johninderby

25 minutes ago, Louis D said:

I've had good luck putting Sorbothane pads under each foot of my aluminum tripods to dampen settling time from 3 to 5 seconds to 1/2 second.  Perhaps wood might improve on that, but it's good enough for me.  I find non-adjustable tripods really annoying for astro observing.  You can't vary the leg spread, you can't increase or decrease the mount height, etc.  That's why I went with heavy duty photo tripods with high load capacities.

Do yourself a favour and try a Berlebach tripod and it will change your perception of what is a good tripod is. They really are that good. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

TS Alt-Az balance system, saddle and aluminium angle. For a little project I have in mind. 😎

43 minutes ago, FLO said:

No. We have plenty 🙂 

They will come in handy all too soon. 🙁

The Berlebach tripod is more stable and handles vibration better than a steel tripod. Once you’ve used a good wooden tripod you won’t settle for steel. Wood is simply better for telescope tripods.

Notice how many owners of higher end scopes use a wooden tripod.

Agree with the above recomendations. The EQ5 would be limited to visual only. The EQ6 is much better suited and with the Rowan belt mod will work very well.

Would go with the William Optics diagonal. You won’t be able to detect any performance difference between the WO and the Televue.

For a tripod go with the Berlebach wooden tripod. .

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/language/en/info/p1210_Berlebach-tripod-UNI-28---100-163-cm--up-to-50-kg--optional-spread-stopper.html

An old Celestron8 fork mount SCT. Worth a look through this history of Celestron SCTs for more info.

https://stargazerslounge.com/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=267645

And ask this SGL member for advice.

Latest as of this afternoon.

There is copy of the SolSearcher on Thingverse.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4044159

2 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Special rate for cloudy nights

Cloudy Nights

Hey the US can provide their own. 😁😁😁

FLO might consider renting them out. Hmmmmm how much per month. 🤔

1 minute ago, smoggy said:

Hopefully I ordered the last one then!

Fingers crossed. 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

They ship direct from Germany so takes a couple of days to arrive.

Now out of stock at Bresser UK.🙁

2 minutes ago, FLO said:

 

At FLO we treat courier drivers especially well because without them there would be no internet shopping. They are unsung heroes. 

HTH, 

Steve 

And very underpaid ones too. Do a tough job. 👍🏻

Had another look around and Bresser UK is showing them as in stock. Maybe email them to check.

https://www.bresseruk.com/skywatcher-counterweights-for-eq3-2-2pcs-set-white.html

11 minutes ago, omo said:

Skywatcher weights for the eq3 are 3.4kg and 1.8kg:  https://www.firstlightoptics.com/counterweights/skywatcher-counterweight.html

But not available at the moment.

There is the Bresser 2 kg counterweight.

https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/bresser-counterbalance-20-kg-for-exos-1eq4.html

51 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

You've got to handle it to John..he's always got a handle on handles. In fact, he's a dab handle at it! Perhaps he should change his SGL handle to, er, Professor Handle?

Dave

Get a grip Dave. 😀😀😀

One thing with this handle is you can shorten it if you want to. Just remove one of the ends using a few taps with a hammer and shorten the tube and put the end back on.

The single screw handle is better suited for CNC tube rings. The StellaMira handle is quite solid and fits over the tube ring slightly so it can’t rotate.

This handle is great for bigger scopes.

Good old WDS Ltd has loads of handles. 

https://www.wdscomponents.com/en-gb/machine-hardware/handles/bridge-bow-pull-handles/c-404

This aluminium handle would suit and is available in black or silver.

https://www.wdscomponents.com/en-gb/bow-handle-square-profile-silver-wds-8500/c-404/p-899

Dobs and manual alt-az mounts are very popular for those that don’t want to use GOTO all the time. 

My manual set up.

And on the subject of needless complexity why isn’t astrophotography equipment a lot simpler to use. 🤔

I have a Lumicon Superfinder that has a drawtube and can be used straight through or with a diagonal. Don’t know why others don’t do something similar. 🤔