That Bear Guy

Heh. Replying to my own topic again! 

Just an FYI if you wanted to try drilling out the clutch tensioner on a stellalyra dob fitted with the Asterion GSO push-to kit to keep the second tensioner clutch function

I managed to brave it out and do this mod but credit for the original idea goes to Chirstopher who's method is documented in the product review in the link above, but it felt soooo wrong cutting into some brand new kit. It doesn't look all that bad though, and more importantly I have my second clutch tensioner back - shame I couldn't find a black washer lying around but happy with what I've achieved.

I don't have a pillar drill so this was a two man job one drilling and one looking to ensure the drill bit was true 90 degrees. We drilled a pilot hole in the centre of the tensioner cover from below, and then used a holesaw drill from above to slowly cut away downwards to eventually uncover the top of the shaft inside the tensioner without harming the screw-thread inside.

Next we reinserted the sensor connector (the middle plastic bit with the knurled screw-head) back through the hole we'd just cut, adding some ceramic washers (the orange bit) between the top of the now exposed screw-thread and the connector thus ensuring independent movement by preventing it snagging on the tensioner cover (right most in the picture).

We also added a small black spacer at the bottom of the frame supporting the sensor to compensate for having raised up the connector at the top end so it remained at 90 degrees to the tensioner clutch.

The tensioner tightens independently of the sensor and the sensor moves without altering the tension - Happy Days!

I could have probably drilled a larger diameter hole and avoided the need for spacing as above but this method keeps the integrity of the clutch housing by cutting away less of the metal inside and allows you to keep the original knurled screw-head on the connector.

Hope this helps any attempt at the above but obviously don't follow the above unless you are willing to take the risk of permanently damaging your tensioner / voiding your warranty.

Got the Asterion GSO delux Push-to Kit for my new 10" dob, which works well by the way.

The Alt encoder unfortunately replaces the clutch tensioner on one side, which isn't ideal as I'm having to overcompensate on the Alt tensioner on the other side.

Clever guy named Christopher put a review on the FLO product page in the link above and explained how he'd drilled out his original clutch tensioner so you could keep both tension control and encoding.

Wondering if he's a member here, or if anyone has experience of doing this Mod. It's pretty clear from the instruction but a piccie would be nice to make sure I'm on the right lines

1 hour ago, Giles_B said:

I came across a great resource on the web to help expand the list -

It's a website that will list the DSOs in your location according to magnitude - it classifies them into different types (Galaxies, Open Clusters etc.) - I've found it really helpful in planning viewing sessions:

https://telescopius.com/

See what you think.

Amazing!

Many thanks

It arrived - it's finally arrived 😀

10" is about as much weight as I'm going to be able to carry to a dark site

But still Droool to all the above 😉

14 hours ago, Hillsdale said:

For anyone interested in an update, I took the scope outside and followed several pieces of advice that you all gave. I was able to successfully align the finder scope and the eyepiece to a distant building and get it in focus through my 32mm eyepiece. So now I know the scope works, and if I have trouble seeing an object at night, it must be a focus or brightness issue. As I understand it, my 230p should be able to see some fairly distant objects, so it must just be fine tuning my focusing skills now. Any advice for some good first objects to try to find other than the moon? I'm in New York for spatial reference. Thanks again for all the assistance. 

so glad you are getting somewhere 

Thought it best to leave advice to the more experienced members of the group, but been reading with interest.  I just moved to a similar style focuser 2 days ago with my first dob and found that I had the focus lock on for around 20 minutes of my first light. I’d been desperately turning the wheel with nothing moving on the tube before I realised, kind of like driving stick and hitting the gas and the clutch at the same time. 🥴 I had the advantage of reading  a review of my scope advising to lock the stock eyepiece out a few millimetres to get the correct focal point of the larger lens - it’s a big learning curve.

these are my favourites as a newbie:

• M42 Orion Nebula
• M45 Pleiades
• M31 andromeda galaxy* 
• Mizar - second star on the “handle” of the Big Dipper which you should be able to resolve as a double with your 355mm diameter mirror 

* with the Goto aligned carefully you can get to this, but remember you’ll just see this as a “faint fuzzy” with averted vision depending on light pollution.
I tried to get it last night on my new scope but had a building in the way.  

Anyone else with greater experience please feel free to chime in as I could do with expanding my list too 😉

12 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

Here's the 12" StellaLyra Dob. It's big and cuddly 😜

 

Droooooooooool 🤤

Mines still at FLO but I have ordered it today 🙂

StellaLyra 10" f/5 Dobsonian

I would have got the 12” but the Mrs wouldn’t let me get a bigger car to fit it in!

