matt_baker

I think I've gathered at this point that the only solution to this is to take down the telescope and CW. Then loosen the centre bolt located underneath the pier plate at the bottom and see if we can move it a fraction.

1 hour ago, Rusted said:

Let's keep trying before it finally comes to dismantling the whole lot with all the attendant risks to life, limb and expensive toys.

What exactly happens when you turn that socket head screw? Does the mounting move any further on in the desired direction?

It sounds as if it geared to the base somehow if it provides slow motion in azimuth. You only need a smidgen more movement in the right direction. 

I have a feeling its a gear or a cam

When I turn the socket it turns the mount in azimuth in slow motion. It won't budge at all when the limit's reached

23 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

Did you check if these screws are thread into the outer surface or inner ?

Dave

The threads are on the inner orange plate

7 hours ago, Rusted said:

I searched for ages about the CGE and found reference to a "socket head screw" in, or projecting from, the mounting top plate. Nothing visible on "yours?"
Later examples seem to have a worm, or threaded rod, fine adjustment in azimuth. A costly design solution unless you need it every night.

Owners complained [in another place] about the PA altitude adjustment being heavy but found the azimuth easy.
Presumably they could just rotate the tripod if they hit the end stops.

It really makes you wonder if the mounting was set up wrongly in the first place.
With no further azimuth adjustment possible because of the solid pier.
Even so I find it hard to believe they'd make a mounting which couldn't be rotated 360°.
Leaving the big locking knobs only to provide security for the final adjustment.

If you are a member of "The Other Place" you could start a topic on "CGE azimuth adjustment."
They seem to have have more Celestron CGE owners than over here. With several threads cropping up.
Unfortunately the countless examples of CGE user manuals online are all but identical!
None of them helped and the relevant drawing 2-10 [?] showed only the PA altitude adjustment. 

As a final resort I'd be tempted to remove both, big black knobs and rotate the whole mounting to where it needs to be.
Then see how if it wobbles or moves around without the locking knobs.
You might even find additional screw holes hidden in the lower plate but I doubt it. Most users would never need them nor find them.
There might well be enough weight to hold it down securely on a fixed pier but you really don't want it "swinging around."
Don't lose the knobs! Such facilities are notorious for "helpful people" losing stuff over the years.
They could be an American thread form and irreplaceable locally except at highly inflated astro spares prices.

I'm honestly fairly certain the mount was set in the wrong place to begin with when they placed it.

I have removed both adjustment knobs and it still hits the limit, so it's something inside too that limits it.

The socket head screw is for fine adjustment for the azimuth turned by an allen key. It's located next to the locking screw on one side

I'm really not sure how to do this without taking the whole lot apart but hey, I'll figure something out

One way I may have found how to do it, is that in the center of the pier plate at the bottom, is there's a screw which must thread through to the mount itself, so by loosening that, you're able to turn the mount and tighten it back up again?

Okay, here's pics from all angles

Also, there are various reasons why the observatory never gets used, although now I have a key, I intend to use it whenever I can.

I'm going to go over tomorrow since the weather is awful at the moment and pictures from all angles.

This is clearly getting confusing, both for everyone here trying to help and myself included.

To answer some of your questions:

I will have a look tomorrow if there's another hole further round for the azimuth bolt to sit in

It is easily rotatable in azimuth however, it can't rotate any further since it has reached its limit and needs rotating more.

I think there are designated holes for the three nuts to be in place with for the mount, and I'm not sure if there are others further around

The pier is bolted down with 4 levelling screws onto a steel/concrete pier

Yes, it is possible to observe and image with it but I always have to keep adjusting because it constantly drifts.

59 minutes ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

Steve

Really not sure and I think I agree with rusted, I don't really want to find out incase the whole thing topples

Would some images of underneath where the bolts are help in anyway?

1 hour ago, Mr Spock said:

If the mount and/or pier is bolted down you could enlarge the holes to give some rotation.

That's kind of the problem, I'm trying to see if there's a way without having to take apart the entire rig and redrilling holes

1 hour ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

Is the issue that the bolt going vertically down (with the knob on it and ringed in your 2nd picture) hits the edge of a semi circular slot in the mount base ?

