Vox45

On 13/01/2024 at 21:41, Bugdozer said:

Quite a few things seem to have been found by Guillaume Le Gentil (which I think translates as "William the Polite", doesn't it? Olly?) 

*
That would be "William The Nice Guy" in today's term. But in that period "Gentil" (from the Latin "Gentillis") would translate to "noble", "social elite"; Gentilhomme (Gentleman)

I love you Jupiter and the Saturn is not bad at all for a first time try. Good job

4 hours ago, Shimrod said:

5th Surprise  -the original focuser will fetch around £80 if you sell on here or ebay - I had put mine to one side thinking it was not really worth anything

I also had a 6th surprise - the screws holding the orignal focuser where so tight I stripped the heads and had to drill them out - not an uncommon problem.

It's amazing how quickly a £250 focuser becomes a £350 focuser - but I wouldn't swap mine back.

Interesting, I too thought that it was worth next to nothing  I will try and sell it then.

I did not have any issues with the screws, I was lucky I guess. The price did add up, but the focuser is such a beauty, I can feel the difference in the smoothness of the movement. I do not regret, and it was a xmas gift

Ho that is nice to know. I was a bit disappointed to lose the ability to rotate the focuser !

-> I took the thumbscrew (with a nylon tip) from the original ring and removed a grub screw on the adapter.

-> I was able to fit the thumbscrew and now I can rotate the focuser as it use to do.

I would still buy the clicklock anyway for its ease of use when swapping/installing my camera so I don't feel bad spending money on it (I sold the old one so the extra cost was minimal) but I feel better knowing I can also rotate the focuser  

Thanks for your input guys ! 

Here are some pictures comparing the 2 focusers:

Hello all,

I've decided to document the upgrade of my stock focuser to a Baader Diamond  SteelTrack as I ran into some issues and surprises and this might help others avoiding them.

 1^st surprise : The Baader Diamond  SteelTrack does not fit a SW 80ED without an adapter.

2^nd surprise: You need to remove one grub screw on the adapter and replace it with the thumbscrew from the original focuser ring to keep the ability to rotate the focuser

3^rd surprise: there are no screws supplied with the dovetail shoe (the focuser does not have a dovetail shoe built in, you need to buy one separately)

4th surprise: I already had a clicklock screwd on the 80ED stock focuser. IT WILL NOT FIT on the Baader SteelTrack. You need to buy a different model

What you will need to buy along with the focuser

1x adapter to mount

1x Dovetail shoe (optional)

1x Baader clicklock (optional) I already had a clicklock installed on the 80ED stock focuser. IT WILL NOT FIT on the Baader SteelTrack. You need to buy a different model.

Step 1 Remove the stock focuser

Step 2 Align the adapter with the OTA holes

Step 3 Remove the rotation ring on the Baader Diamond SteelTrack focuser

Step 4 Fit the Baader focuser into the adapter ring and secure with the grub screws.

Be very careful as I applied almost no pressure and still managed to damage the screws. They are quite soft.

Step 5 (optional) Install the Dovetail shoe

surprise! There are no screws provided with the dovetail shoe. I will need to find the reference and buy some.

I am quite happy with the result. There is no comparison between the stock focuser and the Baader Diamond Steeltrack.

I sold my Mak 150 and got myself a Mak 180 ... I took a picture before shipping off the 150. 

Seen here on the old HEQ5 mount.

ok so I see what happened there. 

The ClickLock I own is not in fact the Baader ClickLock 2956258 but the SW Baader ClickLock M56i 2956256... 

Unfortunately on many vendors site, the picture shown of the 2956258 look a heck of a lot like the 2956256...

One website showed it upside down as well ... So I could tell from the picture that I had not, in fact, the correct clamp ... 

Ho well, live and learn ... I just bought from FLO the correct clamp that had 10£ off due to a customer return

Hello All,

I just received my Baader Steeltrack to replace my stock focuser on my SW ED80. I already own a 2" Baader ClickLock clamp (S58) and it was supposed to be a fit for this focuser.

