When I came back from GSSP, I had a small list of things that needed to be addressed:
1. Flaring was an issue on some of the digital shots. I believe that this returned because of the failure of one of the pieces of flocking material. This same flocking paper had fallen onto the shutter mechanism of the DSLR and caused it to die.
To solve the flaring problem, I wanted to try painting some of the shiny parts with flat black paint. The spray paint I'd used on the plastic garage sale signs to make extra long hoods seemed to be flat enough and did a nice job of sticking to plastic. I sprayed the inside surface of the Kmount/T ring adapter. I also sprayed a bit of paint into a makeshift palette of aluminum foil and used a small brush to carefully paint the anodized metal of the SSF6 flattener. Lastly, I touched up the inside rim of the Kmount flange to hide any shiny metal.
2. Because of the dead shutter on the DSLR, I wanted to fix the mirror in a locked-up position as well. The intent was to reduce the possibility of dust movement during flats and other images.
While I had the camera off the scope, I hot glued the mirror up. I also noticed the bumpers that the mirror rests upon may cause issues with either flats or possible diffraction. If I see more evidence, I may melt off these bumps with a hot screwdriver.
3. Lastly, during GSSP, there were some strange issues with COM ports not triggering the end of a shot sequence. Thus, I had to test whether it was a cable or port issue.
I tested a different camera and showed that there was no problem with a short cable. Then I used the long cables and saw no problems. Lastly, I added the imaging camera and saw that everything just worked. Not sure what was the cause of the original problem. It may come back at MBOSP.
To do:
1. Paint the inside of the Feathertouch focuser. Will require removing the focuser from the scope and reattaching, possibly collimation issues.
2. Replace a peltier device with one with more capacity. Requires partial disassembly of the cooling system to put it into the stack, plus additional darks for comparison.
3. Get heavy, short extension cords for power management; 10 gauge is ideal.
4. Recharge dessicant and clean optics as needed.
New procedure to add to my normal work:
1. During setup, I noticed that the Garmin GPS puck for the Gemini 2 is highly magnetic. The idea is that it would be able to be stuck to a metal plate for use - usually a car roof. However, this is probably what is throwing off the compass readings, making it difficult to properly set up for north. I want to find a way to affix this GPS device in such a way that it does not impede with finding magnetic north.
2. While at GSSP, I borrowed a neighbor's thermometer - the kind where you point a red laser dot at a subject and get a reading. The question that I had at the time was how much heat was leaking into/from the DSLR during cooling. I'd always considered that the dovetail connection was acting like a heatsink and was bringing heat into the system, robbing effective cooling. During GSSP, I found that the camera body did show a consistent temperature and that the dovetail was cooler, but not any cooler than the rest of the telescope.
The interesting thing to learn was that this device gives a specific reading on the telescope body. Thus, I can start to figure out what the best setting and location for dew heater straps will be, plus understand when temperature shifts occur, letting me know when a need to refocus would be.
No pictures for all these steps, just text.
1. Flaring was an issue on some of the digital shots. I believe that this returned because of the failure of one of the pieces of flocking material. This same flocking paper had fallen onto the shutter mechanism of the DSLR and caused it to die.
To solve the flaring problem, I wanted to try painting some of the shiny parts with flat black paint. The spray paint I'd used on the plastic garage sale signs to make extra long hoods seemed to be flat enough and did a nice job of sticking to plastic. I sprayed the inside surface of the Kmount/T ring adapter. I also sprayed a bit of paint into a makeshift palette of aluminum foil and used a small brush to carefully paint the anodized metal of the SSF6 flattener. Lastly, I touched up the inside rim of the Kmount flange to hide any shiny metal.
2. Because of the dead shutter on the DSLR, I wanted to fix the mirror in a locked-up position as well. The intent was to reduce the possibility of dust movement during flats and other images.
While I had the camera off the scope, I hot glued the mirror up. I also noticed the bumpers that the mirror rests upon may cause issues with either flats or possible diffraction. If I see more evidence, I may melt off these bumps with a hot screwdriver.
3. Lastly, during GSSP, there were some strange issues with COM ports not triggering the end of a shot sequence. Thus, I had to test whether it was a cable or port issue.
I tested a different camera and showed that there was no problem with a short cable. Then I used the long cables and saw no problems. Lastly, I added the imaging camera and saw that everything just worked. Not sure what was the cause of the original problem. It may come back at MBOSP.
To do:
1. Paint the inside of the Feathertouch focuser. Will require removing the focuser from the scope and reattaching, possibly collimation issues.
2. Replace a peltier device with one with more capacity. Requires partial disassembly of the cooling system to put it into the stack, plus additional darks for comparison.
3. Get heavy, short extension cords for power management; 10 gauge is ideal.
4. Recharge dessicant and clean optics as needed.
New procedure to add to my normal work:
1. During setup, I noticed that the Garmin GPS puck for the Gemini 2 is highly magnetic. The idea is that it would be able to be stuck to a metal plate for use - usually a car roof. However, this is probably what is throwing off the compass readings, making it difficult to properly set up for north. I want to find a way to affix this GPS device in such a way that it does not impede with finding magnetic north.
2. While at GSSP, I borrowed a neighbor's thermometer - the kind where you point a red laser dot at a subject and get a reading. The question that I had at the time was how much heat was leaking into/from the DSLR during cooling. I'd always considered that the dovetail connection was acting like a heatsink and was bringing heat into the system, robbing effective cooling. During GSSP, I found that the camera body did show a consistent temperature and that the dovetail was cooler, but not any cooler than the rest of the telescope.
The interesting thing to learn was that this device gives a specific reading on the telescope body. Thus, I can start to figure out what the best setting and location for dew heater straps will be, plus understand when temperature shifts occur, letting me know when a need to refocus would be.
No pictures for all these steps, just text.
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