Jammy

Right! I've tried fitting the dovetail bar that came with the NEQ6, but unfortunately the drilled holes are too small for the bolts that came with the Evostar 80ED. Can anyone recommend a longer dovetail bar that will accept the 80ED tube rings and bolts? I could try drilling out the holes on the bar which I have, but I'd rather not attempt it!

Thanks for the comments. I've moved the OTA as far forward as I can within the tube rings, but it's still not enough. I do have a longer spare vixen dovetail bar which came with my NEQ6 mount, which I've never used. I'll have a go at swapping the dovetail over and moving the OTA as far forward as possible. See if that helps. From your answers I gather that balancing in declination is just as important as it is for RA when imaging. I thought it must be, but always best to ask.

When I'm trying to balance my telescope for imaging does it matter that I can't get it balanced in declination? I can get the right ascension to balance fine through the mount and counter weight. With the telescope being relatively small (Evostar 80ED) with OAG guide cam, main cam, electronic focuser and filter wheel attached I can't physically move the scope forward enough within the tube rings to get it to balance. It isn't greatly out of balance, but then I'm not sure how important this is. If I helps to have this balanced, is there any way of adding counter weights to the front end of the scope? Do i need to get different tube rings/dovetail? I'm just wondering how others have managed to get around this. All comments welcome

I asked about dew heater control in the ASIair facebook group and was told by the group moderator "the intention is to have controllable DC ports on the pro - we are still waiting to see the exact production version so will have to wait see how that looks". I guess nobody knows!!

I asked about dew heater connectivity on the facebook group and was told that dew heater connection is included. No idea if that's true or not though. I'm going to put my order in, my laptop doesn't like the outdoors!! Looking at the known specs, could anyone tell me if the ZWO EAF (elec. auto. focuser) can be powered direct from the ASIair, or does it still require external power? Same goes for the cooler fan on the ASI 1600mm Pro? I'm hopeless when it comes to electronics!

Thank you. I didn't know the Black Diamond was the same scope. Every day is a school day!

Sorry if I'm repeating a post anywhere, but I'm trying to find out if anyone has a Sky-watcher Evostar 80ED and a ZWO Electronic Automatic Focuser. Are these compatible? The EAF manual mentions a few Sky-watcher telescope ranges, but not the Evostar. I've done several web searches but can find nothing. Maybe we should have a compatibility thread... just a thought.

Thanks for all the replies. I forgot about the optical length. Nothing is ever simple!

I've recently bought a Skywatcher telescope that came with a straight through 9 x 50 finderscope. Rather than buy a new right-angle version of the same scope does anyone know if you can just buy the right angle part? Seems odd to me that you have to buy a whole new finderscope. I'm not being tight, just doing my bit to save the planet! ?

I've recently bought an ED80 and ASI 1600mm Pro. I'm still getting used to the change after using a dslr for years. What gain level are you using? The detail has come out really well in your image. The halos don't actually look that bad - in a way it gives depth to the image. Ha filter is going to be my next investment. I'm trying to decide which filters to buy - cost is always the deciding factor! I already own the beginners Baader LRGB filter set, which seems OK so far. The LGB are pretty much parfocal but the R is a little off. I've read both good and bad things about the ZWO filters. I think the filters have been improved recently, although not entirely sure. I've give this a go with the LRGB tonight. If I get anything as good as yours I'll be happy.

Thanks guys, I'll take a look. You've been really helpful ?

Thanks for all the replies guys. I managed to make the flat frames light box at the weekend. I used @Oddsocks method for testing the light distribution, which really helped spacing the perspex sheets. I also needed to add some inner foam board to diffuse the light because of a slight light drop off at the very corners of the box. I probably wouldn't have spotted this without the photometer, to the naked eye it did look very even. I also did a stretch in photoshop as described by @Horwig. That idea came to me after I'd glued it all together, and before I read your reply! I've sized the front circle large enough to fit over the front of the C9.25, and I've also made an insert that will allow me to use it with an Evostar 80ED. I'm now waiting for a dimmer switch to arrive that I found on eBay, then I'll be ready to start taking flats. First time I've used foam board, surprised just how strong it is ?

I'm going to make something like this photo (image stolen from Richard McDonald's website). Foam board doesn't take screws very well (if at all), but can be jointed with a hot glue gun. It's the distances between the inner baffles that I'm trying to space correctly before I fix it all together.

Looks good Dave. I'm hoping to make mine compatible with my Evostar ED80 too by allowing a sleeve to fit within the opening for the C9.25 I'll post a pic when I'm done ?

@symmetal @Oddsocks Many many thanks for the detailed solutions. You've excelled yourselves ? I'm going to construct the box this weekend. Fingers crossed it will all work as planned. I've drawn a CAD model of what it will hopefully look like. Now to put the theory into practice! I'll give feedback when I'm done, but only positive ?