SOLEX spectrohelograph project - 3D printing DIY

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christian viladrich
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SOLEX spectrohelograph project - 3D printing DIY

Post by christian viladrich »

For information, Christian Buil just launched the "SOLEX" spectroheliograph project, which is a small SHG anybody can build with a 3D printer.
The project is described here :
http://www.astrosurf.com/solex/

All files for 3 D printing are here :
http://www.astrosurf.com/solex/construction.html

A group order has just started for the parts which are more difficult to build (optics, slit, grating) :
https://www.shelyak.com/produit/es0023- ... t/?lang=en

Clear skies !

Christian


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Re: SOLEX spectrohelograph project - 3D printing DIY

Post by pedro »

A very interesting project


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Re: SOLEX spectrohelograph project - 3D printing DIY

Post by marktownley »

Thank you!


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Re: SOLEX spectrohelograph project - 3D printing DIY

Post by highfnum »

real cool

im not a moderator
but should this be here or in spectroscopy forum?

or maybe a link at least


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Re: SOLEX spectrohelograph project - 3D printing DIY

Post by p_zetner »

A fine project!
Cheers.
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Re: SOLEX spectrohelograph project - 3D printing DIY

Post by LTHB »

Thanks for the information, Christian, sounds interesting! (A chance for me to build a spectroheliograph BEFORE retirement...!)

Regards,

Frank


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Re: SOLEX spectrohelograph project - 3D printing DIY

Post by PDB »

Hi,

I printed the 3D parts already during February - March. (Took around 65 hours of 3D printing), waiting for the Shelyak Parts. Because of the unforseen success (~150 orders for the parts) there was some delay. Shelyak also decided to deliver a longer slit (4.5mm :D ) and an extra camera lens (so choice between 60 and 125 mm focal length). Finally last week all parts arrived. Took a few hours to our everything together and a few extra to calibrate. (Probably going to do that over again a bit more carefully, but I was anxious to get something out of it)

Bad weather .... but yesterday 2 hours of sunshine with no passing clouds. So time for the first real test. Carefully focused on the spectrum, prepared the whole setup, aimed at the Sun and then went inside for focusing and capturing. Unfortunatelly I did not notice, that due to the weight and down-force from the USB3 cable, the Sol'ex had turned a bit. So while scanning, the Sun was not moving parallel to the sensor :evil:
Only time for 2 scans and then clouds. So no time for further expermenting with exposure times, scan and frame rates.

Because of the incorrect scan angle, it was very difficult to get a round Sun within the post processing. Finally by using Gimp an do a free rotation until X and Y axis were parallel to image sides, I could the do a scaling to make the ellips shape (which is normal, but it was also heavily slanted) a bit like a circle.

Here is the first image. Taken with the 80mm f/6 and an ASI178MM behind the Sol'Ex. Focal length of the scope is just to long for getting the full disc in one scan, hence the "missing" part of the Sun. (It is in a strange location due to the rotation that was needed to salvage the image)

2021-05-14M.jpg
2021-05-14M.jpg (74.32 KiB) Viewed 2754 times
Still a lot to test and improve, but weather in the coming weeks does not look good.

Rgrds

Paul


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Re: SOLEX spectrohelograph project - 3D printing DIY

Post by p_zetner »

Congratulations, Paul, on your first spectroheliogram!
Nicely done.
Cheers.
Peter


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Re: SOLEX spectrohelograph project - 3D printing DIY

Post by marktownley »

Good results Paul!


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Re: SOLEX spectrohelograph project - 3D printing DIY

Post by PDB »

Thanks Peter & Mark. Just waiting for good weather now, lots of tests to be done still, but does not look promising for the coming week(s)

Rgrds,

Paul


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Re: SOLEX spectrohelograph project - 3D printing DIY

Post by Montana »

Well done!! what a superb clear image :bow :hamster:

Alexandra


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Re: SOLEX spectrohelograph project - 3D printing DIY

Post by PDB »

Thanks Alexandra, but still far from perfectt. Stiil a long way to go, if weather permits. (Doesn't look like that)

Paul


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Re: SOLEX spectrohelograph project - 3D printing DIY

Post by PEterW »

Cool image! Just got the import tax bill for mine. Parts printed off a while back. Now I’ve got to find the screws and thread thingies. Looks like I might want to treat myself to a more modern camera too (dmk41 is rather aged).

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Re: SOLEX spectrohelograph project - 3D printing DIY

Post by thesmiths »

To Paul: how fast do you do the scanning?

To Peter: the ASI 178MM seems to be strongly recommended for this project (because of the small pixels).

I'm actually thinking about doing a similar project but making it out of foam board instead of 3D printed plastic.


