Saturday, August 13, 2016

Astro-Photography Fiji

The first time we visited Fiji I didn't take my camera, I didn't make the same mistake this time.
Fiji is great place to snorkel, relax and take Astro Pics, provided it's not cloudy.


Camera pointed straight up. In the past I didn't like getting terrestrial things in the shot, I've since learned that it gives some perspective, I read that somewhere.

I've since made up an angle bracket for my tripod head, this will aid in finer control over the angle of each shot.

The two bright stars at the right are the pointers of the Southern Cross. Taken at about 9.45pm on the 2nd August.


Milky Way. Fiji.
 Fuji X T1, XF18mm f2, at f2. 
Four Images in Portrait Mode Stitched together

Sunday, June 12, 2016

Watch and Clock Repairs



A few years back one of my interests was Watchmaking.

The following pictures are just a few that I rescued from my old web page.
I thought they might be interesting, engineering in miniature.



A German Boley Lathe driving an Antique "Pivot" drilling  tool.The match is just to show the scale
Close up. we're going to drill a tiny hole down the end of the pinion, this will allow us to insert a new pivot. this is one of the more difficult repairs in clock and watch making.

This is a "Solid Tungsten Drill" very small, the part I'm holding is 3mm wide.

Another view, drilling a balance wheel for a new pivot. This little tool is over a hundred years old, it was normally driven by a "bow". I now drive it from my lathe. The little "o" ring rubber belt will slip if you apply too much pressure, which is just perfect. 

This tool is know as a "jacot tool". We use it to "size" and "Polish" pivots. It's being used here on a carriage clock pivot. This tool is driven by some thread and a rubber band, again a bow would have originally been used .

This is a "fusee" wheel from a 19th century pocket watch. The chain is just like a miniature bike chain. The cone shape was used to compensate for uneven main spring pressure.
"Fusee" and Spring Barrel with chain

Repairing a Fusee Chain is really difficult, so small. You need
To make special tools.
We need to make a rivet to join these together.



Riveting the chain

















Thursday, June 2, 2016

iMac OS X Maverick IMAP Email Setup

Fairly new to Macs.
Trying to setup my email to use my providers IMAP Server instead of their POP Server.

The friendly Mac just runs off and configures itself for POP, that's it, no manual setup that I could find.
I solved it by deliberately making a mistake in my email address this made the system prompt me with a manual setup dialog box, I could now select IMAP, and fill in all the details,  my problem solved, maybe yours too.

The same thing just happened on an iPad, same solution, leave a bit out of your email address and it prompts you with a more detailed dialog.

best of luck

Fitzroy Island Southern Cross Region FujiFilm XT1 35mm f1.4


Fitzroy Island is a bit of a trip from home, but a great place for snorkelling, relaxing and if your lucky, Astrophotography.

This is our third trip, and I was lucky enough to capture this shot.

The big bright blob in the top left corner is Omega Centauri  NGC 5139 a cluster of about 10 million stars, I'm feeling very small.

This is a single image with a little bit of post processing. 


Fuji XT1 XF 35mm f1.4 at f2 13 sec ASA 6400