Bigwings

19 hours ago, Dr_Ju_ju said:

I have to agree with James, It's not difficult to repair what you have, and even source a right-angle connector, to ensure it doesn't conflict with anything else.....

No point in repairing it as it will only happen again in darkness when it's difficult to watch. 

Lynx one will be larger diameter so won't wedge in the gap. 

SW mount I love but the carp cables the supply do somewhat let them down. 

In AltAz mode the gap between the mount and the tripod is a perfect fit to jam the cable under the mount securing screw heads. Careful as I am the result is a cable pulled out of the power socket. Of course its happened just before clear skies. Never mind, clutches off and go manual. 

Lynx cable ordered but a wait as FLO is awaiting stock. 

Clear Skies 

Bigwings

Welcome Paul, nice to have you on board. 

20 minutes ago, johninderby said:

I like the black stainless knobs as find on eBay. Those are the ones that I fitted to the Bresser OTA.

Hi John. 

They work very well. How much do they cost and how do you ensure that they are suitable. 

PS

After the rebuild the Bresser is in great condition

Just looked at changing my secondary mirror adjusters on my 130pDS.

£21 plus delivery of course. 

Not titanium or gold but stainless Steel. 

I used to sell surgical instruments and we bought in from our factory stainless  steel scissors with special inserts in the cutting edge to prolong surgical sharpness. 

I could buy one pair of scissors for the price of 1 Bob's knob screw. Now even allowing for the lapsed 15 years and taking into account that surgical CE marked instruments demand a mark up it feels like Bob is taking the Michael for 1 screw for 7£.

Not even a 10% discount for pensioners who probably spend less than £7 a day on food. 

2 hours ago, scitmon said:

I too am in the camp of never having used it in AZ mode.  At the time of me buying it I don't think there was such a hefty price difference between it and the EQ only one so I thought it was worth the little extra.  

If I was buying now I would probably put extra money towards a separate AZ mount if I really needed one because changing between the two modes is too much of a faff at short notice.  

Seperate mounts is one solution. The problem for me was getting an AZ that would handle a big Newt. So for me a good tracking mount for visual   is limited..... 

Mine is set up with Starsense and on the dolly it can be in use in 6 mins from exiting the garage. 

Transforming to EQ takes 5 mins even having to dismount a big Newt. 

Polar aligning mmmm

Havnt done that yet but unless your permanently mounted you would have to do that anyway. 

Horses for courses I guess. 

Clear Skies

I have the AZ EQ6 mounted on a dolly with 6 " wheels to get to any part of my garden.

Havnt used it in EQ mode but will this winter with my 130pds and Dslr. 

It handles my 10" Newt very well in AZ mode for visual and its a fantastic mount. 

I will keep it till either it or I die. 

Well worth the extra fot the flexibility it gives. 

Clear Skies

I have a Bresser 10" Dob which is solid tube. It's party trick is that it comes with tube rings on which it mounts big alt bearings when in Dob mode. Take these off and you can mount it as a conventional Newt. Mine sits on an AZ EQ6 mount in Alt Az mode. 

Just a thought but you may one day want a mount that will do everything including AP. 

Clear Skies

I understand that Stu. 

My observation was that the specs seemed to help me get better eye position with some EP's.  MY Baader zoom was one. 

🤔

Firstly let me apologise if your offended by 4 eyes, my nickname when I got my specs when at school. 

The question relates to glasses or not when observing. 

All these years I have observed with glasses off as my dominant eye has perfect long distance vision. 

Whils playing with my rebuilt 10" Newt and working out which EP, s needed what spacers to reach focus I tried specs on. I  found that with some of my EP's the "correct" position for my eye was easier to find and it is changing my opinion of some EP, s. 

Now this was a daytime experiment so if the sky clears this year I will try specs on when observing. 

How do you find it? 

On or off? Those with perfect eyes and no specs probably won't wish to respond. 

Clear Skies

On 30/09/2021 at 23:03, Paul M said:

Ah, right

I could use one of those but powered! Unfortunately I have a big step in/out of the garage so it's all mandraulic for me.

Just thinking over your original disaster, perhaps a way forward and to start a trend is to dent the whole tube uni-formally and go for the hammered Enamel look. You go first...  

Mmmm. On this occasion I will pass. 

This lovely Newt is now back in great condition for the sum of less than £30.

Spares service and customer support from Bresser UK was superb. 

For me its a Newt every time. Great performance at a good price and owner repairable at modest cost. 

Love this scope. 

🤗🤗🤗🤗

No Paul, I can't lift it up and don't need to as its got a scope dolly. 

I did lift it back up after its fall to the horizontal. That was hard enough. 

I tripped on something in the dark and took it over when I fell. 😭

Gorrila tape. Goes on well. Sticks well and comes off with a good peeling action without marking the tube. 

36 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Ah my poor old Bresser dob. 😢

Glad to hear it is on the mend though. 😁

Don't worry John it's going to be fine. It's a keeper as far as I'm concerned. 

In the last 6 months I have had 2 catastrophic telescope disasters (or so I thought). 

I dropped my Skymax 150 Pro destroying the corrector plate and it is beyond economic repair😩. 