The problem is that once I remove the stock clamp to replace it, the threads are on the inside like so:

1. I loosened the grub screws

2. I can see the threads on the inside

3. Here is my Clicklock ... no way to connect it to the Focuser

4. I tried separating the stock clamp from the bottom piece thinking that I might need it but, either it is stuck or it's not supposed to be separated

Anyone has had this problem ?

Thanks

19 hours ago, Davey-T said:

Primaluce do a selection of sizes but may cost more than the scope 😂

Dave

I finally found this one

https://www.astroshop.eu/tube-clamps/omegon-100mm-tube-clamps-for-102-660-telescope/p,57288

Looks a bit on the cheap side compared to the primaluce .. but for the price I think I can afford to test it

Sorry to resurrect this thread but have you ever found the flat top rings for your 80ED ?

not me but my daughter in 2014 when I got my first scope, a second hand C6

and then my first real night out

thank you for your relpy and the picture  

I have to admit that I was a bit put off by a picture I saw of a Cassegrain with an extremely long focuser due to the fact that you need to add multiple extensions like so:

On this picture there is almost no more dovetail left ! It looks like it is a nightmare to balance  

But still, I would love to have the chance to look into one as, like you said, the magnification can be much higher in a Cassegrain and it must kill on planets and the moon  

17 minutes ago, johninderby said:

 the early black one had an oddball size that no one makes an adaptor for

That's what I am afraid of. fortunately I have an SCT focuser on my MAK150 so I will bring it with me when I will meet the vendor to see if it fits... Hopefully it will as it is a 2 hours drive  

I was also looking at the classical Cassegrain but I don't see a lot of them second hand. I hear they are pretty good and the main advantage is that there is no dewing and it adjust to the temperature quickly since it is an open tube, but how would you compare the view with the Mak180 ?  do you see a big improvement ?

I have the opportunity to buy a SkyWatcher Maksutov 180/2700 to replace my gold maksutov 150mm

I see that a new SkyWatcher Maksutov 180/2700 has "Skymax" on the tube and the one I am considering buying does not. Does anyone know if there is a difference or is it just a branding name difference depending of the country ? Here is a picture of the Mak I am looking at:

I remember seeing somewhere that if I want to replace the visual back with an SCT focuser there was a need to buy an adapter, but the newer Mak did not need that adapter ? Could it be the difference between this one and the skymax below ?

Thanks!

Hello ! 

I did not find you delivery to be problematic. In fact I found the pace, tone and presentation quite enjoyable so I would not worry about this as you will get even better with experience.

- I did cringe a little when you said M32 instead of M31 for Andromeda

- I know this might seem trivial and I do not want to be brutal but since I will be looking close up at your hands, make sure they are well "manicured" I would guess that you work in some kind of mechanical or manual work and I do not want to shame you (I admire people who know how to use their hands!) but it can be a put off .. sorry to be brutal about this.

- be careful with the sound, buying a small mic that you can attach to your shirt is good practice to make easy-to-listen-to videos.

I hope I did not offend you by being too honest and I really enjoyed the 3 videos and I think you are providing useful content that will help a lot of people. I hope you keep it up and I will be visiting your channel often.

Here is a nice link to start on a small budget and greatly improve you video. 

for me it's EKOS on an RPI4.

I use Stellarmate. It's a pre-installed and pre-configured image with all the software included, so you just need to put it on an microSD card and you are done. I started with BYEOS but soon wanted to have everything run at the mount so I switched to an RPI and INDI/EKOS to replace all my windows software and ASCOM/EQMOD. I've never looked back since. 

You can see a demontration here from the main developper, Jasem

I use the polar alignment routine in Ekos (I run INDI/Ekos) which is a plate solving method like Sharpcap (never used sharpcap so I cannot compare).