How unfair is that?

Hi Jacqui,

Welcome to SGL and to stargazing 😁

Hey Chris,

Glad to have you here.

Hope you get out and looking up as soon as you can.

TBG

13 hours ago, huddo said:

After weeks of research I think I’ve nearly decided that my first telescope will be a Celestron StarSense Explorer DX5. My back garden suffers from being really quite close to several bright street lights and houses which restrict views so I really what something I can pop in the car and drive a mere 4 miles or so to really quite dark skies (I live in semi rural Norfolk and the broads and coast are a stones throw away.

I did think I wanted a manual find my own way around the sky scope but having seen the celestron in action on good old YouTube it’s peaked my interest. 
 

As the DX5 is Schmidt Cassegrain it should give me decent details of moon ,planets and hopefully some DSOs shouldn’t it and being compact , nice and easy to transport. Am I correct in thinking cool down time shouldn’t be too bad as it’s an SCT rather than a MAK which I believe has thicker lens on the front.

my budget is new around £500 having started at £350 it’s crept up !!! Guess that’s not unusual. 
 

All advice gratefully received.

 

 

 

You are right about the corrector plate on the front being thinner on the Schmidt Cassegrain rather than Mak, and in my VERY limited experience my AstroFi 5 SCT a similar size aperture to your choice had no issues with cooling, but I do have a habit of leaving it in our cold hall an hour before going out.  I think bigger exposed mirrors particularly on dobs are more of a cooling issue!

Geoff is right! I'm a complete beginner and have found my SCT easy enough to see various objects such as Pleiades, The Orion Nebula, Jupiter and even Uranus (the goto helped with that last one). 

I also agree with Dave.  You can get really tied up in knots trying to get the perfect solution of which there isn't.    I was going to wait until I could afford my dream scope (a large dob), but realised it would be a lot of cash to waste if it wasn't for me, so I then took a risk on the second hand SCT above which paid off because I'm getting the experience now.  I did a fair amount of reading and started off with some binoculars just to learn some basic star hopping.  You-tube is great, kindle and a visit to the library provides more reliable info though, but getting the experience is king!  The most important piece of kit you'll ever have is your observing skills, and that transfers to every scope you'll ever get.

I would suggest checking out a local astronomy club with a view to seeing if there will be members who are happy to let you check out some of their kit on a clear night.  First light optics, the SGL sponsor have a list of clubs you can search but there is also https://gostargazing.co.uk/ which should have a list of events local to you. This might be a lower risk way forward if you are unsure or getting confused by other people's advice, but as a newbie I took the risk on the SCT at the same spec as your choice and didn't look back.  I now generally looked up. 😉

Best of luck and clear Skies!

TBG

Oh and the screen issue is easily solved by a settings tweak on iPhone/iPad  or an app on android, The only dark dark adaptation Ive had is when local Kevs drive into the carpark at my chosen dark site!

Heh,  replying to my own post!

I managed to sort this out via a dew controller, but if anyone has the same issue https://www.dewcontrol.com have some cables that fit the bill, aren’t too expensive and they are happy to do custom connectors if you ask.

Hey Rob,

Welcome and may clear skies be yours! 

TBG

yeah, I’m new to the game but got pretty sick of my nights being cut short by dew on my 125 SCT corrector plate

Saw some cheap, but good quality solutions on www.dewcontrol.com - found them on the reviews pages on SGL

The guy there is an absolute star. He’s quite happy to customise connectors (within reason) and I would imagine cable lengths as well.

last Friday on the Devon moors became dew free using their Duel channel controller and dew strap at only 20%. Using the accessory power cable output solved a long standing cable wrap issue for me as well so no more disconnected power to the mount!

worth a look ? you could potentially get a set up for each Scope as easy to move the controller and leave straps in situ

I’m using this for portable power which provides ac but is completely overkill for one mount and a controller, it’s unavailable now but there are similar options about at lower capacity and cost.  

TBG

Anyone know of any good sites around this area?

Looking at some of the light pollution maps and assessing the area directly, I was thinking of the small car park below

Cold East Cross car park
https://goo.gl/maps/k1KpegnJvKdQskcF8

There a few other car parks scattered around nearby as well  unfortunately you can see Newton Abbot’s lights nearby as well but reasonably far away.

