Author Archive.

Fitness Footwear

Posted by on July 12th 2010 in Blog on Site, Shiny new kit

At the back-end of 2009 Adam Smith, Marketing Specialist at Fitness Footwear Ltd., contacted me about reviewing some of his wares in return for some web-exposure for his company. At that time he was offering TNF footwear on a review-and-keep basis but I had to decline as I don't have TNF-shaped feet. Nevertheless I put him in touch with a few other bloggers from my vast blogroll in the hope that they could share in this mutually-beneficial enterprise. Some of them accepted his offer which resulted in the following reviews:

Well, Adam must have been happy with what he'd got out of the deal, as he's been contacting previous reviewers to offer them the chance to review some more goodies as part of his current promotion of Merrell Footwear. Indeed, he asked me for links to even more potential reviewers for his next promo, so I contacted some more folk in order to send him another list of bloggers who have expressed an interest. Please don't be offended if you've not been contacted by me regarding this opportunity - I had over a hundred potential candidates and there was no way that I was going to submit details for all of them. I'm sure that you'll understand my predicament.

Anyway, this time around we've decided to chip in with the review process. We'll be posting about it sometime soon.

Package 1

Posted by on July 11th 2010 in Astrostuff, Making stuff
Tags: ,

You'll recall that during my previous observing session the link between my focuser and my SkyWatcher Auto-Focuser stepper-motor broke. Here's a pic showing the setup, the link is the 2-part ally gubbins that links the drive-shaft of the stepper-motor (on the right) to the shaft of the focus-adjuster (on the left):

Here is a couple of shots of the offending article:

It works in a peculiar way... the small end is attached good and proper to the shaft of the focus-adjuster by means of a grub-screw that clamps onto a flat on the shaft. No problems there. The attachment to the drive-shaft of the motor, however, is rather odd. It works by friction, using an internal O-ring that is compressed around the shaft by screwing together the two parts of the link. It doesn't like changes in temperature (too warm and the O-ring deforms and spins, too cold and it contracts and doesn't grip tightly. Oh, and there's always some flex and hence backlash due to the "flexible" nature of the O-ring/shaft connection. It was destined to fail, and indeed did so.

So, a better-engineered solution was required. Something so simple that a child could use it.

Step forward Package 1. This contained a good-old-fashioned Meccano 4-hole brass coupling:

As supplied, the fit to the focus-adjuster shaft was perfect. The motor drive-shaft, however, has a larger diameter, so I had to run a drill-bit half-way down the coupling to open it up a tad. From then on, fitting it was child's play, using proper screws to attach to the flats on both shafts.

Now it's a good and solid link, just as it should be, with no chance of slippage and no backlash due to the motor torquing itself against any resistance from the focuser.

In short, it's a proper job:

There must be a proper word for it…

Posted by on July 8th 2010 in Shiny new kit

... that feeling of expectation when you know that there are goodie-filled parcels inbound.

:mrgreen:   :mrgreen:   :mrgreen:

Stay tuned for updates as and when...

Observing Report 5th-6th July 2010 (A breakdown on the M15)

Posted by on July 7th 2010 in Astrostuff, Observing Reports, Pics
Tags: , ,

I got out to my obsy again last night, hoping to get some decent views during the prolonged gaps between regular bands of cloud. Surprisingly, the seeing was quite good considering the day had been hot and the night was still warm. I managed to get some dSLR pics of some Messier objects before the link between my focuser and its motor broke. The breakage meant that I didn't get any dark or flat frames as I was too busy trying (in vain) to cobble together a quick and temporary fix. Nevertheless, I've managed to process out most of the usual spoilers and end up with a reasonable image of M15 (aka NGC 7078), a globular cluster in the constellation Pegasus:

M15 (aka NGC 7078), a globular cluster in the constellation Pegasus.
Subs: 30 light @ 60s, no darks, no flats, ISO200.
D50 and MPCC on the C8N, guided with PHD.

 As previous but with added spikes


The rest of the pics weren't any use so I've chucked them. Besides, I've no time to faff with them anyway - tomorrow I have a focuser to fix.

Oddments

Posted by on July 3rd 2010 in Blog on Site

I thought I'd share a few bits that I found on the interwebnet yesterday:

How To Ask Questions The Smart Way. Forget the subject matter and consider the underlying principle. This should be mandatory reading for the clueless.

A brilliant disclaimer. Scroll down to and read the red text.

CRKT Eat'N Tool. Only $6.99 for a spork, bottle opener, screwdriver/pry tip, metric wrenches and carabiner multi-tool. Looks like a bargain cool gadget but check out the shipping costs... a shade under $30 to have one 1.5oz item shipped to the UK? No thanks.

The longest day at Croft Hill

Posted by on June 25th 2010 in Celebrations, Great Escapes, Pics
Tags: ,

To mark the longest day and the nth anniversary of our engagement we spent a few hours at the Croft Hill SSSI.

It's an odd place - the trig-column on the top of the hill is only 128m above sea level, the surrounding land is undeniably flat, and literally within a stone's throw of the top is Croft Quarry, claimed to be the largest man-made hole in Europe. Have a click on this pic and you might see what I mean:

 

Panorama from the top of Croft Hill

 

Just in case you didn't get a feel for the scale of the place from that, here are two more pics that should clarify the matter:

 

The hill


The hole

 

Impressive, eh?

Of course, it's not all about humps and hollows. There's plenty of flora and fauna to see, and a few other odd things too. Photographer and fellow blogger Colin Griffiths visits regularly and he takes some cracking pics of the place.

32 pics, click any of the above to view the lot.

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