20260428 Testing of FD 300mm f2.8, S30 at Leo Triplet

The setup got a lunar video early before sunset:

Started rather late at around 22:40.

The Canon FD 300mm f2.8 is pointing at M109 unguided at 60s exposure.  

This is a test on the latest adapter, hopefully solving most of the previous issues.  

Stars look quite nice.  Effective focal length was calculated to be 293mm (it was around 270mm formerly).  Another good indicator.  The adapter could be further enhance to ensure better squaring, and slightly shorter to provide full focus travel to the NGF-CM.

For some reason I switched to M51 later, again with 60s exposure.

Unprocessed stacked raw.

The S30 is pointing at the Leo triplet (M65, M66 and NGC 3628).

Will keep these for the rest of this session.

Final version of Canon FD 300mm f2.8L with NGF-CM

I reprinted the adapter with a longer nosepiece to avoid misalignment due to the setting screw hitting the grove.  This new one is printed using PETG with carbon fibre.  To do this, I have to use stainless steel nozzle but it's still difficult.  

The first one failed in the middle, since the supporting structure collapsed during the print:

It's so bad that I have to cancel the print, wasting quite a lot of filaments.

I did a atomic pull to clear up everything, slow down the print as advised by Gemini.  It did help but some of the supporting collapsed too:

Since I kept a close eye on the printing process (3.5 hr!), I am aware of the issue before it's too late.  Pausing the print and ask Gemini again, I trimmed the hairy part so that it won't hinder the nozzle movement.  But the lost of some supporting part will be a trap for closing the ceiling.  Gemini suggested to use masking tape to replace the lost support:

Gemini said it's valley of death!  I slowed down the printing of the ceiling to 40%, and it closes sucessfully.  The new adapter was printed nicely.

No more misalignemt issue with the longer nosepiece before the grove, another issue was found about squaring the focuser.  It could be adjusted by the fixing screws on the NGF-CM.

This is another hobby altogether.  I mean DIY of equipments.

Frustrating sometimes but lovely at the end.  I will test it out shortly.  Dark night is getting shorter and shorter.  

20260425 S30 + 300mm guided

Setup everthing before 10:00pm, I got around 30 minutes before sleeping.

I am still using the old PLA adapter, with minor adjustment.  The new PETG-CF was a failure during printing, some of the supports collapsed...

Aimming the Canon 300mm to M101, taking 180s exposures.  

Seems some major issue with that adapter.

Aimming the S30 to NGC 4631, taking 30s exposures, for 40 minutes.

Nice target.

20260424 Adapting the NGF-CM to 2", visual observation on the moon, messier marathon M92

This is the second adapter made for the NGF-CM, this is a 2" nosepiece to connect with my Meade 8" SCT as well as my 85mm refractor.  It can be used with any telescope with a 2" focuser if it could provide enough focus travel.  Since the NGF-CM is pretty low profile, so at least the above two will work without problem.

Pulling out my Meade SCT to test:

It's not yet dark, but observing the moon is no problem.

The collimation is dead-on this time, pushing to 250x with the SVBony 8-16mm at 8mm is great.  I missed the view of the moon at such high power for long.  Good thing is that, the SVBony is nearly parfocal with my Explore Scientific 30mm.

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Setup my S30 at around 10:05, pointing at M92, a globular cluster:

Around 30 minutes of exposure, dedicated this short session to this target.

JMI NGF-CM Renovation

It's always nice to give a new life to a long time trusted partner.  

My Tele Vue Ranger is a great example, and this is still my solar imaging workhorse.

Another project is my JMI NGF-CM.  I have owned a few JMI focusers, JMI NGF-S and JMI-CM with or without the digital readout.

I have replaced the focusing controller with a DIY USB rechargable controller box a few years ago.

This time, I even use a ZWO EAF with it.  It can be used with my Ranger, my Meade 8" SCT, my 85mm refractor and also even a Canon FD 300mm f2.8!  The switch could be done within seconds!

20260423 Solar Imaging

Didn't do solar imaging for quite long.

Just upgraded to a ASIAir Plus in order to do planet/solar imaging, so given the great sky today, why not?

I always love my nearly 30 years old Tele Vue Ranger, it has been given a new life with a JMI NGF-CM focuser, and better yet now with a ZWO EAF!  It keeps on evolving.  

I also got a solar finder for it, very effective indeed.

Centering the solar disc cannot be easier.

Despite seeing is no good, fine focusing with the EAF is lovely and accurate.

I took two videos with 1080 ROI, both hit the limit of 4G maximum file size in less than one minute.  Frame rate is good with this little box, I couldn't get too much more with my aging Windows laptop.

I am now stacking the videos by using the ASIAir Plus, seeing is less than optimal so why not do a simple processing from out of the box?  Stacking one video of 4G took more than nine minutes, not exactly fast but it might be faster than pulling out my Windows laptop.

