lifeonmars

Good point Stephen,think I will leave well alone,Disaster Averted thanks.

I wonder,as anybody tried to to scallop out a Skywatcher Extension like this? tempted to have a go with a grinder and chain drill the curved bits and do a bit of heavy filing,the only thing that puts me off is am i going to induce flexure into the extension piece . Hmm Decisions Decisions.

Try adjusting the Alt damping knob on the mount in slightly, it does help to stop the juddering you are talking about. long term you may need to counterweight the front of the tube.Try it, it may help.

Yep seeing was good here also, interesting watching the shadow nibble into the limb,Saturn also good Cassini division quite evident in my 120 ED so quite a rewarding nights viewing here in Manchester!

I have to agree with Adeking I think the shelf is really not up to scratch the square low profile screw is difficult to tighten and is quite easy to swivel on its axis. I notice the one for sale as a separate item from flo as two screws in it, mounting the ball head to the plastic plate which looks more up to the job I purchased the Encoder package with Nexus dsc, and picked up that if you ask for the shelf they will throw it in free but this one as the single screw I have managed to break my shelf which I am not happy about. No complaints about the mount though its built like a tank and rotates about both axes silky smooth and very happy to buy a British built mount. Just getting to grips with the mount and struggling a bit balancing it with my Equinox 120 ed with a 2" diagonal and suspect a sliding counterweight may be req'd up front,but enjoying the learning process. Cant wait to see the motor upgrade to appear

Nice report John,mirrored my observations last night,I also refer to the Discover The Moon book its a great resource,think my wow moment last night was the detail around the ramparts of Aristillus such fine detail and the long shadows across the floor of Ptolemaeus. Your comments regarding the AZ100 at high magnification have just reinforced my decision to wait for the motor upgrade before biting the bullet ,I'm sure when it comes I will jump with both feet!

Superb piece of Engineering built in the day when computers were in their early days ,one fact always sticks in my mind that the computing power of this leviathan was similar to a electronic calculator.Still makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck (what's left of it!) Thanks for posting.

Hi just have a look at this cloudy nights link Robindonne this might help https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/708353-rowan-astronomy-az100-arrived/page-7#entry10705402 think its post 158 think I will be pulling the trigger soon on one of these!

Be carefull if you buy one on ebay make sure the seller as de registered the product with Adobe,and if I remember this correctly they also register your details that way it will work when you load it up. Another good product is dxo photolab on special offer at the moment and you get free upgrades and its noise reduction software is groundbreaking. Happy New Year

Ha thanks for that will try a 10mm nut on the thread first,yes there is a washer but i wouldnt say it was thick probably about 1.5mm thick, underneath that is a spacer about 30mm long which is part of the threaded rod, and underneath that a fixed knob with a grub screw in hpe that makes sense! many thanks for your help its appreciated.Cheers

Hi can anybody help please,the threaded spreader rod that secures the mount base to the tripod anyone know the size of the thread(the top thread ) as when its screwed into the bottom of the mount it tightens up before it reaches the stop collar on the rod (dont want to force it) think it just needs a tap gently running down the mount base,looking at the internal thread in the mount it looks ok ,no obvious damage any help would be appreciated, I picked this up used and thats the only thing i need to sort out on it,looking forward to get backinto Astronomy thanks again