haitch

Is that the original Baader motor? I was thinking of making a belt driven one for mine but didn’t know the spec of the teeth to order belts and a pulley for the motor end

Make it 3... home made focuser on my C11...

Just for visual? It's a long f/l so I'd go for a full 2" visual back or Crayford focuser and a 2" diagonal to make us of lower mag wider view eyepieces. At f10 you shouldn't need super duper expensive eyepieces but some half decent ones should improve your viewing.

I've just bought my first 3D printer and my first design is a bracket to motorise the focuser on my C11. Just thought I'd post it up in case any other C11 users find it useful. It just needs a Nema 14 stepper motor (& some way to control it), an MXL belt and a few screws. I'd post a photo but I've not managed a print I'm happy with yet 🙄😂(currently trying to get my head around printing in PETG). https://www.tinkercad.com/things/0kgcgn3A1Vm Cheers Paul

I know there's been a lot of shipping insurance threads over the years where there's been concern over expensive insurance not covering a telescope for damage because it has glass components. Anyway I just thought I'd share an insurance company I came across when looking for a solution to ship a scope... www.secursus.com who don't appear to have any such exclusions and even make a point or saying they insure valuable and delicate items. Insurance is just 0.6% of value so much cheaper than any courier option I've come across. HTH Paul

If you do flock the tube be careful what you use - I had a friend with a 9.25 who had no end of problems with shedding fibres

I think there is still some matching involved with primaries and corrector plates just not secondaries

Given that Celestron are willing to sell replacement secondaries I would very much doubt there is any matching involved.

I’d like to know that the secondary holder is sufficiently tight though. Collimating SCTs is fairly easy with a star test.

If you have to remove the corrector plate don’t worry it’s not as major an operation as it seems - just remember to make sure it is marked for alignment before you take it out m.

Hold the centre part still whilst you turn the outer ring - have you got Bob’s knobs like mine? They might give a bit more purchase on it.

You can undo the outer ring with the grip on that holds the secondary mirror, take the secondary out then put your finger through the hole to grip the other side to allow you to tighten the secondary holder. Jusat be careful not to drop the secondary - I had a £139 bill and a 12 month wait for a new secondary to arrive from the US! The rings look quite concentric apart from the flat section - are you using a flexible dew shield? They sometimes flop across the aperture which could cause the flat edge.

I know but he's doing it - look up the group "Amateur Astronomy - Telescope, Binocular and Imaging Forum" on Facebook and there's a guy in there called Rolf Karlstad doing some amazing things with a C14+Hyperstar on an Eq6-r (just checked & it was the R model but pretty much the same thing) Not sure if it's an open group so apologies if it doesn't open here... ...https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10221186765281949&set=gm.3015886375094860&type=3&eid=ARCHb6SnHtcIBWcbNm9oQSMwkOJE5jayJdCFiuWYsCQDo9VgcD2tZWT6bTBn_Xr7AqGQ-_tMNwx6LRPy&ifg=1

It's a great planetary/small dso scope visually. I should add that mine is mounted on a Skywatcher AZ-EQ6 which seems to handle it well although if the tripod were extended fully I imagine it could get a bit wobbly but the mount head is solid enough to take it. A Gem would be my preferred option but given the capability of the some of the new CMOS cameras you should be able to get decent images with exposures too short too worry about tracking accuracy. PS I know someone using a C14 & Hyperstar on an EQ6 and getting good results.

I own a C11 & Hyperstar combo. Great scope that captures photons incredibly efficiently with the Hyperstar - do not underestimate f2: it captures light 12 times faster than f6.3. Think about it... a 4 minute exposure at f6.3 is equivalent to 20 seconds at f2. No need for guiding or even particularly good polar alignment in fact it is possible to do deep sky imaging in alt az mode! My Hyperstar is the mk3 but here is a Mk4 out now with even better specs for a bigger flat field and point sizes. Not cheap but well worth it in imo.

It always has a larger angular size than the moon and even my 50 year old eyes can just about make it out from a dark sky site. We just need a decent power cut so we can all see it naked eye. 😈

but it'll probably deteriorate slower over there too

Of course, another consideration when recoating is OO's Hilux coatings, whilst pricey, are rumoured to have a 25+ year life Edit: oops - should read the whole thread!

I'll just point the Hyperstar at the Summer sky for 30 seconds and submit an all white frame 🙄

Sorry - just saw you're overseas

Happy to help. Mine's one of these... https://www.firstlightoptics.com/solar-filters/astrozap-baader-solar-filter.html Nice and secure - just make sure you get the one that suits your tube size (message FLO if you need help)

PS I have successfully used my C11 for white light with Baader film.

Baader Solar film would be the way to go - no need for a wedge as well (it's either or but a wedge won't work with a Mak, as you say, it needs a front filter not because of it's aperture but because of how concentrated the light (& therefore heat) is when it reflects back off the primary and hits the secondary silver spot. Make sure it's secure (especially if you make your own filter rather than buying a ready made one). You can also improve the visibility of surface features with a Solar Continuum filter.

Hi Olly, just to allow slightly wider fields and collect photons a bit quicker. The dedicated flattener I’ve got purportedly gives a flat field over a 35mm image circle so perhaps a bigger sensor is what I should be looking at 🤑