The belowmight have less light pollution  

Haytor Car Park
https://goo.gl/maps/YnDSDLmriPBLJyQLA

any tips opinions local knowledge would be gratefully appreciated

TBG

Hey J,

Welcome back to the lounge from someone who’s just joined. 
Good luck with getting the new kit and clear skies

TBG

22 hours ago, UKDiver said:

Being close to FLO is not currently an advantage. They're not allowing visitors at the moment. They were just starting to allow customer collections prior to Omicron, which knocked that idea back pretty sharply, which is fair enough.

True.
I tried arrange to drop a return in when working near that area recently, but still no visitors allowed.

Sorry not meaning to spam but have another mount related question 

I have an Astro Fi mount and I have noticed that if I am on level ground the alignment, tracking and go-to appears to perform well whereas I feel the opposite is the case even when I’ve tried to level the tripod on an incline, but I’m not 100% sure as early days with everything for me.

The manual advises levelling the tripod, but the order of assembly it suggests provides no surface for you put a level on. My method is to put a level on the top of the flat tripod surface before the fork arm assembly is attached.  My worry is that when I eventually get to my chosen dark site (assuming “clear skies” doesn’t lie to me again ) it’s on the Devonshire moors so it’s not exactly level and I might have a bit of a struggle on my hands.

Any opinions/experience from folks who have found that precise levelling is/isn’t mandatory for good alignment/go-to with this or any other mount for that matter as I am considering a go-to dob in the future.

Any general advice on levelling techniques would be gratefully appreciated. 
 

Ta 

Phil

The coupler connection on this Cable fits the Astro fi, but the connector on the power supply side is too short for mine, FLO cannot supply one with a 12mm barrel and coupler so I made up a cable with the following connectors. The problem I have is that without the screw fitting “coupler” I can get a break in the power if the cable is moved too far during a slew.

Tried eBay but not keen about delivery from overseas as hassle if wrong specs. 

Does anybody know a cheapish electronics component suppliers which can provide a 12mm barrel coupler like this (2.1mm not 2.5mm sorry) but without a £14 surcharge/delivery charge? 🙄  
Even better a source for a cable with a 12mm barrel one side and a coupler on the other side.

Thanks in advance  

Phil

2 hours ago, LaurenceT said:

I bought a case from them on advice and it lasted for 2 months, both lid hinges fractured at the same time scattering my eyepieces and filters in all directions but thankfully onto the carpet.

The rest of the case seemed good enough but on examination the hinges were incredibly flimsy.

I then bought a hard Peli type case on Ebay for about £50 and it seems infinitely better built, all fingers crossed!

On my phone at the moment but I'll try and link to it later.

 

Max MAX300S Waterproof Laptop Travel Briefcase Hard Case Box With Foam Black | eBay

😬 Thanks - I may cancel mine or if I can’t keep a close eye on the hinges 

1 hour ago, UKDiver said:

Yes, sass us hoopy froods who know where our towels are.

Adrian

🤣 

Just now, rwilkey said:

That was probably the MC2 shop where I bought our first telescope. however, FLO, the forum sponsor must be closer to you in Exeter?  Welcome to the forum BTW, good luck & clear skies!

ta

FLO are near me, but budget dictated that I got my "new" kit it from a private seller on ebay - drove up about 100 miles after work.  Took a risk but was worth it.

I got my EPs from them after though.

Almost set up in the Frome Sainsbury carpark after getting petrol when I saw the moon! 😅

1 hour ago, cajen2 said:

You'd be more than welcome....with a negative test result, of course!😄

Of course 😄

Hi TK,

How did you get on?  Only just arrived on the forum in past 24 hours but I've not had any major issues with this scope/mount since I got it a few weeks ago. 

Only thing I did do was use this to update the firmware (will need to install java) as mine was second hand and a few years old, but doest sound it has much to do with your issue.

The FLO one does look good!  Dont know how I missed that.

As a possible cheaper alternative, I opted for this company based in UK. It is a hard-case but a good price considering sizes and considering.

delivery is about £3 on top but unfortunately the order was delayed by their courier DPD so my order hasn't arrived yet and I cannot comment on quality yet 😏 but they accept paypal so I'm not worried about returns or losing money

https://www.cases-and-enclosures.co.uk/roc-cases-flight-case-with-foam-block-silver-l310xw240xh130mm?gclid=CjwKCAiAzrWOBhBjEiwAq85QZ6Vy5FMK3wxsgEP6VZ8jBfcJ2tJRfjxbdF15Fnd7Fm9pbm9oioaxtBoCtr4QAvD_BwE

Phil (TBG)

Many thanks everyone.

People making Hitch-hikers guide references in their Signatures? - That's a sign I know I'm going to love it here 😄