Below is processed with a laptop, the ASIAIR version will be uploaded later.  I don't really have patience in this kind of seeing, so the exposure and mosaic was actually unusable.

Somehow I lost that image processed from out of the box with the ASIAIR Plus, anyway, my impression is that it's pretty nice.

Transforming the Canon FD 300mm f2.8L into a telegraph with autofocus via JMI NGF-CM plus a ZWO EAF

The first attempt does not work out well, since it's difficult to print the 77mm thread.  

I have tuned the printing parameters for several times but it didn't help much.

Therefore, I design another adapter from ground zero again.  I found the original 77mm ring for the FD mounting mechanism could be reused and here's the prototype:

Some fitting issues, and I did the fitting with a cutter.

It looks great, with the NGF-CM fitted.

The whole model was refined and printed again.  I will use black PETG in the final version and add felt lined black sticked inside.

Three generation of equipments combined: Canon FD lens, JMI focuser and ZWO EAF.

I am so excited, and I hope I can try it out soon.

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Prototypes

Those thinner rings were the attempts of printing 77mm threads.

The bigger blue adapter was the first prototype of the redesigned adapter without the need of 77mm threads.

Summary: 3D printing could not be too precise, they are plastic afterall.  Expansion and contraction, annealing is apparently an issue.  They are pretty strong but to maintain accurate precision and collimation, you will need to redesign the whole thing.  Don't even try to push its precision or strength, try to avoid these.

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20260409 Additional Notes

Set the limit of focuser travel of the NGF-CM with ZWO EAF in my ASIAir last night.

Set the focuser position to the middle of the travel.

Confirmed that it could reach infinity focus with ample of rooms for adjustment, even without touching the NGF-CM.  So autofocus should work, but to be verified with the stars.

Canon FD 300mm f2.8L second generation

With my new 3D printer, and the help of my daughter who is keen on making 3D models, this project is realised so quickly and it's a BIG success.

It was pessimistic about the thread (77mm 0.75 tpi) but it turns out to be nearly perfect.

It can reach infinity focus with some rooms.  So now this little lens could do autofocusing with asiair!

Aside from using an eyepiece, I also use 533mc pro to test.  It works without problem.

Other than the above adapter, I will be making two more:

a. 2" nosepiece in order to be used with my 85mm refractor for fine focusing

b. SCT female thread in order to be used with my SCT

I can then sell that CYCK focuser.

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I have removed the ebay ad of my Canon 300mm, will be keeping it and making good use of it.

I have ordered black PETG carbon fibre filaments to print a strong adapter.  My daughter has modified the adapter to have more threads on more secure connection to the lens.

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Later I found that the thread is less than perfect so that it's not screwed all the way in and thus leaving the gap.  It is probably not strong enough.  But the good news is that, if the quality of the thread improves, I will get even more room for focusing.

Time to do some fine tuning.

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I have printed a new version with PETG, stronger apparantly.  But yet, the thread is less than perfect.  I will need to do some more experiments.  

I have printed another ring only to save filament and time.  But then it still less than perfection.  

Mini Observatory Project based on SeeStar S30

A small garden storage box will be used with the following dimension:

56cm * 41cm base and it is 50cm tall.

A rigid solar panel will be placed on top of it, with the following dimension:

101cm * 46cm.

It will be used to charge an old car battery.  

The battery will make the whole thing more stable, and will not be blown away easily by wind.  The SeeStar S30 will be placed on top of the battery, making it close to the cover for unblocked view.

The battery will be providing power to the SeeStar S30, as well as some minimum lighting and maybe a small ventilation fan to keep moisture out.

Will try to add mechanism to close automatically when rain is detected.  

Automatic openning is optional.

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20260319 Update

The storage box arrived and it's of good size.  

Strong and waterproof enough as it looks.

The solar panel is probably too big and heavy, I will need to find something else.

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20260320 Update

Maybe the new solar panel should be placed on top of the storage shed, the exisitng flexible panel should be moved in the front.  This combination should provide far more than enough power except winter.  I shall then use the power station more now, maybe find a way to mount a powerful kitchen ceiling lamp to save energy in the long run.

My LiFePO4 will be charged via the power station.

The older flexible panels will be installed on top of the mini-observatory, to charge a car battery continuously.   This battery will be used for charging up powerbank for the S30, as well as to power fan and some backyard light?  

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Solar panel installed:

Drill another hole on the side to let the wire goes inside:

Placed the battery and solar controller inside, need to find a way to "fix" it in a better location.  

Door closed, looked quite nice!

These two panels are relatively old.  One of them were damaged partially and the power output is reduced.  Anyway, just collect as much as sunshine as it could.  I have power banks which could be charged fully by the power station easily.

Need to find way to mount the new solar panel on top of the storage shed.

