Just back from the autumn star party at Kelling Heath. 4 nights out of 7 were at least partly clear - a couple really good. Considering its October in the UK that is quite remarkable.
10 days before going, I decided to rebuild the base of my 18” scope using the new harmonic strain wave gearboxes on the stepper drives. I also tidied up the build making use of my 3d printer. Photo of new base.
I was a bit nervous as I hadn't been able to test anything before the star party. But I needn't have worried. The new build and especially the new gearboxes performed outstandingly well. Very smooth and precise motion. No visible backlash and goto++ accuracy was about 10 arc seconds with respect to true sky RA & Dec.
The little Seestar S50 continued to amaze with good images acquired in short exposures.