Category Archives: Projects

Astro EQ conversion of EQ3-2

Posted on August 27, 2014 by james

I decided today that it’s about time I extracted a digit and got on with converting my old EQ3-2 “Sky Scan 2001” mount to GOTO using Tom Carpenter’s rather nice AstroEQ box. Although I already have the aftermarket motors fitted, … Continue reading →

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Swimming pool solar heating system

Posted on August 24, 2014 by james

When we bought our current house quite some years ago, it had a reasonable size “in ground” swimming pool that was suffering a bit from lack of maintenance.  The re-made ground around the pool had settled over the years and … Continue reading →

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Another possible PST mod

Posted on August 14, 2014 by james

My PST has been repeatedly modded and now looks like this: (though now with the addition of a motor to the focuser.) I have been pondering of late however on the amount of vignetting that occurs when imaging and what … Continue reading →

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AZ3 mount saddle and counterweight mod

Posted on August 14, 2014 by james

There are a couple of things about my AZ3 that I’ve never been happy with. The first is that it has fittings for scope rings rather than a saddle for a dovetail which is a pain if you want to … Continue reading →

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Revelation/Skywatcher SCT dual speed R&P focuser motor drive conversion

Posted on August 13, 2014 by james

Part of the reason for modding the Skywatcher motor drive kit to fit my Revelation dual speed crayford that I’d previously modded to fit my PST was as a trial run for doing a similar mod to the Revelation dual … Continue reading →

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Revelation/Skywatcher SCT dual speed focuser motor drive conversion

Posted on August 13, 2014 by james

Last year I modded my PST, replacing the “black box” with a slightly modded Revelation dual-speed Crayford that was originally intended for SCTs. I’ve been meaning to do a motor drive conversion for some time and had bought a second-hand … Continue reading →

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DIY dew controller

Posted on August 13, 2014 by james

I can’t take credit for this idea.  I had to bite the bullet and sort out some dew control stuff because my C9.25 dews up even if there’s a forecast for a clear sky.  A few people have mentioned making … Continue reading →

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Time for a new white light solar filter

Posted on August 13, 2014 by james

I’ve had a white light solar filter made from Baader ND5.0 film (two, in fact) for several years and one of them was starting to look rather tatty so I decided it was time to make another.  Baader’s instructions suggest … Continue reading →

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Collecting meteorites from rainwater

Posted on August 13, 2014 by james

Allegedly it is possible to collect tiny fragments of meteorites from rainwater.  The story goes that they can drift in the atmosphere until they get caught in the rain and end up falling to the ground.  By trapping the flow … Continue reading →

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PST imaging adaptor

Posted on October 15, 2013 by james

To avoid the use of a diagonal I turned up an adaptor from a piece of aluminium that takes the PST eyepiece unit and allows a camera to reach focus without a diagonal, so there’s nothing else in the light … Continue reading →

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