Collimation Screws for Meade 8" SCT

In order to facilitate collimation, I have bought a set of thumb screws to replace the existing collimation screws.

And to my surprise, the original screws were so short:

I wonder if they won't work when I placed them side-by-side.

AI suggests even longer length, but I have no choice but to buy these to test.

Buying Bob's Knobs will be several times of the cost, so it's nice to explore, trial and errors.

I have used Bob's Knobs maybe like 20 years ago when money was not matter, so I know how to replace them.  In short, I replace them one by one:

It's a good fit.  Despite the new screw is longer than the original.  On removing the "original" screws, I found that it was feeling loose, I began to think they were not original?  Or they were somehow abused before?  And that also explains why I never attained good collimation with them?

Guess what, the new screw has a good range for adjustment.  

They are not without problem, I want a bigger "handle" and the downside was that, the front cover could no longer be fitted on!

Finally, I used some distant tree to briefly collimate the scope.  The forecast said clear skies tomorrow night.  

Making my iOptron more table

I have a permanent pier setup, but it was not made for the iOptron. 

A small adapter is required but it becomes the weakest link.

The problem is the stub but since it was made by aluminium so I guess it could be removed.  I took the plunge to do it this morning, it's not difficult.

I was tempted to buy another better adapter so that I don't have to do this irreversible change, but then there is no guarantee that it would fit.  And I hate to spend money, especially when it might not even work.

This is now a perfect fit!

20230525 H-alpha, Coronado BF10 fixed!

1229 (GMT+1), exposure pushed up to show prominences better, taken with 2x barlows:- 

1226 (GMT+1), AR3310 taken with 2x Barlows:-

1223 (GMT+1), taken with reducer, slightly drifting to allow full disc after stacking:-

1122 (GMT+1), taken with reducer:

I'm glad to announce that my BF10 was repaired successfully!

In business again!

Repairing my BF10

Sent an email to Meade and their response has been quick!  As expected, I will need to send my BF10 to the USA back and forth to get it fixed by them, the cost is not too high but worldwide shipping twice would be both expensive and risky.

Scanning around the web, and found some other possible solutions.  Better yet, they might offer better solution than Meade, which will get rust over time again.

Send an email to https://beloptik.de/, got a slow but positive response.  The cost is slightly lower, and I don't have to send my BF10 there.  That possibly account for the price difference, since I'll have to replace that ITF myself.  But it seems not too hard.

Good me luck, I really want to resume H-alpha imaging.

18th of March, second real trial on the Sun

 

I couldn't really tune the T-max and Richfield due to the limitation of the DIY notebook screen shade.

I just tilted the T-max according to my memory, and Richfield on its two ends.  I shall find better way for image capturing.  

Maybe I shall set the tripod lower, sit on the ground, and make a bigger notebook screen shade.

Chuwi Lapbook 14.1

I've a cheap Chuwi Lapbook 14.1 laying around and it could be used for astronomy purpose.  The first thing I will need to do, is to expand its storage, so that it could store more images or even video from Sharpcap.  This is only possible with the earliest version of the model which comes with a m.2 slot, later versions have it removed silently.  On simple disassembly, I found that I am lucky enough to have the original version!

I got a really cheap one from taobao, and it has 128G in size, which is about right in terms of price and size!  It makes no sense to buy something expensive for a cheap notebook!  128G will triple the original size!  This SSD has a form factor of 2242, but it also comes with two detachable parts for better compatibility with bigger form factors.

Windows managed to detect the SSD without problem, and after simple partitioning and formatting, it's ready for use.

A quick speed test was conducted in Sharpcap, it's way faster than the original internal SanDisk eMMC!

In addition to my Voyo, this Chuwi could be used as well.  I suspect it will yield higher fps than the Voyo which features a faster CPU.

20181129-1130 Modified Canon 450D first light (Camping in Chek King)

I went for a camping trip and astrophotography was only a very small part, so I used a mini-tripod with a small ball head only, and I only had my Canon 50mm f1.8 with the modified 450D.

To keep the story short, I found that the 50mm f1.8 could no longer reach infinity focus when the IR filter is removed!  The 50mm f1.8 has very limited focus travel, and this is the problem.  Notice that it's not autofocus that fails, this is anticipated due to the change of the optical path length.

It's one of the best night for the last decade, luckily I've my Canon 10x30 IS with me and I enjoyed tremendously!

Sirius with M41, I love to catch the view when it's still low in the sky, the tree as foreground is very nice!

M31 at the corner.

M45 hanging just above the trees.

The Orion and M42 just went above the tree!  Note that red color on M42, it used to be purple before.

Later I found that if I insert a CLS filter between the lens and the camera, it will reach infinity focus again!  Next time I shall try this one combination out.

For wide field, maybe my Canon 70D is better due to the movable LCD, composition should be far easier.  The modified 450D might be better for targets richer in H-alpha.