I cannot stand to have to look through a polar scope on a wet terrain  my old knees would not take it anyway ... 

Aww thanks for the pictures, I was wondering in term of size what it would look like.

I've added a focuser to the MAK and it does make a difference in usability to my taste at least  

"Cooldown is so much better as well as lack of dewing" is the selling argument

Like they say, going from Windows to Linux is just discovering a new set of problems. I've had my share of problems with Windows, ASCOM and EQMOD, now I have different issues with INDI and Linux; it's not perfect and some will run into "unsolvable" issues with drivers and will have to stop the adventure right there. I was fortunate enough to not run into issues severe enough to make me want to quit.

The reason I prefer INDI and EKOS is that I get fast support and reactions from the community. I was bothered by a small detail in the DSLR section and I reported it on the forum, it was fixed the same day. I was also able to participate in a brainstorming session on how to improve the interface and one of my idea was implemented. I like the open source approach to software development. 

There is another reason that makes me hang on to INDI/EKOS/RPI4 is that it is all the tools are nicely integrated into one interface and you can update the whole setup with just one command.

I was tired of having to update every pieces of software on my Windows machine: Stellarium, Windows update, ASCOM, EQMOD, Astrotortilla, sharpcap, hardware drivers, PHD2 and a load of small softwares that I had to chase down on websites to see if everything was up to date.

Now I have 2 16GB microSD cards, one that contains a stable image of my whole setup and the other I update regularly. Once in a while I just backup the update and tested image to my other card as a backup that I bring in the field just in case something goes wrong with the card in the PI. Simple and very secure. 

So there you go, those are not "technical" arguments ( there are some but I do not want to start a windows/linux war  ) but I do feel that I got more pros than cons since moving to INDI/EKOS and I do not see any particular pros of going back to Windows.

I am not denying that there are crashes and issues with INDI/EKOS but saying that all is rosy with ASCOM/EQMOD/WINDOWS is not fair. It's just that when windows hangs or crash we accept it as being "windows" but we do not show the same amount of patience with things that we are less familiar with

Sorry for the long rant ! *running for the door*

4 hours ago, johninderby said:

I always liked my old Skymax 180 and thought it was an excellent lunar scope. Then I uograded to the 8” Classical Cassegrain which outperforms it on the moon. Sharper more contrasty images and will take higher magnification plus no cooldown or dewing problem. Just a great lunar scope and not much bigger and heavier than the 180. 👍🏻

Now if they would bring oit a 12” Classical Cassegrain. 🤔😁😁😁

After I was given a Mak180 to test for a couple of month, I was going to "upgrade" my Mak150 (which I love by the way) to the 180 but then I came across some reviews on the classical casgrain that made me doubt. Reading your take on it, I wonder how the classical cassgrain perform on planet as well ? I like to have specialised scopes and I was going for the MAK as a planet and moon killer ... now I am not sure. 

I belt modded my previous mount (Sirius = HEQ5) because I found the noise when slewing very annoying ... Of course, my main reason was to improve on backlash but it was a nice side effect

32 minutes ago, Nikodemuzz said:

Thanks for testing it out on your computer! It is good to know that the slowness is not related to the software itself. On the other hand, I don't have the faintest clue about how to track down and fix the problem. Must be something about the settings in Pixinsight, because other software seem to handle similar tasks with less difficulty.

The CFA pattern is pretty wild, isn't it? 😃 Certainly not normal to someone who is used to looking at the traditional Bayer array, but there is nothing wrong with it. It's just the way the pixels are in the X-Trans array.

 

I did not know about the pattern in X-Trans array  thanks for the info.

"The Fujifilm X-Trans is a CMOS sensor developed by Fujifilm and used in its Fujifilm X-series cameras. Unlike most CMOS sensors featuring a conventional Bayer filter array, X-Trans sensors have a unique 6 by 6 pattern of photosites"

I would suggest that you try your luck on the PI forum, they might be able to help you pinpoint the issue.

Cheers!