Or am I misunderstanding?

And do you know how far you are out?

Steve

Yes, you're correct. I know I'm about 1 1/2 degrees out from doing a polar alignment with sharpcap

8 hours ago, Merlin66 said:

Matt,

What's the small orange piece and spring at the bottom - just odd bits?

When you look through the "gap" at the base of the mount - anything visible???

Ken

 

Yes, that's just an odd bit unfortunately. The gap at the base of the mount are just for the levelling screws

2 minutes ago, Merlin66 said:

Matt,

I think I understand the issue.....

The text in the images obscures the bottom connection to the pier plates...

Is there any option of re-setting/ adjusting the mount at this interface??

(or at the base of the pier??)

Ken

 

Sorry about that, here's the original and to be honest, I'm really not sure

I've been given a key to go to my local observatory whenever I like, since it never gets used in the 2 years it's been built.

It houses a C14 and an original CGE which are mounted on a pier and a big long piece of steel.

My issue is that I can't turn the azimuth bolt far enough to the right for polar alignment, since it reaches it's limit, and since it's a pier there's probably no way I could rotate one of the plates so it moves?

It's a hard thing to explain fully but I've attached a few pictures

Hopefully someone could help me

Matt

On 13/09/2019 at 14:41, AdeKing said:

I assume CLR is Calcium Lime Remover.

I tried Viakal on my Lunt LS60 blue filter once I received a replacement from Bresser (as I had nothing to lose) and it cleaned up nicely so now I have a spare.

A visual inspection did not suggest any damage to the filter but I haven't used it since the replacement was fitted, just put it somewhere safe with silica gel to use as a spare when the need arises. 

I seem to remember reading that the Lunt blue filters aren't coated but are just a particular type of blue glass as @Merlin66 suggests above.

Ha, found it. 

 

What did you do with the viakal to clean it and dry it?

I presume this is why my view is hindered?

Update, I looked at the blocking filter and found it was foggy. Is this bad?

1 hour ago, OnceWaser said:

Sounds like you are using a tilt tuned telescope? Its true that the sun doesnt have a ton of crazy phenomena happening at the moment- but you should be able to at least see good surface detail and proms on most days!

If it is a tilt tuned, make sure you are not just spinning the wheel in its free zone where the internal etalon is not actually being adjusted- i have done this myself and thought i was tuning the telescope but as it turns out i hadnt gone far enough on the wheel to actually engage any tilt and hadnt been tuning at all! This may not be the case for you but thought i would mention it. You should feel some resistance in one direction once you actually start tuning.

Yes, it is a tilt tuned scope. I'm pretty sure it was working, since the disk was getting brighter and dimmer as I kept turning

I think I've misunderstood the premise of observing through a solar scope aha

1 minute ago, Astrosharkey said:

There was a tiny one (hardly visible) last time I looked just a red disk

I guess if I hook up a mono camera and stack, that'll give out filaments when tuned properly?

1 minute ago, Astrosharkey said:

It is at the moment (red blob), there aren't any spots or proms (at least when I last checked)

Surely you can see filaments? Or is that not the case?

I've been given access to a Lunt LS60THa/B600 and since it was very clear today, I decided to try it out.

I aligned and found the sun easily and focused the scope with a 12mm EP but found no details at all.

I rotated the tuner all the way to the left and to the right.

The Sun just appeared as a red blob.

Can anyone help?

6 hours ago, alacant said:

Hi

Great image.

I don't think it's a limitation. Maybe it just needs denoising? There's not a lot to work with on the .jpg but with the .tif, you should be able to flatten the background completely. I had a go...

Cheers and HTH. 

 

 

I think it also depends what kind of monitor you're viewing it from.

I have a crappy TN panel on one of my monitors that's bad at reproducing especially blacks, however on my IPS, it looks flawless so I'm not sure

What did you use to reduce the noise?

Edit: I think I've fixed it by lowering the background with curves

Went back for another reprocess at M13.

Deconvoluted the stars this time, changed colours and cropped it down slightly

Some of the noise still bothers me but that's what you get when you image with a DSLR uncooled. Might aim for some more time on it when I can.

What does everyone think?

Matt

More upclose look at the core: