Blogs
Tuesday Update 25 February 2025
Brendan’s been diving into a new side project—refurbishing a 12" RC telescope—so back into the workshop he went! While the mirror is off getting recoated in Sydney, his next challenge was fabricating adapters to mount the SP3 to the back plate. Over the weekend, he took some downtime in the mancave to work on Bluetooth integration… only to stumble across a few misdemeanors in the new PCB boards for the focuser. Turns out, it keeps rebooting itself—because buried deep on page 279 of the manual (who actually reads those?) it warns not to use certain pins. Whoops! More tinkering, more problem-solving—just another week at Starpoint!
Tuesday Update 18 February 2025
Bit of a quiet one this week! Brendan’s had a few weekends off from the workshop—partly waiting on tools to arrive, partly because the tin shed turns into an oven in this heat. Not much fun welding when it feels like the sun’s sitting next to you! Just a lot of admin ticking away in the background, so nothing exciting to report. We’ll be back at it next week—see you then!
Tuesday Update 10 February 2025
A relatively quiet weekly update this time around! After so many cloudy nights and rainy days, I’ve really made the most of the last few weeks of clear skies—getting in as much imaging as possible and just enjoying the hobby we all love. On the business side, we’re pretty much locked in for NEAF, and Dan and I have been working through some code—just the usual behind-the-scenes stuff. Hopefully, I’ll make it into the workshop this weekend, so I’ll have more fun things to share with you all next week. Stay tuned!
Tuesday Update 28 January 2025
Excitement is building as NEAF is just 8 weeks away! Flights and the booth are locked in, and we’re so far ahead compared to last year—no last-minute rush this time. Expect a smooth and prepared presence at the expo. In the workshop, Brendan's been busy refining setups, including the 135mm Samyang Rokinon lens. It ran flawlessly through its first full night, but he is tweaking the balance to hit that perfect sub-0.5 RMS guiding. He also crafted a custom balancing system using offcuts—proof that nothing goes to waste here! On the tech side, firmware updates are progressing after switching to a new processor. Beta testers (including Dan and Brendan) are running six setups, and everything’s performing well so far, aside from a few minor quirks. Plus, Dan’s work on the Android app is a game-changer, opening doors for planetary and visual users with an easy-to-use electronic focuser. Plenty more coming, so stay tuned!