knobby

Glad it's sorted Ahmed 👍 just checked mine

Hi Jon, welcome from a fellow Essex member.

Cheers Shimrod, I know what you mean ... they have mixed reviews, but mostly ok.

If it wasn't for lock down I'd have made my mind up already and put the AVX / Starsense up for sale.

12 minutes ago, Alan White said:

I would go HEQ5 Pro with belt mod, they are renown for good performance and well documented and supported.
Far more so than the AVX, however that is a good mount and well liked, you know that though anyway.
 

 

Thanks Alan, should have added ... I'm an engineer by trade so although the AVX has been stripped / rebuilt I'm no muppet 🙂 

Hi all, full disclosure !

Not sure if correct sub forum so mods feel free to move.

Short version ... bought C8 HD approx 6 years ago, seized 2 years ago due to not being used for 2 years (shoulder injury) bought for visual / planetary. Stripped down / re greased etc. nice and free now (better than when new) now tracks a 420 mm scope at 1.5 arc seconds fairly consistently. Not good enough for DSO at 0.54 pixel scale. I can spend £500 on a dark frame repair / hypertune or sell the mount / Starsense with a link to this thread so people know what they are getting for maybe - mount @ £250 ish Starsense £150 ish or £400 as a package. This leaves me about £555 away from the HEQ5 rowan modded mount from @FLO 

In summary, which would you choose ? I know EQ6R is a better option but can't spend the extra (or lift it with my dodgy shoulder 🙂 )

Long version- details, the AVX bearing was replaced with an angle bearing ( better for loading in 2 directions ) degreased, cleaned thoroughly, lightly lubricated with teflon superlube, nylon washers on replaced bearing removed as not needed with angled bearing. The RA assembly is now approx 1.5 mm higher than previous but the worm still meshes nicely. One of the threads on the Dec / RA mounting has stripped, had to rotate 90 degrees and use 'spare' threads ( there are 4 when only 2 used) All flashed to latest firmware ( as of 19-4-2020) well looked after, stored in garage under tarp when not used.

INFO - used these pages for guidance during mods - http://rocketsparrow.blogspot.com/2017/01/how-i-made-better-celestron-avx.html   https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/578878-celestron-avx-rebuild/

Thanks for looking.

edit - should have added ... I'm an engineer by trade so although the AVX has been stripped / rebuilt I'm no muppet 

edit 2 - should also have added that I will be using the 0.7 reducer so F7 / 1400 mm - 0.56"/pixel

Thanks Scott, still umming and ahhing between the lighter HEQ5 belt modded and the EQ6R really not sure but appreciate your answer.

Cheers Neil, definitely 0.56 (forgot to mention 0.7 reducer so 1400 mm focal length) I'll have a look at the tried and trusted HEQ5 maybe a belt modded one.

Hi all, excellent thread ... Just wondering if the EQ6R will handle a C8 EDGE / ASI 1600mm / filter wheel etc, £1200 is a lot of money if it still can't guide my gear ? imaging scale is 0.56 so a big ask 🙂

Just wondering if the EQ6R will handle a C8 EDGE / ASI 1600mm / filter wheel etc, £1200 is a lot of money if it still can't guide my gear ?

Blimey ... 7 year gap 😄 welcome back 👍

You've got me thinking now @Alan White 😄 if I sell the AVX (full disclosure about mods and tracking being fine for 335mm and planetary) and the starsense ... Might get around £450 ish 🤞 only need to find another £650 ish for an EQ6R ...

I use an AVX with a C8 for planetary imaging and it's perfect for it. I've recently tried DSO work with it and it's a real struggle ! Stick a 300mm focal length scope on it and it's fine.

Poor example attached M1 in Ha  only managed 45 second subs (guided) had to throw about half of them away as stars very poor.

25 minutes ago, Alan White said:

So does this mean a new mount is on the horizon knobby?

If only ! Too much of a jump to improve ... Probably talking EQ6R to handle a C8 reliably. I'll just have to concentrate on my AZ-GTI / 72ED combo and larger targets.

So ... After stripping, regreasing, adding new bearings in RA and Dec I've finally decided (should have known from day 1 really) that it's never going to handle my C8 for DSO work. I've managed to get it under 1" occasionally but never for long 😄 generally just under 2 " which is no way good enough for 1400mm focal length.

On the plus side it's easy to balance now and still a great planetary set up.

Also learnt a lot about off axis guiding so not all bad. 

I've got a strip of white tape on my thread, stops the Wiggles !

If you need more travel you can take the lock ring off the objective cell, allows about an extra 2 or 3 mm travel.

Had a mare last night setting up for M101 or M1 so had a bash at the Moon. C8 edge, 0.7 reducer and ASI 1600 pro.

Best 80% of 140 frames.

Thanks for looking.

Trial and error, try upping the steps by 50 %, see how it goes, then back down again if still working.

Also, give the guiding assistant a go.

Good to see you posting again Craig, been a long time ! I think you've done well there, it's not easy guiding a C8.

Very nice 👍

This is quite interesting.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mobilephoton.intervalometer

Similar to this ?

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/evostar/skywatcher-evostar-90-eq2.html

It looks so much better on the packaging 😟

I used this Android app to check the best times available.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.distinct_solutions.aptcalc