CraigT82

Continuing the upgrades I'm fitting a Baader Diamond Steeltrack to the 300p. I was planning on fitting my motorised green moonlite CR2 to this OTA but couldn't source the necessary curved base for the 12" tube, and so that focuser will be staying on the 200p f/6 which, when I get it mounted on a Dob base, will become a visual scope. The existing 2" single speed Crayford that is the OE focuser on the 300p is going to be out in my Fullerscope as that is currently stood focuserless in the corner. It will become a dedicated solar WL scope with a full aperture film. This old focuser should work well with this scope as being f/7.5 it's not fussy on collimation. After removing the OE focuser I used cotton thread to create cross hairs in the tube hole and the focuser base. This allowed me to accurately centre the steeltrack base over the existing hole whilst I marked it up for drilling.

You should just about get away with the evostar 120 on the AZ4 mount. There will be some wobble when you move the scope and when up focus it but with practice this can be minimised. There are also other things you can do like hanging a length of chain from the front of the scope (looks weird but works well to dampen the vibration). The startravel would be a better match match the mount though with its shorter tube length. My opinion is that the Evostar 120 is better all rounder than the startravel. The ST120 is a great RFT (rich field telescope) and so is great for low power expansive views of star fields, open clusters and larger DSO, but is limited on high power lunar and planetary viewing by chromatic aberration (also things like double stars, globular clusters and planetary nebula would be slightly better in the evostar). That's not to say that the high power views would be rubbish through the ST, as everyone has different tolerance levels towards CA, and you can get filters to cut out the CA to an extent, but if you forsee yourself doing more lunar/planetary viewing than DSO viewing then I'd definitely go for the evostar over the startravel.

What a great find for £20, in very good condition for its age, a good 'patina' I think they say. My Fullerscope is about 6 or 7 years younger but shares a lot of the features. With a few modern upgrades it makes a superb planetary/lunar scope.

Today I received a Baader Diamond Steeltrack from Astroshop.eu which is going to go on the 300p. What a lovely piece of kit it is. I gave up on the idea of fitting my Moonlite CR2 to it as can't get hold of a base plate, so that's staying on the 200p as a visual scope (once I source a Dob mount for it). The current single speed skywatcher Crayford on the 300p is going to be swapped onto the Fullerscope and that is going to become a dedicated WL solar scope with a full aperture Baader ND3.8 filter. Also received a Lakeside bracket and a click lock clamp for the Steeltrack from FLO.

The solar film let's everything through as it isn't a wavelength filter. Do you mean the solar continuum filter?

I think it would be extremely heavy... 1m x1m x 0.3m concrete slab would weigh 800kg, plus the concrete filled pier and all the kit on it you're looking at around 1000kg!

That does look like a top notch obsy... Great workmanship like you say.

Ah ok, how much would that all weigh? Would you be able to move it?!

Skywatcher do one, needs a bit of fettling to work at its best (like most SW stuff) but not bad at all for the money. I've cut mine down for use with newts, added stainless fixings and larger castors to roll better over rough tarmac Also filled the tube with expanding foam I've used it for DSO imaging, 20 min exposures at 1200mm with no vibrations and I'm only about 50m from a heavily trafficked main road. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-mount-accessories/skywatcher-pillar-mount-support-for-heq5-eq6-series-mounts.html

Hi and welcome to the forum. Personally I'd be leaning towards the Evostar 120 as the better all rounder, but I am biased towards lunar/planetary. Do you have a mount yet? Or if you're going to get a mount with the scope which mount are you planning on? What are your skies at home like are they dark or light polluted?

Haven't you already got an SW ED120? I'm not sure the extra 5mm of the 125mm f7.8 is going to give you much more than what you get from that

Nice work should be super productive now, wish I had the skills to do that!

Very nice shot, loads of details to see there. Did you get Saturn too? She is looking beautiful with her blue S pole on show. Forecast is looking good for the weekend so tempted to set myself a 3am alarm too. Tried it last weekend but seeing high cloud when I stuck my head out the window meant I went straight back to sleep 💤

Stick a SW motor focuser on it, it will give you good fine focus control without any vibration at all and at £60 you can't complain.

Wonderful capture!

Do you know if they are still cranking out the curved bases/install kits? Waiting on one for a 12" tube. Cheers

I had a look at the Ninjabatt powerstation recently but was put off as the AC output, and the charging input, was 110v so was pretty useless for me. Started looking at the Jackery and the Beaudens units instead, still haven't made up my mind which one to get though https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jackery-Portable-Explorer-Generator-Outdoors/dp/B08RNPYLQW/ref=sr_1_9?dchild=1&keywords=230v+ac+power+pack&qid=1623152663&sr=8-9 https://www.amazon.co.uk/BEAUDENS-Portable-Generator-Phosphate-Emergency/dp/B07MC7TV2G/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=230v+ac+power+pack&qid=1623152663&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzUEJETTlQMjg0RDNYJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwODAyNzY3WENUUU5GUzI5UlI3JmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA5Nzg5NjIyWjc5Q0xXOTk4WUQxJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

Very nice shots

Very nice Neil, things are certainly getting better, atmosphere wise. Did you try getting an IR lum for Saturn? How is the EQ5 handling the big scope?

Yeah I'm not expecting much to be honest, just dying to use it seeing as I've had it nearly 2 months now and it's been sat in the garage just taking up space! Windy app is forecasting fairly low jetstream speeds so definitely worth getting out in any case.

I spy with my little eye...

Yeah not too well in all honesty! Will be fine for lucky imaging though and I'm hoping to get first light tomorrow morning. It really needs an EQ8 but then that is just more weight to move around. Maybe something I can aspire to once we move house and I can have a permanent set up.

Nice one Neil, some good details visible already.. hoping to get first light with the 300p myself tomorrow morning.

Wow top work Tristan.... is there anything that 250 pds can't do?!

No real need to change the main axis bearings. They only do one full rotation every 24 hours and so are not overly important in the grand scheme of things, a clean and regrease should be fine. The worm shaft bearings will rotate once every couple of minutes and so are much more important, as any defects on these have the potential to ruin every sub... I'd splash out on the best SKF ones you can get.