Guide scope set-up

[pavulon77]

Hello everyone :-)

Recently I bought, skywatcher star travel st-80 , also I bought skywatcher guide scope mount and planning to put it on ED 80 APO PRO, any ideas what else do I need to mount it safely on, I've got also a spare vixen type dovetail, do you think that I can drill it and put it on the top of the ED 80? Any ideas, pictures would be appreciated.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

[Uplooker]

Not sure what the guide scope mount is that you bought, but I would use the dovetail. Drill it and bolt the whole lot to the top of the other scope rings. This will significantly reduce the chance of flexure. Lots of people use guide scope rings, I have no idea why. I have never found the need to adjust the position of the guide scope to find a guide star as well as the fact that it introduces flexure. The other option, more expensive, is to buy a side by side duel mount bar.

Ian

Sent from ma fone using Tapatalk

[pavulon77]

The guide scope mount I've got is http://www.firstlightoptics.com/guide-cameras/skywatcher-guidescope-mount.html

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

[ollypenrice]

The guide scope mount I've got is http://www.firstlightoptics.com/guide-cameras/skywatcher-guidescope-mount.html

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

It should be OK but, as Ian says, it is totally unnecessary. In thousands of hours of guiding with an ST 80 (indeed we have two in use) I have never failed to find a guide star. I just bolt the ST 80 rings to a dovetail and have that held in a Baader mini saddle clamp on top of the imaging scope. This also allows me to swap the guidescope for the solarscope in a jiffy.

Olly

[lensman57]

Hello everyone :-)

Recently I bought, skywatcher star travel st-80 , also I bought skywatcher guide scope mount and planning to put it on ED 80 APO PRO, any ideas what else do I need to mount it safely on, I've got also a spare vixen type dovetail, do you think that I can drill it and put it on the top of the ED 80? Any ideas, pictures would be appreciated.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

At the top of the SW rings there are two mounting points, one is usually free and the other is occupied with an abomination with a 1/4" UNC bolt and base to take a camera. Unscrew this and you can secure the top dovetail using a couple of 1/4" UNC, SHCSs about 5/8" length and then mount the guide camera to this dovetail. The more secure the better. Make sure that your SHCSs do not  touch the telescope  tube and ruin your ED 80.

A.G

[sonof007]

Hi, I am using exact same set up. got the ST80 mounted onto the SW Guide Mount and then onto a dovetail (with few extra holes drilled to take it) so its easy to move between my two scopes. I am also just learning how to set up the Guide scope. Done okay yesterday got everything working using EQASCOM. Had the issue of camera (Orion Starshoot) not calibrating in PHD which several others appear to have, I will try the various suggestions on SGL and hopefully will be fine next clear sky. Reason for this post is to ask about the ST80. The Guide camera would not focus unless I used the 45 degree extension. Should I be able to Focus with just the guide scope Camera directly into the scope or do I need a straight extension tube?

[Uplooker]

Hi, I am using exact same set up. got the ST80 mounted onto the SW Guide Mount and then onto a dovetail (with few extra holes drilled to take it) so its easy to move between my two scopes. I am also just learning how to set up the Guide scope. Done okay yesterday got everything working using EQASCOM. Had the issue of camera (Orion Starshoot) not calibrating in PHD which several others appear to have, I will try the various suggestions on SGL and hopefully will be fine next clear sky. Reason for this post is to ask about the ST80. The Guide camera would not focus unless I used the 45 degree extension. Should I be able to Focus with just the guide scope Camera directly into the scope or do I need a straight extension tube?

You need to use an extension. I and most other people just remove the lens element of a Skywatcher barlow and use that. You can of course by a dedicated extension but most people have a spare SW barlow sitting round that came with a past scope purchase and ends up being surplus to requirements.

Ian

[sonof007]

Thanks for answer ref the extension Ian.  I have also sorted out the non Calibration issue of PHD, PHD was set to connect to EQASCOM Simulator .

[Uplooker]

Not a problem. It's always easy when you know the answer ;-)

Ian

[Tinker1947]

I use a ST-80 + Lodestar, it used to just bolt on and as people have said it will always find a guide star, i have now change to Guide rings this allows the guide scope to be aligned so the PHD screen with the Bullseye selected give me a view of what my DSLR Sensor has in the its centre, so its slew, watch the pc screen centre the DSO on the PHD screen with the EQMod direction keys, turn on the remote for the DSLR (pre focused) and leave it to do its work....Does it have flexture, it seems solid to me and on aother point, Olly has a freind who sells pictures of DSO's there not cheap and they look loverly, Olly also posted a picture of this friends set-up, the Guide scope has Guide rings....works for him ok....One other thing, when i use the handset to Polar Align the choosen star is shown in the PHD screen it slews away then comes back, altering the bendy bolts is purley a matter of watching the PHD and turn the relevant bolt, no peering through a EP dodging back and forth my last PA run it twice on diffrent stars, the PHD Graph was pretty flat, quite different from the rocky mountain graph before hand......