went through the figures to see how it has performed from the figures I submit each … Continue reading →

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3d printing project for this weekend

Posted on September 2, 2018 by james

My 3D printer kit came with a PSU, power connector socket and power switch, but there’s nowhere on the frame to attach them even if I wanted to and nothing else is provided to stop you getting a “tingly finger … Continue reading →

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DeWalt D28710 first impressions

Posted on September 2, 2018 by james

Having just posted that I cut up a pile of steel tube today I realised that I’ve not said anything about the saw itself. It’s a DeWalt D28710 that I purchased specifically for my observatory project though it will see … Continue reading →

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Building an observatory. Construction #14

Posted on September 2, 2018 by james

The steel for my rolling roof finally arrived this week: sixteen three metre lengths of 25mm square section tube with a 2.5mm wall. The wait has allowed me to change the roof design several times 😀 This morning I wrote … Continue reading →

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A new mount clutch lever

Posted on September 2, 2018 by james

On my EQ3-2 mount I wanted to mess around with the shape of the DEC clutch lever a little to give more clearance for hardware on the mount. I don’t want to damage the supplied (metal) lever however, so I … Continue reading →

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My first 3d-printed object revisited

Posted on September 2, 2018 by james

When it came to assembling the case I’d printed it became obvious that the pillars supporting the circuit board really weren’t strong enough to withstand cables being inserted into and removed from the sockets on board the PCB. I decided … Continue reading →

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3D printer filament spool holder

Posted on August 29, 2018 by james

I decided at the weekend that I should have a proper support for the filament spool for the printer that would allow the filament to be pulled into the extruder without needing to negotiate any bends. The printer came with … Continue reading →

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Printing my first self-designed object

Posted on August 29, 2018 by james

It’s probably been time to bite the bullet for a while, so I finally decided to get on with designing something of my own to print out on the 3d printer. This is actually a case for the PCB of … Continue reading →

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Building an observatory: new toys

Posted on August 29, 2018 by james

As the frame for the sliding roof of my observatory is going to be welded up from mild steel I decided I’d take advantage of an offer from one of the online tool vendors to buy a cut-off saw at … Continue reading →

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