Jonk

Farlington these days is very useful for Sainsbury's or Shell...having said that, there are some big places as you go up towards the hill.

I'm at the bottom of the Eastern Road!

After reading multiple posts about digging holes, pouring concrete and how it 'was all worth it', I got round to deciding where to dig for my incoming custom pier. It's nice to give something back for all the information I have read on SGL, so here's my story so far... 1. Decide where to dig the hole. This was based on a number of things: a) Best location for the coverage. Various trees etc. made this tricky. b ) Best location to see the astronomical horizon over the south facing fence. c) Best location to see the planets and moon when they're low. d) Best location to avoid the drain pipes in the ground. e) Best location to avoid direct view of a couple of nearby lamp posts. My pier is about 1200mm high, so I set the tripod to this height and moved it about, with the long frac attached to find the optimum location. Here it is (without mount or frac): 2. Lift paving slabs to inspect and hope there's no other hidden issues. Ha! Mobile phone camera auto white balance at play here. Looking at the sand base, it doesn't look like much to dig. 3. So, let the dig begin! D'oh! Someone decided to lay all this on a concrete slab....or so it would appear. Quick text to my brother... 'Come over, and bring your SDS drill'. 20 minutes and a cuppa later and the SDS drill made light work of the concrete, which turned out not to be a slab, but looks like pads for the sand layer (spacing was even, I'm not a builder so don't know if this kind of thing is required or normal.) 4. Digging into some lovely soft earth, using just a spade. I've managed to fill about 15 rubble sacks so far with 2 trips to the local tip. I'm going for a roughly 800mm diameter hole, which I'll create keying points into the side later on for the concrete to seep into. 5. Down to 500mm depth, that's enough for today. Rather than leaning over with a spade, I used a large trowel whilst sat on the edge of the hole - fairly comfortable and relatively quick to pull the dirt out. Nice clay at this depth too. The bin not only gives an idea of depth at this stage, but also stops me falling in if i forget the hole's there! 6. Maybe dig a another 100-200mm depth... 7. Wait for pier to be delivered, with pre bent M12 stainless stud in the correct pattern for the pier base. To be continued...

Hi Steve, any news on the WO Star 71-II?

This was us last night... (mobile phone pic, enhanced using the phone app so not a great photo)

Here's my old Heq5 Pro / 150p and 250p on my current AZ EQ6 during the previous lunar eclipse. And here's the dob at SGL 11...

Ok, sounds good. Just in time to get used to before the nights pull in. Put me down for one... Thanks!

@FLO I just wondered if you were any closer to a WO Star-71 II availability date and whether you have managed to secure a competetive price? Not that I'm impatient or anything!

Superb, like you said above, tests in low temperatures will hopefully show up some issues (actually not, but you get what I mean). In my industry, the customer unfortunately is the QA department, and to some degree the R&D department. "Release early, release often".

I must have missed this thread, but I'm glad I've found it now! Short of saving up for a Tak Baby Q, the Star 71-II is next on my list, and I shall certainly be ordering one with the 'insurance' from FLO. Well done FLO. One thing niggles me though, the WO blurb says the MK II is easier to collimate during assembly - does that potentially mean easier for collimation to slip??

This would actually be quite easy. Google hangouts would work.

Here's a stunning one from Slooh

Here's my humble effort... Haha, ok I used a Slooh telescope in Arizona to take a grab, as I have had clouds and rain all day and had to watch it online.

Cloudy and raining in Portsmouth, forecast says 'only' 75% cloud around 3pm so at least I may have a chance of seeing it.

I don't know the reason people use them, but they appear to be highly recommended by others.

It's not the standard ones I need, I'd like to replace the standard with ceramic bearings - lots of talk here and there about it, but no part numbers! All I know is SKF bearings are mentioned and I don't want to strip my mount again just to get the standard part number, in order to look for the SKF equivalent. I just hoped someone else who has done it, would have the record of what they bought. That way I could purchase before stripping it, so I could put it back together the same day.

Yes I have read and contributed to that thread the first time I stripped it down to clean / re-lubricate etc. I now have a few pennies spare that I didn't before so want to do the bearings before it gets 'piered' outside.

I've had a good nose about, but cannot seem to find a part number for the recommended SKF ceramic bearings for replacing the standard worm bearings. Has anyone done this to theirs, where were they purchased, and was the difference noticeable after another tune up? I'm going to be installing a pier hopefully over the next couple of months and once the mount's installed, I don't want to remove it again unless I have to, therefore giving is the best start I can by replacing the worm bearings and another internal clean / tune up.

If anyone's looking for a used 130PDS, one has just popped up on ABS -> http://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=111748

Here's mine in its sock, just to add to the list!