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Re: SOLEX spectrohelograph project - 3D printing DIY

Post by PDB »

Hi,

still trying to find the correct scanning speeds, but weather is so bad these days, no sunshine at all.
For that image I had placed the scope on a Skywatcher AZEQ5 and was scanning with speed 2 on the SynScan Pro for Windows app. That gave ~15 seconds scan, but with a 40fps frame rate that was much to quick. Dit some scans on my CEM60 at speed 2 which gave 30 second scans and there I used 90 fps. Unfortunately had some trouble with the focusmotor and these were not really sharp. Next I want to try "unforced" scan by just stopping tracking.
(looks like the slew speeds are not really regular on the Cem60)

Rgrds,

Paul


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Re: SOLEX spectrohelograph project - 3D printing DIY

Post by thesmiths »

You should be able to do much higher fps than that. You only need a very tall thin ROI, not the whole 3096x2080 frame. I recall the last time I did SHG imaging (some years ago), I used 32x sidereal rate on my old Vixen GP2, which meant one scan was 120s/32 = 3.75 sec. I think I used 300 fps but that was with a USB2.0 camera so with a modern 3.0 camera, you should be able to do even faster. That was actually my question.


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Re: SOLEX spectrohelograph project - 3D printing DIY

Post by PDB »

I am using ROI settings (in horizontal direction, otherwhise with CMOS cams you are limited to the full frame read speed) Need something around 3000X200 pixels. Some strange issue in FirecCapture seems to limit a fixed FPS raste to 100. (Can go faster if I don't use the fixed fps rate but not up to 300 fps with this camera) Also the mount need to produce a steady slew rate and I haven't had enough sunshine to test all of that.
I replaced the connection between Sol'Ex and the wedge and hope this now fixes Sol'Ex in the correct direction)

Example frame from a SER file
Frame_from_ser.jpg
Frame_from_ser.jpg (14.14 KiB) Viewed 2564 times
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Re: SOLEX spectrohelograph project - 3D printing DIY

Post by Carbon60 »

Nicely executed, Paul. I’m sure you’ll figure out the remaining issues.

Please can you show some pics of the printed parts and assembly?

Stu.


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Re: SOLEX spectrohelograph project - 3D printing DIY

Post by thesmiths »

I checked my old records and I was using an ASI 120MM USB2.0 with ROI of 816x128 pixels and average fps of 307. Also, I was only recording 8bit depth avi files. If you are recording SER, I assume you are using a greater bit depth. So the lower resolution than what you are using explains part of the speed difference. As I recall, there are some USB traffic settings to play with in FireCapture that can help optimise the speed. Some acquisition programs these days will also write to DRAM first to avoid bottlenecks. You have to, for example, reserve half your computer's DRAM for image capture.


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Re: SOLEX spectrohelograph project - 3D printing DIY

Post by PDB »

Hi,

I am using the ASI178MM, a slit size of 10µ, collimator lens F80 and camera lens F125, grating 2400LPM. I The sensor is fairly large and I need the almost the full width of the sensor. With an roi witdt of 200 pixels the max speed of the camera in 16bit mode is around 261 fps. Did some compares this morning between FireCapure (Beta2.7) SharpCap and Genika. No real speed differences between them. (FC 2.7 is much faster than the current 2.6).
Use all the "speed setting" (usb limit, memory) except "high speed" setting. On most (not on the ASI120) cameras that limits the bit depth of the ADC. (The ASI178 is 14bit ADC so I would lose a lot in dynamic range)

I prefer FireCapture, that allows me to write some plugins. Will try to make a plugin that can control the capture and mount slewing so don't have to switch between FC and Telescope Control.

@stu: some pictures.
All the parts when they were printed
IMG_20210219_142510.jpg
IMG_20210219_142510.jpg (97.5 KiB) Viewed 2535 times
The finished Sol'Ex. I have it covered with heath refllecting material. The black PETG would, exposed to direct sunlight, get too warm. (would not melt but might expand a bit or get a bit weaker)
IMG_20210524_140011.jpg
IMG_20210524_140011.jpg (105.58 KiB) Viewed 2535 times
Rgrds,

Paul


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Re: SOLEX spectrohelograph project - 3D printing DIY

Post by PEterW »

You’ve added some after market parts to that build?! (Focusser, spectrum indicator…) details please? Also can you give some example links to the metal thread adapters and any other non widely available bits I need.
Thanks
Peter


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Re: SOLEX spectrohelograph project - 3D printing DIY

Post by PDB »

Peter,

think you should have a look at the Sol'EX site. (It's also translated in English now and there are recent updates http://www.astrosurf.com/solex/sol-ex-c ... on-en.html ). The focuser is a ZWO helical focuser (normally used for an OAG). The spectrum indicator has been created by somebody else in the project group (they have made a lot of modifications and personalisation). There is also a lot of info on the groups.io site https://groups.io/g/Solex-project/topics (but that is in French) Nothing exceptional used. (Standard T2-1.25 nosepiece like delivered with a ZWO cam, M4, M3 screws from local hardware shop) Only thing difficult to find were the Ruthex 3D-inserts which I could only get through amazon (and I hate that)

Paul


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