Two weeks ago I had a fall on my deck taking over my whole rig. AZ EQ6 and Bresser 10" Newt. The result was a broken focuser mounting plate and tube with dings, dents and creases. The focuser and EP were in rhe flower bed but had survived. 

After a large gin ( no that was not the cause of the fall) I emailed Bresser UK to see if I could buy a new tube and mounting plate for the focuser. 

They were very helpful but tube not available till about Easter. 😩😩😩😩. 

Full disassembly of the scope. 

Then started my self taught pannel beating course. 🤔

Tools used

Large roll of Duct tape to bump out the larger dents. 

Just held in hand and banged with the curve of the tube

Wooden mallet and small hammer to gently tap out the smaller dents and sharper crease caused by the edge of the mounting plate. 

I found that the extension bar from the Azeq6 counterweight bar held inside the tube made a perfect anvil and holding it across the inside of focuser hole I could caress the tube back to shape even removing the crease. 

You need to look very hard now to see any  evidence of damage. 

Bresser are sending me a new mounting plate for the focuser. £19.50 delivered. 

Who considers the cost of repair when choosing a scope? I do now. 

Clear Skies

Bigwings

Enjoyed watching and learned 1 important thing. I will send mine to a professional 

Getting the counterweights in the right place to balance my 10" Newt would normally require setting it up in EQ mode and marking the position then taking everything off, changing to AltAz and rebuilding the rig. 

My tripod is on a trolley on which the rear member takes two of the tripod legs. 

I jacked up the dolly with its leveling screws and placed my laser test block underneath using a metal broom shank to provide a central fulcrum. 

Retracting the leveling screws I moved the weights out to the effort to tip either way felt negligible. Importantly this had to be done with the rear axle level on the yellow bubble level. 

By my reckoning the counterbalance weights should be in an acceptable position. 

I seem to remember reading that there was a tolerance along this axis but can't remember what it is or where I saw it. 

Comments very much appreciated. This is for visual. 

Thanks

Mike

Bought John in Derby, s very nice Bresser Dob to upgrade from 8" to 10".

Set up and collimated ready for startesting tonight if the clouds stay away. 

Thanks John it's a lovely scope. 

Clear Skies

1 hour ago, Stu said:

Glad it was empty!!! 😱😱

Yes he built that for himself. 

He spent 8 hours and about £80 making the scope dolly

Damn sight cheaper than buying on in America and shipping it over. It will take two adults standing on the centre without flexing so impossible to overload with astro kit. I Feel a 10" Newt creeping my way soon. 🤔🤓

On 15/06/2021 at 23:21, nfotis said:

Quite a practical gift.

Do I see some screws for stabilizing at the end position near each wheel?

N.F.

 

Yes it has screw bolts to enable leveling. 🤓

On 16/06/2021 at 00:11, Louis D said:

I would probably bungee it to the dolly.

It's better than that. If you look on the trolley below the centre of tripod there Is an eye welded on. He is making a bit to screw onto the mount bolt and a chain and small turnbuckle will make it secure🤓

My son made me a 74 year birthday present. 

I can now move my AZ Eq6 Starsense /GPS rig with the 8" Newt from the garage to the deck and be observing in 5 mins. 

Thanks son😎😎😎🤓🤓🤓

Hi. Anyone know of a UK source for a telescope dolly/ trolley??? 

Thanks

WiFi problems.

Equipment

New  Skywatcher             AZ-EQ6

New  Celestron SkyPortal WiFi adapter

Celestron  Starsense 18 months old but as new and just first installation.

2 year old SkyWatcher WiFi module.

Mount plus  Skywatcher works  perfectly well with SynScan pro.

Will not work with Stellerium, or Sky Safari trying multiple settings get connection to wiFi but messages ….telescope not responding.

Added  StarSense for Skywatcher which works with the AZ-EQ6.

Advice received was that any Celestron plugged into the StarSense  aux ports should work.

Get the following error.

Connection failure

Celestron Skyportal can make a wireless connection to the scope but the scope is not responding. Make sure the scope is powere on and connected correctly. Also make sure you selected the correct scope type.

Use Direct Connect………is selected.

anyone any ideas?

Thanks

WiFi problems.  Cant get Celestron SkyPort WiFi  working

Equipment

New  Skywatcher             AZ-EQ6

New  Celestron SkyPortal WiFi adapter

Celestron  Starsense 18 months old but as new and just first installation.

2 year old SkyWatcher WiFi module.

Mount plus  Skywatcher works  perfectly well with SynScan pro.

Will not work with Stellerium, or Sky Safari trying multiple settings get connection to wiFi but messages ….telescope not responding.

Added  StarSense for Skywatcher which works with the AZ-EQ6.

Advice received was that any Celestron plugged into the StarSense  aux ports should work so add the Skyportal dongle into an aux port on the Skysense  -Skywatcher adapter box

Get the following error.

Connection failure

Celestron Skyportal can make a wireless connection to the scope but the scope is not responding. Make sure the scope is powere on and connected correctly. Also make sure you selected the correct scope type.

Use Direct Connect………is selected.

Any Ideas Guys?